Silhouette Optical’s Alliance for Value & Excellence offered its customers a special “sneak” preview of its upcoming seminar “Increase Sales Through Customer Interaction” during the recent Vision Expo East. The Alliance decided to extend its core of educational initiatives to incorporate this customer-satisfaction-based sales training due to high demand from its partners. The dynamic preview unfolded in a highly interactive, theatreinspired presentation at the historic Warwick Hotel in Manhattan and was led by Jim Ullery (pictured below), president of the Center for Organizational Energy, and Debra Severson, director of strategic programs and account support for Silhouette.

Silhouette’s future seminar will be an adaptation of best-practice sales methodologies to the environment of the optical dispenser. Through a process of questioning and active listening to identify customer needs, practitioners can improve communication, relationships, and ultimately, sales. Ullery, a trainer and business consultant for more than 20 years, is working with Silhouette and its key customers to adapt intensively researched methodologies to meet the specific needs of the optical industry.

Once field tested, the workshop is slated to be launched in Spring 2008. “For Silhouette to undertake an initiative of this kind demonstrates a remarkable dedication to its customers,” notes Ullery. For more information, contact Genevieve Fay at (518) 270-3103 or by email at [email protected].

—Jackie Micucci