Articles

#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

[VIDEO] The one thing that killed yellow pages, taxis and Blockbuster

One of the most fascinating and useful things to study in business – the fall of huge companies.

Think of the companies that dominated their industries for years – Kodak, Yellow Pages, Blockbuster Video, etc. They were the Goliath. They were on top of the world.

Then seemingly overnight, these very same companies were choked out of existence. Kinda scary when you think about it.

And there’s one thing that all these fallen giants have in common. Enter today’s video…

As Michael and I were planning out an upcoming webinar, we decided to stop and shoot this quick video for you about the “Goliath Slayer” – the one product that killed these massive companies after they dominated their industries for decades.

In this short video, we go over:

The one piece of technology that killed massive companies like Yellow Pages, Kodak and the Taxi industry
Why the deaths of these companies had nothing to do with their inherent quality… and why that matters to your refractive marketing and sales processes
Where refractive surgery lies in the “tech transfer” process (this is a huge opportunity)
Why this King-Killer is also a King-Maker for the companies that know how to leverage it in the proper way
And more…

Click here to check it out now.

Make it a great day!

Troy “Phone Book Ripper” Cole

Mask Mandates End in TX (what I’m doing differently)

It’s 72 degrees and the sun is shining in North Texas! Starting to finally feel like baseball season.

In fact my tee ball team – the Rockies – had our first scrimmage last night, a big win against the Pirates. (I’m coaching my 6 y/o son and my 4.5 y/o daughter on the same team. Never a dull moment on the tee ball field!)

In perhaps even bigger news than the Rockies’ scrimmage win…

Governor Abbott announced earlier this week that he’s ending the mask mandate in Texas.

Some people cheered. Others booed.

My personal reaction? Complete indifference. I’ll explain this.

What can I control now that’s different than what I could control during the mask mandate? Nothing. I can control the exact same things.

So what am I doing differently now vs during the mask mandate? Nothing. Because it’s based on the things I can actually control, which hasn’t changed.

Why is this important?

Because I see too many of us adjusting our cares and feelings and behaviors based on distractions we have zero control over.

Presidential runs, cancel culture, mask mandates, what’s happening in the public school curriculum 3 states away. Can’t control that.

I’m not saying these things are unimportant. But we have zero control over them. Yet we think and post and comment and opine about them like we’re getting paid to do it.

Same thing with the competing surgeon down the street – what they are advertising, why they got the new laser, the interview they had on TV last week. Can’t control that.

If you can’t control it, don’t grant it your valuable time and attention.

Focus on what you can control.

And what can you control? Well you can control the energy you put into your team and your patients. Your inputs into your community. The time and attention you give your family.

You can control your team’s ability to book more surgeries – by empowering them with communications training. That way they can convert more leads into consultations, who you can actually help through vision correction.

You can control the ways prospects engage with you, and make it easier for them – by offering online schedulers, web chat, 2-way texting and virtual consultations, for example.

You can control your prices. You can raise them so you’re getting paid what you’re worth and can devote ideal time and attention to each patient. Rather than offering deep discounts and filling your waiting room with a bunch of lookie-loo, tire-kicking cheapskates that drain your energy and run your staff ragged.

Focus on what you can control. Which means you have to stop devoting so much time, attention and energy on the things you can’t.

If we all do this, we will see lives changed. And you’re in the life-change business. So let’s go.

Troy “Control Freak” Cole

[Lessons from Snowmageddon] Pivot if you want to Prosper.

Another lesson from last week’s insane cold snap in Texas, which took our temps below zero and knocked out our power, heat and water for 3 days.

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Pivot if you want to prosper.

This is a lesson we learned back when the COVID lockdowns started, and I was aptly reminded during last week’s TX cold spell.

Sometimes, the universe hits you with the unexpected, and it’s 100% out of your control. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯¯

Like when the government tells you to close your practice…

Or when the governing body of your local electricity grid decides to shut the whole thing down for days on end…

We can’t control those situations. But we can control our reaction to them.

