I would venture a guess that most of us didn’t get into Optometry for the paperwork. Despite this, we are all inundated with paper/computer work everyday. We are now required to dedicate the same amount of attention to being billing specialists as we are to patient care and many days it feels like the computers get more eye contact than the people do.

The other role that Optometrists are somewhat forced into is the role of salesman. If you have a dispensary in your office, you have found yourself in a sales situation whether you want to call it that or not. Similar to the above example, most of us didn’t get into Optometry to become salesmen or saleswomen either. I will say though, many fall into this job with much greater ease than paperwork specialist.

I would fall into the category of “not comfortable” with the sales portion of my job. I am in Optometry for the clichéd answer of wanting to “help people.” I want to solve their eye health and vision problems. I want them to leave feeling and seeing better than when they first came in. I want to “fix” them. My love for the human body and how it functions truly drives my desire to serve my patients medical eye health needs. I fumble through the recommendations for their spectacles to my optician but a natural at sales…I am not.

With this confession, you can guess that my study into the benefits of vitamin supplementation for macular and retinal health brought with it a bevy of emotions. On one hand, the evidence is good. To date, more than 300 published studies exist on nutrition, macular pigment, and the impact on eye health. We even have a way to monitor the change in Macular Pigment Optical Density in a numerical fashion, which speaks so easily to our patients’ understanding. The science fascinated me and made me realize the importance of adding this valuable product to my patient care line-up. There it is again though, that word…a “product.” A product that needs to get, yep you guessed it, sold. My Achilles Heel.

I grappled with this for longer than I care to admit. My delivery varied, one time I’d overly explain and confuse the patient. The next I’d just briefly mentioned it, which minimized the importance. Sometimes if a patient was borderline, I’d quickly explain that we could just monitor it yearly to see if it dropped into more dangerous territory. I hated doing sales and I REALLY hated selling eye vitamins. I worried about what my patients would think about me. I care deeply about my patients, as do most of the doctors I know. I’ve celebrated and mourned with them over the years. I’ve watch their children grow from terrified toddlers at their first visit to accomplished high school graduates. One of my greatest fears is losing the confidence of these people who have trusted me with one of their greatest assets for years. What would they think if I mentioned one more thing I’d like them to buy from me?

Then one day a simple question changed everything about my approach. A long time patient of mine, an older no-nonsense gentleman, asked me this…

“Would you still want me to buy these if I drove down the street and bought them from your competitor?”

I didn’t even hesitate. “Yes! Absolutely, yes!” He smiled and bought three bottles. He said anyone who’s willing to profit his or her competitor must really believe in the product.

My delivery now is smoother because of this encounter. I explain the patient’s health, explain the product and add this to the end: "You can purchase these from me, you can purchase them online. Heck, I believe in them so much I’d send you to my competitor to buy them. It’s that important to me that you start taking them.”

It’s easier because it’s true. Sure, I’d love to make a few dollars by selling them from my office but to be honest; I want the vitamin in their hands because I know it’s the best thing for the patient. Remember, just like you, I got into this for the patient care. I got into this for the relationships. Remarkably, since I started this almost all of my patients have chosen to buy them from me. Even though I really did love them enough to let them leave, they chose to stay. That’s about as close to an Optometry love story as you can get.

Dr. Susan Lake is a native of Nebraska and a graduate of the University of Nebraska. She completed her Doctorate of Optometry from Southern College in Memphis. She is Board Certified in Vision Development and Vision Therapy and has a strong pediatric emphasis to her practice. She speaks frequently to parent and professional groups, sharing with them the importance of early recognition of vision problems. In her spare time she reads and contributes to her own blog discussing being a working Optometrist and Mom at Babyfocals.com. She and her husband share three Optometry practices and three daughters and they can all usually be found on a lake, in a boat and waterskiing.