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(Cataract) Success is where prep and opportunity meet

As a Texan college football fan, it’s nice to see a team from the Lone Star State at the top of the AP poll again.

The University of Texas Longhorns have been in a football rut for over a decade. But starting last season (and continuing into this one), they’ve started to find their footing and build a dominant team.

Something interesting happened during their game Saturday night.

In the second quarter of the game, UT’s starting quarterback was injured. (Almost) anytime your QB goes down, it’s a problem. Especially when he’s a Heisman hopeful Quinn Ewers.

But the University of Texas is in a unique position because their backup quarterback is Peyton Manning’s nephew, Arch Manning.

Obviously this kid comes from good stock, and he had a fantastic high school career. But in his entire college career, he’s only taken a handful of snaps in 2 games. And both of those were last season.

Skill and ability are one thing, but the question is:

“How do you perform when your number is called?”

So Ewers goes down, and Manning goes in. And what happens?

He throws a 19-yard touchdown pass on his very first play.

Not a bad start. And not a bad finish either. He ended up completing 9-of-12 pass attempts, which included 2 more passing touchdowns. Oh, and he had a 67-yard touchdown run.

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Famed American IndyCar Racer Bobby Unser once said “Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.”

Manning has been preparing. Studying the playbook. Taking reps at practice. Hitting the weight room. Dialing in his footwork.

And when the opportunity arose, it was his time to shine. The moment was not too big for him.

Calm, cool and collected. He didn’t go out and do a good job. He absolutely put on a world-class performance. Why? Because he was prepared.

Every patient that walks into your office is an opportunity. An opportunity to:

Change a patient’s life
Coach a patient on how to make a confident decision
Help the patient from falling prey to lesser qualified practices
Create value in your practice, process and surgeon
Fill your surgery schedule
Create revenue for yourself and your practice
Convert patients into your Advanced Technology packages
Offer a patient experience so outstanding, they can’t help but refer their friends and family
Change their lives (yes, it’s worth repeating)

And in particular over the next few months, you will have plenty of opportunities to “take the field” with cataract patients.

Is your team fully prepared to seize these opportunities within your practice?

If you want to ensure they are, we’re launching our cATaract Conversion Masterclass tomorrow. This 8-week live coaching program is designed to give you all the tactics and strategies you need to maximize the number of patients booking an Advanced Technology cataract package with you (and yes, they’ll be recorded and you will have the recordings).

Our coaches are digging into everything soup-to-nuts that you need to be successful, including:

Mindset – The “Non-Salesy” Approach to Ramping Up Your Conversions
Rapport – How to Build it Fast and Make it Last
Common Objections and How to Stealthily Overcome Them
Build Iron-Clad Value in your Practice (show patients what they can’t un-see)
Optimize the Patient Journey – Save time and energy while creating a fantastic patient experience
Goldilocks Education Approach – Not too much, not too little
Inoculate Your Patients Against Choosing Your Competitors
Activate Your Referral Network (and Grow it at the same time!)
Creativity: The Hidden Key to Patients Investing in Advanced Technology
Establish Yourself as the Leader, Educator and Advocate for Your Patient

We have 2 spots left, so reply to this email if you want one (or even if you think you want one), and let’s figure it out.

If you have questions, send those too. All replies go right to my email.

The opportunity is there. Preparation is the question. Let’s get you ready to take the field and play your game.

Because that’s how we help our PATIENTS win. And when they win, so do you. 💪🏻

Go score,

Troy

PS – re: pricing – We don’t do cheap coaching here at LogiCole HQ. But depending on your pricing, 1-2 Advanced Technology patients will cover the investment. The rest is gravy. Deal of the century? Maybe.

PPS – “Troy, my team does good already.” Is there room to get even a little better? Do you have someone new on the team who could use a deep dive on all this? Do you want your team to have an injection of inspiration and energy to get through this busy season? Or even just a few more tools in their toolbelt?

Our philosophy is just 1% better every day. (Do the math on how that meager % compounds over a quarter or a year.) The moment you say “We’re good” is the moment someone else in your market hits the gas pedal and leaves you in the dust. Don’t fall prey to that thinking.

It’s Hunting, Election and CATARACT season…

When people ask where we go dove hunting for opening weekend every year, I tell them Abilene. It’s a small city about 150 miles west of Fort Worth.

But truthfully, we hunt in a tiny town outside of a small town outside of Abilene… called Noodle.

My dad’s friend from med school owns a big ranch there, and we get together every year at the beginning of dove hunting season to hunt, swim, and hear their wild med school stories.

In case you aren’t a big hunter, dove hunting in Texas has been mediocre the last 5 or so years. But this season, Texas Parks and Wildlife reports the numbers are fantastic.

