This is a difficult topic to breach, but it’s important that every doctor following this guide is aware of this possibility before evaluating new suppliers:
Employee sabotage is much more common in this industry than most doctors realize.
We’re not saying it’s the case for the majority of members we work with, nor do we believe it’s always done maliciously. However, as discussed throughout this guide, we’ve encountered multiple verifiable instances of doctors not saving thousands of dollars per year due to their staff:
- Misreading price sheets when evaluating costs.
- Not factoring in complete cost (such as looking at lens pricing without AR).
- Not wanting to lose the good relationship they have with their rep.
- Not wanting to deal with the headache of a new ordering workflow.
- Not being financially incentivized to go to the effort of making the change.
- (Worst of all) Receiving financial kickbacks from an existing supplier that won’t be matched by the new supplier.
This is not something any practice is immune to. Even though only present in a minority of practices we work with, it has happened as often in new practices as it has in some of the most trusting and long-running relationships we’ve encountered across our member base.
So just to be clear: is employee sabotage likely in most practices? No, absolutely not — but the only way to root it out is to verify and vet the quality of any new suppliers yourself as the business owner. No one has more upside when exploring new suppliers than you. It’s very much worth your while.