Two independent optometry practice owners explain how being part of a large national network can actually enhance the individuality and community engagement of their businesses.
Mr Glenn Vessey is a man with many hats.
Luckily, he also has a partner in the Eyecare Plus network to ensure they all fit well and look sharp.
And when he needs it, he has a network of other people he can lean on for good advice and great ideas.
Vessey is the owner and principal optometrist at Eyecare Plus Optometrists Mulgrave, an independent practice in south-east Melbourne.
It’s a well-established suburb of baby-boomers and Vessey has been in the community as long, and often longer, than many of the patients he sees.
He started working in the practice 35 years ago and has owned it for more than 30 of those years.
“You know you are getting a bit older when a patient you saw as a young kid is coming in with their kids,” he says. “But it’s very satisfying that people have seen you all their lives and they’re trusting you with their kids.”
Vessey might know the community like the back of his hand; he might know many of its people as well as members of his own family. But he concedes that as experienced as he is in the optometry practice, he needs support when it comes to some aspects of running the business.
That’s part of the reason he joined the Eyecare Plus network 15 years ago.
“I’m primarily an optometrist, but also I’ve got to be a business owner and manager and have a few different hats,” he says.
“I had friends who were with Eyecare Plus and they spoke highly of it, so I gave them a try, and it’s been a great fit for me.”
That’s important, because not everything is a comfortable fit for an optical professional who may know their stuff in the consulting room but struggles with marketing, customer engagement and other important business functions.
“Marketing? I wouldn’t be able to do that by myself,” says Vessey.
“I couldn’t afford to do it, wouldn’t have the resources to set it up, and probably wouldn’t know how to do it.”
That’s taken care of with Eyecare Plus, which employs experts in its head office to develop in-practice and out-of-practice programs that members like Vessey can opt into to help drive community engagement and, ultimately, appointments.
“There’s advertising on television, where practices like mine can leverage the wider Eyecare Plus brand; one set of filming for an ad can then go out to our respective areas.”
There’s also strategic advice, banners and other material to support his own community engagement in and around Mulgrave, including sponsorships of local footy, bowling and golf clubs.
“We’re known to all the local primary schools, we run ads in their newsletters and in other communities . . . you get to know people and form friendships through those. It’s a good way of getting involved in the community.”
Vessey might have spent the past 35 years getting to know his community and building trust with his patients, but it’s his relationship with Eyecare Plus that has amplified it and taken that connection to another level.
“Our banner on the fence at the bowling club has a really good graphic on it, with a QR code that goes to our appointment page.
“It looks professional. It reflects what we are trying to do, rather than having me trying to do it, which would look fairly ordinary.”
That professionalism and amplification of his customer engagement is further supported in his practice.
Vessey and his team – one other optometrist and four support staff – like to spend time with their patients.
“We allocate enough time to do a thorough eye examination and then follow that up with giving them detailed explanations.”
That explanation is supported by another Eyecare Plus innovation – its Check-up Plus list, a report given to the patient at the end of the consultation.
“We go through and explain all of our findings for the patient and then all of our recommendations.
“They’ve got something tangible, so it’s a nice way of having something written out for them, and gives them something to go home with and explain what’s going on to their family members.”
He says the Eyecare Plus-developed form emphasises the professionalism of his practice and builds the trust of his patients.
“It probably adds 5% to my workload but adds 20% to the benefit.”
The benefits of an Eyecare Plus affiliation are many, including extra bargaining power for frames, lenses and other products from a preferred supplier network. He can also lean on the collective knowledge and ideas of its members.
As with Vessey, the latter is one of the favourite features for another Eyecare Plus member, Ms Lara Foster.
The network has frequent sessions, including its new Entrepreneurs’ Club, in which its members can share IP and business projects, and find solutions for common problems.
And because Eyecare Plus doesn’t allow network members to set up in another’s territory, people can speak freely about their wins and losses without worrying the are leaking secrets to a competitor down the road.
“It’s very free flowing and a free sharing of ideas,” says Foster, principal optometrist at Eyecare Plus Optometrists Moss Vale, in NSW.
“So, people genuinely do help to support each other, and you can chat about challenges you’ve got, and there’ll be someone else in the group that’s had a similar challenge, and they can say, oh, have you tried this?”
So impressed has she been in her 15 years as part of the network that, for the past three years, she has been on its board, helping to “raise the voice of independent optometry”.
In her own practice, Eyecare Plus has helped raise her voice and awareness in the community she serves.
When she bought the practice, it was already part of the Eyecare Plus family.
She considered other options but stayed with the network to help her transition to business owner in the country town, and because it was “great value for money”.
Foster says it offers the best of both worlds: the buying, marketing and management power of a corporate while allowing practices to customise and get closer to their communities.
“We genuinely live our brand, we are genuinely locals caring for locals,” she says.
“Even though we’re under an umbrella brand, we are all individual practices. So there is that level of autonomy, and we can customise particularly to our area.
“Our patients also appreciate working with people who live in their community, who they see regularly either at the practice, at the soccer field or at P&C [parents and citizens gatherings].”
Foster’s own community engagement is supported by network resources.
When she paired with a local beautician for a recent evening with customers focused on and around the eyes, those visiting were also exposed to the branding and marketing material Eyecare Plus created for her practice, reinforcing her professionalism.
Like Vessey, Foster has found the Check-up Plus list to be a great resource.
“I think that really does help to promote patient loyalty,” she says.
“It promotes trust and reliability and helps them understand the quality of care that they’re receiving.
“I often have people bring back their folders and say, now last time you said this, and this time, what do I need to do to check that?”
Both believe this and other examples show why being part of the Eyecare Plus network can actually elevate an individual practice and its engagement with its community and patients.
It also allows them to have their “head in the practice”, focusing on their patients and day-to-day issues, rather than areas where others will have stronger skills and more experience.
That’s key in a competitive, increasingly corporate industry, they say.
Stronger. Together.
Something you can hang your hat on.
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