We work with a lot of refractive surgeons, and this baffling topic comes up rather frequently:
“WHY don’t more young people have LASIK?”
Because the earlier you have it (once your vision is stable), the more value you’ll get.
For example, let’s say you have LASIK at 20. You’ve got at least 25 years before you need to start messing with reading glasses. Which is a lot MORE time than if you get LASIK at 35.
(It’s a great value either way, but obviously the 15+ extra years of saved $$ on glasses/contact lenses and add’l awesome adventures is massive).
But most younger folks won’t do it. They delay.
Another take on this – people who come in for a consult, find out they’re a perfect candidate, but then just want to go “think about it.”
And then they just end up putting it off… and off… and then they come back 3 years later to go through the same cycle with you again (you know you’ve seen it…)
It’s like the Chinese proverb you’ve probably heard – “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
Of course it makes perfect sense to have LASIK when you’re younger and make the most of your TIME here on earth.
But for a number of reasons, many younger people either refuse to do it or don’t give it a strong consideration.
=============
Today’s message is not about when to make a LASIK decision.
This message is about the fact that most people don’t treat time like the insanely precious resource it is. Time is the one resource that cannot be replenished… but we often don’t act like it.
Yes, it’s silly for patients to wait years to have a procedure that would be so beneficial to them now.
But we need to turn that mirror on ourselves. What income-producing activities are we putting off in our practices and businesses?
- Hiring that additional phone team member so you can stop outsourcing your calls, bring your scheduling team in-house and provide a better patient experience?
- Deploying the SMS/Email technology and automations to help your schedulers be more efficient?
- Getting your team the coaching and resources they need to fill your consult schedule with high-ticket patients?
I periodically audit myself and our agency to see where we’re indirectly wasting time and/or opportunity (and I recommend you do the same for you/your practice). And then fill those gaps.
If it’s work that needs to get done (production gap), we’ll hire or bring in a strategic partner.
In instances where we have a knowledge gap, I’m typically hiring a coach. I’ve worked with multiple coaches over the years, and I just added another to help me with one specific aspect of my business. Rather than continuing to try to figure it out myself (delays, wasted time), I invest in the shortcut.
So in conclusion – we can’t get every member of Gen-Z in for a consult. But we can take actions to make our teams as effective as possible for the individuals who do come in to see us…
As long as we take action and waste no time. Because the second best time to plant a tree? It’s right now.
– Coach Troy