CE Plus | 20/20 eNewsletter

CE Plus

DEC 2015

Your monthly guide to staff training outside the box

Eyes / Lenses / Fitting Lenses / Free-Form / Frames / Sunwear / Patient Solutions / In-office / Standards

One of the “Plus” parts of CE and the Opticians Handbook is the author. These individuals collect information and experiences, compose the prose, write the questions, consider the opinions of ABO/NCLE certified peer reviewers and benefit from the edit and layout expertise of the 20/20 editors. This CE Plus celebrates this year’s authors with an excerpt from a recent written piece.

Prepare Your Office for a Successful Holiday Season, counsels Alex Bennett, ABOM. “Proper planning and foresight can alleviate headaches leading up to our busiest time of the year in the office: flexible spending deadlines. Once our patients are finished buying gifts, they realize they have leftover flexible spending dollars to use up and usually by Jan. 1. FSA dollars are residual income left over for ‘want’ items like second pairs of glasses. Here’s how you can prepare your office, your patients and yourselves for the busiest (and most profitable) optical season.”

In Tips for Reducing Remakes, Bethany DeWolfe , ABOC, shows how “…one pair of progressives does not always meet every need of your patient. This is why discussions about occupational lenses are important. If your patient has more than a +1.50 add, spends the majority of their day on the computer, reading music or doing meticulous repair work, explain why they would enjoy a lens specially designed for that aspect of their life instead of expecting one pair of glasses to meet every need. If the patient realizes it may take multiple pairs to meet their specialized needs, they will be less likely to put all their hopes in one pair of glasses being perfect for every part of their life.”

Need to teach patients in Protecting Your Investment, How to Care For Your Eyeglasses? , counsels Johnna Dukes , ABOC, says: “So, you’ve just helped your patient choose the most beautiful, technologically-advanced, perfect pair of eyewear. You’ve adjusted them to fit like a glove, and you’re ready to send your patient out into the world with this new optical masterpiece. Here’s the question, have you properly prepared this patient for all that is waiting for them in the real world? Not sure what information is imperative? Let me help.”

Preston Fassel describes The Eyewear Tune-Up . Fassel says: “It’s a quick, efficient way to differentiate your dispensary or practice from others the next time a patient comes in for an adjustment or even just as an added extra during a yearly exam. It’s an opportunity for you to demonstrate your abilities, remind the patient that you’re more than just a salesperson and give them something to think about the next time they need eyewear and are lured by the perceived value of online optical.”

Jodi Groh teaches us 7 Ways to Build a Local Marketing Strategy . Groh discusses: “Whether a new practice or long-established office, marketing is a must for business growth. When in highly competitive marketplaces or in tough economic times, marketing is critical for simply maintaining business. Marketing, however, does not have to be expensive. You can create a strong local presence and increase your number of patients by implementing an assortment of these affordable tactics.”

Linda Hardy, LDO, CPOT, COA, in Prescribe & Provide Sports Glasses explains: “Many of the children and teen patients who come into your office will be newly enrolled in sports they have never played before. The child who just this fall started playing for the football team or the local softball league will need glasses they can wear while they play their favorite sport. You have an opportunity to emphasize to parents not only the importance of protecting the child’s eyes from injury, but the chance to improve the child’s athletic performance with enhanced visual acuity.”

Speaking truths, Mike Karlsruhd M.Ed, helps us understand Why You Should See Sales Reps Regularly. According to Karlsruhd, “It is important to remember the job of the sales rep. They are paid to have a conversation with you. It may be hard to believe, but often reps are just as passionate about their jobs as you are about yours. They are also trained not to give up after the first, second or third ‘no.’ It is a common misconception by opticians and doctors that the only concern sales reps have is to sell you products that you don’t want or need; and that, quite simply, could not be further from the truth.”

Susan Knobler describes Millennials in the Marketplace . She says: “They are smart, confident, tech-savvy social activists concerned about the environment and social equality. As customers, they’re poised to change the way almost everything is sold because of their international, instantaneous digital connectivity. They see work as a means for doing ‘good’ in the world and look to purchase products affiliated with causes they care about. We’d better pay attention and take them seriously, learn who they are, how they see their world and how to employ and sell to them.”

Keep The Customer Connection by Mindi Lewis , MA, ABOC, FNAO, and managing editor of the Opticians Handbook discusses: “You’re committed to providing a great customer experience. You work hard to send patients out the door knowing you’ve provided them with great-looking, high-quality eyewear that meets their needs and fits their lifestyles. That’s the start to a great customer relationship. But now what? Research shows the average eyewear repurchase cycle is about two years. How do you keep that relationship going in between visits? “

Nuts and Bolts Display Basics by Suzan Mattisson discusses: “Displays can be changed seasonal or monthly, depending on your foot traffic. If you’re lucky enough to have frontage on a busy street, it would be worth your while to switch up your windows every four to six weeks. People do tend to ‘blank out’ as they pass your business if the displays don’t catch their attention or change often.”

Barry Santini, ABOM, teaches in Coping With Corridors. Santini says: “If you are ever intimidated or overwhelmed by the idea of juggling all the factors required to arrive at an optimal corridor length, then you can always consider selecting one of the advanced, premium class fully-optimized designs. These fully-personalized position of wear designs will automatically take all of the variables into account to strike an ideal balance between distance, intermediate and reading in selecting the final corridor length. More advanced designs promise even greater wearer satisfaction by factoring in the wearer’s previous lens design, corridor length, prescription, as well as center of rotation, eye dominance and head cape.”

It’s All In The Presentation, says Maggie Sayers Maggie Sayers, ABOM. “The big moment is here: Ms. Jones is picking up her new eyeglasses. She is excited and a little afraid. Excited because these new glasses are so cool. It is the latest style, and she went for the high-tech lenses, too. But what if she does not like the frame and what if the lenses are not all that great? She has spent so much money. What then? These are the thoughts that go through your patient’s mind, and how you present the new eyeglasses is going to play a big role in how your patient will see with the new eyewear.”

In The Physics of Polarizing Filters, Ari Siletz says: “Reflected sunlight is the nuisance we see as glare, and this is why polarized lenses are so useful to beachgoers and motorists: They block glare. The polarized filters on these lenses preferentially block the horizontal component of light oscillation while transmitting the vertical component. The result is a darker image but with better contrast.”

Tim Slapnicher, ABOC, teaches us about Making Frame Selection Relevant. Slapnicher says: “As we bring in new frame lines that are exclusive to our area, we are excited to bring in a large number of frames from fewer vendors. Many optical shops make the mistake of bringing in eight to 14 pieces of one collection. Commit. Bring in a ton. Represent the line. When we place an opening order, we bring in a minimum of 30 pieces (usually ranges 30 to 50 pieces). This can feel crazy if you’re not used to it, but we have the highest sell-through with our deepest collections. When you commit to a brand, you are making a statement for your patients. This is a must. Dive in. Buy big and sell big.”

Dick Whitney, Carl Zeiss Vision asks, Does Material Abbe Value Influence Your Patient’s Vision? According to Whitney, “A key aspect of understanding reference wavelength dealt with differences in refraction properties of various materials for different wavelengths of visible light. Specifically, in the presence of prism, ‘white light’ is broken up into the familiar rainbow. Plus lenses yield more lateral chromatic aberration than minus lenses of identical power. This is because of the front surface curvature and thickness of the lens, which combine to produce more prism (when examined at the 30-degree viewing angle). More prism means more lateral color!”

We wish you the best for the holidays and every success finishing all the CE requirements you might have.

—Mark Mattison-Shupnick, ABOM