This past week, the American government shutdown.  [1][2]
 
President Trump couldn’t get a deal done.
The Republicans couldn’t get a deal done.
The Democrats couldn’t get a deal done.
 
Everyone blames the other.  All the while, military and other essential employees went to work and didn’t get paid.  Thankfully, a three-week bill passed for all the parties to try it again.
 
All the while, you have an eye practice to run.  Certainly, some of your patients are not thinking about an eye exam, as either they or their loved ones have been affected by the shutdown.  But no matter, everyone is a bit anxious about spending money.  Worries are high, and when your patients do come in, they might be hesitant to spend any money. 
 
How you handle this situation is crucial for your practice, so here are a couple of tips for you and your staff.
 
Don’t Take Sides:  No matter your political affiliation, you will gain nothing by criticizing the president or either party to your patients.  Have your opinions.  Be passionate.  Keep them to yourself.  Instruct your employees to do the same.  Nothing would be worse than assuming a patient’s affiliation or opinion.   Again, your opinion on these things matter, but eye care is about eye care…not winning a political argument.
 
Be Compassionate:  Again, no matter whose fault you think all of this is, be compassionate on those hurting.  If a patient is struggling or has family struggling, the only response is compassion.  Anything else comes across as insensitive, or again, taking a political side.
 
Assure Your Patients:  If cost comes up, remind your patients that you offer eye care and eyewear that are quality and as affordable as possible.  Assure them that you are for them in both areas.
 
Hopefully, this political mess will end soon.  Until then, be active in training your staff how to talk about it before you lose a patient. 
 
Gordon Duncan/ProSight Success

ProSight offers a host of services to support and encourage you.  We have:
 
Phone Consulting Services
Comprehensive Products for Your Office
Front Desk Training
Planning Your Year Services
Time Management Tools

[1] http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/20/us/five-things-january-20-trnd/index.html
 

[2] http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/23/white-house-fires-back-at-schumers-phony-and-bogus-negotiations-after-wall-funding-offer-withdrawn.html

​Amazon officially opened their cashier-less Amazon Go store to the public this week.  This cutting-edge store functions more like a smartphone extension than a dash and grab convenience store.  Amazon Go is described in this way:
 
To enter the Amazon Go store, customers download a smartphone app and scan a QR code to open a glass turnstile. Those shopping in a group scan the account holder’s phone once for each person entering and sensors will associate them with that account. From there, machines take over, watching the items plucked from shelves and adding them to a shopping cart. Shoppers are billed once they leave and if there are any mistakes or the customer isn’t happy with an item, you push a “refund” button to have that item removed from the bill. Shoppers don’t have to return an unwanted item to the store to get a refund.[1]
 
Amazon tested this concept for the past fourteen months with their employees, but after working out the kinks, they feel that their first-of-its-kind concept is ready for the public. 
 
These kinds of advancements shouldn’t be a surprise to the brick and mortar retailer.  Online retail continues to dominate, and service providers and service-related products are losing ground to apps and other options (Warby Parker anyone?).   Now, online is becoming a pseudo-retail hybrid leaving the local business owner not knowing which ground to take.
 
The real question is, “What does the service provider/retailer do if these types of hybrids grow?” 
 
The answer is to do what you can do best.
 
Hire only quality employees and equip them to…
Provide the absolute best customer service because online and cashier-less stores can’t do that.
Sell a quality product and make transactions as seamless as possible.
 
No matter what you do, doing nothing is not an option. 
 
Gordon Duncan/ProSight Success

ProSight offers a host of services to support and encourage you.  We have:
 
Phone Consulting Services
Comprehensive Products for Your Office
Front Desk Training
Planning Your Year Services
Time Management Tools

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-21/amazon-go-pushes-mediterranean-lamb-skips-the-chili-cheese-dogs

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Customer service in the world of the 2018 American winter is more important than ever.
 
