Webinar discusses competition

SightCare, the independent practice association, addressed how to gain and maintain a competitive advantage against other practices in its seventh Question Time webinar last week.

A panel of four experts answered a range of questions fielded by the webinar’s attendees, covering how to be successful post-coronavirus, the relevance of professionalism and how to react to multiples. The panel included Rob Hogan, optometrist and chairman of the UK’s Directorate of Continuing Education and Training. Hogan was joined by Vinni Virdee, a SightCare Premium business coach, Steve Clarke, a motivational speaker, and Vida Carmel, a behavioural change coach.

The first question asked of the panellists concerned success in a post-coronavirus environment. Hogan said: ‘No one knows how big of a backlog there’s going to be, but now’s the time to examine your patient journey. If you’ve been smart during this time out and kept in contact with your patients then hopefully you’ll be inundated with customers when we all reopen.’ Clarke added: ‘I think some of the larger multiples are going to have more trouble with social distancing than independents are, utilise that and consider which patients to prioritise when you reopen.’