New How-To Book Aimed at Eye Care Staff Members

"The great thing about learning service skills is that you can use them in any job - and in most life situations."

Easy and quick to read, Patients Love to See You Smile is a how-to book for eye care staff and doctors alike. It's a non-clinical primer on how to enhance the patient experience through quality service. Written by well-known eye care practice management expert Thomas F. Steiner, the book sensitizes eye care staff to patient preconceptions and emotional needs.

"The book has organized and expressed all the key ideas that go into making a great practice and there is a huge need out there for a book like this. I really tried to find some things that the author might have overlooked, but every time an idea popped into my head, I found that it was covered in this 92-page wonder - the very first of its kind written primarily for the eye care staff versus the doctor," said Neil Gailmard, OD, MBA, FAAO, author of the long-running "Management Tip of the Week" e-column from Optometric Management and faculty member of the Management & Business Academy for eye care professionals.

All doctors will want to read this book, said Dr. Gailmand. "I recommend that all doctors make it required reading for their new staff members. For existing staff, it well serves as the basis of ongoing staff meetings. The how-to coaching in this book will make every doctor's practice a better place to work and a place that patients will more appreciate, enjoy and tell others about. In brief, the book is a joy to read, an inspiration for all."

The book tells staff members that they "have a big personal stake in creating [practice] loyalty. Everything you say and do makes a difference. Remember that it's the loyal patient, not the doctor, who ultimately writes your paycheck."

The book encourages staff to consider themselves actors on a stage with specific roles to play and provides concrete guidelines on how to play those roles at each stage of the office visit.

Patients Love to See You Smile can be read in a single evening. The book utilizes several design elements - yellow highlights, smile circles with advice inside and breakouts of service tips - to make it easy, fun and memorable to read.

As the book says, "never underestimate the value of your smile. It's huge. Scientists have actually shown that your smile triggers an automatic [positive] chemical response in the brain of people who see you smile."

Discounts available for bulk orders of 20 or more - email jzupnick@jobson.com.