Articles

Want the big wins? Do the boring work.

My boys and I have been enjoying some of the March Madness basketball games the last couple of weeks. Sunday night, we watched 11th seed UCLA beat 2 seed Alabama to go to the Elite 8.

Alabama had the better team. In fact, they were favored by 6.5 points.

So what cost them the game? Boring old free throws.

UCLA shot 25 free throws and made 20 of them.

Alabama also shot 25 free throws… and only made 11.

Even the incredible buzzer-beater Alabama sank to send the game into overtime couldn’t help them overcome their pathetic performance from the foul line.

There are a few lessons you can take away from this, but I was reminded of one of my favorite maxims:

Do the boring work.

You know what’s cool? 3-point jump shots. No-look passes. Alley-oop dunks.

You know what’s boring as heck? Free throws.

But free throws are why the 11-seed team beat the 2-seed.

How do you make free throws? You do the boring work and practice them over… and over… and over.

Same reason my tee ball team – The Rockies – has won their first 2 games. (Let’s go!)

Because we practice the most boring aspect of baseball – base running – every. Single. Practice.

Running. In a square. Over and over and over. Boring.

Hitting? Awesome. Running? Boring.

Snagging fly balls? Fancy! Running? Snooze fest.

Want the exciting wins? Do the boring work.

What does that mean for you in your practice?

Well, there’s definitely a lesson about practicing here. For example, if your sales team isn’t doing the boring work of role playing their convos with prospects – and 99 out of 100 of them aren’t – you’re leaving thousands of dollars on the table every day.

There’s also a lesson about the extraordinary being rooted in consistency. The boring things – done consistently – make all the difference.

Greeting EVERY patient at the front desk. Guiding EVERY prospect on the phone. Doing EVERY followup of your non-converted leads. Asking EVERY happy patient for a review.

None of these activities are particularly novel or exciting. Some might even describe them as boring.

But the surgeons who ensure their teams are doing the boring work consistently… they are the ones spending more time in their surgery suites each month, doing more surgeries and stacking cash.

Don’t be the high-ranking team that loses like Alabama. Take a look at your practice and where you need to be more consistent with the boring work.

And if you want a systematic, paint-by-numbers way to grow your volume that’s rooted in simple, boring work… our Patient Prime System may be for you. Reply for more info.

And remember: if you want exciting wins, do the boring work.

Troy “Do Boring, Don’t Be Boring” Cole

Refractive Surgery’s “Rocky III” Moment

My oldest son is 8. Which is a fun age because we can start doing more “guy” things together.

We can actually play catch with a baseball or football. He’s helpful when we do projects around the house. And we can watch certain “non-kid” movies together.

Last night, I showed him Rocky III. It’s the one where Rocky fights Clubber Lang, played by Mr. T (beastmode!).

Rocky III is a great example of what happens when someone gets fame and fortune… then gets distracted and loses his edge.

(In case you haven’t seen it or just don’t remember the plot – the now world-famous champion boxer Rocky is challenged to a title fight by the hungry and ultra-focused up-and-comer Clubber Lang, who hands Rocky a knock-out in just 2 rounds).

There’s a training montage that shows the juxtaposition between each boxers’ training camp. Rocky doing photo shoots, signing autographs, enjoying the fanfare. Clubber working away in a dark gym, alone, focused, putting 100% effort into his workouts.

Seeing that, it’s no wonder Rocky gets stomped.

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As I was watching this amazing cinematic masterpiece, I couldn’t help but think about how the LASIK industry is ripe for a Rocky III disruption.

Every market has a heavyweight champ. Every market has its challengers.

And in 15 years of doing this, I’ve seen “champs” who get a little like Rocky. They dominate their markets, do strong volume, and start to feel invincible. And they get a little comfortable.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with heavyweight champs enjoying the spoils of their long, hard battle to win the championship belt. Goodness knows they’ve worked hard for it.

The scary part is how easy it is for a challenger to come in a dethrone the champ.

20 years ago, this was a near-impossible task. To overtake the champ back then, it took literally millions of dollars in marketing, and a massive reputation built brick by brick over many years.

