Strategy, a word that echoes through boardrooms and business seminars, is often touted as a cornerstone of success for any business, including ophthalmology. But strategy manifests across various domains and levels, making the definition ambiguous. Michael Porter, Harvard Professor and renowned academic, author, and business strategist, has perhaps the most basic yet realistic definition of strategy: Knowing what not to do.
Mr. Solar believes that deciphering the inverse—knowing what to do—can help shed light on where to focus your practice’s efforts and establish basic priorities for maximum impact. In the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship and business growth, prioritization is key.
Mr. Solar has spent more than 2 decades helping practices navigate the essentials of business strategy and focus on growth and scaling. One of the biggest challenges physicians and practice leaders have, he said, is making tough decisions about how to spend their time, energy, and money over an infinite amount of options. Learning what to prioritize, however, can be the difference between stagnation and success.
PILLARS OF GROWTH
Three pillars of business growth form the bedrock of strategic decision-making and guide entrepreneurs on their journey toward sustainable growth. The following pillars can be applied to new businesses, where strategy typically focuses on survival, as well as mature businesses, where strategy focuses on scaling the practice to the next level. Regardless of the stage a business is in, one thing is certain: Strategy requires careful planning, decision-making, and execution to increase a practice’s impact and achieve a desired outcome. Minimizing risk is also key.
No.1:
Increase the practice’s customer base. Two ideas from Mr. Solar include recalling old leads and following up with any unconverted prospects.
No. 2:
Maximize the practice’s margin over the patient’s lifecycle. The lifetime gross profit of a patient can be maximized in myriad ways, including delivering high-quality service and care to retain them over the long term, expanding your range of services to offer complementary treatments and procedures, implementing effective follow-up and patient engagement, and using technology and data analytics to gain insights into patient preferences, behavior patterns, and postoperative outcomes.
No. 3:
Minimize the practice’s risk of disruption to the revenue stream. The most impactful way to accomplish this pillar is for the physician leader to gradually remove themselves from the day-to-day operations of the business. While daunting, strategic disentanglement is essential for long-term success and growth, according to Mr. Solar. This ensures that the practice can thrive independently of its physician. The bottom line is that more valuable the physician leader is to their practice, the less valuable the business is.
DECISION PARALYSIS AND SETTING PRIORITIES
An abundance of options may lead to indecision. Rather than risk decision paralysis, make every choice with the overarching goals of the practice in mind.
Think in terms of the following three-step framework for decision-making in growing your business.
Step 1:
Start by doing more of what you’re good at. Have the discipline to look at what is working for the practice and start doing more.
Step 2:
Strive to continually improve upon those things. You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Consider creating targets to meet and measuring success on a weekly or monthly basis. When practices do this consistently, it will lead to business growth.
Step 3:
Once you’ve perfected them, tackle something new. The only time to tackle something new is when what the practice is good at is running smoothly. This avoids spreading practice leaders and other members of the team too thin and reduces the risks associated with tackling something new.
CONCLUSION
Focus is paramount to unlock sustainable growth and scale in the evolving ophthalmology landscape. Chart a clear path toward your goals by zeroing in on the strategies the have the biggest potential to yield tangible results. Embrace strategy not as a lofty ideal but as a practical tool to navigate the complexities of business strategy. Ultimately, your practice’s competitive advantage is influenced by its ability to prioritize, execute, and adapt to change.
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