Practical Steps to Recession-Proof Your Optometry Practice and Set Your Mind at Ease
With financial upheaval continuing, it’s natural for business owners to feel anxious, and that certainly includes the owners of optometry practices. But should you be worrying? And what can you actually do with that worry?
We’re going to take a look at navigating choppy financial waters and how to get your optometry practice in ship-shape for whatever comes your way.
Are we really in a recession?
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First things first: are we even in a recession?
It’s a tricky question to answer, and there’s not complete consensus among economists about what really constitutes a recession. The National Bureau of Economic Research (tasked with keeping an official timeline of business cycles in the United States) looks for a “significant decline” in the economy that affects many segments of the economy, and which lasts for more than just a couple of months.
However, the relevant question for business owners isn’t necessarily “are we in a recession?” but “is my business being impacted, or is it likely to be soon?”
Looking at the business world, where having a pulse on the economy is essential to success, can give small business owners an idea of which way the wind is blowing.
It turns out that the C-suite is getting ready for stormy times ahead. According an October 2022 article by NPR, it’s “almost impossible to find a CEO who isn’t bracing for a recession.” Even though the CEOs interviewed in the article were mostly hopeful the downturn would be mild, they were still taking steps to prepare.
In the end, it doesn’t really matter whether or not the United States economy has “officially” passed a threshold for a recession. People are feeling financial pressure, bracing themselves for economic uncertainty, and spending less money in certain areas.
Recessions are just as much psychological as they are numerical. That’s why economists track consumer confidence in the economy so closely; even if the financial situation is rosy, consumer wariness can mean lean times for businesses. With economic uncertainty on the horizon, small business owners, including owners of optometry practices, should have a plan in place.
How can optometry practices prepare for a recession?
So what can your business do in the face of these headwinds? Is there such a thing as an “optometry recession?”
The good news: there are steps you can take and mistakes to avoid. While you may not be able to mitigate the impact entirely, you can still prepare to weather any headwinds and come out stronger on the other side.
Examine your patient portfolio.
First things first: Take a look at your practice’s patients. Understanding your patient base will help you know what next steps to take.
Look at how your patient pie chart break down between these three categories:
- Patients who pay out of pocket for optometry services.
- Patients who have private medical insurance for eye care.
- Patients who use Medicare or Medicaid exclusively or primarily.
If you serve a large percentage of low-income and insurance-based patients, your practice may be positioned well to weather an economic downturn. That’s because even if these patients are feeling the squeeze in their personal budgets, they’ll still have the resources to access eye care and other health services through their insurance plans.
Taking a look at your mix of patients, as well as how much out-of-pocket expenses your patients who partially use insurance pay, can help give you an idea of how tighter budgets may affect your practice. If your practice has data from the recession of 2007 to 2009, this can also help give you an idea of what to expect.
Additionally, recessions don’t affect everyone equally. Customers who have a high net worth or who are considered “mass affluent” may not feel the pressure at all. This can be reassuring for high-end practices.
Lean into (little) luxuries.
This might be counterintuitive, but hear us out: During a recession, many people will actually be more likely to seek out small luxuries. These little treats can help people feel good and cope with larger financial pressures. (Maybe that dream vacation will have to wait a little longer, but a fancy latte or a new novel can brighten the afternoon.)
Of course, when taken to the extreme, this behavior can be problematic. However, the services your optometry office provides are important for your patient’s health, and neglecting eye health comes at a cost, too.
So how can you make a necessity feel like a luxury? How can you help your patients feel good about the money they are investing in their eye health, rather than stressed about another bill to pay?
Consider how you can create a VIP experience within your office. Brainstorm small ways you can provide a luxurious, relaxing experience to your patients. You want it to feel more like walking into a beautiful jewelry store and less like walking into a big-box retailer.
Ideas for creating a luxurious, serene environment for your optometry practice.
We’ve noticed that some practices put a lot of thought into creating a great environment when they first open, but forget to refresh as time goes on.
Has it been a while since you last considered the patient experience? We’ve got a few ideas for you to consider. Choose one or two to get started, or come up with your own, all with your practice’s budget, client base, and your own personal preferences in mind.
- Maintaining adequate staffing so that patients and customers are greeted and served quickly. You want your staff to be able to offer timely service to a patient with a warm smile, or quickly attend to a customer who wants help looking at frames. (There’s nothing more heartbreaking than someone who comes in shopping for eyeglasses… then leaves before your desk staff has time to help them and get the sale.) People are the heart of any practice.
- Offering beverages. Whether that’s a water dispenser, a mini-fridge with sparkling water, a single-serve coffee machine with options for tea and cocoa, or whatever you think your patients would prefer.
