About Rod Solar

Rod Solar is the Director of Practice Development Consulting of LiveseySolar, a healthcare marketing and sales training company. Rod has created successful and engaging training systems for over 25 years. His advice routinely generates 6-figure incremental increases in income for his clients by teaching them how to systematically improve customer service while increasing sales at the same time. His training offers an elegant (and fun) step-by-step conversational approach which benefits surgeons, practice managers, hospital staff, and non-medical staff working in private healthcare settings. Rod wrote and delivered the Business Development, Clinical Governance and Medicolegal Issues module for the University of Ulster’s Postgraduate Diploma in Cataract and Refractive Surgery (Theory) - PgDip. He is a regular presenter at the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeon’s Congress Practice Development Programme and has regularly published articles about healthcare marketing in The Ophthalmologist, Optician, European Ophthalmology News, Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today, Eurotimes and Independent Practitioner Today. Rod has been a professional salesperson (B2B and B2C), management consultant, college lecturer, an industry leader, and executive coach. His clients include Optegra, EuroEyes, ZEISS, Moorfields Private, London Vision Clinic, Thiele, and many other high-quality, private Ophthalmology clinics from the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, and the Middle East. Rod has a degree in Psychology and Human Performance from UBC. He lives in London, UK and you can follow him on Twitter: @rodsolar.

Healthcare chatbots using AI likely to replace your telephone receptionist

Healthcare chatbots could save firms £6bn a year by 2020... with banking and healthcare expected to be the biggest sectors to be affected. We feel that too many people underestimate the profound impact that artificial intelligence will have on almost every facet of business. Robots could replace up to half of the US workforce within the next decade. Medical secretaries and telephone salespeople are some of the jobs that are most likely to automated. How will this impact your medical practice? How can your people 'keep ahead of the 'bots?'

By |2018-01-24T17:02:33+00:00May 16th, 2017|Categories: Customer Service and Sales Observations|Tags: , , , |Comments Off on Healthcare chatbots using AI likely to replace your telephone receptionist

How to use social media for private healthcare clinics

Social media for private healthcare companies started out quite slowly, but has quickly grown into a key part of a robust healthcare marketing program. The more casual approach to using Facebook pages originally used in the private healthcare space has evolved significantly. Companies need to curate the content on their pages more (and not let just anyone post content on their pages), designate "page administrators" whose job is to answer prospect enquiries or questions, stimulate conversation around topics of interest to their customers, share useful and brand-positive posts from other places, and create content specifically for sharing on Facebook. If you're interested in starting up your social networking community, keep the following tips in mind when launching...

By |2020-02-20T11:58:07+00:00March 15th, 2017|Categories: Step 1: Getting more leads|Comments Off on How to use social media for private healthcare clinics

14 considerations when mixing business and politics

We’ve been diving into the pros and cons of aligning your business with a political position. Now that we’ve looked at the topic from all angles, discover questions you can ask yourself before you decide to communicate your political positions with a wider audience, as well as some do’s and don’t for mixing business with politics...

By |2018-01-24T17:02:34+00:00March 10th, 2017|Categories: Step 1: Getting more leads|Comments Off on 14 considerations when mixing business and politics

The business pros and cons of speaking out politically

In light of the political upheaval lately, we provide some pros, cons, benefits and risks of aligning yourself with a political position. Intermingling your business with political positions is not often straightforward. If you choose to stick with social convention and not speak about politics, you gain a certain emotional safety while losing democratic freedoms. If you make a stand and align yourself with a political position, you may gain a loyal group of customers and build a strong company culture, while losing other business that is...

By |2018-01-24T17:02:35+00:00March 8th, 2017|Categories: Step 1: Getting more leads|Comments Off on The business pros and cons of speaking out politically

Why consider affiliating your business with political issues?

Evidence shows that affiliating your business with politics can have both strong negative and strong positive impacts, depending on what your beliefs are. As we discussed at the beginning of this series, if you are merely trying to guess or predict where the public's interests may go (on a whim), you could wind up in hot water. It's best to not play the lottery and only back positions that you have deep convictions about where you can back up your beliefs with evidence and find a core market that shares your beliefs. This fits in well with niche positioning, which is a strategy we advise all of our clients to...(read more)

By |2018-01-24T17:02:35+00:00March 1st, 2017|Categories: Step 1: Getting more leads|Comments Off on Why consider affiliating your business with political issues?

Private Ophthalmology Then, Now, and into the Future: An Interview with Sue Boyes

Who has the most power in private ophthalmology today? Doctors? Insurers? Managers? Patients? Don't miss this insightful interview with Sue Boyes, former Yorkshire Ophthalmology Hospital Manager, who shares useful perspectives on the way private ophthalmology has evolved over the last few decades. We discuss the key traits of successful private ophthalmology companies, insights into where ophthalmology clinics can struggle and ideas on where the industry appears to be going...

By |2018-01-24T17:02:36+00:00February 27th, 2017|Categories: Customer Service and Sales Observations, Interviews|Comments Off on Private Ophthalmology Then, Now, and into the Future: An Interview with Sue Boyes

How can your company’s brand advertising impact politics?

The reason a brand might want to associate itself with a political position (progressive immigration policy, gender pay-equity, income inequality, climate change, etc.) is to demonstrate they share the virtues of their market...

By |2018-01-24T17:02:36+00:00February 21st, 2017|Categories: Step 1: Getting more leads|Comments Off on How can your company’s brand advertising impact politics?

How does politics influence business?

If anything is certain, mixing business and politics is anything but straightforward. My aim with this article is to give you an objective view of what you may want to consider before you publicly or privately reveal your political persuasion or align yourself (and your business) with any particular political position. The choice to align your business persona with a political stance is a complicated one that depends on many factors that I will illustrate in this post...

By |2021-03-18T16:11:33+00:00February 17th, 2017|Categories: Step 1: Getting more leads|Comments Off on How does politics influence business?

Cosmetic surgery down 40% due to ‘climate of global fragility’

As we predicted in June 2016, the effects of the EU referendum on elective surgery have not be positive. BAAPS yesterday reported that cosmetic surgery is at its lowest numbers in almost a decade. What suffers when consumer confidence is low are big-ticket, discretionary items – like high investment retail sales, travel, housing sales, and of course, big-ticket private healthcare. The 5 steps to healthcare growth are more critical than ever to get right when consumer confidence is low.

By |2018-01-24T17:02:37+00:00February 14th, 2017|Categories: Step 1: Getting more leads|Comments Off on Cosmetic surgery down 40% due to ‘climate of global fragility’
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