Practice Advantage

On this episode, we sit down with principal financial advisor and co-founder of Credentialed Wealth Advisors Clint Chedester to discuss the realities of today's economy and its impact on independent eye care professionals.  Clint's Disclosure: “We represent Credentialed Wealth Advisors, an SEC registered investment adviser.  The opinions expressed are solely our opinions and are not necessarily th...

In this episode, I sit down with PECAA's Optical Business Advisor, Kayla Groves, to discuss the biggest pitfalls that practices fall into with their optical.  Key Takeaways Pitfall #1: Overstocking of frames. Turn rate should be 3x on average in a practice. Frames that aren't turning at this rate shouldn't be stocked. Pitfall #2: Capture rate isn't calculated or calculated poorly. Not having this...

On this episode of the Practice Advantage podcast, I sit down with Kathy Long, PECAA's Business Operations Advisor to discuss the importance of taking time to review your standard practice operations and find ways to make them more efficient and more effective.  Key Takeaways Leverage your office manager. If your practice doesn’t have one, consider team leads to drive change. It’s important to get...

On this episode, we sit down with the masterminds behind midbrain, Randy Bunka and Saul Alvarez , to discuss the tools that big box stores and e-commerce platforms and how independent eye care professionals can take advantage of them to drive new patients into their practice.  Key Takeaways The average practice loses at least 10% of their patients each year. Marketing to new patients in new market...

In this episode, we talk with PECAA's incoming President, Jonathan Worrall to discuss the power of emotional intelligence as a skill all leaders should possess.  Key Takeaways: Great leaders are curious. They listen more, ask more questions, and rely on input and feedback from those closest to the work.  Emotional Intelligence is recognizing the entire person on the team and the thoughts and feeli...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Davis Capaccioli , owner and founder of Peak Eyecare to discuss the culture strategies helping him build his one-year old Cold Start practice.  Key Takeaways: Davis's One-Year Cold Start Lessons learned: Make yourself available to patients to grow your practice. Efficient and optimized is great but not at the expense of being available for new patients. Patien...

On this episode, I sit down with PECAA executives Dr. Lance Anderson and Jamie Hughes to discuss the key principles that make a great leader. Key Takeaways: Jamie's 3 Roles of a Leader: Define the North Star Have a structure for how they run and manage of teams Shows up when the chips are down Lance's Keys to a Great Leader: Willingness to listen to other points of view even when it's different fr...

In this episode, we sit down with PECAA's EVP for Member Business Advisory Bryan Hoban to discuss key performance indicators that give us a deeper look into the health of the practice.  Key Takeaways: The basics are always important: Revenue Per Patient, Frame Capture Rate, Revenue Per Pair, CL Capture Rate Data is only as valuate as the insight it provides: why the numbers are what they are and t...

In this episode, I sit down with Jamie Weeks , Executive Chairman at Legacy Franchise Concepts and CEO of Honors Holdings to discuss the secrets of scaling a business. Whether you want to grow your practice as a single location or turn it into 5, 10, or even 15 locations or more, the secret to scale comes down to one thing.  Key Takeaways: The secret to scale is culture and speed What is your mant...

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Lynn Hellerstein, owner of Hellerstein & Brenner Vision Center, author, and podcast host to discuss the tools and strategies needed for growing a binocular vision and vision therapy practice. Key Takeaways: Starting a VT practice can be intimating. Starting small and slowly scaling by adding services and space is a great way to get started. You do not need all...

On this episode, Dr. Manning is joined by Mike Guyette , President and CEO of VSP Vision to discuss key takeaways from the VSP acquisition of PECAA.  Key Takeaways: PECAA wil continue to operate independently and led by doctors. Doctors know what doctors need.  There will be new rebates and offers for PECAA Max and Advantage members right out of the gate. VSP's resources will be used to bring PECA...

On today's episode, I sit down with Dr. Santrell Hart-Moreland to discuss the power of medical aesthetics and strategies for implementing and growing this significant revenue opportunity.  Key Takeaways: There's significant crossover between devices and treatments that provide medical treatment and aesthetics. Beginning with the medical application makes expansion easier. The demand for medical ae...