And boy, the frustration is immediate, isn’t it? But just as quickly as you want to punch a wall (or a politician), you must also quickly pivot if you want to survive and prosper. Get creative. Figure it out.

For us last week, that meant a few things:

We had to stay warm. We have fireplace in our bedroom. And unlike our large living room, where the fireplace only heats the area right in front of it, our bedroom is smaller and more balanced relative to the heat coming from the fireplace.

The fire actually kept the room at a decent temp (unlike the rest of the house, which hovered around 40 degrees). So we moved everyone into our bedroom and made that home base for a few days.

Susan and I took turns “manning the fire” – setting alarms through the night to wake up and throw on logs to keep it going (no gas here). And it worked out pretty well.

I still had businesses to run. Without power – and with most of my work relying on laptops and smartphones – I needed a solution.

Thankfully my wife’s suburban has built-in wifi and power outlets. So I would go stretches in the car, doing work, charging devices, and making calls and Zoom meetings.

“Um, Troy, what are you doing Zooming in your car?” Doing what I gotta do to get done what I need to get done, dude.

Taking care of the kids. Kids – I have a lot of them (4 to be exact, 8 and under). They don’t exactly like being cooped up.

So how were we going to keep them from going stir crazy (and driving us insane in the process)?

Well, we gamified as much as we could. We literally played board games, roasted hot dogs in the fire for dinner, and watched nature documentaries on the iPad.

We made the whole thing a “campout” and an “adventure” for them, and they got on board.

Point of all this is – when life hits you with unexpected things, you’ve gotta pivot, get creative and make the best of it. Otherwise you surrender what little control you have of your survival.

And an added bonus – sometimes you find new opportunities in the creativity. For us, we discovered the need and value of having an emergency generator. So we’re getting one to be more prepared in the event this happens again.

For you during your COVID pivot, you may have discovered the benefits of marketing virtual consults to your patients. What you did out of necessity became a new practice growth asset for you.

These situations are good reminders of our ability to adapt and overcome. And even when you aren’t faced with giant setbacks – like practice shutdowns or crazy winter ice storms – you should always be ready to pivot and take advantage of new opportunities.

Doing “the same old thing” and hoping for the best isn’t a winning strategy. Keep innovating, keep leading the pack, and that’s how you keep growing.

After all, your entire practice and industry is built on creating new and better ways to solve big problems. So keep up the innovation.

Have an amazing Wednesday…

Troy “Never Not Innovating” Cole

PS – Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways we help refractive surgeons book more surgeries…

One. Leverage Virtual Consultations.
For all the bad that came from COVID, one arguably good thing is that it accelerated the adaption of home-centric consumer lifestyle.

Why is that good? Because people are now comfortable “doing life” from home – including booking virtual consultations with refractive surgeons! Practices who have properly introduced the Hybrid Model of Patient Engagement (Virtual Consults + Traditional In-Office Consults) are growing their surgery volume faster than ever.

With our Patient Prime System, we build your entire Virtual Consultation process for you. Reply “Virtual” if you want more info on Patient Prime.

Two. Fix Your Phones.
The highest leverage opportunity within any practice lies within their sales team, particularly on the phones. You’d be amazed at how much revenue leaks out of your phones by way of prospects who contact you, but never book a consult. We’re talking 6- to 7-figures a year.

Want to fortify your practice against this massive leak? Reply to this email with “Sales” and I’ll get you more details on how to identify your weak points on the phone (and how to solve them).

THREE. Mastermind with the Best in the Business.
Want to hear what’s working for world-class refractive surgeons across the country? Want expert marketers to review your ads, website and marketing materials and show your marketing team how to make them perform even better?

If so, our Refractive Mavericks Mastermind may be the right environment for you. Reply “Mastermind” and I’ll get you more details.