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Three Keys to Successful Patient Conversion
Overcoming fear, finances and customer service issues.
BY JIM BROCATO

Since the inception of refractive surgery, there have been three reasons prospective refractive surgery patients do not have surgery; fear, finances and a poor patient experience. Every day, thousands of prospective LASIK, phakic IOL, and now presbyopic IOL patients, walk through the doors of ophthalmology practices and fewer than 55% of these patients choose to have surgery.

Millions of dollars will be spent this year on direct-to-consumer marketing to reach these potential patients, but unfortunately, much of this effort will go to waste. Poor levels of customer service, coupled with the lack of understanding as to how to simplify the decision-making process can be a hindrance. Patients are looking for guidance, and they want you to help them with their decision.

How does a practice help the patient overcome fear and financial concerns? It may not be as hard as you think.

Let us first address fear and customer service. Most people are fearful of the unknown. The steps I will outline will alleviate patients' fear, endear them to your practice and ultimately improve your patient conversion rate.

Engage the Patient

The first step in overcoming fear is to provide the patient a "concierge level" of service. We need to remember that these patients have a choice, so you need to go out of your way to make sure they receive the utmost in customer service. The key to providing an exceptional patient experience is to keep the patient engaged in the process. Utilize multimedia educational tools to help educate the patient and to fill down time. I recommend patient education software by Eyemaginations. This program is interactive, highly visual and easy for patients to understand.

The next step is to make sure your refractive counselor is checking on the patient throughout the evaluation process to see if there are any questions that can be answered prior to seeing the physician. The refractive counselor should query patients during the evaluation process to determine the level of urgency they have in moving forward. Ask patients when they would like to schedule their procedure, assuming they are a candidate. This will help you identify any additional objections they may have prior to seeing the doctor. You will be surprised how many patients will actually identify and pencil in a surgery date.

The refractive counselor is the practice concierge; make sure he or she is actively involved from the beginning to the end of the evaluation process. The refractive counselor should be the first person a patient sees and the last as they are congratulated and walked out the door.

To ensure that your refractive counselor will have time to provide this level of service, you will need to make sure you have adequately trained phone staff. Recent studies show that this is one of the weakest areas of most practices. You should have a dedicated person to handle all refractive surgery calls, someone that has a similar understanding of customer service and knows how to get the patient to your office.

Why "Zero Percent" Works

Surprisingly, one of the most powerful marketing tools available is often overlooked: zero percent financing. In the refractive market, many practices still don't comprehend the ability of zero financing to maintain fee integrity while also encouraging patients to shorten their usual 6-month decision-making process so they can take advantage of a wise "cash flow" decision.

For many industries, zero financing has been a godsend. The same is true in ophthalmology, and if utilized correctly, it will make a big impact on your patient conversion rates.

Think about the buying decision from the patient perspective. Vision correction surgery for most is an elective procedure, and in many instances, the patient's decision is not only driven by the reputation of the surgeon, but also by the practice's advertising campaign, the comfort level of the patient and, of course, the procedure fee. Here, I will explain why zero financing can be a powerful ally in helping to increase your refractive volume.

Patient financing companies are providing valuable and convenient financing to LASIK, phakic IOL and presbyopic IOL patients, and for many practices, these no-interest financing programs hold the key to improving patient conversions. When seeking out a financing partner, a practice should look for one that:

►Proactively offers interest-free financing. Choose a company that uses patient-friendly brochures and clearly stated informational charts that call out the benefits of its zero percent programs.

►Has high approval rates, specifically for interest-free financing. Some companies use a "bait and switch" technique that advertises interest-free financing but then pushes a fixed-term loan with lower approval criteria. This reflects negatively on the practice and lowers the percentage of prospects converting to surgery.

►Integrates into your current office flow. Your financing company should help you maintain control of the patient. Walking patients through the financing process greatly improves your ability to schedule a procedure. Instead of waiting for the patient to call back after approval, they can be scheduled immediately.

►Offers on-line services with a quick approval process. Some financing companies now have special programs designed to provide higher credit limits to meet the needs of patients interested in the new presbyopic IOL technologies.

To take full advantage of the no-interest financing opportunity, refractive practices need to make the patient aware of financing options sooner and more aggressively. Too often we lose the patient during the phone consult for reasons we'll never understand. When we consider the average LASIK shopper, we find:

►those who can't afford to pay cash and are too embarrassed to admit it over the phone

► those who aren't willing to part with their cash

►those who are willing to pay cash and are merely seeking a practice with a good track record with LASIK at a good value.

Patients Welcome It

No-interest financing options show great appeal to all of these potential patients and help shorten their decision timeline.

So how effective is marketing "0%" financing? A recent study conducted with 30 refractive centers around the country advertised a limited time offer, 12 months, no interest financing. The result was a 32% increase in lead generation for the year.

