Contact Lens Pricing Strategies for Today’s Consumer

Independent SightLines, Practice, Products | Services | Industry News

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Contact Lens pricing

By Dr. Trevor Miranda. 

Dr. Miranda contributes his thoughts and perspectives on the topic of Independent Eye Care Practice in Eye Care Business Canada. Check out all of Dr. Miranda’s articles in Independent Insights category.

The modern consumer is egocentric. By that, I mean that they generally make purchases based on what is best for them, not what is best for the retailer.

A wise Optical Owner once told me that I wasn’t magic! How dare he dash my dreams of one day becoming a magician?! “You can’t make people buy from you.” He continued, “people will buy if they think it’s in their best interest to buy from you, so go ahead and take your shot by making your pitch.”

The Current Reality

 Today’s contact lens consumer is bombarded with online offers to purchase contact lenses directly. Clearly Contacts and other online retailers invest heavily to attract your contact lens patient into their online channel. At Kits, the online retailer’s fastest growing retail segment is a contact lens subscription that is taking your patient out of your purchasing channel for an average of 10 years (extrapolated based on European stats). Canadian studies have shown that a contact lens patient makes 2.9 purchases per year. Is this consumer using their friendly neighbourhood ECP, a convenient Big Box store, or online retailer to fulfill these purchases? Another industry statistic shows that less than 25% of patients in an optometrist office purchase annual supplies of contact lenses and the redemption rate of massive consumer rebates is less than 50%.

Contact Lens Pricing Strategies:

The Annual Supply: Many contact lens companies offer rebates and train our teams to recommend annual supplies of contact lenses. This allows the consumer to tap into “the lowest price after rebate.” There are quite a few flaws in this strategy:

  1. Most patients do not require or want to buy an annual supply of contacts.
  2. Rebates are a hassle factor and are not universally redeemed. The sticker price is artificially high and can be a shock and disincentive to purchase, rebates also require the patient to do some math to figure out if it is a “good deal” or not.
  3. Many Optometrists are compensated on a percentage of gross sales basis. The inflated price is overly expensive to the clinic owners, as that initial higher dollar amount paid potentially reduces overall profitability to the clinic.
  4. The rebates change, often quarterly, and the office staff needs to constantly update price quote sheets to keep up to date pricing.
  5. Pricing is often tiered so smaller purchase increments are not competitively priced

Per Box Pricing: The easiest way for a consumer to understand and compare pricing is on a per box basis. It is challenging for ECPs to flat price per box because of better incentives to sell larger amounts resulting in better pricing to the owners and thus better profit margins. There are, however, ways to implement this strategy in a way that is staff and consumer friendly:

  1. Negotiate with your Contact Lens Manufacturers for instant rebates or no rebates with better wholesale pricing on the lenses.
  2. Consider a small contact lens inventory where you buy “smartly” in increments that give you the best pricing and thus enabling flat per box pricing without reducing your margins.

Subscription: Studies have shown that many Canadians view contact lenses as an unaffordable luxury purchase. The sticker price keeps them from taking the plunge into full time contact lens wear. The world has moved to subscription: Services such as Netflix, gym memberships, wine clubs and, I have even heard of subscription toilet paper, are now the norm and accepted by the modern-day consumer. This allows contacts lens purchases to be considerd as “sunk costs” thus making available money to purchase other items such as sunglasses or mulitple pairs of glasses. Here are some advantages of subscription contact lenses:

  1. Affordable consistent monthly payments that reduce sticker shock
  2. The ability to consolidate a receipt to tap into insurance coverage
  3. Auto-preparation for rebate submissions.
  4. “Stickiness factor” – On average a patient stays on contact lens subscriptions for 9.9 years in Europe.

Web Stores: The pandemic drove many ECPs to develop an e-commerce strategy. While allowing the convenience of shopping at your clinic/store 24/7 is great, it has also led to some unintended consequences for some offices. Here are some e-commerce tips:

  1. Your online store offering should mirror your in-office offering. If you offer a sale online ensure you promote it in store.
  2. Inform your current patients of this convenience. Unless you spend money to elevate your search ranking, the bigger online players will  appear first.. You might be unwittingly pushing your patient to be crawled by bots on the internet and potentially taken out of your channels by Clearly and other online players.
  3. Make it easy to navigate and order online.
  4. Offer direct to patient delivery. Many manufacturers are still offering free delivery.

