Posted on March 2, 2020 in General
Most LASIK practices rely heavily on new leads to grow their business, but when LASIK volume is flat month over month, it’s very common for marketing and sales (the refractive coordinator/counselor) to start pointing fingers. The person responsible for converting leads often claims that marketing is driving poor quality leads and marketing claims that the refractive coordinator is not following up on potential prospects.
At the end of the day, it’s critical that marketing and sales align to educate patients on the benefits of LASIK and ultimately grow procedure volume. So how do you do it? Here are five ways to bridge the gap between LASIK marketing and lead conversion:
1) Improve Communication
Is the LASIK team familiar with the marketing campaign that’s going out this month? Have phone calls and web leads increased because of the latest promotion? It’s never intentional, but a lack of communication between marketing and your LASIK team can lead to frustration and confusion for everyone involved including the patient. It’s crucial that both parties come together and have regular meetings to provide updates and ensure that they are delivering a consistent message and experience to the patient.
2) Set and Understand Goals
Every LASIK practice should have an eye goal for the month and year that marketing and the LASIK team are working towards together. With common goals, it’s easier to identify priorities, measure progress, and work together effectively. It’s important that tracking is in place and each team member understands their role in ensuring that goals are met.
3) Fix Any Broken Processes
A LASIK practice can have a great marketing agency and a great refractive team, but if any process in the patient journey is broken, you could be wasting marketing dollars and staff time. Examine the patient’s journey and identify any deficiencies in the process. Once you know where the problem lies, fix the issue as soon as possible. This alone can help improve conversions and improve the relationship between marketing and sales.
4) Report Back on What’s Working (Use Metrics)
Marketing may have a good indication of what’s working based on tracking codes and reports, but it’s imperative for the LASIK team and marketing to review campaign effectiveness on a regular basis and provide access to reports so everyone is on the same page. If a campaign isn’t working after an appropriate amount of time has been invested, adapt quickly and put your marketing dollars into a campaign that’s going to drive more quality leads. And remember that just because you think a campaign isn’t working, it doesn’t mean that it’s not. Look at the metrics and then decide.
5) Collaborate
While it’s hard for marketing and sales to admit it, both parties can learn from and help each other be more successful. Refractive coordinators are on the front-line talking to patients every day and understand their pain points. Marketing understands how important it is to provide valuable content to prospective patients and consistently engage with them to keep a practice top-of-mind and elicit action. So why not share ideas and develop content that may (finally) get that LASIK patient to take the first step to be FREE from eyeglasses and contacts?!
Billy Holcombe is experienced ophthalmology professional with particular expertise in LASIK marketing. Prior to joining Glacial Multimedia, Holcombe served as VP of Marketing at Eye Health America. He has also served as Director of Marketing at Thomas Eye Group. Holcombe now leads MDconvert – a custom program designed to help ophthalmology practices improve lead conversion. For more information on MDconvert, contact Billy Holcombe at billy@glacial.com or call 404-242-2992.
