“I’m still seeing pretty well with my old lenses.” WTF?!?! By that I mean, “What’s the focus?”
When previous Rx spectacle wearers or presbyopic spectacle wearers are informed that they need a new prescription, some say, “I feel like I am still seeing pretty well out of my old lenses. The doctor said there was a small change. Do I really need to change my lenses?” Or they say, “I think that I am all right because I can still see fairly clearly at times with my old prescription.”
Blah blah blah! WTF!?!? What’s the focus!?!?
I read an article by Mark Hinton where he warned against using the term “just a small change” with a skeptical patient. That’s because it causes the patient to question the justification of the new Rx, which focuses on the new prescription’s benefits of enhanced sharp, clear, 20/20 vision and stronger up-close and night vision. Hinton explained how to use the binoculars analogy to convert a skeptical new Rx patient with a slight change.
ECP to patient: “Shanda, I will share why patients who felt just like you decided to update their prescription lenses, and then you decide. Have you ever used binoculars?”
Patient: “Yeah, I have.”
ECP: “Shanda, when you dialed in the sharpest sight through the binoculars, did it make sense to slightly ‘defocus and blur’ on the object you were viewing?”
Patient: “Well, that wouldn’t make sense.”
ECP: “You see, when I explain this to others, like you, they understand it doesn’t make sense to walk around wearing slightly refocused lenses in their eyeglasses when they could see as sharply and crisply through their glasses as through dialed-in binoculars all day. Does that make sense to you, too?”
As opticians we can explain this concept to our “WTF” skeptical patients. So the next time when you have an skeptical, slight Rx change patient and they say “I can still kinda see clearly out of my old glasses …,” don’t just say to yourself WTF!?!? Educate them on the concept of “What’s the focus?”
Happy selling!
This article is an online extra for INVISION Online.
A version of this article originally appeared at DailyOptician. DailyOptician features unique perspectives from passionate opticians & inspiring brands.