I have a lot of kids. I asked them the other night, “What should we eat for dinner?” One of them said, “Ice Cream!”
Why? Why would she say something that bizarre?
Because she’s a little kid who has no knowledge of nutrition or health. To put it simply, she’s uninformed. So she goes with what she knows – “Ice cream tastes good!”
And this is why her opinion of what we should eat for dinner is so ridiculous.
Your prospects are in the same boat. They are under-informed when it comes to choosing a LASIK (or other elective) surgeon. It’s not something they have learned how to do.
Your prospects aren’t dialed into the most important criteria. They’re ignorant. (That’s not an insult, it’s literally the definition of the word ignorant – lacking knowledge or awareness.)
So what do they do? Same thing my daughter does – they go with what they know.
What do your prospects know? Money. They have some understanding of money. And so that’s the criteria they use to make their decision. “This doc is cheaper than that doc. They both seem pretty good, so I’m going with the cheap one.”
It probably doesn’t surprise you that my young daughter voted Ice Cream for dinner. And it shouldn’t surprise you when your prospects attempt to make these same types of bad decisions.
Left unattended, under-informed prospects will formulate their own bad opinions and make poor choices based on those opinions.
And because you are the subject matter expert, the authority, the person responsible for helping them… YOU CAN’T LET THEM DO THAT.
So if someone calls and says, “How much is LASIK?” and you say “It’s $3900 for both eyes,” You’ve just done a disservice to yourself and to that prospective patient, who is probably never coming in to your practice.
Your team must educate. Ask questions. Push back. Teach prospects how to think about this unfamiliar decision. This is your job. No one else is going to do it for you. The prospect can’t possibly do it themselves. The responsibility falls on you.
Stop allowing your prospects to eat ice cream for dinner. Stop allowing your prospects to formulate their own garbage opinions that lead to bad healthcare decisions. Step up and take responsibility for them.
Yes, this leadership approach will increase your surgery volume. But even more than that, it’s your moral obligation to your patients.
- Troy “Cookies n Cream” Cole