The solid rainfall in the spring and summer created ideal nesting conditions for the birds to populate. Having just returned from our annual hunting excursion, I can confirm. The doves are everywhere.

It’s also the start to a time of year we commonly dub “cataract season” around here. Folks have met deductibles, and they’re looking to get their eyes fixed. Let’s take a look at those conditions.

While the current economy is meh, and the contentious election cycle isn’t helping anything, cataract season is still a huge opportunity for your practice.

Just look at the numbers:

Baby Boomers control half the wealth in the United States. That’s $76 trillion. Trillion with a TRILL.
That’s not all. They also have 70% of the disposable income in the country. And not surprisingly, data shows they spend more than any other generation.
Baby Boomers also retiring in record numbers, and want to spend their money enjoying life.

These three data points alone point to a big opportunity for maximum premium conversions this cataract season (and going hard on your RLE marketing, which is another email entirely).

The conditions are right.

Back to our dove hunt – my 10-year-old went with us for the first time this season. And he’s still learning to shoot a gun.

As I said, the doves were everywhere. And he shot plenty. But how successful was he? Not very.

(He had a blast mind you, just didn’t bag too many birds).

So consider this as you prep for cataract season. The patients are in your market. They need your solutions. They have the money to pay for them.

But if your team isn’t maximized on their skillsets – to build value, to connect with patients, to provide a top-tier patient experience, to overcome objections, to lead patients and empower them to make the right decisions – you won’t be as successful as you’d like.

Which is why we’re launching our cATaract Conversions Masterclass next week in our private coaching community for refractive and cataract surgery teams, The Green Room.

It’s an 8-week course presented LIVE on everything you need to attract, connect with and convert more cataract patients into Advanced Technology cases (hence the capital AT in the name).

Each week is a different theme, with Q&A time built in to get all your questions answered.

It’s designed to give you actionable tools you can use immediately to maximize your cataract conversions and the % of folks who choose to go with your advanced technology packages.

All of our private coaching clients will go through this, and we’re opening it to 5 additional practices who are interested in having an epic cataract season.

If that’s you, reply to this email and I’ll get you more details. We’ll see if you’re a good fit and go from there.

To a successful season,

Troy “Dead Eye” Cole

PS – Yes, that’s one of my nicknames. My dad dubbed me “Dead Eye” on my first bird hunt when I was 10, after I missed a bird on a point-blank shot. Thankfully I’m a bit better with a shotgun these days.

PPS – If you know another practice who may benefit from this, I have a small favor to ask – could you please forward this email to them? Just a quick forward with a “you might find this interesting” note would be much appreciated. I’m always looking to connect with new folks in the industry, whether we end up working together or not. Thank you! 🙏

Who is actually responsible for “selling” in your practice?

One benefit of working deeply with refractive practices across the country (and having a network of rockstar industry folks): we get a great vantage point to identify trends and arising opportunities.

And this is an advantage because it allows our clients to jump on good opportunities early and reap the rewards. And on the flip side, we can also see upcoming pitfalls our clients need to AVOID so they can continue to grow and be successful.

(Avoiding mistakes is often the more important of the two. Check out The Road Less Stupid, a whole book on this concept)

I’m seeing a common theme that’s concerning me, not so much with our clients but in other practices I talk to. And it’s time for me to sound the alarm…

I call it the “pigeonholing of sales.” Which is this too-common idea that sales within a practice happens in the confines of a small, specific department – the surgery schedulers.

(Some practices think sales has NO place in their office at ALL, which is WILD. Keep reading to find out why…)

For example, a practice will reach out to us to train them to book more surgeries, and we’ll talk about who on the team needs the coaching.

“Our patient counselors.” Yes, AND…? “Just them.” Therein lies the issue.

While these folks might have the most visible sales element to their job role, let me be clear:

EVERY person in your practice is selling SOMETHING.

They just aren’t selling in the traditional way you might think of selling.

“My phone team is in sales?” Yes they are, they’re selling a consult.

“What about my techs?” They’re selling your process and trust in it.

Front desk sells experience. Counselors sell dreams and logistics.

“Even my doctors!?!” YES, even them. They sell authority and confidence.

Of course I could go another 1,000 words on each of these, but you get the point.

EVERYBODY in your practice is selling SOMETHING. And each of these “sub-sales” engagements all drive toward the ultimate conversion – the conversion to surgery.

To do this effectively, you must check certain boxes. Each team member needs to know:

WHAT they are selling in their position
WHY they are selling it
HOW to sell it

And all that packaged in such a way that everyone is actually excited to do their particular sales role (not hesitant or anxious)

Do you see why “just give them a script” isn’t nearly enough to get your team where they need to be? It takes so much more than reciting the ‘right’ words…

Because everyone needs to be on the same page and everyone needs to be able to check those 3 boxes for their specific roles. 👆🏻

That’s what it takes to create a winning, dominant practice culture and brand.

