Staff Projects For When The Doctor Is On Vacation

Dear Jerry,

It’s me again. I am going to follow the advice in your June 2 blog and take some personal vacation time when my practice slows down in June.

What are some good projects for my staff to work on when I am gone? I am a solo OD and don’t plan to have another doctor in to cover for me.

Thanks again,

Megan Sumrall, OD

Dear Megan,

Good question, as many doctors don’t do a good job planning productive use of staff time while they are out.

Here is my favorite staff project when the practice owner is off for a few days. 

1. Have your staff go through and clean up all your patient files. Flag those patients who are past due for their regular exams or eye health check ups.
2. Then, send those patients a letter or postcard telling them its time to
   come in. 
3. Finally, follow up with a phone call to those who do not respond in 2-4 weeks. 

This is internal marketing at its best. A polite, personal touch from your best phone person will get a lot of procrastinators to come in. 

Yes, you will get a lot of NO’s. But, the response rate doesn’t have to be great to yield good economic results for your practice.

Your Best Prospects Are Always Your Own Patients

Which reminds me of an important marketing adage. Your best prospect for any type of ad or promotion is always the person who has already done business with you.

Another way to say that is, when you analyze the costs of acquiring new patients through paid advertising, it's always more expensive to attract brand new patients than it is to get your established patients to come back again.

That’s why you always try to satisfy the patients you have now, at least the ones you want to keep. And, market to that group first. It’s cheaper and will yield a bigger response.

Best Regards,
Jerry Hayes OD

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