Our headlines are full of winter hurricanes, mudslides, and forest fires.  In fact, I am presently writing this article at a Starbucks while watching the snow come down and a pileup being cleaned off the highway.  One thing I’ve noticed is that customers and patients rarely know whether their intended destinations are open.  When they are, they are thankful, providing they receive normal or above average customer service.  When their destinations are closed, they are angry. 
 
What happens in inclement weather is that there is a battle between the customer and the customer service.  Each has to overcome challenges.  Both want to feel appreciated.  When both are thankful for the other, customers and patients are appreciative and businesses are praised.  When neither feels appreciated, employee morale is low, and customers and patients begin to look elsewhere.
 
So, in light of the struggle, here are two tips for management and owners that will make a huge difference.
 
One, shower thanks on your employees for overcoming the conditions and making it to work. Provide breakfast or lunch or coffee or all of the above.  Yes, it is their responsibility to make it to work if the doors are open.  It is the management’s reasonability to create an appreciative workplace.  When employees feel appreciated, they appreciate customers and patients all the more.
 
Second, let your customers and patients know you are either open or closed.  Fill your social media feed with information so that folks looking will know whether to head your way or not.  If you are a schedule based business, call all of your patients and customers to let them know you whether you are open or not.  They will appreciate the extra step.  Nothing is worse than having someone show up at your door and all they find is a sign that says your closed.  You will lose good will.
 
The basics of customer service and running a business don’t change in inclement weather.  Let your employees know that you appreciate them and keep your patients and customers informed.  The businesses that do that always have an edge on their competitor.
 
Gordon Duncan/ProSight Success

ProSight offers a host of services to support and encourage you.  We have:
 
Phone Consulting Services
Comprehensive Products for Your Office
Front Desk Training
Planning Your Year Services
Time Management Tools
 
 
 
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Creating a day of discipline will enable you to be more a more effective leader, owner, pastor, writer, etc.  Let me explain.
 
Today (Thursday, but for you, it could be any other day) is a day that I specifically set aside not to run.  Instead, I begin my day with 30 minutes of deep stretching to ease out the tension and soreness from the week’s training.  This gives my metabolism a jump start without putting anymore pressure and tension on my body than necessary. 
 
I also know that there are 3 reports that I have to write today.  Other people depend on them.  They can’t accomplish their tasks and responsibilities without them.  Technically, they aren’t needed today and could possibly be turned in on Friday.  But by setting aside today each week to do them, I’m then motivated earlier in the week to finish the writing and work that informs those reports.  My folks expect these emails on Thursday, and that expectation enables them to schedule their work regularly.
 
Thursday mornings are also days that I plan meetings.  Whenever folks want to get together, I automatically know that Thursdays are an option.  But I always plan those in the morning, so that my afternoon is free to finish my 3 reports.  I also make a point to go to bed earlier on Thursday because I typically schedule my long run early on Friday morning.
 
Do my weeks always reflect this schedule?  Of course not.  However, with this template in mind, I accomplish a lot of goals and walk through a structured week.
 
How can you structure your week?  Are there specific tasks that you can set aside for a particular day?  Is there one day that you have more control of than others?  Try creating a disciplined day for just one month and see how it goes.  You may fall in love with the idea and become much more efficient that you could ever imagine.
 
Gordon Duncan
ProSight Success
Prosight Success Blog
 
If you want other ideas for time management, check out the book “Streamlining” as well as the planner that helps put the “Streamlining” principles in place.
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Starting and owning a business is lonely, hard work, and without support, it is easy to be discouraged. 
 
In the past 15 years, I’ve started four businesses and two non-profits.  Each has begun with great enthusiasm.  There was an initial idea that just wouldn’t go away that I had to act on.  As the structures of the business and the products came to place, my hopes rose, and the thrill of the first few sales and interested parties were like their own drug.
 
But of course, there were challenging, lonely moments.  Sales dried up.  No one seem interested in me, my mission, or my products.  Doubt crept in, and temptations to give up were frequent. 
 
Thankfully, with good mentors and a supportive spouse, I’ve been able to persevere through those moments.  Some of my efforts have been successful, others not so much.
 