And my hope is after reading this, some people are like “Ok, you made me think a little differently about sales.”

That IS the point. It’s the same “think differently” approach we take with our coaching clients, and it’s what we teach them to do with your prospective patients. (h/t to Apple)

A person may not be interested in working out, even if they know it’ll be good for them. BUT if I can help them think differently about working out… then make it easy for you to do… they’re probably in (or at least willing to give it a chance.)

So we need to help your team THINK DIFFERENTLY about their job roles and how it relates to surgery conversion, and make it easy for them to do their “sales” role. And you can book more consults and surgery.

We are preparing to launch our new Cataract Conversion Bootcamp, where one of the key components is diving into everyone’s sales role in the practice – the details on the what, why and how, AND how to be totally comfortable and confident in it.

For our current Coaching clients – this is included in as an elite member of our E3 Coaching Community. For anyone else, we’re opening up 5 spots for your team to come in and get a masterclass on cataract conversions over the next several weeks, just in time for Cat Season.

So if you are interested in one of those spots – if you wanna maximize your advanced technology conversions for cat surgery this fall – reply for more details and we’ll make sure you’re a good fit.

Go SELL something today…

T-Cole

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (musical lead followup)

Everyone thinks Kanye wrote it. Well, not everyone. But a lot of folks.

Yeezy released “Stronger” on his third studio album Graduation, which dropped in 2007. The familiar tune can be heard in commercials, sports stadiums and club around the world.

BUT….. West’s chart-topping track heavily sampled the original tune – a 2001 track from French electronic music duo Daft Punk – entitled “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”.

If you’d like a nice soundtrack to the rest of this article, click here for the Daft Punk original. Turn it down to a reasonable volume within which you can still focus, yet loud enough to bob your head along as we dive into this.

Now, let’s talk shop:

A couple months ago, we teamed up with Zeiss on an epic webinar covering the results of their 100-practice “Digital Lead Secret Shop Study.” (The most comprehensive secret shop study ever done in the industry, from what I can tell).

It was me, Mike from Glacial, Dan Haddad and Carol-Anne from Zeiss. Discussing the data, sharing takeaways and recommendations for booking more leads into consults.

And based on the data in that study, combined with our experience in this game for 20 years, Daft Punk gives us the best 4-word summary for success in lead conversion. Let’s look at the data and see…

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (by the numbers)

HARDER – You’ve gotta go harder on new patient leads than any other calls / emails / contacts you have. Meaning prioritize them.

The data showed 43% of leads received a response AFTER 1 business day, OR not at all. This shows a lack of priority.

When a new lead comes through, it needs to be highlighted, and a siren needs to go off and it’s a red alert until someone reaches out to them. Because your practice is fueled by new leads turning into consults. They’re the lifeblood of your operations. So make sure everyone is treating them that way.

BONUS: Magically turn digital leads into phone calls so you aren’t trying to track as many patients down from the web. How? I got a guy for that.

Dan Haddad (who did the research study with Zeiss) has a fantastic tool that converts web leads into phone calls for your team to simply answer – easy to plug n play for your practice, and super cost-effective. Let me know if you want more info on it, I’ll make sure you get the T-Cole special.

BETTER – if you wanna turn more leads into consults, it also takes better quality lead followup. According to the study, more than 40% of leads were NOT contacted personally by a human.

Not only should EVERY lead be contacted by a person, but it should be a high-quality interaction. Positive, high-ish energy (whether you talk to them or leave a voicemail). Engaging. Add value.

Importantly, lead the interaction. You are the trusted advisor, not them. We train on this ad nauseam in our Green Room Coaching Community – how to lead, how to regain control, how to make patients feel like they are in charge while you still guide them where they ultimately need to go, etc.

And we’ll get into it even more in the upcoming “Specialty Tracks” Leadership is KEY to more conversions.

BONUS: you want everyone getting off the phone with you thinking, “Wow, that person really likes her job, and wants to make sure I’m taken care of. That must be a good practice.”

FASTER – we touched on this in the “harder” section – speed to lead is crucial. Get back to leads within 5 minutes for highest response rates. Data shows after 10 minutes, there’s a 400% drop-off rate in connections with leads.

And if that’s not enough, 78% of consumers will choose the first business to respond to their inquiry. Yet another reason FASTER is BETTER.

BONUS: What about evenings and weekends? Pay someone on your team to contact those leads for you in real-time. (And Dan’s software mentioned above can help too)

STRONGER – Be stronger from an endurance angle. How many times does it take to connect with a lead? HBR research tells us that 80% of sales leads require five follow-ups after the initial contact, but only 8% of salespeople actually follow up this many times.

