Contact Lens Spectrum
Issue link: https://clssupplements.epubxp.com/i/740958
c l s p e c t r u m . c o m C O N T A C T L E N S S P E C T R U M S P E C I A L E D I T I O N 2 0 1 6 53 THE BUSINESS OF CONT ACT LENSES GA RY G E R B E R, O D Dr. Gerber is the president of the Power Practice, a company offering proven and comprehensive practice and profit building systems. You can reach him at www.Pow- erPractice.com and follow him on Twitter @PowerYourDream. SHOW PATIENTS THE VALUE OF NEW LENS TECHNOLOGY C ontact lenses aren't free. But if they were free for patients, do you think the percentage of new patients choosing to wear them would increase or decrease? By a lot or a little? My guess is that there would be only a slight increase. Cars aren't free either. Yet, if they were, do you think more consumers would rush to a dealership to pick up their freebie? And if cars were free, do you think more would gravitate toward a Corolla or a Lamborghini? (No offense intended to happy Corolla owners, whether you paid for your cars or not). The point here is value. The price is only one component that consumers or patients consider when deciding to drive a certain car or to wear (or not wear) contact lenses. Consider this admittedly extreme and ridiculous example to help illustrate the point. Let's say a box of contact lenses costs Patient A $65, and you say to that patient, "These lenses will help you see things far away, up close, and everything in between, and they are comfortable." Patient B is fit with the same lenses at the same cost and is told, "These lenses will help you see things far away, up close, and everything in between, and they are comfortable. They will also create world peace, eliminate global warming (even if it doesn't exist), and solve the drought prob- lem in California. And if that isn't enough, you'll get that job promo- tion you've been hoping for after everyone finds out that because of you, all of the aforementioned problems were solved." My guess is that Patient A may get the lenses, and Patient B, once getting past the skepticism, would absolutely buy a 100-year supply. Yet, they are the same lenses at the same price. While the ban- ter with B's was nonsensical, it shows the power of how consumers make value judgments. And, as Is there a place for innovation in the value equation? Using the above equation, all things being equal, if lens X has a perceived higher level of innovation, which would be part of the "Quality" numerator, then the value would increase. If patients think that they are getting contact lenses that are analogous to flip phone technology, that lack of innovation would cause value to suffer. Therefore, if you desire to have patients understand the increased value of new innovation in contact lenses, it is essential that you and your staff make a point to communi- cate this information to the patients receiving the lenses! They won't know about it unless you tell them. It's no more complicated than that. As far as driving up the value equation by lowering price and maintaining healthy margins — and not impinging on the per- ceived bump that innovation adds to quality — rebates can be very helpful. Patients are effectively getting full-value lenses, with all the innovation trimmings, at a reduced price. CLS originally stated, value isn't simply about price! The Value Equation A very simple way to state the sometimes complex "value equa- tion" (whose simplicity will suffice for our purposes here) is: Value = Quality/Price In this simplified version, "Qual- ity" can be the actual quality of the lenses (comfort and vision) and the environment in which they were dispensed (customer service factors, such as friendliness, fast and on-time delivery when promised, ease of accepting payment, number of lenses per box, and so on). "Price" is simply the price. With this basic equation, if any of the quality factors go up and the price remains constant, perceived value increases. Similarly, if quality remains constant and price goes up, value decreases. I s t h e r e a p l a c e f o r i n n o v a t i o n i n t h e v a l u e e q u a t i o n ? U F P. 0 2 5 1 . U S A . 1 6