Dramatically increase patient throughput through 2024

Let’s dive into why transforming how you attract and nurture your patients could be your game-changer in 2024. Forget the old belief that just getting people through the door is your golden ticket. The real magic happens when you master the art of turning visitors into loyal advocates. We’re talking about a system that doesn’t just draw cold traffic but warms it up and converts it efficiently. ”We call this system for growth the “customer value journey”.

This year, make understanding and optimising the customer value journey your key to practice growth. As refractive surgeons, your goal extends beyond performing successful surgeries; we aim to guide patients through a transformative journey, leading them from initial awareness to becoming advocates for your practices.

Understanding the Customer Value Journey

The customer value journey is a comprehensive framework that maps out the stages a patient goes through in their interaction with your practice. This journey begins with the patient becoming aware of your services and culminates in them actively promoting your practice. Each stage of this journey offers unique opportunities for engagement and relationship building.

1. Aware

The journey starts with awareness. Prospective patients discover your practice through digital advertising, content you post, and referrals from patients and optometrists. At this stage, your marketing efforts should call out your target audience, include your value elements and call them to action.

2. Engage

Once aware, potential patients engage with your practice. This is where informative and entertaining written and video content, an active social media presence, and effective two-way messaging play a crucial role. Engagement is about building a relationship and establishing trust.

3. Subscribe

Encourage interested individuals to take your self-test, download your guides, or follow your social media channels. This stage involves capturing their contact information and making them warm leads with active follow-up, often in exchange for free preliminary assessments.

4. Convert

Conversion is where prospects become patients. Offer value-driven entry-point offers, such as free initial consultations. This stage is about providing enough value to encourage a small commitment.

5. Excite

The Excite stage is critical. Delivering exceptional care and service ensures patients feel they’ve made the right choice. This stage is about exceeding expectations and solidifying the patient’s belief in the value of your services.

6. Ascend

Satisfied patients are likely to consider additional or upgraded services. Offer them upgrades that complement their initial treatment. This stage is about deepening the relationship and increasing their lifetime value to your practice.

7. Advocate

Happy patients naturally share their positive experiences. Encourage them to leave reviews or share their stories online at this stage. These passive promotions are powerful testimonials for your practice.

8. Promote

The final stage involves turning advocates into active promoters. Implement referral programs or patient ambassador initiatives. This stage is about leveraging satisfied patients and optometrists to attract new ones.

Implementing the Journey in Your Practice

Implementing this journey means taking a strategic, patient-centric approach. Here’s how:

  • Identify your Ideal Customer Avatar: Marketing to everyone is marketing to no one. Instead, get hyper-focused on the ideal customer you want to serve. Document it. Then, engineer every message and tactic to help that customer smoothly travel through the patient journey.
  • Document Your Patient Journey: Understand your patients’ current path. Identify gaps and opportunities for improvement at each stage.
  • Measure and Iterate: Continuously measure the effectiveness of your tools and tactics at each stage and make necessary adjustments.
  • Develop Targeted Marketing Strategies: Tailor your marketing efforts to address each stage of the journey.
  • Leverage Technology: Utilize CRM systems and marketing automation tools to streamline communications and track patient interactions.
  • Train Your Team: Ensure your staff understands the importance of each stage and is equipped to provide exceptional patient experiences.

By embracing and optimizing the customer value journey, you’re not just boosting your practice’s growth; you’re committing to a level of patient care and satisfaction that sets you apart. This approach doesn’t just lead to higher revenue; it builds a community of supporters who believe in your work and actively spread the word.

Ready to make 2024 the year your practice not only grows but thrives? It all starts with a journey – one that values each patient’s experience as much as the outcomes of the surgeries you perform.

NOTE: The best way to answer that nagging question about practice growth or marketing or patient volume in the back of your mind is to book a free 15-minute compatibility call. Get some options and go away with a clear idea of what’s possible.

About the author

Rod Solar
Founder & Scalable Business Advisor / fCMO

Rod Solar is a co-founder of LiveseySolar and a Scalable Business Advisor for its customers. Rod mentors and coaches eye surgery business CEOs/Founders and their leadership teams to triple their sales, double their profit, and achieve their “ideal exit”.

Get your Practice Marketing Score

Take our FREE “Practice Marketing” quiz. Get your score and benchmark yourself to practices around the world.

Find articles on:

What our clients say…

“In a matter of weeks, we already saw results with LiveseySolar. Far before we were even finished with our project.”

Erik Chotiner, MD, FACS, Ophthalmologist

“The whole group has been very, very professional. We’re quite early in the stages, but we can see the benefits.”

Dr Nick Mantell , MBChB FRANZCO

“They’re very professional. They know what they’re doing, but they also put us at ease. This helped us to cut through what’s needed to get what we want.”

Mr Praveen Patel, MA (Cantab), MB BChir (Cantab), FRCOphth, MD (Res)

“It’s wonderful to work with an agency that engages on our level and understands our market.”

Dr Anton Van Heerden, MBChB; FRANZCO, Ophthalmologist

Get your Practice Marketing Score

Take our FREE “Practice Marketing” quiz. Get your score and benchmark yourself to practices around the world.

Meet our Co-Founders

We’re passionate about helping leaders of high-quality, growth-minded practice owners double their practice revenue

Rod Solar

Founder & Scalable Business Advisor

For over 20 years, I’ve helped ophthalmology entrepreneurs scale their private practices. I specialise in doubling revenue within three years by offering a proven framework, hands-on experience, and a team of experts who implement what works. We take the guesswork out of growth and scale, so you can focus on delivering exceptional patient care while maximising the value of your business.

Read more

LiveseySolar completely transformed the way we were approaching this… We’ve gone from having just the dream of having a practice to having a practice up and running with people making inquiries and booking for procedures… It’s extremely pleasing. We feel lucky we connected with LiveseySolar.

— Dr Matthew Russell, MBChB, FRANZCO, specialist ophthalmic surgeon and founder of VSON and OKKO

Laura Livesey

Founder & CEO

I’m the co-founder & CEO of LiveseySolar. I’ve developed powerful eye surgery marketing systems that increase patient volumes and profits for doctors, clinics, and hospitals, since 1997.

Read more

Rod and Laura know as much about marketing surgery to patients as I know about performing it. They are an expert in the field of laser eye surgery marketing. They know this industry inside out. I believe that they could help many companies in a variety of areas including marketing materials, sales training and marketing support for doctors.

— Prof. Dan Reinstein, MD MA FRSC DABO, founder of the London Vision Clinic, UK