Talking Money & Eyewear With Your Patients

Talking Money & Eyewear With Your Patients


When it comes to talking money + eyewear with patients things can sometimes get tricky. Depending on the patient this can be a conversation that is easy and just flows, the patient already has an idea as to what the prices may be and understand exactly what is going on, but let's be honest if all patient interactions went like this I would not be writing this blog right?!

I am sure you have been in the situation many times, patients come into the optical under the impression that their insurance COVERS EVERYTHING! NO CO-PAYS... but as we all know there is ALWAYS A COPAY! Now as the eyewear stylist you have to discuss $$$$ with the patient and go over their options based on their budget...

So how to deal with this scenario? โ €

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-๐€๐ฌ๐ค ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ $$$ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฌ... ๐›๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ž๐š๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ข๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž. Asking the patient what their budget is will always be a sure way to guide them in the right direction, think of yourself as their eyewear tour guide. It also takes the pressure away from the patient trying to guess the cost of every frame they try on we want to be upfront and guide them based on their needs.
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-๐๐ž ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š๐๐š๐ฆ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ค ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐›๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ž๐ญ, ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐š๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ซ๐ž๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ. If a patient says they want to stay within a certain price point, guide them to that price point. You don't want your patient to pick a frame that is outside their price point and then hate everything else they try, we have all seen that happen from time to time and everything they try one afterwards never compares to that frame.ย 
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-๐‚๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐š ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐š๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐š๐๐ž ๐›๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ $$$ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ. ๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ง๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐๐ž๐œ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง. You are the expert... pick out some frames for the patient ahead of time, not only does this make them feel special but it will also help the patient avoid decision fatigue. This also helps to create a custom experience so remember to make it your own and memorable.ย 
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-๐€๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐š ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐ฅ๐ž๐ง๐ฌ๐ž๐ฌ ๐›๐ž๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ง ๐›๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐œ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฉ๐ข๐œ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐š๐ฆ๐ž. The last thing you want to happen is for the patient to select a frame and then surprise them with the additional cost of the lenses which we all know can add up depending on the patients prescription, material etc...ย 
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The goal is for the patient to try on eyewear that fits their checklist of needs & feeling comfortable. Talking money and eyewear isn't always a fun conversation, but it will result in better communication with the patient, which in turn means trust & a better experience.

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These are some tips that have worked for me in the optical and I hope they help you too!

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