Building Lasting Impressions whilst Testing

Do you struggle to leave lasting impressions on your patients?
How will you stand out from your peers?
By being memorable, how will you even benefit?

Read time: 2.5 minutes

With the number of newly qualified optometrists entering the industry increasing every year, how will you stand out? How will a patient remember you and how can we leave a lasting impression?

It’s important to have a memorable personality in the testroom. This isn’t about being loud and extroverted but more about conscious self-presentation to the patient. Every optometrist brings a unique approach to doing a sight test, reflecting their individuality. If you sit in 3 different sight tests by 3 different optometrists, you will see 3 different ways of communicating, examining, and approaching the patient.

In an age where practices can be found everywhere you look, and the market is getting more saturated in certain areas, customers have plenty of options to choose where to spend their hard-earned money. More often than not, word of mouth plays the biggest role. We have had numerous customers come to our practice as they heard from their family member/friend that our staff are amazing. Customer service is the biggest factor in retaining and gaining new customers. So when a patient leaves your testroom feeling ‘wow, what an experience’, have no doubt that they will go home and rave about you to their families. You will continue to get repeat customers that will be willing to pay more, as long as you do their sight test.

It’s also beneficial for your professional career to have your own personality as an optometrist. As most optician’s have similar skill-sets, this is the only thing you sets you apart from everyone else. Gaining further qualifications such as medical retina, glaucoma etc is also of paramount importance, however this goes hand-in-hand. Employers look for optometrists who are confident, have good communication skills and can build a rapport with patients.

So how do we go about being a memorable optician?

This starts from the second you see your patient to call them in. You must have a smile whilst calling them in to your testroom by their name. This sets an immediate tone of comfort. Introduce yourself and as they come in, show them where they can leave their belongings and ask them to have a seat. Before delving into Hx & Sx, see how they are and their day is going. This instantly makes them feel at ease. As you go through your examination, make light hearted conversation with them. You’ll find they enjoy that those few minutes and will open up to you. Try and make the odd joke here and there (you can think of one or two and repeat with every customer!).

By the time you’ve reached the end of your eye test, you know so much more about the patient. This allows you to personalise your recommendation to them. You can justify each thing you suggest, with what you know about them. Your patient will feel that this was the most thorough and engaging sight test they’ve had. All because you took time to get to know them, make conversation and have a laugh. Your conversion will automatically increase as the customer now trusts you and knows your recommendations for them are tailored to their needs. Oh and you can do this all within 25 mins.

You can by now see that being ‘memorable’ simply means to leave an impact on your patient in a positive way. They should know your name (be sure to repeat it before you leave them) and that you’re there should they have any further questions. At times we just have to show and explain something simple. For example, if your practice takes fundus pictures, show them theirs! Show them the optic nerve, blood vessels and macula of their own eyes. For us it’s simple, but for them it’s fascinating and they will think ‘wow, my optician showed me something amazing today’.

We all have great personalities and if we don’t show that to the world, no-one will. Shine in your own unique way. Be the Optometrist that employers and patients remember for your confidence and ability to make positive, lasting impressions.

Hope you enjoyed the read! Send this link to the Optometrist in your practice who would benefit from this too.

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Until next week..