Training Staff To Make Contact

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I am an optometrist at Griebenow Eyecare in Wisconsin, a private practice with three doctors and two locations (Clintonville and New London). It’s a busy primary eye care practice in which we treat all ages, from infants to centenarians, within a largely working-class demographic, and we are still a Medicaid provider. Our mission is to always do right by our patients by providing them high-value care.

Currently, contact lenses represent around 25% of our overall business. My team and I believe that by improving our patients’ quality of life through contact lenses, we will build loyalty, repeat business, and word-of-mouth referrals. If we give them an attentive lens-fitting experience (and solve their visual problems in the process), then they are most likely going to purchase their contacts through us. The contact lens fit gives us an opportunity to solve a pain point. If the patient shows signs of dry eye disease, for example, I’m going to prescribe a daily disposable lens that is better suited for patients with dry eye. If the patient is in their mid-40s and frustrated by the early stages of presbyopia, I’ll recommend a multifocal contact lens. And, contact lens patients still need glasses—market research has shown that as a group, contact lens wearers are more likely than non-wearers to return annually for examinations and even book follow-up appointments.¹

KEY INSIGHTS IN THIS ARTICLE

My partners, staff, and I have grown our contact lens business over time, thanks in part to the comfort and performance of advanced technologies that offer value to our patients. But, we’ve also learned to simply ask every patient if he or she is interested in contact lenses. This approach may sound cliché at this point, but it bears repeating, because we still meet new patients who think they aren’t candidates for contact lenses for various reasons.

A TEAM APPROACH TO REINFORCE CONTACT LENSES
I’m a big proponent of involving the clinical staff in educating patients about contact lenses; it’s proven quite successful for us. Since patients interact with several staff members before they get to me in the exam room, I should not be the first person who mentions contact lenses to them. To facilitate their patient conversations, we’ve trained our staff to ask each patient about their interest in contacts at every encounter. The first conversation takes place when the patient walks through the clinic’s door, and the last one occurs at checkout. Some examples of our touchpoints include:

• When the patient calls to make an appointment, the person answering the phone asks, “Do you wear contact lenses? Do you have any interest in wearing contacts?”
• When the patient checks in at the front desk, the staff member asks again, “Do you wear contact lenses, or do you have any interest in wearing them?”
• During the pretesting period, the technician asks, “By any chance are you a contact lens wearer, or are you interested in contacts?” Or, if the patient already wears them, the question is, “Are you having any trouble with your contacts that you’d like to discuss with the doctor?”
• With the optician when they’re trying on or ordering glasses, “Have you talked to the doctor about contact lenses for activities when you won’t want to wear glasses?”
• When the patient is checking out, the front desk person asks if they’re all set with their contact lenses or if they need any further assistance with ordering, etc.

Our inquiries are not pushy; we’re simply mentioning the option of contact lenses at multiple times during the visit so that patients have a chance to consider the idea. We stress that most people are candidates for contact lenses, regardless of their age or whether they have astigmatism or presbyopia, because many patients have been told otherwise (see the sidebar, Are You Boxing Yourself Out of Contact Lens Sales?).

FITTING YOUR STAFF FIRST
One of the best ways I’ve found to get the clinic’s staff members excited about contact lenses and willing to share their experience is to fit them. By trying the newest lens technologies themselves—be it multifocals, torics, high-water-content lenses, etc.—our staff have firsthand experience to share with patients and can tout how the lenses have benefitted them personally. Personal anecdotes can be some of the best sales tactics for contact lenses (and the same goes for glasses).

STAFF TRAINING SCHEDULE
Once per month, we hold a practice-wide meeting for a couple of hours in which we break into groups by department and conduct trainings. For trainings specific to contact lenses, however, we rely on our sales representatives, who keep us updated on the latest technologies and how to present them to patients, as well as how to be more effective with annual contact lens supply sales. We have excellent sales reps, and we get a lot of value out of maintaining a good relationship with them.

SEIZING THE MOMENT AND SETTING FOLLOW-UP REMINDERS
To the extent that our schedule permits, my staff and I make the time to fit contact lenses on patients while they’re in the office, even if it’s unscheduled, because giving a patient trial lenses as soon as they are willing to try them has proven effective in converting sales. That “wow factor” of being able to see clearly without their glasses is powerful for patients. Also, I want them to leave our offices knowing that their vision is important to us and that we’ll do everything we can to provide same-day service. If we don’t have the prescription they need, then we assure them that we can order it within a few days.

Of course, there are always challenging eyes for which we can’t easily obtain measurements, and we’ll ask those patients to reschedule at a later date so we can do a thorough lens fit.

DR. LOPEZ'S TOP RECS FOR GROWING CONTACT LENS VOLUME

I also lean on my staff to help with contact lens fits and education. Once the patient has learned about contact lens care from the technician and feels comfortable with the procedure, the technician places the lenses on the patient’s eyes. After I or another doctor evaluates the fit and vision and gives the “okay,” the technician trains the patient on lens insertion and removal.

The patient then tries the lenses out for a week at home, after which they receive a follow-up call from our office. Our staff sets task reminders in our EMR system to call or text each contact lens trial patient 1 week after their visit. We tell all our prospective patients that there’s no commitment to a long-term purchase; they don’t have to buy a supply of lenses until we find the ones that work for them. If they have any complaints about them, we want to know, so we can fix it. Once they have fallen in love with a certain lens, then we finalize their prescription, and our staff helps them with the ordering process.

AVOIDING TOO MANY FOLLOW-UPS
One reason why I don’t mind spending clinic time on contact lens fits is that I limit my follow-up visits. Once the fit is done, I am satisfied with the results, and the patient has completed their training and selected the lens they like, I don’t need to see them back again. Contact lens technology is so good now, including for torics and multifocals, that I don’t expect patients to have many issues if no problems presented at the initial fit. Of course, I always tell them to call the office if they’re having a problem with their lenses, but this doesn’t happen often.

SUMMING IT UP
The tactics I’ve described here have absolutely contributed to growth in our premium contact lens sales, and they have not been hard to implement (see the sidebar, Dr. Lopez’s Top Recs for Growing Contact Lens Volume). By providing great service, we’re reinforcing patient loyalty and generating repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals. Far from not being worth the effort, I believe that contact lenses play a valuable role in the optometric business model.

Reference:

1. Olivares GE. Contact lens purchasing behavior. Contact Lens Spectrum. December 2012.https://www.clspectrum.com/issues/2012/december/contact-lens-purchasing-behavior/. Accessed May 1, 2025.

Christopher Lopez, OD
Optometrist, Griebenow Eyecare, Wisconsin
Director of Career Services for ODs on Finance
christopher.lopez.2013@gmail.com
Financial disclosure: Speaker (Alcon)