The “barriers to entry” aren’t anywhere near as high as they were when I started in this industry. Think about it:

A practice with a strong review-getting strategy can build a massive 5-star online reputation (where it matters most) in a short period of time.

A practice with a dialed-in digital marketing strategy can generate hundreds of quality leads for pennies on the dollar compared to the massive marketing budgets that were required in years past.

A practice with a properly trained sales team can take those leads and convert the vast majority of them into consults.

And when a practice comes into the market with extreme focus on incredible patient experiences, word of mouth can travel faster and farther than ever thanks to social media.

I’m not talking theory here. In recent years, I’ve implemented these strategies for practices that were brand new to a market. And within 24 months, they became the highest volume – and highest priced – refractive practice in their region.

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And now, post-COVID, the opportunity for disruption is bigger than ever. Because the general population has been groomed to enjoy a home-centric and phone-centric lifestyle.

The practices that recognize this and pivot to a hybrid model of patient engagement (traditional in-office consults combined with virtual consults) are seeing huge gains in their refractive surgery numbers. I’m talking 30-50% growth in surgery eyes (and correlating revenue).

Could a younger practice challenge the “heavyweight champion” in their market and take their market share? With the right strategies – and a Clubber Lang-level of focus – it’s certainly possible.

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All it takes is extreme focus and the right strategy. We can’t “make” you focus (though I can tell you what to focus on). But we can give you the new strategy – along with the proven assets, processes and even generate the new patient opportunities for you.

Rocky needed a new strategy too.

When it was time for Rocky’s rematch with Clubber, he paired up with former heavyweight champ Apollo Creed. Apollo coached him on a new boxing strategy. Rocky used his new strategy to come back and regain his heavyweight title from Clubber.

I don’t know where you consider yourself in your market – if you’re the reigning champ, a former champ or a challenger.

If you’re the reigning champ – watch your back. What got you here won’t get you there (at least not without some pivots and modifications). It’s time to go hybrid. Now.

If you’re a former champ who has lost the title to someone else in your market… don’t worry. You can get back on top with a fresh strategy, just like Rocky did.

And if you’re the challenger – congratulations. There’s never been a better time to be a refractive surgeon. Consumer interest is high, and you have a massive opportunity to disrupt your local market and dominate like never before.

But you have to get focused, get the right strategy, and take action.

Hear that? They just rang the bell. The fight is on… 👊

Troy “DesTROYer” Cole

“Will virtual consults cannibalize my in-office consults?”

Question from a reader last week:

“It’s now clear to me that virtual consults have a role in growing our refractive volume. My thing is, we don’t want virtual consults to cannibalize the pool of people coming into the office for in-office consults. How do we keep that from happening?”

As you should know by now, we’re bullish on Virtual Consults. Practices that are pivoting to the Hybrid Model of Patient Engagement (Virtual Consults + in-office consults) are seeing massive growth in their refractive volume.

This question about “cannibalization” holds a lot of practices back from fully embracing (and promoting) virtual consults. And we understand why.

You know if you can get a prospect into the office to experience your awesomeness, they are much more likely to schedule surgery, right? So you don’t want to do something that would reduce the number of prospective patients who are coming in. Makes perfect sense.

But here’s what we’ve discovered…

Through our Prime Positioning Framework, we market the virtual consults in a way that attracts a different segment of the marketplace than you’re reaching right now.

By taking this strategic approach, the virtual consults are additional to the in-office consults you’re already booking. And I’ll explain why that’s the case…

Remember you’re catering to a large pool of potential patients in your market. Let’s look at them in 2 groups – the Traditional Bookers and Non-Traditional Non-Bookers.

Right now, your in-office consults are geared toward the Traditional Bookers. This is the segment of the population that wants to come in and see you for a consult. Just like patients always have. They like the old-school, in-person touch point.

The people in the other segment are not coming in for a consult. These are your Non-Traditional Non-Bookers. This group is comprised of people who need what you have to offer, but they don’t want to take the time off and travel to your practice to do an in-person consult. In short, it’s not convenient enough for them to take action.