The key, I’ve learned in the midst of the ups and downs, is to remain focused on my goals.  For the non-profits, I knew we were doing good.  I knew we were helping people.  I needed to focus on that.  For the businesses, I knew we were providing solid products and helpful services.  Educating my customers about those products and services, while tightening my procedures, were key.
 
What about you?  Do you ever struggle with the loneliness of ownership or leadership?  What do you do to remind yourself to persevere?  I encourage you to do a few of the things mentioned above.  Remind yourself of the good you are doing.  Double up your efforts to help others.  Focus on providing solid products and helpful services.  Educate your customer base and tighten up your procedures. 
 
No matter what, don’t attempt ownership alone.  Find a mentor or consultant.  Entrust your thoughts to an honest, supportive friend.  Just don’t go it alone.
 
And if I can be a help, please let me know.  Feel free to give me a call for a free 30-minute consult at any time.  I would love to be an encouragement.
 
Gordon Duncan/ProSight Success
919-412-8161

Additionaly, ProSight offers a host of services to support and encourage you.  We have:
 
Phone Consulting Services
Comprehensive Products for Your Office
Front Desk Training
Planning Your Year Services
Time Management Tools
 
​

I’ve written several times about the Warby Parker challenge to the local eye care professional.  For example, not only can you buy your frames online, but their upcoming app makes it so that patients don’t even have to see their local eye doctor anymore for a prescription.
 
Now, however, they are really stepping up their market share game.  They are opening retail locations.  That’s right.  That means your market share is dwindling again. 
 
I discovered this as I walked through Tyson’s Corner, outside of Washington, D.C., over the Christmas holiday.  It was December 28th, the mall was packed, and the Warby Parker store was jamming. 
 
Their space was bright, clean, and full of frame sellers.  Each walked around with a tablet ready to help you purchase (or order) frames.  And despite it being three days before the end of the year, they didn’t ask the dreaded question, “Do you have any insurance?” 
 
That question kills a sale because it puts the focus on money and not on fashion.  They were focused on putting their customers in the most beautiful frames they could offer.  They would get to the details later.  Oh, and guess what?  They weren’t selling cheap frames.  Most were around the $179 range. 
 
What they have done is this.  If you know Warby Parker online, then you know how convenient they are, so you go to their retail store.  If you don’t know them, they present a quick and efficient alternative to the typical eye care practice.  Amazon is moving in this direction as well.
 
So, the big picture, “What should you do?”
 
Today, just be the best eye care practitioner you can be.
 
Then, train your frame sellers to be sharp looking, educated, sellers.
 
Do everything you can to make your space clean, bright, and inviting.
 
Educate patients about the advantages of purchasing frames from the local eye doc.
 
And finally, out hustle the competition. 
 
Competing in this age is not going to be as simple as all the above, but those tips are a great first step.  ProSight Success will offer more steps to tackle the uniqueness of the eye care field in 2018.  We are glad you to assist you.
 
Happy New Year.
 
Gordon Duncan is the CEO/Consultant of ProSight Success.  He has worked in the eye care industry for nearly 20 years.  He has consulted in the medical field, manufacturing, accounting, and many other disciplines. 
 
ProSight offers resources to put you back in control of your practice. 
 
P.S. ProSight Success has a 7-volume playbook to put all of these things in place.  Typically, this resource costs $199.  I have cut its cost 50%.   You can purchase the ProSight Success System in paperback for $100. 
 
P.S.S.  If you can’t afford these investments, ProSight offers a free e-book to get you started.  Just go to www.profitableeyecare.com to get your copy
 
​

​Lots of my articles are about increasing sales and growing eye care practices, but if you don’t own the practice, why should you care?
 
In fact, some of you don’t even have a profit share.  You get a straight salary.  If you improve frame capture rates, train the staff the keep your chair full, and make sure to emphasize a year supply of contacts, all you are doing is making someone else rich, right? 
 
