The phone of an optometry clinic
Calls arrive during exams. The person at the desk is with a patient, the optometrist is in the room, and the caller mostly wants to know whether they can get an appointment this week. A call that waits too long is an appointment booked somewhere else.
The trade’s constraints
- An eye exam ties up a room and a person: a lost slot does not fill in five minutes.
- Appointments are often booked weeks ahead, so a customer who forgets their time loses a slot on the day itself.
- Not every appointment is equal: a full exam, a follow-up and a frame adjustment do not take the same place in the day.
- Coverage questions (public plan, private insurance) and prescription renewals are not settled on the phone by an agent: they go to a person at the clinic.
- An accident file — SAAQ or CNESST forms to fill in, documents to sign — is not handled on the phone: the agent records it and passes it to a person at the clinic.
- Customers often call from another room or while walking: they cannot stay on hold.
What the agent does during the call
- 1
It answers, in French then in English
The call is answered with no keypad menu, and the caller speaks right away.
- What the business sees
- The call enters the clinic record with its state.
- What the customer receives
- The caller has no key to press and no hold music to sit through.
- 2
It qualifies the appointment
The agent asks for the type of appointment, the person seen last time, and the times that suit the caller.
- What the business sees
- Appointment types and their lengths come from the clinic record.
- What the customer receives
- The customer gets an appointment of the right length, not a generic slot.
- 3
It checks real availability
The agent only offers slots that are open for the person and the room concerned.
- What the business sees
- No invented time: availability is read from the clinic calendar.
- What the customer receives
- The customer only hears times that actually exist.
- 4
It books, confirms and reminds
The appointment is written into the calendar during the call, then confirmed, then reminded two days ahead.
- What the business sees
- The appointment appears in the calendar with the customer, the exam type and the optometrist.
- What the customer receives
- The customer receives the date, the time and a link to confirm they are coming.
The reminder, and what it changes here
An exam booked three weeks ahead is an appointment the customer can forget. The reminder goes out two days ahead, with a link to confirm: that is the window in which the slot can still be offered to another patient.
What the agent does not do
- It gives no clinical opinion and does not comment on an exam result.
- It does not answer coverage or reimbursement questions: it transfers to a person.
- It does not renew a prescription over the phone.
- It does not set the price of an exam: the price belongs to the clinic.
What has to be set up
- the clinic’s opening hours, by day;
- the appointment types and how long each takes (exam, follow-up, adjustment);
- the optometrists and the appointment types each one handles;
- the exam rooms, when they are not interchangeable;
- the number patients call.
Frequent questions in optometry
Can the agent tell a customer how much of an eye exam will be reimbursed?
- No. Coverage questions — public plan, private insurance, claims — and reimbursement go to a person at the clinic. The agent answers for availability, the appointment and the reminder.
What happens when a customer calls to renew a prescription?
- The call is recorded and passed to a person at the clinic. A renewal is not settled over the phone by an agent: it depends on a record, and often on an exam.
Why remind two days ahead instead of the day before?
- Because an exam block freed two days ahead can still be given to another patient. A cancellation the night before leaves no time to fill the room or to reach anyone.
- How it works
The full path, from the call to the reminder.
- Garages
The same structure, with bays and parts instead of exam rooms.
- Clinics
The same structure, with slots shared between several people.