Included here are some of the most common questions asked of us at Fast Track Marketing by prospective clients, and our answers.

Why does a Refractive Surgeon need marketing?

The big difference between a refractive practice and any other aspect of Ophthalmology is that most refractive surgeries are elective. This puts it into a whole new league, especially when you factor in the amount of consumer advertising LASIK has received. Refractive surgery is now in a whole new element from a public perception and marketing standpoint. Like it or not, big advertising has put refractive surgery into the realm of consumer products and services and is competing with other luxury items such as new cars, plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry, big screen TV’s and many other high-end consumer products.

Half the battle in achieving success is knowing what you are up against and knowing how to compete. The fact that you are an excellent surgeon, have the finest technology and an excellent staff is not enough to ensure success. You have to be able to make these points known to people who are interested in improving their vision and make them known in a way that makes them appreciate the importance of your qualities and capabilities. Remember, there are a lot of other refractive surgeons out there, all touting their unique skills and qualities. Somehow, you have to be able to differentiate yourself from the others or else you will end up competing on price alone.

What will you do that is better than what I am already doing?

Maybe nothing. Without viewing the answers to the questions in the Marketing Analysis Form, we cannot be sure that we will do anything better than what you are already doing. However, we usually find that there are at least two areas that Fast Track addresses that others do not:

• We target and reach the entire spectrum of prospective patients with advertising rather than just the people who have already decided to have LASIK.
• We implement a follow-up system that is far more comprehensive than any we’ve seen. We know this system helps our clients achieve much higher conversion rates than most.

We have a comprehensive ophthalmology practice - we do not want to market just LASIK.

We will market any and all aspects of an ophthalmology practice. Typically we find that the refractive procedures are the most profitable and therefore it usually makes sense to market them more aggressively than the other services, but we are happy to apply our marketing system to any aspect of your practice.

How can you know my market when you are in Colorado?

By working with clients all over the country, we have found that there are really only two differences from geographical market to market:

• The computer literacy and usage level in various markets
• What the most effective media is to reach the public within each market

When we start work for you, we immediately implement patient and prospective patient surveys in your practice to find out the attitudes and media preferred by your patients and prospects. These surveys combined with our own market research for your area provide us with all the knowledge we need to run successful campaigns in any market across the country.

I am in a major market which requires different marketing than the small markets you have been in.

This is true. See the above answer for why we know how to market in both large and smaller markets.

You receive a monthly retainer plus incentives – that’s showing no risk on your part, aren’t I taking all the risks?

The truth is that in the early months of our working relationship, we will not be breaking even on the monthly retainer so there is substantial risk on our part. It is the incentives that we are both in this for. You, the client, are getting the benefit of all of the experience and the personnel we will apply to implementing this comprehensive system. You could not hire a full-time employee with the knowledge and experience you will get from Fast Track for anything less than double the monthly retainer we are charging.

I cannot afford your monthly retainer plus media and graphic arts charges.

True, but you may still be able to benefit from our a la carte services. Our job is to increase what should be the most profitable part of your practice and in so doing, increase your bottom line.

I’ve given up on advertising, it doesn’t work.

Conventional brand building does not work for building a refractive surgery practice. It takes a comprehensive marketing system to accomplish positive and consistent results. We can tell you how much you will need to spend in order to increase your size and profitability and we can provide an ROI worksheet that will show you what you can expect.

I’ve already got an in-house marketing staff, why should I hire you?

You should only hire us if you are not happy with the results you are now getting. If you are currently achieving high ratios and your refractive practice is as large as you want it to be, then you may not benefit from hiring us. Our suggestion would be that you completely fill out the Marketing Analysis Form - we will give you our honest opinion as to whether we can improve your results or not.

In the event you decide to work with us, we will recommend that we train your existing marketing staff to do the front-lines things that we cannot do, such as improving your patient conversion ratio and developing corporate and community outreach programs to strengthen the grass roots aspect of your marketing. We can provide the tools and guidance for these programs but your own people must execute these programs.

How will I know that you are doing your job?

We will give you the reports you need in a form you can quickly assimilate.

It is impossible to know how effective any element of a refractive marketing system is performing unless you have budgeting and tracking systems that provide you with factual information every week. This process begins with establishing a budget based on an analysis of goals, conversion ratios, and media costs for your marketplace. Once these elements have been analyzed and aligned into a budget, tracking and reporting systems will alert you to the performance of each element of the system.

The following are key areas of our marketing system that we monitor and report on each week:

1. Number of inquiries received and the source medium associated with each.
2. The cost per lead of each source (media type).
3. The percentage of leads converted into consultations.
4. The percentage of consultations converted into surgeries.
5. The amount of LASIK revenue versus marketing expense (tracked monthly).

Each of these statistics, plus the key indicators from any outside sales efforts are graphed so that trends can be viewed and adjustments made based on those trends. The graphs and analysis of them are provided to the owners and doctors of the practice each week so that informed decisions and adjustments can be made as needed.