On today's episode, I sit down with Scott Rediger, CEO of Visible Genomics , and Dr. Steve Ferrucci, well known optometrist, lecturer, and clinical expert to discuss the power of genetic testing and the business opportunity for expanding AMD care within your practice.  Key Takeaways: Always be open to input from others. The opportunity for AMD in the United States is significant. 11 million are cu...

In today's episode, I sit down with Doug Martin, founder of InD Eyewear, a private label frame line exclusive to PECAA members. Every day consumers purchase private label products and goods. Offering these types of products to your patients dramatically impacts your practices profitability while delivering a product your patients will love.  Key Takeaways: 4/10 consumers embrace private label AND...

For thousands of years, humans have communicated history and new ideas through stories and storytelling. This powerful tool has a dramatic impact on your practice's ability to attract new patients and capture more optical Sales. In this episode, PECAA Member Business Advisors Shelby Wade and Kayla Groves share strategies for maximizing your success.  Key Takeaways: Without wrapping them up in a st...

Many practices do not effectively employ an office manager and do not delegate to or emplower them well enough to fully lead within the practice. Valerie Manso shares key strategies for employing an effective office manager.  Key Takeaways: A great office manager has have leadership and management skills and have the ability to make key decisions within the practice. The role of an office manager...

On today's episode, culture expert and Millennial Whisperer Chris Tuff walks us through what is most important for millennial workers today, the majority of your office team members. With the right culture and leadership, your millennial team members will be fully bought in, not just for the short term but the long run, as well. Key Takeaways: The most important factor for millennials, especially...

In this episode, disruption strategist Shawn Kanungo shares both experience and wisdom so we can disrupt our own businesses, growing our practices based on the needs and demands of the patient. Key Takeaways: Disruption happens when someone or some company, often outside of the industry, challenges the status quo. Disruption is often seen as a joke. Be careful when technologies seem like a joke as...

Customer journey mapping is a powerful tool within customer experience that you can use to map out your own patient journey. Our very own Dr. Manning dives into using this practice building tool.  Key Takeaways: The individual you are taking of in your practice is a patient customer or patient consumer. They are both a patient, receiving health care they need and value, AND a customer, making deci...

Gaining and retaining patients is critical for the success of an eye care business. Kevin Wilhelm , Jill Harder , and Shelby Wade share valuable tips for growing your practice. Key Takeaways: Retaining Deploy strategic marketing strategies Display strong patient reviews Provide anywhere, anytime scheduling Are you engaging your patients effectively? Gaining Website reflects who you are Google sear...

President and CEO of De Rigo Rem , Alessandro Baronti shares tips and strategies for managing KPI's within your practice and setting goals for growth.  Key Takeaways: 60% of the revenue in a n independent practice still comes from retail. Given the retail experience a patient has, patients must be seen as both patients and consumers - a patient consumer. It is not enough to be a great healthcare p...

Natalie Nixon, PhD, founder of Figure8Thinking is a creativity expert. We all have the capability to be creative and to be successful, creativity is no longer a nice-to-have. It's a need-to-have. Dr. Nixon shares strategies for expanding our creativity.  Key Takeaways: Creativity is our ability to toggle between Wonder and Rigor to solve problems.  Innovation is an invention created into scalable...

Cold Start practices have unique opportunities and challenges to face when it comes to marketing to new patients. PECAA's Marketing Business Advisor, Shelby Wade , helps us address these opportunities and challenges.  Key Takeaways: As a cold start, you have more time to focus on your business and your marketing. Don't be afraid to try new things and learn from the successes and failures. Make the...

For the eyecare industry to grow, it relies on a strong independent network of ECPs. This is why PECAA exists and why we've created the PECAA Max program. Dr. Lance Anderson helps us understand this further.  Key Takeaways: One out of every 4 eye exams occurs within a PECAA practice and 1 of every $5 spent on optical goods happens in a PECAA practice.  At PECAA, we are passionate more than anythin...

On this episode, I sit down with one of the foremost experts on sales in eyecare, Robert Bell , founder of EyeCoach . In this episode, we discuss how we really should look at sales and strategies for improving the sales experience within your practice.  Key Takeaways: True sales is not persuading or convincing someone else to buy your product or service. Sales really should be seen as the process...