The Secret Sauce:

Keys to Successful Contact lens Sales:

 The doctors and ECPs need to approve the wearing of fitted contact lenses. Let the patient know that you have great pricing on contact lenses before the hand off to the optician or dispenser. A confident word from the doctor that buying from your practice really goes a long way and is in the best interest of the patient.

  1. Ensure that per box pricing is competitive. Be aware that patients will Google the brand and immediately compare pricing  from online retailers.
  2. Consider fitting brands that are ECP exclusive or “channel protected”
  3. Partner with manufacturers that give you the best margins while also making future purchases from your office more likely.
  4. Everyone approved for contact lenses should leave with a contact lens quote even if they are determined to buy from another source. The quote should include a per box price and a per month subscription price.

Good luck prescribing contact lenses and retaining your patients!

 

2024 Trevor Miranda

DR. TREVOR MIRANDA

Dr. Miranda is a partner in a multi-doctor, five-location practice on Vancouver Island.

He is a strong advocate for true Independent Optometry.

As a serial entrepreneur, Trevor is constantly testing different patient care and business models at his various locations. Many of these have turned out to be quite successful, to the point where many of his colleagues have adopted them into their own practices. His latest project is the Optometry Unleashed podcast.

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The War for Talent is Winnable

Human Resources, Talent Acquisition

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It is more important than ever to win the war for talent

The press lately is flooded with coverage of the talent shortage and hiring crisis, and it’s an ugly picture for any organization that runs on people. Until the robots rise up and free us all up to do higher value work, we still need a workforce to keep the wheels turning (literally).

All executives are abundantly aware of this crisis, but few truly know what to do about it.

Traditional recruitment approaches are dead. Truth is, they have been dead (ineffective, damaging, costly) for a long time, it’s just in our face more than ever before. Attracting qualified applicants requires a more strategic approach. You can weather the storm and win the war for talent – you just need to act differently than your competition.

The secret to hiring (and retaining) great employees is not what most people think it is.

Good hiring does not start with screening pools of resumes. Period.

If you (or worse, an AI in your Applicant Tracking System) are relying on the resume as the ‘admission ticket’ to decide who you’ll look at and who you’ll ignore, you’re missing out. Credentials, education, and experience may be non-negotiable qualifiers for a small handful of your open positions, but they are not reliable predictors of how an employee will perform for you or how long they will stay. The degree to which an employee is engaged in their job determines how long they will stay, how productive they will be, how happy your customers will be, and how much money they will make you.

So, how do you go about finding people who are going to be engageable? Well, you can’t mandate it or even ask for it. Engagement itself is the outcome of fit, and the best predictor of how engaged a person will be is fit across four different levels.

Fit between employee and their direct manager
This is self-evident and well documented, but most organizations pay little or no attention to getting it right, opting instead to throw people together and hope they jive.

Fit in their role
How much of an employees’ time will be spent drawing from their strengths, performing tasks that interest them and for which they have a natural affinity?

Fit with their coworkers, internal or external customers, and others
Will the employee enjoy interactions with key people, or will they find them stressful?

Fit with the company’s culture, values, and mission
Does the employee feel they are contributing to something worthwhile, and that they are in a place that’s right for them?

Here’s the real secret – if you don’t place a premium on (and invest resources in) getting the fit right, and if managers aren’t focused on using the tools at their disposal to build and nurture productive relationships with and between each of their people, you’ll never achieve and sustain the levels of engagement that are required to achieve your turnover, productivity, satisfaction, and financial targets.

Hire right, right from the start.

This post is sponsored by EyePloyment.com and Fit First Technologies

Learn more.

TIM BRENNAN

is Chief Visionary Officer with Fit First Technologies Inc, the creators of Eyeployment, TalentSorter and Jobtimize.

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How the FYidoctors Team is Supporting Communities and Rallying Together to Help Enhance Lives

Human Resources, Leadership, Practice, Products | Services | Industry News

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Uniting passion and purpose, the FYidoctors | Visique Enhancing Life Foundation is a non-profit foundation with the aim of making a positive difference and helping to better the lives of Canadians. 

