Office Environment

Differentiate Your Practice Brand with a Unique Office Enviroment

By Jennifer Brady Cook, OD

An office environment that reflects your personal style can attract the type of patients you want—and make for memorable experiences and loyal patients.

When I opened my practice in 2008, I knew what I wanted my patients to see when they walked in my office’s front door–a stylish yet open, friendly environment. I loved the retro-glamorous/old Hollywood look of Soho House in Manhattan and the Delano Hotel in South Beach in Miami, so I showed my interior designers pictures of those places and asked that they replicate that mood. My thought was that if I created an environment that I found fun and loved to work in, then my patients would feel the same–they would find that they enjoyed visiting the office and come more often.

This stylish environment, with luxury design touches like black-stained polished concrete flooring, is supported by an open atmosphere that includes the daily in-office presence of my bulldogs, Joseph and Herbert and the frequent presence of my own two children (with another on the way) and a playroom.

Office With Style Can Help Propel Profits

Visionary Eye Care in Lutz, Fla.: Opened 2008

Cost of Office Design: Quoted approximately $17,000 for full architectural and design plans for 2,800 square feet, but ended up costing around $23,000.

Annual revenues: exceeding $700,000, though Dr. Brady Cook is quick to mention that she is still working on increasing her annual net profit.

The practice’s financial success exceeds that of the average participant in the Management and Business Academy, sponsored by Alcon and Essilor. The average annual revenues of MBA participants is $600,000
–ROB Editors

Limit Costs While Creating High Style
When looking for office furniture, I didn’t like the ordinary feel of the furniture sold by optical companies. I was pleasantly surprised that I could create an optical with more of a custom feel (and save money, too) by going outside our industry. I got mirrored vanities from Horchow.com as dispensing tables and dining chairs from American Signature.

Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes by getting educated about how general contractors and architects price before you embark on your office refurbishing. One thing I didn’t know is that contractors and architects will give you the total cost for the design plans, and then charge you by the hour for any questions the GC has to take time to ask. They also charge you for any needed re-designs once you signed off on the plans–even if the redesign was necessary due to their mistake. For example, I was left with 14 inches between my desk and exam chair in my exam room, which cost me more than $5,000 to fix, as four walls needed to be moved after they were already installed.

Don’t pay your GC until they give you the release of lien for the specified subcontractor. Perhaps it’s because I was pregnant in my first trimester (and rather sick), but I missed a lot of little things like this that ended up costing several thousand dollars over the next year. ROB Editors note: Identify and tape off exact positions of furniture before you sign off on architecture and design plans.

Our “Attention to Detail”
The effort and money we spent to design the office paid off. I now have an office with a style that says we pay attention to detail. Even in the exam rooms I have a fancy hook on a velvet-covered frame to hang purses. Female patients often say, “Wow, you thought of everything! I like that.” The word has spread that our office caters to patients in search of such comforts. It’s starting to get out that we have the cool stuff but that we aren’t snooty. When I think about why patients are drawn to my practice, I think about what my cash-paying patients tell me. I reflect on this subset of patients since they have a much larger choice of places to go to than my patients who rely on third-party payment for exams. These cash-payers tend to be business owners who appreciate the “care” I put into my office, or patients who find us on the internet and say, “Once I saw you had dogs here, I knew you had to be OK.”

My optical is 20 square feet wide by 60 square feet deep. The first half is occupied by four dispensing tables somewhat “framed” by four columns and floor-to-ceiling curtains and chandeliers over them. The second half has a round “front desk” which is flanked by our custom specialty displays for our Lindberg frames and then four wall panels. One of the wall panels is for children’s frames, one is for sunwear, one is for men’s frames and one is devoted to women’s frames.

Located in Lutz, a suburb of Tampa, I get everything from families to young professionals. My largest demographic is women ages 39 to 59, which is exactly what I targeted with my decor.

We Are Individualistic Yet Accommodating
While I relish being able to show patients my personality and unique style through the office’s decor and child- and animal-friendly environment, I realize that extra care is needed to keep some patients comfortable.

I have a sign on the front window that says “The Bulldogs are IN,” which, not surprisingly, some people don’t take literally. If a patient happens to be scared of dogs, then we can either corral them inside the main desk, which has a circular design with doors made specially for this purpose, or we just lock them in the break room. On the rare occasion that we need to lock the dogs up, many other patients express disappointment saying they were looking forward to visiting with the dogs while they waited for their appointment. Fortunately, as I live in a very dog-friendly suburb, Joseph and Herbert only have to forego full run of the office once every few months.

To accommodate patients with allergies, there is no carpet or fabric of any kind in the office other than Joseph’s and Herbert’s dog beds.

We Focus on Patient Comfort
We have two large leather massage chairs and a buffet with a mini-refrigerator filled with sodas and water. We also have a single-cup Keurig hot beverage machine with a carousel of different coffees, teas and hot chocolates. We also offer complimentary cookies, Jelly Belly jelly beans and gourmet chocolates. Patients often joke that they are disappointed when we take them back for the exam quickly because they were looking forward to sitting in this waiting area for a while.

Creating a comfortable office with a distinct personality can be a practice differentiator that makes it more likely patients will come to you rather than the OD down the street for their next exam. And if you get to choose where you are going to spend the majority of your days, why not make it where YOU want to be, too?

Related ROB Articles
Create an Eco-Friendly Office to Enhance Your Practice’s Appeal
Show Patients You Care About Their Comfort
Reconfigure Your Office, Maximize Patient Flow

Click HERE or image below to view a slideshow of images from Dr. Brady Cook’s office.

Jennifer Brady Cook, OD, is the owner of Visionary Eye Care in Lutz, Fla. To contact her: jennifer.mikecook@gmail.com.

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