 Hello and thanks for reading my article in Envision Magazine this month. I wanted to dive a little deeper into the success that we're finding when it comes to equipping our team with the right things to say. We run into patients all the time who will say things like, well, I thought my insurance covered a full pair and I didn't have to pay anything. Or why are you so expensive here? Or can I just get my prescription? I'm gonna go online. We hear these things all the time, right? Well, our response is typically some version of sure or a defeated agreement of sorts that we're just like, oh, okay, yeah, I guess you can have your prescription. And honestly, in its worst form, we'll start to cause doubt in ourselves, right? We'll start to think, well, are we priced too high? How am I supposed to compete with those prices? I don't want to lose patience. We get sort of this doomsday effect going. Well, if we really hone in on what our patients are actually saying and equip ourselves with some comebacks or queued up really great responses to keep the conversation going, not only will you be able to keep the patient from shutting everything down, but you can capitalize on the conversation enough to keep the patient interested and ultimately have the opportunity to sell them on a pair of glasses later. Now, here is where most of our offices really are missing the boat with these two things. Number one, we often avoid taking a hard look at things that suck to see how we can even improve them. No, thanks. No one likes hearing that a patient is taking their business elsewhere or that they're complaining about our pricing. It makes us feel like failures and the easy trap to fall into is blaming the patient. That would look something like this. Well, you pay for what you get or hope they'll be back or they'll regret it, right? The alternative is to point the finger at ourselves and ask, what can I do to change how the situation ended up? It's easy to come up with an excuse of, oh, well, they said they can't afford it. Is that really what they said or did they say that you were expensive so they don't really see the value? This is hard for many of us as humans, right? Those that reflect on these moments to learn and try to become better are those types of people that can adapt to situations and take the role of, you know what? I'm here to learn. I'm always learning. And that's so much of what the success is in this field, yet some of us really get stuck in a rut when we stop learning. When you're able to reflect on these things and you create solutions, it will take time to become really great at it, right? You'll feel dumb for a while. You'll stumble over your words that you're using because they're new words and new ways of talking. But this is how you make it perfect. The best way to implement these new skills is with the team, which brings me to my second part of what we're missing the boat on, empowering the whole team to know what to say to these patients. When you do that, you can all practice it together. You can hold each other accountable, right? And you won't run into the issue of Sally at the front desk messing it up for all of us because she wasn't taught the best way to keep the patient engaged. Is it really their fault? Not really. We have to teach everyone. And when they say they are just here for an exam or I just want what my insurance covers, Sally will have a response. Having an entire team that's equipped to address your patient's objections and answer the really hard questions is transforming our member opticals. Now, people in our industry are super smart and you can probably come up with your own methods and responses and implement them into your office. However, if you're looking to save a little time, you can access the amplified optical course that I've been referring to through this whole thing. And you can do it right now. Why? Because it's included in your office's Spexy Plus membership. And if your office does not yet have a membership, check it out. It's only $34 a month for the entire office and we never have contracts. You just stay as long as you love us. So thank you for joining me today. Reach out with any questions that you have. We love being able to help. I'll see you next time.