Enhancing Life Foundation: then and now

Giving back has long been a core value of the FYidoctors | Visique mission. In 2011, the company launched the FYi Foundation for Sight, an initiative centred on improving access to eye care and vision correction needs for underserved patients. Wanting to evolve its corporate social responsibility efforts, the team repositioned the strategy, turning its former non-profit into what’s now known as the Enhancing Life Foundation. It’s not just a new look and name, this latest endeavour ushers in a new era of charitable action for the team, one with a broader focus and a mission to enhance people’s lives through fundraising activities and in-clinic events, social media campaigns, and donation collections to help Canadians everywhere, regardless of age, gender, or socioeconomic background.

It takes a village

The project aims to partner with charitable organizations in communities across Canada, operating year-round, with an emphasis on fundraising in October — known internally as Enhancing Life Month. Over 300 FYidoctors | Visique clinics are encouraged to each partner with and offer support to a local charity, whether that’s by participating in periodic volunteer nights or raising funds. Most clinic team members get involved with philanthropic non-profits that support youth, promote health and wellness, or education.

The main rule when it comes to choosing a charity is as long as their underlying goal is to help enhance the lives of fellow humans—it’s ultimately up to the team members in each clinic to decide. Charity Clinic Leader, and Licensed Optician, Kerri Nicholls, says that in her clinic, people are driven to participate when it’s a cause that hits close to home. “People work harder to raise funds when it’s something that’s personal to them,” she added.

Nicholls speaks from experience—her clinic previously partnered with a non-profit organization called Making Faces that helps children with facial differences step outside their comfort zones. Nicholls’ son was born with a cleft lip and palate, and so the charity holds a special significance for her. Seeing her co-workers get involved and band together to raise funds for the cause was moving and eye-opening, instilling a sense of community and belonging—just one of the positive outcomes of working with community organizations.

The charitable organization, Bowls of Hope, based in Chilliwack, British Columbia, has been partnering with FYidoctors for several years. The volunteer initiative, led by the clinic’s General Manager and Practice Coach, Patti Stuart, has fostered a long-standing relationship with the charity. In partnership with Bowls of Hope, the FYidoctors team have helped the charity prep and package food for delivery to thousands of students attending local schools.

Even the executive leadership team loves supporting the Enhancing Life Foundation. At a recent virtual cocktail hour with clinic team members unveiling the total funds raised, Martin says that the pride they feel is palpable—the leadership team was moved to tears. “It’s very personal to them to hear the stories of why they chose that charity and how they raised funds,” she adds. “It tugs at their heartstrings; the impact and difference our own team members are making in communities.”

Growing stronger every year

Now in its third consecutive year, the Enhancing Life Foundation has already seen dramatic growth in participation levels. During the inaugural Enhancing Life Month, participating clinics managed to raise over $154,000 in total. The foundation has almost doubled that financial goal—this last October, clinics and optometrists rallied to raise $320,000 for the charities of their choosing.

Not only that, but in its three years of operation, the program organizers have been delighted by upticks in involvement. While only 37% of clinics took part during the first year, 2022 saw roughly 69% of clinics get into the spirit of giving.

There’s a reason behind such a sharp increase in participation: it serves the added benefit of bringing teams closer and creating a sense of unity. Positive takeaway from the campaign are new inter-clinic friendships — even in different provinces — and the spirit of healthy competition in hitting fundraising goals.

Working for a company that cares not just about the well-being of its employees, but of the communities the business caters to, is important for the team who are a big part of Enhancing Life Month’s success.

For more information on the Enhancing Life Foundation and how you can get involved, visit the FYidoctors | Visique website.

 

This post is sponsored by FYidoctors.

 

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Expanded Partnership between Optometry Giving Sight & Eye Care Business Canada

Practice, Products | Services | Industry News

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Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) is pleased to announce a newly expanded partnership with VuePoint IDS publications, including Eye Care Business Canada  and NextGen OD.  The partnership also includes CRO (Clinical & Refractive Optometry) Journal and Optik Magazine for the 2023 calendar year.

VuePoint IDS, a long-time supporter of OGS, was honored at the Beacon of Light Recognition Event held at Vision Expo West this past September in Las Vegas. The event recognized those individuals and companies that had generously donated more than $100,000 to OGS over the lifetime of the organization so it could meet its mission to end preventable blindness and vision impairment in underserved communities around the world.

