Are you faced with responsibilities that exceed the amount of time you have in a day to fulfill those demands? All optometrists wear multiple hats and have to decide which tasks are most deserving of time and energy. Often we take the one right in front of us. Instead of prioritizing our responsibilities we are like the gunman who waits for his next target to poke its head around the corner so he can aim and fire.
If you run an optometry office, you know that many times you can get yourself in over your head if you do not learn to ask others for help. Like many of you, I have taken on too many responsibilities throughout the practice. To continue moving forward, we must learn the art of delegation.
Keeping up with today’s online presence almost requires a dedicated employee. The website needs to be constantly updated to keep forms relevant and online material current. Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ need regular input so that you remain engaged with patients and keep your office at the forefront of their minds when an eye care need comes up in their lives. Of course we do not want to forget the time and effort it takes to get you to the top of search engine results to keep the influx of new patients remaining constant. Eventually you will stop devoting the time necessary and your content and online location will suffer, or you continue to try to keep up with everything and experience burnout.
In an attempt to avoid both scenarios, I looked into investing in a company that would manage our online presence and social media. Here are 3 reasons to take advantage of what an outside company can offer:
- ROI (return on investment) – If your “per patient visit” (gross collections / full exams) is calculated to be $325, then to break even on your investment the marketing efforts would have to generate 1-2 new patients per month. As a seasoned veteran on doing it myself, I have found that my time is worth much more investing into patient care and staff management then website management. Being ranked in the top 3 places on web searches for optometric services should generate you at least 5 new patients a month. Do the math, $325 x 5 = $1,625.
- Expert Content – Many optometrists hire a company in their local market that “does it all” and therefore the content must be created and submitted by the
optometrist. When considering an agency to hire for managing your website and also managing your social media, consider one that already has all the content that you need. This will truly relieve you of hours of content development and your site will be run by those that know optometry. - Freedom – It is easy to get bogged down trying to keep up with all the latest social media fads and flavors. Technology changes so fast that it could become your full-time job if you are not careful. Delegating the responsibility to someone creates freedom for you to focus on your strengths. It also allows you freedom to focus on your business and clinical development.
Letting go can be one of the hardest things to do. I am slowly releasing the website and social media to iMatrix, a company who specializes in optometry websites and social media. It has been a difficult process for me to let go. However, I am finding the advantages are outweighing the benefits I thought I had in doing it all myself. Letting go might be the best thing you do this year.
