What qualities separate you from your competitors?

By Gary Gerber, O.D.

What sets you apart from the others? Every successful brand – whether it’s a well-known product sold in every city and hamlet around the world, or an optometry practice located on Main Street USA – has certain attributes that make it special. It can be a set of characteristics, a description, a visual image that consumers respond to. It’s what you hang your hat on, what you use to market itself and how you want patients/customers to think about you.

Practitioners need to size up the competition

By Gary Gerber, O.D.

It seems as American as apple pie. Over the years, everyone from the military to business tycoons to football coaches have used discreet and not-so-discreet methods to get “inside information” on the competition and, as a result, gain a competitive advantage.

Break down the marketing effort into simple steps

By Gary Gerber, O.D.

Marketing an eye care practice successfully can seem like a daunting task. While the objective of such an effort may be obvious, to generate more revenues and increase profitability, the road to developing and implementing an effective marketing campaign can seem like a long, twisting, and perilous journey.

Think about exceeding – not just meeting – expectations

By Gary Gerber, O.D.

Think of the five-star hotel, where guests open the door to their room to find a basket of fresh fruit or recently baked cookies waiting for them. Or the fine women’s boutique, where a helpful concierge warmly greets patrons when they arrive. Or a deluxe automobile dealer, where the customer’s car is not only serviced, but washed.

‘Salesman’ is not a dirty word

By Gary Gerber, O.D.

Willy Loman was a salesman (and apparently not a very good one). Most optometrists will tell you, point blank, that they didn’t go to school to become one.

Yet, as pejorative as the term might be to many medical professionals, and as tragic a life as the protagonist in “Death of a Salesman” might have led, great salespeople can help make any organization successful.