By David Danger Cutler

Marketing mavens are always noting the benefits of looking beyond one’s comfort zone when it comes to taking new and bold steps as regards one’s specific business, calling or product presentation. The well-worn cliché is “stepping outside the box” in order to enhance what’s IN the box. We’re convinced the root to insight might actually be stepping right into your professional life on a recurring basis. Huh? We’re talking advice from an enlightened eyewear vendor sales rep and when it comes to a flair for what’s daring, perhaps slightly dangerous, whom better than Barton Perreira’s David Cutler. Take note as he jumps right into what it takes from a rep’s pov. —JJS
Promote yourself locally. Make friends with the hotel concierge. Offer a discount to upper level hotel staff and local storeowners, hairdressers and highly visible business personalities in exchange for referrals. Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Better Business Bureau; any business group in your area can help you get the word out. Network with fellow like-minded retailers.

• Go door-to-door with any non-dispensing optometrists and ophthalmologists in your area. Let them know your history, and that your standards and quality are above the rest. Make them a pair to prove it if you have to. Strategic alliances promote your concept. Find the cool restaurants and make sure the owner is wearing your eyewear. Freshen him up every six months. Too many people hide in their stores. You are your best advertising because you have the passion... get out and eat regularly at a restaurant close by... be seen! People will start to ask about you when they see you a lot. Do good work in the community... talk to people... most of all... Be proactive!

• Tell your customers to tell their friends about you. The end consumer is the best advertising—word of mouth is priceless. Paid-for advertising contains whatever the person who buys the ad wants to say. Love what you do and let people see it and know it. Tell everyone you talk to that you have an optical store, and you want them to come into it. Carry your cards with you.

• Schedule events, plan parties and support the local arts and theater.

• Arrange holiday events to create a reason for customers to come in. An end of the year sale is a smart way to clear out the cobwebs. Send out reminders for people to use their flex spending. Promo for Christmas: “Get them something they can use this year... a gift card for new eyewear.” Arrange a drive for Toys For Tots or another charity, with offer of a gift card to one random person who brings in a wrapped toy. You can sometimes get free press if you do a charitable drive like that.

• Make sure that your website is user-friendly, updated and well put together.

• Organize a few evening events—Thursday night is smart for after-hours. Contact local DJs to spin quiet music that will promote their business. Contact alcohol promoters/distributors to send a rep with their latest hooch to bartend and promote aforementioned hooch. Put all items that you have a desire to get rid of on 50 percent off or BOGO and lenses 25 percent off or some such thing. Tie together the event with a charity situation and donate a portion of the proceeds. Contact local press to do a human-interest story about how you’re giving back to the community with this event.

• Know what you have in your store, and tell the client the story of that collection. Explain the history and DNA of the brand. The key to developing sales is product knowledge. Before any new frames are put out on display, check their adjustment, lay them out on a table in the back and throw a morning meeting with all staff members present. Have the manager describe the DNA of the brand, and its special design aspect and key talking points. Product knowledge is essential to telling the story.

• Keep your store and all lenses super clean; it’s crucial and makes a huge impression when selling expensive items. Assign sections to each employee and make them responsible for cleaning and keeping their section in adjustment. Put away all job trays, bills, paper towels, tissue boxes, PD sticks, pens and clutter. No one needs to see paper flyers, AR coating/polarized or progressive lens demonstrators in a visual display—that does not spur on sales of those things. They can all be taken out of cabinetry as needed. Contact lens solution is not an item that needs to be displayed. Keep the frame displays simple and uncluttered and without an excess of countercards and such. Let the frames be the artwork.

• Get under their skin as a human person, not an order taker. Guide the customer on their journey through the richly woven tapestry that is your optical store; do not let them be on their own—this is not self-service. Sit them down, hand them a cold bottle of water, and go through the Q&A: Have them tell you about themselves and their needs and wardrobe style for a few minutes, and then bring frames to them. It’s much harder for them to resist you, leave and think about it when they’re comfortable and being catered to. It’s easy to walk away when you’re standing up and left to your own devices.

Assault all of the senses of your customer the minute they walk in the door. Relaxing instrumental background music, flowers (even simple orchids in a large glass hurricane) and lightly-scented candles burning set the stage. Make the entire experience luxurious.

• Be a control freak and experience director. Create an experience for the client from the moment they walk in the door. Let them know that you’re knowledgeable—they will appreciate that. Your intense involvement in all points of the sale will dramatically increase your sell ratio. Just looking is not an option.

Be opinionated and honest, and know your collections. Enjoy showing off your brands, and your clients will trust you. People need help and you are the matchmaker. Very often, folks gravitate to the same look they’ve been wearing; it’s your job to guide them into new looks and make their old eyewear obsolete. Tell them that they don’t have to like what your handing them, but they do have to try it on. They may just discover that they like it.

• It’s hard for a consumer to know what is the best fit and product for themselves. If they wear a progressive, how can they tell if there is enough room in a frame? They can’t evaluate the Rx and make educated choices without you. Most people go by looks alone, and if the frame fits poorly, they are not going to be happy in the long run. Master the art of educating the consumer without sounding like a salesman. Rarely do “lookers” buy product elsewhere after being helped in the right way. Don’t be too aggressive or pushy, but do know your stuff and know how to sell it. Most people have never had an experienced enough optician or salesperson help them select their eyewear but once they do they remain clients for many years to come. Mingling a customer’s own sense of style with your knowledge of fit and function can create a bond that will last forever.

• Treat every customer like they’re the President of The United States.

• Above all, learn your ABCs… ABC: Always Be Closing.

Learn it… Live it.

• Be proactive, not reactive.

Drum this concept into all employees. Never let anyone walk out without buying if you can close them at that moment. If the Rx is to follow, choose and hold the frame (and reorder it if it’s a Barton Perreira), get it in a tray, get the measurements done and get the deposit in. The Rx can be called in or faxed later. One-stop shopping finished and that’s one more task your customer can cross off their to-do list. More sales can be gained by a strict adherence to this concept, and more sales are lost by not teaching your people this simple rule. Second Place waits for the customer to think about it and gives them the opportunity to go elsewhere—winners get the order paid in full. ■