Selling elective refractive procedures

By: Nancy Groves
Ophthalmology

Demonstrating value, meeting individual needs win patients over

Whether a patient is interested in LASIK or in cataract surgery that may include an optional IOL to correct presbyopia, the approach should be the same।

"There are a couple of rules for the road that are really important," explained Shareef Mahdavi।

"One of them is that before you start talking about solutions as a provider, you need to understand the problem that they're going through," Mahdavi said। "The problem is more than just 'I can't see well.' You need to get to their specific and unique concerns."

Getting there means having a conversation with each patient about his or her lifestyle, work habits, leisure activities, computer use, reading—anything that helps you understand them.

"That's really important, and there isn't enough of that being done," Mahdavi said. "People tend to shortcut that step and want to go right into a selling mode, saying why the technology is really good or why that particular surgeon is really good. Typically, that's done sooner than it should be."

Patients want to feel special, and they want to feel listened to," Mahdavi added. "The counselors who do that well are going to have a lot less resistance when it comes to price and people saying yes."

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