In this article I will cover
- How to make a great looking pitch that will help you land your next optometry job
- How to use this pitch / business plan to get a raise with your current job
My story goes like this
I am from New York, but 6 months before I graduated I decided I wanted to move to San Diego. This meant I had to re-think how I was going to quickly find a job. To do it, I used my network of connections. You can read about the full experience here – How I Used My Connections to Land an OD Job.
To make a long story short, I had a really strong opportunity with Dr. Eric White of Complete Family Vision Care. Eric wasn’t going to just hire me. I had to show him that I was worth the investment for his practice. Think about it and put yourself in the owner’s shoes. Is bringing on an employee at an average of $40.00/hr worth it for an optometry business? If this new OD doesn’t do anything for your practice, they will be a massive burden on cash flow and that is terrible for your business.
So with this being the case, it is your job as the new optometrist to show the practice owner that you can bring positive cash flow.
How to bring positive cash flow
Ask yourself this – what are you going to do as a new graduate to be a positive force for business cash flow? The answers include some of the following.
- You will see more patients
- You will dispense more materials
- You will bill more medical
- You will sell more products
- You will expand office hours
- You will use your spare time to do a job that the owner would have needed to do himself or paid someone else to do
How to create your hybrid business plan/pitch
Step 1: Understand what you are doing
What you are doing is creating a hybrid business plan for you optometry job. I call it hybrid because I don’t follow the normal business plan rules. Honestly, I don’t care what a standard business plan looks like. I need to get a single point across – “I am going to help make your practice more profitable using the methods described in this business plan.” Make it up yourself, think organically. Business plans usually include the following.
- General idea of the business venture/elevator speech
- Long winded version of what you are trying to do
- Who will you try to reach with this idea
- Operating structure for how your idea will operate – (think contractual obligations, ownership, etc)
- Specifics of each particular idea you have
- Overhead cost of each idea you have – (do you need capital investment or will it sustain itself?)
- Revenue potential of each idea you have
- What must be done to implement these ideas
- Marketing / advertising plan for each idea
- Legal considerations – (do you need legal advice?)
- Competition – use google maps or other resources to see who you are up against
- Closing thoughts
By the way, whether you are an optometry student, new graduate optometrist, or senior optometrist, you should see which optometry practices are looking to network and hire on CovalentCareers!
Step 2: Understand the practice
Let me start this from the negative side… How can you possibly tell a practice owner what they need if you don’t know anything about the practice? For example, how can you say “I am going to bring in Vision Therapy” if you have no idea about square footage considerations? How can you say “I am going to make you a medical practice” if the practice is one of the highest medical insurance billers already? How can you say “I am going to bring you efficient medical billing” if the practice already is smoothly billing with no problems?
Do research – ask the doctor to tell you about their practice! Here is an article I wrote that you MUST READ BEFORE YOU PROCEED– “Know These Metrics Before You Join an Optometry Practice”
Make a list
Write down a list of EVERYTHING you are good at in optometry and in business life.
Back up your claims
Make sure that any claim you make, you can back up. Don’t say you are going to bring Vision Therapy, Ortho-K, and Medical Optometry to the practice. That is just freakin’ crazy! You can do it sure, but make sure you give a timeline and talk about the reality. You can’t land an optometry job based on lies. Don’t exaggerate, be honest and real.
Find a quality template
Download a business plan template for Microsoft Word. Many of these will be WAY more than you need, so be prepared to cut stuff out.
Make your hybrid business plan for your optometry job
I prefer not to include my personal business plan. You and I are unique and special in our own ways. You should come up with what you feel is in line with who you are as a person and be creative in your own way. Here is a summary of my business plan I made, but without the details. Remember – the more in depth, the better your chances of getting your optometry job!
- Introduction About Yourself
- What do you want to bring to the practice – elevator speech
- What do you want to bring to the practice – more detail
- Employment
- Primary duties & responsibilities
- Secondary duties & responsibilities
- Contractual considerations
- How to measure success – how will you show that you are improving and making the practice money? How will you track it?
- Potential New Practice Modalities
- Vision Therapy
- Pediatrics
- Ortho-Keratology
- Medical Optometry
- Boutique Dispensary
- Other
- For each topic that you want to bring, drill down into the following details
- About the idea
- Considerations prior to doing it
- To-do list
- Marketing
- Advertising
- Expected start up capital
- Expected operating cost
- Expected revenue
- Other notes
- Web Strategy
- Website
- Blog
- Online Marketing
- Online Advertising
- Search Engine Optimization
- Online Reviews
- Online Store
- Social Media Strategy
- Expected start up capital
- Expected operating cost
- Expected revenue
- Branding Strategy
- Mission statement
- Look at feel
- Photography
- Videography
- Expected start up capital
- Expected operating cost
- Expected revenue
- Community Involvement
- Newspaper
- TV News
- Web News
- New Patient Acquisition
- Seminars
- Meetup.org
- YMCA
- Local community activities
- PTA
- Screenings using equipment in practice
- Trunk Show
- Lunch & Learn
- Meet and greet
- Expanding office hours
- ThinkAboutYourEyes.com
- Office Technology
- EMR
- EHR
- OcuHub.com
- The Edge by GPN
- Expected start up capital
- Expected operating cost
- Expected revenue
- Office Security
- HIPAA Compliance officer for your practice
- Staff
- New staff training
- Staff engagement ideas
- ECP University for staff
- Expected start up capital
- Expected operating cost
- Expected revenue
- Analysis of the Competition
- Use Google Maps
- Use Yelp
The plan must be printed and mailed
Please don’t tell me you thought about e-mailing this report. That is a big NO. Something like this will take you at least 10 hours of development considering all the research. So why not show off your hard work and effort by getting it printed on heavy-weight paper and bound in a report binder? You don’t need a leather bound book, but a plastic report cover would be nice! Mail it directly to the OD and surprise them. It will make their day and trigger an emotion of potential success they haven’t felt before.
What’s next?
Optometry needs new graduates like you to step up to the plate and hit a home run. You need to smash it out of the park not only with your business plan, but when you get into practice. Post your comments below and I will personally address them. Thanks for reading.
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