I listened to a recording of one of our agents last week. Patient called asking about scheduling an eye exam. Pretty straightforward.

The agent said all the right things. Greeted the patient. Asked how she could help. Explained our exam options. Offered available times.

But something was off. The patient hesitated at every step. Asked repetitive questions. Eventually said she’d “call back later.” She didn’t.

When I analyzed the call, I realized the problem: the agent was technically correct but emotionally absent. Her tone was flat. She answered questions but didn’t connect. The patient didn’t feel heard—she felt processed.

This is the difference between customer service and customer experience. And in eye care, where patients are often nervous about their vision and uncertain about what they need, that difference is everything.

Why Communication Matters More Than You Think

Eye care is inherently anxiety-producing for patients.

Vision problems are scary. Most people don’t understand the difference between routine and urgent. They can’t tell if their symptoms are serious or trivial. When they call your office, they’re often worried, confused, or both.

How you communicate in that moment determines whether they trust you with their care.

A warm, confident voice that makes them feel genuinely heard? They book the appointment. They show up. They refer their friends.

A robotic interaction where they feel like a number? They hang up and call someone else. Or worse, they don’t call anyone—they just let their vision problems get worse.

This is why missed calls and bad calls both leak revenue. A missed call is obviously lost. But a poorly handled call is often just as lost—you just don’t know it.

The First 20 Seconds

Here’s something I’ve learned from analyzing thousands of calls: the outcome of most conversations is determined in the first 20 seconds.

Not by what you say, necessarily. By how you say it.

Does the patient feel welcome? Do they feel like you’re happy to be talking to them? Do they sense competence and care in your voice?

This isn’t about scripts. You can say “How can I help you?” in a way that sounds genuinely interested or in a way that sounds like you’re reading it for the 500th time. Same words. Completely different experience.

What works:

What doesn’t work:

Actually Listening

Most people don’t really listen. They wait for their turn to talk.

In customer service calls, this shows up as agents who ask a question and then mentally check out while waiting to deliver their next piece of information. Patients sense this immediately.

Real listening means:

When patients feel heard, they trust you. When they trust you, they follow your recommendations.

Explaining Without Overwhelming

Eye care has a lot of jargon. Comprehensive exams. Contact lens fittings. Medical visits. Routine vision. VSP versus medical insurance. Dilation.

Patients don’t know what most of this means. And when you throw terms at them without explanation, they get confused and overwhelmed.

The trick is explaining clearly without being condescending.

Instead of: “Do you want a comprehensive exam or just a contact lens fitting?”

Try: “It sounds like you need new glasses and contacts. We’d start with a full eye exam to check your prescription and overall eye health—that takes about 30 minutes. Then if you want contacts, we’d do a separate fitting to find lenses that work for you. Does that make sense?”

Same information. Completely different experience.

When in doubt, ask: “Does that make sense?” or “Do you have questions about that?” Give patients permission to ask for clarification.

Handling The Hard Conversations

Not every call is easy. Patients get upset. They have complaints. They don’t understand their bill. They’re frustrated with wait times or insurance issues.

How you handle these moments defines your practice’s reputation.

The instinct is to defend, explain, or push back. Fight that instinct.

What works:

  1. Let them talk. Don’t interrupt. Let them get the frustration out.
  2. Acknowledge the feeling. “I understand that’s frustrating” goes a long way.
  3. Focus on what you CAN do, not what you can’t. Instead of “We can’t see you today,” try “Let me find the earliest time I can get you in.”
  4. Follow up. If you promise to look into something, actually look into it. Then call them back.

A well-handled complaint often creates more loyalty than a complaint-free experience. Patients remember when you made things right.

The Scheduling Conversation

Scheduling is where most practices lose patients without realizing it.

Patient calls. They need an appointment. You offer dates. They say they’ll check their calendar and call back.

They don’t call back. They went to your competitor’s website and booked online.

Here’s how to prevent this:

Make the ask. Don’t wait for them to commit. “I have Tuesday at 10 AM or Thursday at 3 PM—which works better for you?”

Reduce friction. If they hesitate about a time, offer alternatives immediately. Don’t make them do the work of figuring out their schedule.

Confirm the value. “Perfect, you’re all set for Thursday at 3. We’ll check your full eye health and update your prescription. See you then.”

Lock it in. Get contact info for reminders. “What’s the best phone number to send a reminder text to?”

Every step should make it easier for the patient to say yes, not give them opportunities to say “I’ll think about it.”

What Happens After The Call

Good communication doesn’t end when the phone hangs up.

Patients appreciate follow-up. Confirmation texts. Appointment reminders. A quick check-in after a procedure.

This doesn’t require much effort, but it signals that you actually care about them as individuals.

At MyBCAT, we build this into how we handle calls for clients. After scheduling, patients get a confirmation. Before their appointment, they get a reminder. After certain visits, they get a follow-up call. None of this is complicated. All of it matters.

Building Communication Skills

The good news: communication skills can be learned.

At MyBCAT, we invest heavily in training our agents on exactly these principles. Not just scripts—actual communication skills. Tone, pacing, listening, empathy.

We record calls and review them. We coach on specific moments. We celebrate examples of excellent communication and learn from examples that fell flat.

If you’re training your own staff, the same principles apply:

Communication is a skill. Like any skill, it improves with practice and feedback.

Making It Systematic

You can’t personally listen to every call. But you can build systems that promote good communication.

Quality monitoring—whether AI-assisted or human-reviewed—helps catch patterns. Are certain agents struggling? Are specific types of calls going badly? Where are patients dropping off?

Patient feedback surveys, triggered after calls or appointments, give you direct insight into how people experienced your service.

Metrics like call duration, conversion rate, and callback rate tell you whether communication is working at scale.

At the end of the day, great communication creates great patient experiences. And great patient experiences drive growth, retention, and referrals.

If you’d like to talk about how we approach communication training and quality, we’re happy to share what we’ve learned.

Need help managing your practice’s calls and scheduling? Book a discovery call to learn how MyBCAT can help.