March 2023

During the month, I had cataract surgery in both eyes. This is elective surgery, and it was a complete success.

It exceeded my expectations.

This is not the subject of this month’s newsletter, but the observations I made during the procedure are.

I love business. I am interested in observing how businesses work and in particular the systems and processes.

So, as a consumer or, in this case, a patient, I took note of how this business operated.

First observation was how slick everything was. The entire staff worked as a team. Cleary, each staff member had their role defined to the best I could tell.

I went through several departments leading up to the day of the surgery.

To a tee they were all well trained and focused on their roll.

The accounts department had their processes.

The eye test division had their expertise and processes.

It did not matter who I saw, as far as I could tell the information and the processes were consistent.

As you would expect, the day of the surgery went off without a hitch.

From check-in to discharge, it all worked like clockwork. My surgeon only operates on Wednesdays, post-op on Thursdays and the other days he consults to new patients and any followup issues.

Yes, I know he has done it thousands of times, but not to my eyes.

I felt I was the most important patient there. This is not by chance.

It’s by design.

All held together by systems and processes.

Managed by a management plan.

Everyone knew their role.

This surgeon had a support staff of, I’m guessing 30-40 staff.

All with the same aim. To give the operating surgeon total confidence to focus on my eyes. That I liked.

Now the point I’m making is the surgeon was not thinking about the money he was making.

Nor was he thinking about the business’s bank balance needed to keep the business running and other business issues.

In fact, I believe he would not know.

He was in the moment doing the thing he loves doing the thing he was trained to do. I’m sure he didn’t start this way. The business has been around a while and the recommendations to this guy are profound.

He is the best of breed.

Not to put to fine a point on it, this business is a fantastic epitome of a business with sound business principle.

Amazing staff and great training. Well managed departments. Unbelievable client care.

They sent me a 3 minute video 2 days after the surgery. My surgeon narrated this, telling what I should be expecting. Things like soreness, red eyes, gritty feelings, etc. This was produced to give me comfort in knowing what I’m feeling is completely normal and not to worry.

On day 7 another video arrived in my inbox. This explained how the healing process is taking effect, the use of the prescribed drops and the vision I should be getting. Wow!

What customer support and care.

Does it get any better?

Not only does this show terrific patient care and follow-up, but I’m sure it saves enormous time and money not having to answer calls from patients with concerns. I’m betting the surgeon has no real-time awareness that this has happened.

Yes, he did the videos probably ages ago.

He probably spent hours with an outsourced video production team professionally getting it done the best he could. He is not an actor.

The guy on the video is my surgeon.

Another example of the systems and process doing the grunt work.

How slick.

I know it is not realistic for a startup business to look like this at the moment, but over time with realistic vision, goals and good business planning, it is achievable.

It starts with getting the systems and processes right up front.

It might be a simple plan, but over time it will develop according to your master plan and your vision.

Until next time, have a wonderful successful month.