Virtual consults, when done the right way that we will teach you, add a new avenue of convenience for prospects to connect with your practice. And as we see with Amazon Prime, InstaCart, Netflix and Peloton – convenience-focused services are what people crave.

So for your Non-Traditional Non-Bookers, this new level of convenience is exactly what they’re looking for.

To summarize – the people booking virtual consultations are not the same market segment who were booking in-office consults before. Those folks are still booking with you.

The people booking virtual consults were never coming to see you in the first place… and now they are. Because you’ve catered to their desire for convenience.

(At least that’s what we’ve seen across a dozen or so practices that have implemented our system.)

So if you were holding back on fully embracing virtual consults because you didn’t want to lose in-person consults, I hope I’ve put your fears at ease.

And if you want the full system and game plan for how to position, market and convert virtual consults to refractive surgeries – while still keeping a full schedule of in-person consults – reach out to me immediately.

Troy “No Cannibals” Cole

#1 Takeaway From my CRSToday Article This Month

Always a pleasure when my friends at CRSToday magazine invite me to contribute.

For their March issue that just hit newsstands, I wrote a cover story on the specific ways you can take advantage of the COVID-Induced Refractive Surgery Wave in 2021.

This article is your 2021 game plan, friend.

A few highlights:

3 Growth Strategies to take advantage of the “Refractive Wave”
The 2 massive “mental shifts” that have occurred as a result of COVID lockdowns (if you want to stay ahead of the curve, you must recognize these)
WHY the Hybrid Consultation Model is so important to your future growth
The difference between “Decision Points” and “Incubation Periods” on the patient journey (and the role they both play to increase your conversions)
4 Practical Tips + Scripts to increase show rates, and conversion to sx rates

So tap the link below and check it out. And be sure to email it over to your marketing and salespeople too.

Before you click over, I want to share your #1 takeaway from this piece:

It’s time to take action NOW. The opportunities I outline in this article (like most opportunities in life) are RIGHT-NOW opportunities. They won’t last forever.

Heck, some of these opportunities won’t last 6 months if you don’t jump on them now. (But if you do, you’ll be prepared to dominate for the next 3-5 years).

Stop waiting for the “right time.” Stop planning. Stop second-guessing. It’s time to move. Use this article as a blueprint for your practice growth in 2021.

Cover Story: Courting, Capturing, & Converting Patients In the Not-So-Post-COVID Landscape

Hope you find it useful, and make it an amazing week!

Troy “Refractive Wave Rider” Cole

When is the “right time” to increase your surgery volume?

Do you find yourself constantly waiting for the “right time” to launch new initiatives that attract more patients?

When is the “right time” to train your team to give an amazing patient experience?

When is the “right time” to start growing your surgical volume with virtual consultations?

When is the “right time” to teach your people on the phones how to book more consultations to keep you busy in your surgery suite?

The practices that struggle or plateau are the ones that think there’s a “right time” later on down the line.

We’re really busy right now, so it’s just not the right time.

We’re actually slow right now, so it’s just not the right time.

We’re a little short-staffed, so it’s just not the right time.

We’re in the process of hiring, so it’s just not the right time.

This sounds like it could take some work, so it’s probably not the right time.

The practices that consistently win take an opposite view – they see almost any time as the right time for practice growth.

We’re really busy right now, so of course it’s a good time to double-down on that and keep building momentum.

We’re actually kind of slow right now, so what a great time to add something new to the mix to get us out of this slump.

We’re a little short-staffed, so it’s the ideal time to do something new that makes our patient conversion process more efficient.

We’re in the process of hiring, so it’s the perfect time to introduce a new initiative that they can learn from day 1.

This sounds like it could take some work. And if we’re willing to put in the work, and our competitors aren’t, that gives us a distinct advantage. Let’s do it.

Check your thinking. Look for ways you can take action to grow your practice now vs. excuses to push off action until later.

Opportunities aren’t like books that you can put on a shelf and consume any old time you feel like it.

You can keep waiting for the right time, but opportunities don’t wait for anyone. The marketplace won’t wait for you. And your competitors won’t either.

What practice growth actions do you keep putting off? Pull the trigger.

Troy “Action Item” Cole