- Swapping out any dated or faded posters or advertisements. That 2015 Ray-Bans poster bleached by the sun? Gone. New artwork and judicious use of advertisements can breathe new life into your space.
- Replacing outdated reading materials with new magazines or coffee table books. Think about your patient portfolio and what their interests might be. Look for local publications that celebrate your community and reinforce your value as a local business.
- Creating a calming atmosphere with warm lighting and soothing sounds. This could be gentle instrumental music played at a low volume, or a tabletop fountain, which can be purchased for less than $100.
- Refreshing your office interior with new paint and comfortable furnishings, or swapping out harsh fluorescent lighting for something softer.
- Providing an area with clean, new toys for children to play with in order to help kids and parents have a positive, less-stressful experience. (Creating a separate area can also make the rest of your waiting area calmer for customers who may not have children along.)
- Ensuring your office is clean and tidy. If you contract with a building service contractor, you can review your contract and ensure the service level agreement is being met or exceeded.
These changes don’t have to be expensive. Your office staff can helpful with this process, too! After all, your practice is also their workplace, and making it a space they enjoy will also help improve your employee’s time at work. It can also help improve their sense of investment in the practice.
Think creatively about how you can put your customers in a relaxed frame of mind where they’re ready to invest in their eye health or personal appearance, rather than feeling harried and ready to head home.
Tap into your list.
One of the smartest moves you can make is to focus on recurring revenue from your patients. Is someone overdue for an appointment? Can you reach out to schedule one, rather than letting it linger on their to-do list? Many people appreciate these reminders, which take the burden off their own mental to-do list to remember to call and schedule.
Email and text reminders to book an exam can be a simple, low-cost way to increase return visits.
You can also provide your office staff with a list of overdue customers to call when the practice is slow. A one-on-one phone call can be an appreciated personal touch. This is another benefit of ensuring adequate staffing.
Review your marketing strategy.
In lean times, marketing can be the first line item to be cut for small businesses. But be careful what you cut.
Of course, you may think we’re a little biased, but hear us out. We have the benefit of experience, and we’ve seen smart marketing be a lifeline for small businesses during economic uncertainty.
The importance of using your data.
You should have a wealth of data at your fingertips on where traffic to your website is coming from. (If you’re doing advanced tracking, you may have similar data for leads and phone calls, too.) So now’s the time to scrutinize that data. What’s delivering a good return on investment? Those items could actually hurt your business if they’re cut.
The answer here is not to just leave everything as-is and hope for the best, but to really review the data and see what’s working for your office. After all, you began investing in advertisements for a reason; being penny-wise and dollar-foolish can cost you in the end.
So many businesses have so much data at their fingertips from their website, social media, and email marketing… but don’t ever review it. Some may not even know how to access it, or be aware of how granular the analytics on your website probably already are. Know how to analyze this data that your practice already owns.
Target the right audience.
Combine the data you have with the strategy you’ve created based on your current and ideal patient portfolio. Are there certain types of customers you want to attract? Advertise intelligently to
Take advantage of bargains on advertising.
In fact, we’ve noticed another trend here. When big companies pull back on spending on ads, as we’re seeing right now in certain industries, it drives the cost of ads and impressions down on the ad marketplace. Your clicks and impressions may get cheaper.
Now, it doesn’t make sense to buy ads if they aren’t working for you, no matter how good the deal is. Optometry practice owners should review their data and find the channels that are working well for their practice.
The bottom line for optometry practices bracing for a recession? Prepare, don’t panic.
There is great news here. Ultimately, most optometry practices should be fairly isolated from a mild (or even a severe) recession. And there are steps that you can make to help.
To recap, during this time, focus on your most profitable demographics and continue to build on fundamentals:
- Focus on building a great practice. This will always, always help your business thrive in the end. Return patients, word-of-mouth referrals, employee retention: all of these things naturally improve when your business is solid.
- Provide great service that leaves your patients feeling well cared for. Offer a warm, welcoming environment that creates a calm space for them to invest in their eye health.
- Determine your most profitable demographics and spend time and effort targeting them. Build a balanced portfolio that offers stability when any one type of client is reducing spending.
- Hold your marketing accountable. Look at the channels providing real return on investment and leverage them to keep your business healthy.
As businesses of all types continue to navigate uncertain financial times, we hope your optometry practice will thrive. After all, eye care is an essential element of health.
Want help recession-proofing your optometry practice?
If you want help creating a strategy for success, we’d love to talk. We can work with your budget to create a data-based strategy to maximize your success and position your practice to thrive.