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Strong phone skills vital in attracting potential LASIK clients
Earning callers’ trust and sparking a desire to learn about the surgery boost the odds of getting them into the office, consultant says.
Most refractive surgery providers ineffectively handle initial telephone calls from potential LASIK patients and lose prospective candidates for surgery, according to a leading consultant.
 Shareef Mahdavi |
Basic communication skills can help practices to convert callers into solid clients, Shareef Mahdavi, president of SM2 Strategic, said in a telephone interview with Ocular Surgery News.
“Even the big, busy practices tend to not do it well,” he said. “There are a few exceptions, but most don’t exhibit excellent telephone skills. And even the ones that do it well, tend not to do it well consistently. And consistency is what this is all about.”
Overall, the worker who fields calls needs good communication skills.
“It’s up to the counselor, to the phone person, to be a good conversationalist and a great listener. These are basic communication skills,” Mr. Mahdavi said.
He based his observations on the Telephone Improvement Project, a 3-year survey of refractive providers’ telephone practices. Survey workers posing as LASIK candidates called participating providers to determine how well counselors describe the practice’s LASIK offering.
CareCredit, a division of GE Consumer Finance, funded the survey, and SM2 Strategic conducted it. Two years of results have been published; third-year results are expected to be released at the end of 2008, Mr. Mahdavi said.
Time to focus on the caller
Some practices limit calls to 1 minute or less just to get callers into the office, Mr. Mahdavi said.
“Calls that tend to score highest are in the 5- to 8-minute range,” he said. “But there are some exceptions, and if a patient wants to talk, you need to be prepared to talk.”
Establishing a rapport with the caller, gaining the caller’s trust and spurring a desire to learn more about LASIK are critical.
“These things are important to try to turn this phone call into more of a conversation because what we’re really trying to do on the telephone is develop a bit of rapport, trust, interest and motivation to want to move to the next step,” he said.
The worker handling a call should answer questions about the cost of LASIK and other important matters.
“The single biggest mistake most practices make is they treat the phone call … almost like just a way to get [patients] in,” Mr. Mahdavi said. “But that’s not appropriate, particularly when you’re dealing with something emotional and expensive like laser eye surgery, where people do have questions and they’re trying to determine whether or not they even want to come in.”
The worker taking the call should also ask open-ended questions that require more than a yes or no answer. Training office personnel in telephone skills is critical, he said, adding that handling calls effectively should be a key part of every practice’s business plan.
“We know that the outcome of the surgery is great,” Mr. Mahdavi said. “But having the LASIK experience depend solely on the outcome is not enough to build demand. Impressions of the practice get formed right from that first phone call.”
Scoring and feedback
Practices were scored on initial greeting, waiting time, basic knowledge of LASIK, pricing and financing options, and other elements. They were also graded on how effectively they informed callers about additional resources.
Survey workers called participating practices five to 10 times at various times of the day and week. All calls were recorded and graded. Results from the initial call and recommendations for improving telephone skills were conveyed to the practices at the midpoint of the survey.
“The feedback is extremely helpful to the practices because they get to hear in an unbiased fashion what’s going on, how the practice is being represented on the telephone,” Mr. Mahdavi said.
Workers made follow-up calls several months later, the report said.
On average, participating practices improved their telephone practices, but there was still ample room for improvement.
The average call score was 52.4 the first year and 57.8 the second year. However, only 45% of calls scored 60 or higher, the benchmark for good performance, the results showed.
For more information:
- Shareef Mahdavi can be reached at SM2 Strategic, 555 Peters Ave., Suite 100, Pleasanton, CA 94566; 925-425-9900; e-mail: shareef@sm2strategic.com; Web site: www.sm2strategic.com.
- Matt Hasson is an OSN Staff Writer who covers all aspects of ophthalmology. He focuses on regulatory, legislative and practice management topics.