This longstanding partnership will be expanded during 2023. VuePoint IDS will provide more than $100,000 of in-kind advertising to OGS in 2023 alone, across all of its Optik print and digital publications, as well as its Clinical & Refractive Optometry online continuing education platform, enabling OGS to reach an audience it may not have had easy access to before. The type and level of market saturation and reach being made available with this expanded partnership will enable OGS to continue to meet its mission to reduce the prevalence of preventable blindness and vision impairment.

Doctors of Optometry will also be able to donate to Optometry Giving Sight when registering for CE courses through CRO.

Click HERE for the full press release.

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Practice Values in 2023

Buying-Selling A Practice, Practice

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Practices have faced huge challenges and have undergone an incredible amount of change over the past few years, and this won’t slow down in 2023. The time has come now for practices to deal with the aftereffects of the global pandemic, increase in interest rates along with the rise of inflation.

The market for optometry sales is becoming quite interesting. In the past, most practices were sold privately to partners or associates, the true values of these practices were not tested by the open market. As such, the level of value was not necessarily as high as that of their dental and veterinary counterparts. This is now clearly changing as the market develops.

In general, valuations for healthcare practices are driven by two overriding forces: the industry’s appeal and current macroeconomic conditions.

1. The attractiveness of the industry can be summarized by these key factors:
• You have shown that optometric services are recession and pandemic-resistant, demonstrating quality performance relative to other businesses in challenging times;
• Aging population; and
• Solid historical growth rates of four to five percent, with a good outlook on future growth rates.

2. Macroeconomic conditions, the second force impacting valuations, affect prices because of the following factors:
• Record low-interest rates during the past decade, making capital cheap for practice buyers;
• Stable economic conditions and slow, but steady, economic growth; and
• An abundance of investment capital, and many investors finding our resilient industry to place their funds.

The last 3 months have certainly had an impact on individual doctors looking to purchase. The sharp rise in interest rates and the above average offers from corporate buyers have impacted the decision to purchase. Furthermore, with corporates offering sizeable compensation packages and signing bonuses, the idea of owning vs., being an employee is significantly less attractive. Younger doctors are burdened with huge amounts of student debt and seeking better work/life balance creating less interest in ownership among those under 45 than prior generations.

For owners, this is where practice values become a bit tricky. We predict the value of practices will decrease. This is simply because if key expenses such as wages and supplies increase, then net income will decrease. Cashflow plays a huge factor in determining the value. Therefore, if an independent owner is going to compete against the corporates in attracting and retaining doctors and staff in general, the owner will not only have to pay more but also consider offering signing bonuses. This is certainly a tough pill to swallow. Owners had a difficult enough time accepting that younger doctors wanted work -, life balance, but signing bonuses? What could be next?

As much as things may feel or look bleak, all is not lost. Good practices, continue to appeal to the right buyer. Business cycles have a wonderful way of self correcting. If you are not ready to sell for at least 5 years, now is the time to plan and be prepared to manage your finances with this in mind. Find out what your practice is worth now and budget for the proceeds of sale in your financial plan. There are a few reputable and experienced appraisers to choose from.

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • Do I know the value of my practice today?
  • Are there any reasonable overhead reductions I can make?
  • Can I invest in new technology to add additional revenue or improve efficiency?
  • Can I keep my gross income stable or, even better, increase it? As a note, practices in any state of decline worry buyers and usually attract a lower sale price.

The final thought as we move into 2023 is to “Keep Calm and Carry On”. The challenges that may come are ones that can be managed provided they are faced head on. I would like to leave you with one of my favourite quotes from Barack Obama “The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I do not have time to complain. I’m going to press on.”

Jackie Joachim, COO ROI Corp

JACKIE JOACHIM

Jackie has 30 years of experience in the industry as a former banker and now the Chief Operating Officer of ROI Corporation. Please contact her at Jackie.joachim@roicorp.com or 1-844-764-2020.

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Year End Tax Tips

Finance|Wealth, Tax & Legal Matters

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Kicking off the Holiday Season is also a time to ensure that you have done the necessary year-end tax planning which can help lessen your tax bill come the new year.

Personal Year End

Regardless of the year end you have selected for your corporation, every person in Canada has a taxable year end of December 31st. Therefore, it’s important to review some key tax considerations prior to December 31st.

