 to start collecting a different type of data. So the second thing I need you to start collecting is what I call relevant or situational data. My sales are decreasing. Yesterday after a full day of exams we sold one pair of glasses and had six people ask. Can I get my PD and prescription? Well first off Candice, I'm really sorry. I know that that feels terrible when you have patients walk out and ask for their PD and their prescription and just Sayonara. So we're going to do a few things. The first thing that needs to be done is you need to immediately start tracking the outcome and process of every single exam or medical refraction that is performed. Okay the worst thing that you can do is start making decisions off of perception right off of emotion. Sometimes we get into like super panic mode like oh my gosh six people ask for their prescription and we start going into like super freak out mode. Don't do that. What you need to do is start running data. Now it sounds like you're definitely have a very heightened awareness of it which is good because you were able to say you know after your full days of exam you sold one pair you had six people asked to leave. That's heartbreaking but you want to make sure that you are tracking your data. So make sure you're running things like your capture rate. Okay the next is we're going to start collecting a different type of data. So the second thing I need you to start collecting is what I call relevant or situational data. This is not something that can be performed or pulled from your EHR. This is situational only. This is the type of information that will reveal opportunity. So the data that needs to be collected is to know what was being recommended from the chair, who the doctor was if there are multiple doctors, who was the optician who picked up the patient, how far did the optician get with the patient, what was discussed, what did the patient ask for, what did they say that they were doing and why were they leaving. What was the reason why? Okay now we have a special university in month number what is it like five five or six yeah that addresses this and we give practice enhancers and these are like little forms that are used within the optical to identify certain walkouts and to make identifying the walkouts easier. These little forms are filled out by the optician and at the end of the day it's collected and tallied up by the closer and sent to management or to the doctor or whoever manages that stuff. The purpose is for the entire team to really reflect on what's causing the walkouts right. Sometimes we see it from just one or two opticians like all the other opticians have no walkouts but these one or two do right. Do we come down on them no no no no no no we teach that in Spexy University as well how to properly coach our opticians right but sometimes you'll see that it's not reflective of the optician at all but the doctor who might say something silly like you don't have much of a change right it's like total freaking toot yourself in the foot but the data that describes the situation can help to pinpoint the opportunity and remember nobody in the office is above change nobody the lead optician the doctor the receptionist nobody is above being better everybody needs to be changing all the time and then what was my last say oh yeah and then the last thing I want to say part number three is that I want to say in regards to figuring out why right this is the most difficult part typically when you have a person in front of you that just said that they're not going to do business with you right you don't want to look desperate like you're bleeding for their business so I'll teach you um but I encourage our members to ask so some questions again can make you look desperate right why why are you leaving or some comments that we've been told to give are condescending right oh you don't want to do that that's not the same as what you can get here or even more confusing is preaching when we say things like oh you have to make sure you're comparing apples to apples okay here's the reality that patient has no idea what the hell anything in our industry means and now you want them comparing apples to apples they have no idea I mean somebody coming on board in our industry has to learn pretty much a whole new language and we're asking our patient to compare apples to apples they're going to just nod their head give you a polite smile and walk out that door what we need to do is give them a non-threatening conversation starter type question so when you run into these situations where you have a patient who's asking for their pv and their prescription to leave don't preach at them inquire about it you might just learn something plus the inquiry approach will really soften your patient ask something that you know the answer no matter what way it goes you have control over something like okay well do you mind if I ask were we lacking the styles out in the optical that you're kind of looking for here what is so great about this question is number one that it's unthreatening and number two you can have responses queued up no matter which way they answer okay so let's say again you ask okay you know was there a certain look that we didn't have here that you were kind of going for let's say that they actually say yes right they're like yeah you know I looked before the appointment and there really was anything I loved again you can have it queued up and you could say gosh I know sometimes it's a C of all the frames out there what the look or color were you hoping for we might even have a few in the back that I can grab for you okay what you're doing is you're opening up the door because maybe legitimately your frame selection sucks okay or they have the perception again their perception is the reality that your frame selection sucks right or they saw some cute little model wearing a really awesome zinni frame online and they want that look okay not knowing that they can get that look here but most of the time when you have a patient that is taking their pd or prescription they are leaving because of price that's what's great about this question so again when you ask where did we not have a style or a look that you were going for they're often going to say oh not at all I was just told I could get a better price of glasses online right or I was told that I could get a better price at the big box store right that is most of the time why your patient is leaving because of price your answer to that when they say I'm leaving because it's better price you could say oh I see well we have some really inexpensive options that are rather comparable did you want to take a look have something that will get your patient looking if you can get your patient looking then you can give them the opportunity to be able to educate them on what you have most of the time when your patient is going somewhere else that's because again they have been told that they can get the same thing for cheaper online or in big box so if you can start a conversation and get the patient talking to you you can get them to the point of making an educated assessment right really comparing apples to apples or seeing the fit that you have and the styles that you have are telling them the story of the unique brands that you have but you have to do it without preaching to them