I know there are still some folks out there who see zero-percent financing as less than ideal for surgeons, mainly because it usually comes with higher processing fees for the practice. Others say that these loans only wind up converting cash payers to credit customers. Let me answer those criticisms.

If you were to take a poll and ask surgeons if they would take a 10% discount off their usual fees to book a patient that day, I would bet that 90% or more of these surgeons would say yes. This being the case, why wouldn't the surgeon/practice offer interest-free financing up front to help close the deal? The "0%" percent financing is a marketing tool and should be treated as such. All marketing events have some cost associated with them and the cost of "0%" financing is a set fee.

For surgeons who are concerned about converting cash paying procedures into financed procedures, the number of such patients is relatively small. You have to remember that you are providing a service. Refractive surgery is a service business and as such we need to meet the needs of the patient. If zero financing puts them in a position to buy your product and be happier about the procedure, what's the harm?

These happy patients will not only talk about the great outcomes they received, they'll also let people know that the procedure is affordable. This simply opens the door for more patients that may have not considered the procedure due to cost.

Once your practice has committed to offering financing, you must successfully integrate it into your overall philosophy, marketing and patient processing.

Use Internal Marketing

Even if your practice has no advertising budget, you may still promote zero percent financing internally with success through staff training, in-office displays and on-hold phone messages. Train your refractive coordinator and phone schedulers to offer zero percent financing early during the initial phone conversations and consultations. Train them so that they are knowledgeable enough to answer specific financing questions potential patients may have.

The power of internal marketing is huge. Before a single dollar of advertising is spent, your staff should be completely comfortable and supportive of the "financing story" when presenting your patients with fees.

Although internal promotion won't dramatically increase the number of patients contacting a practice, when properly executed it will positively affect the decision process of those who do.

Train your phone staff on promoting your unique practice story and expertise. Phone protocol is essential to any successful practice. If you have no phone protocol in place, I encourage you to develop one immediately. Encourage your staff to respond to fee inquiries by saying: "Do you generally pay by cash, credit card or do you take advantage of zero percent finance plans when available?" This offers the patient an opportunity to learn more without being pushed into one type of payment option.

Create Effective Ads

Ads should focus on the patient and their needs. Remember, patients make decision for their reasons not ours. I continue to advise my clients that the promise of better vision and enhanced quality of life should be the main marketing message. Incentives such as zero financing should always be secondary, but they can still be prominent. Flexible financing is a perfect addition to print and broadcast media campaigns and need not detract from the main message of the advertisements.

Ideally, your patient will receive the main message of the ad while being informed that flexible financing currently available can make the procedure affordable. The message should emphasize affordable monthly payments and the fact that zero financing is available now, but may not be offered in the future.

Make the Most of Media

Small banners across the bottom or small "bugs" in the corner are ideal methods for pushing zero percent financing in the print medium. With radio, there's no visual stimulus to the patient so you have to state the message clearly and cogently, using action verbs to encourage the potential patient to take action. Avoid saying "Zero percent financing is available" when you can say, "Take advantage of our zero percent financing." By using an active voice rather than passive, potential patients are much more likely to act.

If your radio advertisement takes the form of a testimonial, encourage your successful patients to talk about how financing options make vision correction easy. For radio ads that have announcer "reads" and more elaborate creative advertising campaigns, consider adding an announcer tag with a pleasant spokesperson encouraging patients to take advantage of zero percent financing, quickly followed with a phone number and an action message.

Television ads lend themselves easily to the world of zero financing.

A small type bug should be displayed in a nonobtrusive way throughout the commercial, usually in the lower left or right corner. This message should be clear and concise: "Zero-percent financing available now" or "Ask about flexible financing options." Do not make the message too long as the type needs to be large enough to be easily read.

Not every practice has a dynamic Web presence. Most practices employ informational "billboard" sites, which give a brief overview of services offered as well as biographical information about the attending physicians. For billboard sites, I recommend the addition of a small icon with a simple label such as "Learn more about zero percent financing." When clicked, it should link to a brief overview of flexible financing options that are available and give the patient information on how easy it is to be qualified. You should provide a hot link to your preferred financing company so patients can apply for financing quickly and privately from their homes.

As with any marketing strategy you employ, a cost is associated with its offering. This cost makes sense as long as it generates patient volume. Comanagement can cost approximately 15% of your fee, contract pricing generally decreases your usual fee approximately 10% and credit card fees take 2% of each transaction.

Offering zero-percent financing or extended payment plans usually costs less (between 5-10% of the financed amount) than most other marketing strategies.

Improving patient conversion rates is really up to you. Like anything, the key is proper planning and execution. If you employ these strategies, you will start seeing your conversion rates improve.

James A. "Jim" Brocato is co-founder of PatientBuilder.com an online, advertising and marketing resource and a principal of Medical Consulting Group of Springfield, Mo. Jim has expertise in practice marketing, business development, practice operations and customer service. He can be reached at (630) 292.6156 or via e-mail at jbrocato@medcgroup.com.