HOT TOPIC A new look at old problems

The New Normal

A look at the new set of conditions, challenges, opportunities, and behaviors that will affect your practice

By Tom Bowen

It's like green eggs and ham … I hear it at lectures. And from clients. At the restaurant. And in the cab. I hear it from colleagues and friends from every industry. I hear it every day: “When will the economy get back to normal?”

The answer? Never.

That's not to say things won't get better. They will. Better, however, does not mean like it was. Realizing this is the first and most important step in staging your own personal practice economic recovery.

As the broader economy recovers in the decades ahead, there is a new normal—a new set of conditions, challenges, opportunities, competition, distribution, and consumer behavior that demands a new outlook and ways of both owning and operating practices. We'll look at a few pieces of that new normal and how to leverage the opportunities.

THE “NEW” PATIENT

The new normal starts with the patient. Note I said “the” patient—not “your” patient.

That's the first condition of the new normal. Every patient is a customer of hundreds of different providers, in every aspect of life. Take her technology life—phone, mp3 player, tablet, Internet, software, hardware, home, office, and car. Think of all the providers with whom she deals. She can and will replace some of them in the blink of an eye.

This is the new normal: You will not retain your customers or patients just because you're meeting their needs. It has to be MUCH more. But that's not all bad. Being in the middle of an all-out war for the customer gives practices provides an unusual opportunity to do the following.

■ Look more deeply into themselves and decide who and what they REALLY want to be for their patients.
■ Develop better, more effective strategies to teach that to them.

CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN

I recently spoke with a practice owner who is experiencing the first drop in revenues after five decades of annual growth. Some contributing factors—the economy, competition, and third-party issues—are not in his control. However, some are, such as patient retention and no-shows.

■ PROBLEM: NO SHOWS. The number one reason for a no-show is not that patients forget (though that may be the number-one fib); it's that they decided not to come. For some, that means other things came up that beat you in a contest of value for their time, money, or both. Other times, they decided to go elsewhere and didn't want to face the awkwardness of calling to cancel.

STEP 1: INTERNAL MARKETING. What can you do about that? Create an internal marketing piece specifically to reduce no-shows and increase retention rates. When patients make an appointment, give them a stellar new piece about 10 reasons why they've made that appointment (and, subliminally, need to keep it).

Teach them in this piece the things you'll do that are NOT “routine” and ways you'll ensure the future of their vision. Make reference to conditions discussed and documented during their last eye health evaluation and steps they can take right now that can impact their future vision.

STEP 2: PRINT TO PRACTICE. I'm talking about a full-on marketing piece the doctor puts in the patient's hand after every single exam when she discusses the next appointment. The piece also needs to be built into the extended dialogue between your practice and patients as you blog, engage via social media, and host website events. Highlight the same 10 reasons and points you address in the printed marketing piece.

STEP 3: RELATIONSHIP, NOT COMMODITY. The new normal demands that we go beyond simply providing a service or product consumers can now get anywhere and teach them to value the relationship. The more the competition and Internet commoditize the service and product, the more the new normal consumer will require you to substantiate your being their provider. It's not because they're being difficult, but because that's where the information age has led us.

STEP 4: COMMUNICATIONS GOAL. The goal is to take this simple, no-show/retention example and expand it into every aspect of the patient/potential patient communications program. One step is direct messaging that can expand your private-pay business (see sidebar, right).

THE “NEW' PLAYING FIELD

In the new normal, everyone is trying to add value to what they do because that's what the customer in the new normal demands. That's why the envelop keeps getting pushed.

And certainly, I'll one day be able to get a refraction online, right? Then I'll be able to order my lenses and choose my frame from every possibility under the sun, then have my new glasses delivered never having had to talk to a soul.

Are you kidding me? Absolutely not.

This is the playing field of the new normal; and the field itself is mind boggling.

■ THE QUESTION: So, the question consumers ask then becomes simply this: “Why would I hire you instead?” That is, “When so many entities are vying to replace you as my provider, and they are pushing the envelope in so many paradigm-shattering ways, why would I choose you?”
■ THE ANSWER: You hope the answer will be something like: “Because you showed me, and you taught me, the reason to choose and stay with you—that's why. You taught me to value the relationship within which comes the commodity (exam, glasses, contacts, treatment, surgery), rather than just the commodity itself.”
■ THE REALITY. Simply put, in the new normal, it's not about what people need. It's about what people choose. They can get what they need virtually anywhere, probably cheaper and easier.
■ BRANDING STRATEGY. You can't talk about the competition without mentioning branding strategy (see sidebar on previous page). Should you be branding your disease practice more deliberately?
How about your pediatric practice? Senior practice? Contact lens practice? Eyewear practice? Dry eye practice? Therapy practice? Taking a page of the Sears branding playbook, is it time for your own Kenmore?

THE “NEW” STAFF

The playing field of the new normal is not just the patient (or customer or consumer). It's also your staff. You have to provide more value there as well.

Case in point: A colleague lost an incredibly effective and valuable employee, longstanding in the position, who found the “perfect job” elsewhere. She could work three days a week and be paid full-time to do it.

How do you compete with that? You don't. Instead, you become more deliberate about your work culture.

Deliberately identify your work culture and let staff participate in defining and being part of the work culture to create an environment people simply don't want to leave.

Does that mean no one will ever leave? Probably not.

But it does mean they leave a lot less willingly. Maybe they still leave for the same pay for two days less a week. But could you have avoided their looking in the first place? Maybe you can't control why great staff members leave, but you do control why they stay.

Ask yourself these questions: “How can I make my practice more stayable?” and “How can I make the culture more of that place people love and want to work?”

RECOGNIZING AND RISING UP

So, what exactly is the new normal? It's simply recognizing and rising up to the need to be more deliberate (that's the key word here: deliberate!) about your results. We can no longer just hope things work out. In all categories of business, it's defining exactly what you want to have happen—in patient perceptions of value, profitability, human resourcing, practice metrics, etc.—then developing strategies that will get you there.

Sounds like a lot of work? Not necessarily. But even if it will take some effort to create new strategies for being more deliberate about results in the new normal, imagine the difference it will make for you, your patients, and your staff. EB

Tom Bowen is vice president of The Williams Group in Lincoln, Neb.