I would encourage you not to think that way.  Here are a couple of reasons.
 
Patients Know How Much You Care – That may sound like a cliché, but most clichés endure because they are true.  If you care for your patients like you own the practice, like their well-being is your well-being, your patients will know.  If you don’t take that approach, your patients will perceive the distance.  Additionaly, this distance will hinder patient loyalty to you and the practice.  Ultimately, your reputation as an eye care provider is at stake.
 
Being an Employee is the Best Training Ground for Ownership – Seriously.  Learning how to maximize the patient per revenue numbers, capture more frames, and sell a year’s supply of contacts is only going to make you a smarter owner.  Ownership is a great goal.  Being an active employee will help you take advantage of the opportunity when it comes it your way.   
 
Start the year off by pledging to be the best eye care professional possible.  Learn the profession.  Care for your patients.  Grow your practice.  Invest in yourself.  Go home with integrity.
 
Happy New Year.
 
Gordon Duncan is the CEO/Consultant of ProSight Success.  He has worked in the eye care industry for nearly 20 years.  He has consulted in the medical field, manufacturing, accounting, and many other disciplines. 
 
ProSight offers resources to put you back in control of your practice. 
 
P.S. ProSight Success has a 7-volume playbook to put all of these things in place.  Typically, this resource costs $199.  I have cut its cost 50%.   You can purchase the ProSight Success System in paperback for $100. 
 
P.S.S.  If you can’t afford these investments, ProSight offers a free e-book to get you started.  Just go to www.profitableeyecare.com to get your copy

Happy New Year!  I hope your holiday season was enjoyable for your family.  I also hope that the past week was profitable for you as a company. 
 
I imagine you hoped those things as well.  Did those hopes come to fruition?  Did you enjoy your time with your family?  Was your week (and year) profitable? 
 
The two are related.  When our personal life is healthy, we work more joyfully.  When our professional life is profitable, we enjoy our families more.
 
Knowing these things to be true, the real question for the New Year is, “What are you going to do to achieve the highest joy and the highest career satisfaction?”  We offer this encouragement:  Plan your days to align with your goals.
 
Take some time and design what you want your life and work to look like.  Then align your life around those goals.  Follow the “Streamlining” pattern.  Take time each day to:
 
Reduce – These are planned times when you focus on one singular, important task at a time.  You will get so much more done when you reduce distractions.
 
Reuse – These are planned times when you multi-task on things that you can do at the same time.  For example, meet your goals of exercising and listening to podcasts by doing them simultaneously.    
 
Rest – Even if it is for 15 mins, plan moments in your day where you can rest.  Remove all distractions, nap, walk, just do whatever it takes to find rest so you can be the best you.
 
Doing these things will transform your personal life and your practice. 
 
ProSight Success offers two resources to help you accomplish these plans.  The first is our book “Streamlining” which, until now, has only been offered as part of the 7 part ProSight Success System.  But for the New Year, we are offering “Streamlining” in e-book format for $19.99.  Get your copy here.
 
Additionaly, we have created the “Streamlining” planner which enables you to plan your days with the Reduce, Reuse, Rest pattern.  This great planner is fully customizable and is also $19.99.  Grab your copy here.  Once you order yours, if you email us proof of purchase, we will email you a digital copy of the “Streamlining” book for free.
 
However you approach the New Year, we hope you find great joy with your family and with your profession.
 
--
 
Gordon Duncan is the CEO/Consultant of ProSight Success.  He has worked in the eye care industry for nearly 20 years.  He has consulted in the medical field, manufacturing, accounting, and many other disciplines. 
 
ProSight offers resources to put you back in control of your practice. 
 
P.S. ProSight Success has a 7-volume playbook to put all of these things in place.  Typically, this resource costs $199.  I have cut its cost 50%.   From now until the end of the year, you can purchase the ProSight Success System in paperback for $100. 
 
P.S.S.  If you can’t afford these investments, ProSight offers a free e-book to get you started.  Just go to www.profitableeyecare.com to get your copy
 
​