There's a problem with how LASIK is being perceived by the public. It's gone from being thought of as a miracle to becoming a generic commodity product. It seems like providers have been ?dumbing down? the benefits and risks of the procedure to the point where the public thinks LASIK is the same procedure no matter who performs it.

Just like the old saying, “no two people are alike,” no two ophthalmologists are alike either. The profession has largely missed this point, either because members haven't considered how each one of them is unique, or because they have failed to communicate what makes them special. If you think of LASIK as the product, then the sum total of everything you do—not just clinical results—becomes your product offering. And as long as the bulk of providers fails to distinguish how their product offering is different, LASIK will continue to be stigmatized as a generic solution to vision correction.

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
What every provider should be aiming for is a unique position in their market place. Positioning is a marketing term defined as how you differentiate your offering in the mind of your prospect. This marketing concept yields two related truths.
Truth No. 1
You must effectively differentiate yourself and communicate that difference in order to have sustaining success.
Truth No. 2

Everything can be differentiated.
Virtually all great brands of product or service have carved out a unique position that causes the consumer to value it and often pay more for it than a non-distinguished offering in the same category. If people can perceive differences among basic household items—ice cream, laundry soap, and mustard, just to name a few—then people can certainly perceive differences among LASIK providers, especially given the complex nature of the product and the decision process of acquiring it.

MAKE A SACRIFICE
In order to achieve a position, well-known brands had to focus their product or service offering, actively selecting one point of difference and sacrificing others. Providers have been reluctant to do this, mainly out of fear of limiting their appeal. As is the case with targeted marketing, which narrows the scope of the audience, effective positioning requires you to distinguish among all the things you do and all the benefits you provide and narrow the focus of what you communicate to the outside world.

Attempts by LASIK providers to create positions have varied in their uniqueness and their success. Using technology is expensive and will be matched by other providers who have deep financial resources. Using low price is also expensive (think “lost profits”) and very easily matched. Focusing on a milestone attribute, such as “first to perform” in the market, “most procedures in the market,” or “treated a particular celebrity in the market” are better but limited to a select few.

Every provider needs to ask, “Why should patients choose me to perform their LASIK?” The answer to this question is the first step in developing a differentiated service offering. It's an important question to answer, because every person out there considering LASIK is asking themselves the mirror-image question: “Why should I choose you to perform LASIK on me?”

Even if you aren't one of the surgeons who performed the first LASIK procedure, don't perform the most LASIK procedures, or don't offer the newest twist in LASIK, you need to determine your own point of distinction. You will have to work hard to find the answer, but the alternative is to be thought of as ?no better or worse than the next doctor?. That title is not motivating enough to have someone choose you.

Your answer needs to be unique to you and believable to prospective patients. Take inventory of what you currently do to attract refractive surgery candidates. Ask prior patients what they remembered and valued about the procedure they had with you and your staff. Analyze your patient database to see if a specific patient niche or grouping emerges. In short, make your point of differentiation one that reflects you, your staff and your patients. It should be something you live and breathe daily.

MARKETING TRAPS TO AVOID
There are some pitfalls to watch for when deciding how to differentiate yourself. Following are a few of the most common.
Trap No. 1
Keep in mind that your positioning can't be something that everyone aspires to have and to which no one wants the alternative. For example, ?quality? and ?trust? are weak distinctions; everyone strives to achieve them.

Trap No. 2
You need to stop thinking of marketing as advertising. Marketing is the sum total of everything you do to attract and retain patients. Whether you advertise or not, your prospects for LASIK perceive differences right away: how they're greeted on the phone, how you respond to their questions, and how they're treated during an evaluation. Consider this: A LASIK evaluation works both ways.

Trap No. 3
Avoid trying to be ?all things to all people.? In the prospect's mind, there are two forces at work. One is that there is a limit to how much a mind can perceive and retain. The other is that people associate. If you are known for taking exceptional care of patients' needs prior to surgery, you will likely achieve the halo effect of being perceived as a great surgeon. Conversely, if your reception area is sloppy, you will likely be perceived as being a sloppy surgeon. It doesn't matter what reality is, people create perceptions which, once formed, are mighty hard to change.

Walk into any business, such as a restaurant, and within seconds you can pick up and perceive differences, each with a distinct genetic code that defines its level of service.

GO BEYOND RESULTS
Because you are in a service business, it's important to remember that service amounts to much more than the LASIK procedure itself. Patients are paying for the entire experience—before, during, and after surgery. It's up to you to examine every aspect of your service to find out what you're doing extremely well (that might be different enough to become a distinction of your offering), as well as what needs to be improved. This includes the clinical results of the procedure, yet extends well beyond.

If the profession stands a chance to increase the overall demand for refractive surgery, then LASIK—today's dominant procedure—must move away from being perceived as a generic offering from generic providers. New techniques (e.g. custom ablation) and new procedures (e.g. phakic IOLs) will always be on the horizon, but they are not going to carry your unique and differentiated service offering. They will become part of your product mix, and they will be part of everyone else's too. If you want to restore the shine in the LASIK jewel today, then take a hard look at how you communicate about the procedure and your offering.

Differentiation among providers offers greater perceived choice to the consumer, and will help build the perception that “not all LASIK is created equal.”
Next month, we'll look at how differentiation plays into competition and try to answer the question, “with whom are we truly competing for refractive surgery patients?”
Each month, industry veteran Shareef Mahdavi looks at a different topic relating to the business of refractive surgery, exploring how mistakes from the past can be used by all providers for more effective marketing.
He formerly was the head of marketing for VISX and is based in Pleasanton, California. Mr. Mahdavi may be reached at (925) 425-9963; shareef@sm2consulting.com