This time of year, many practice owners ask me about their goals. I often get questions like, “Should we aim for 6% or 8% growth?” While it’s great to have a target in mind, these figures might be too conservative, and percentages alone can be too abstract.
Effective goals should drive behavioral changes. If you only pick a percentage to aim for, it’s hard for your team (and even you) to understand what they should do to achieve that goal. Here’s how I approach practice goal setting:
- Start with dollars, not percentages. It’s always more concrete to define the goal in dollars, not percentages. Dollar growth can also help you assess resourcing needs. For instance, let’s say your goal is to grow by $200,000 this year. If your staffing model calls for one non-OD staff member for every $200k, you’ll anticipate hiring in the coming year.
- Get more specific. Revenue goals are important, but let’s go a level deeper. Revenue can be defined by the equation # of patients seen x revenue per patient = total revenue. A great first step is to reverse engineer this to calculate how many more patients you need to see. For example, $200,000 in revenue growth ÷ $500 per comprehensive exam = 400 more comprehensive exam patients. Quantifying the patient volume and revenue per exam needed to achieve your goals is “mapping the path,” to borrow from Chip and Dan Heath’s book Switch.
- Start asking “How?” repeatedly. How can we attract 400 more routine exams (which is probably 600 total; 12 more a week over 50 weeks)? Do we have sufficient exam slots, lane capacity, or a marketing plan to get there? And how can we sustain or grow a $500 revenue per exam? Get granular, specific, and tangible in your plan to grow your revenue in 2025.
Dollars are the result of care
I know that some staff members, and even some owners, may feel uncomfortable when setting goals in monetary terms. If you or your team fall in that camp, I’d encourage you to reflect on the fact that your revenues are a result of caring for patients. Review the revenue formula above; revenue is explained by how many patients you care for (exams) and how much care you give them (products and services, measured by revenue per exam).
If your practice delivers exceptional care and products to your patients, you deserve to get paid. Revenue is a quantitative metric for how much care you give. And that’s the job: delivering eye care to patients. I hope this framework helps you provide better patient care in 2025.
Data to know how you’re doing and what’s next
Keeping a close eye on your practice’s financial performance is essential for making timely decisions and setting meaningful goals. If you struggle to get this vital information when you need it, Books & Benchmarks offers a solution for 2025.
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By entrusting your optometry financial reporting to Books & Benchmarks, you’ll gain a clear picture of your practice’s current standing and the data-driven insights needed to chart your course forward. Contact us today and say goodbye to financial guesswork.