So you need to be have strength and endurance in your followup. It’s often a marathon, not a sprint. But people too often get hung up on the number of times.

Bonus: To make this easier, think less about “how many times” or “on what cadence.” There’s no specific magic number (6+ should be your floor in the first 72 hours). And cadence should always be multiple touches in the first 48 hours (including 2 texts and 2 calls) and then recalibrate from there.

When trying to connect and get leads scheduled, you’re better off focusing around accomplishing these 3 steps:

Connect with them somehow
What is their “Why now?”
Next step to solve for “Why now?” (Book a consult)

Thinking of it in this manner opens the box of creativity for you, vs sticking to rigid scripts on a strict schedule and wondering why they aren’t working. With our short checklist, it becomes a challenge and makes it fun for you and the prospect.

Because there’s no guarantee JUST because you contact them 5, 8, 10 times that they’re gonna book… especially if you sound robotic, boring and needy.

Alright, enough for today. Share this with your team and get in touch with me for more info on any of the resources mentioned here, or if you just want more toe-tapping electronic jams.

– DJ T-Cole

PS – If you want a recording of the webinar where we went over all this, reply “webinar” and I’ll send that to you as well. Geez I’m full of goodies today…

Comparison is the Thief of Sales

Got a knock on my door Monday from two dudes who look like they just came from a Trump rally.

I was curious, so I answered. Figured they might be registering folks to vote or something.

Nope. They were selling solar with a company called “MagaWatts.” (Yes I spelled that correctly). Now my interest was DEFINITELY piqued. I had to figure out how they came up with this (brilliant?) idea.

So I met with them Mon AND Tuesday. NOT to buy solar, but to learn about their sales process. And after, I made pages of detailed notes about word tracks, strategies AND things to avoid, all lessons and tips learned from going through the MagaWatts sales process.

SIDE NOTE: Yes, you can and should be learning sales / comms / marketing from other industries. From other political parties. From other practices. Did I really want to do solar meetings this week? Um no. But I knew there would be something to learn for myself and for our clients. So I bit the bullet and checked it out, and I’m glad I did.

You may have heard the Teddy Roosevelt quote – “Comparison is the thief of joy.” Well it’s also the thief of sales IF you’re comparing the wrong things.

MagaWatts did not try to sell me solar panels in the traditional sense. “Here’s a panel, you need 20 of them, they’re $4000 each, so you’ll pay $80k.”

No, because then I would be comparing the price of their panels to other panels, and that’s not the comparison they want. They also know I don’t want ugly solar panels – I want the savings and energy independence they provide.

MagaWatts want me to compare the price of their service AS A WHOLE to the cost of electricity and the fact that it’s going up year over year.

The whole sales process was geared around this comparison. What I’m paying for electric now, how that will increase, how their goal is to offset my usage by over 100% because then the system pays for itself.

They never even gave me a full quoted price in the system. Just told me what my monthly rate would be, and how that compares to electric prices (and how it would only get better since energy is going up). And it looked like a no-brainer.

Having a customer internalize THAT comparison is much more favorable to them than me comparing MagaWatts to other solar companies on simply a price-per-service basis.

This applies to you and your team. Are you letting folks compare you to other practices? Or are you establishing the parameters for favorable comparison?

You price vs another practice’s price OR your price vs the massive ongoing cost of maintaining bad vision?

The risk of something going wrong (infinitesimal) vs the risk of continuing to wear contacts (much higher).

The recovery time vs the longevity of the results.

Plenty of ways to draw comparisons that keep you out of convos about you vs other places, or your price vs their price. Or spending the money vs not.

And honestly, it’s your duty to give people better ways to draw useful comparisons. The way MagaWatts is doing it is the right way. Because that’s the smart approach to make the decision from a financial standpoint.

MagaWatts – while they have not sold me anything yet – did a great job of establishing the comparison they want me to internalize.

Share this with your team and think about your comparisons going into next week…

Troy

PS – I am doing a full live breakdown of this sales experience in our “Sales in the Wild” series in our Green Room Coaching Community. So if you’re a member, be on the lookout for the invite. Lots of gold nuggets for you, and I’ll show you exactly how to take and apply them.

How to actually present comparisons
A nifty rapport trick you can use virtually any time (in person) to instantly get someone talking
How to put on your detective hat and get a lot of knowledge from only a little info
Why you don’t have to be a “sales person” in the traditional sense and how one of the guys, the least salesy looking one, actually got me to open up
Buying analogies and support materials they used
How to prep for common objections and slap them down
When and how to use benefits (they did this well in certain instances, and totally flubbed it in others…)
And more