Steve Vargo, Practice Management Consultant, IDOC
An expert in leadership with 15 years of optometric clinical experience, Dr. Steve Vargo brings much to the table. He is an Amazon bestselling author and speaks regularly at industry conferences, has been published in numerous industry publications and has a regular column in Optometric Management titled “The CEO Challenge.” He has authored four books including his most recent, “Prescribing Change: How to Make Connections, Influence Decisions and Get Patients to Buy into Change.”
Since transitioning to consulting, Steve has worked with hundreds of healthcare professionals across the country and does all of this through IDOC, a fantastic company devoted to supporting independent optometrists and helping them live the practice of their dreams.
We sat down with Vargo to get his thoughts on the ups and downs of the health and wellness businesses today.
What are your thoughts on the challenges anyone promoting wellness services are facing today?
The first thought that comes to mind is something I heard from a colleague, “It’s easier to sell aspirin to someone with a headache than sell vitamins to someone hoping to prevent a future problem.” Healthcare professionals split their time between treating current conditions and trying to prevent future adverse conditions. For clients who prioritize their health and make time for wellness, the healthcare provider’s job is easier. Unfortunately, these clients are probably much less prevalent than clients who neglect their health. The challenge is “selling” clients on the value and importance of wellness.
What changes do you think need to be made if brand owners and wellness businesses want to improve client outcomes and impact more lives?
“Impact more lives” should be a goal of every health and wellness business, but so often they fall short. They educate and educate, but patients fail to make the changes that lead to improved health and quality of life. Having coached and consulted with hundreds of practices, I’ve come to realize that client education is overrated. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very important and necessary, but so often fails to inspire change, which is really the only way to “impact more lives.” Information alone can be surprisingly ineffective in getting people to take action. I call this T.B.U. information—True, But Useless. Health and wellness professionals need to do more than just educate; they need to become more effective communicators. Client education only guarantees that they will hear what you say. Effective communication increases the odds that people will do what you say.
There is a great deal of unknown in the world these days. How do you think brand owners should connect with their respective markets and influence their decisions?
It’s true that there is a great deal of unknown. Part of that is driven by the overwhelming amount of information available these days. Looking up health information online is now the third most popular activity on the internet, and while the internet is one of the greatest inventions we’ve seen in our lifetime, it’s also the “Wild West” when it comes to health information—unreliable information, conflicting studies, biased research, etc. Access to information, whether reliable or unreliable, is no longer a problem but people still need help making sense of it all. Health and wellness professionals are well positioned to be curators of information these days. Be a trusted guide for your market. Trust and influence go hand in hand.
“Health and wellness professionals are well positioned to be curators of information these days. Be a trusted guide for your market. Trust and influence go hand in hand.”
As you have dealt with countless optometry practices, what do you see as their biggest obstacles to practice success? What are some universal lessons on how to overcome those obstacles?
Staff management is probably the biggest obstacle I see for most optometry practices. I spend a lot of time coaching practices on leadership principles. There are no courses in optometry school for how to handle poor attitudes, how to motivate people, or how to get people to “care.” If you have employees and your business provides wellness services, it takes a team effort to be successful. Employees need to be educated on both the tactical skills (product knowledge, selling skills, etc.) and the soft skills (empathy, listening skills, etc.). It’s hard to be successful without the support of your team. For many practices, this can make or break you.
Can you crystal ball a bit for us? What do you see in store for small businesses and, specifically, wellness services?
As the message continues to permeate society and the potential for healthcare policies that favor wellness and prevention grows, I feel the market for wellness services will increase. There are advantages and disadvantages to being a small business owner, but typically one of the advantages is the ability to differentiate yourself and provide a more customized approach for patients and clients and also focus on building relationships. Small businesses, often with smaller budgets and economies of scale, will need to continually differentiate from the larger competitors and communicate these differences to their market.
Tell us about your latest book, “Prescribing Change.” What prompted you to write it and what was the most compelling thing you discovered while writing it?
I wrote “Prescribing Change” because I wanted to reshape doctors’ views on patient education. In school we were taught to be very thorough with educating patients on our findings and treatment recommendations. What I began to realize, both in my own clinical practice and also consulting with other doctors, was that information alone does not always motivate people to take action. Doctors educate, but nothing changes. I began studying the science of how to be more persuasive and influential with getting people to not just hear information, but act on it. What I came to realize is that most doctors don’t need to become better educators (most do that pretty well), they need to become better communicators. The most compelling thing I discovered was that to be a great communicator, you have to first be a great listener.
Finally, what advice do you have for anyone promoting a wellness brand?
In sales and marketing, businesses are often taught to preach value and take the focus off of cost. I’m going to suggest you put the focus directly on cost, but a different kind—the cost of inaction.
Research has found that the potential gain has to be about 2.5X the loss for us to be willing to take action. Meaning, if I have $100 to spend on something, I need to see about $250 worth of value (real or perceived) to part with my money. That can be a tough sell, and since it’s not always easy to demonstrate that level of gain, we’re often quick to decide against it.
Wellness brands would probably have greater success with focusing on the cost of inaction. When people are asking themselves, “What do I get out of this?” their minds focus on the costs they’ll incur, often in the form of time, money or effort. But there is also a cost to NOT taking action. Guide the discussion in that direction and force consumers to ask themselves, “Am I willing to pay that cost?” Instead of “What do I stand to gain?” the question becomes “What do I stand to lose?” People have a cognitive bias toward NOT wanting to lose things and loss avoidance is typically a much stronger motivator than desire for gain.