RESP

A Registered Education Savings Plan has some rules around both withdrawals and contributions. On the contribution side, eligible grant recipients are not only lifetime capped, but also annually capped. As a result, timing of contributions that generate grants is important to review prior to year end.

Withdrawals can be a little, I mean a lot, more complicated. You have six months after you have completed your post-secondary education to make a final request for grants, bonds and growth withdrawals (known as Education Assistance Payments or EAPs). In addition, for the first 13 weeks of a program, you can only request a maximum EAP of $5,000. Keep in mind that EAPs are deemed fully taxable income to the student. Therefore, as year end approaches, you may have an opportunity to withdraw a second EAP for a first year student who might have low taxes for 2022.

RDSP

You have until year end to make a contribution to be eligible for 2022 grants in a Registered Disability Saving Plan. These plans and associated grants are available to qualified disabled persons in Canada.

Strategic TFSA Withdrawals

Any withdrawals that you make from your TFSA are added back to your contribution room come January 1, 2023. Therefore, if you are looking to withdraw funds from your TFSA, it might be wise to do so prior to year end. This can be especially valuable if you are moving from a bank TFSA savings account into an investment early in the new year for example.

Paying Corporate Dividends

If you plan to pay dividends over the winter, consider the tax timing for both you and your corporation. Any 2022 dividends declared for a corporate year end prior to December 31 will be taxable on your 2022 personal tax return. You will want to weigh out the timing based on other income you have earned in 2022 and what you expect to earn in 2023 to determine the best timing.

Corporate Investment Earnings

Because corporate investment earnings over $50,000 in a year will erode your small business deduction tax break, it is important to review the earnings regularly and make adjustments either through strategic payments, setting up an Individual Pension Plan (IPP) or purchasing corporate owned exempt life insurance for example.

Tax Loss Selling of Investments

Given the market volatility we have seen this past year, your non-registered accounts may have capital losses. These losses can be triggered and used to offset taxable capital gains from the past three years (and can be carried forward indefinitely – so be sure to keep track of them). Therefore, if you have been sitting on a shareholder loan repayment, it might be a great time to liquidate some corporate investments to pay yourself back, all the while triggered a tax credit for your corporation and transferring tax free money to your pocket!

Likewise, it may be a good time to withdraw from your personal non-registered accounts to cover off some debts you are carrying, pay for home renos, or create cash to reinvest in your RRSP.

Income Splitting & Prescribed Rate Loans

The use of prescribed rate loans might be worth looking at if one spouse is in a high tax bracket while the other is in a lower tax bracket. The current prescribed interest rate is 3% and is set to increase to 4% January 1, 2023. Once the loan is set, the interest rate remains for the duration of the loan. This is higher strategy planning that also needs to involve your accountant and lawyer and should be discussed in greater detail should you wish to review this option.

Charitable Donations

Receipted donations are grouped together and are eligible for a 15% federal credit (and typically additional provincial credit) on the first $200. On amounts exceeding $200, the federal rate jumps to 29% (and is actually 33% if your taxable income exceeds $221,708). So if you are thinking of donating in January, you might want to move that forward!

RRSP

I know you are wondering why this is so late in the list – but the 2022 RRSP contribution deadline isn’t until March 1, 2023.

As you finalize your earned and taxable passive income for 2022, your next step is to review optimal RRSP contributions for overall average tax rate management, now and in retirement.

Understanding your 2022 income and available cash flow is key to ensuring you have drawn out appropriate salary and dividends from your professional corporation prior to December 31.

So Many Options

There are so many options and opportunities to save tax if you plan ahead. Of course, the best fit options are based on your personal situation and goals.

Advisory

As your Chief Financial Officer, I am here to help you sort out the options that make the most sense for you. Helping you understand your money and assisting you in making smart decisions about your debt repayment, insurance protection, tax management and wealth creation, are just some of the ways that I work as your fiduciary.

Have more questions than answers? Educating you is just one piece of being your personal CFO that we do. Call (780-261-3098) or email (Roxanne@C3wealthadvisors.ca) today to set up your next conversation with us.

Roxanne Arnal is a former Optometrist, Professional Corporation President, and practice owner. Today she is on a mission of Empowering You & Your Wealth with Clarity, Confidence & Control.

These articles are for information purposes only and are not a replacement for personal financial planning. Everyone’s circumstances and needs are different. Errors and Omissions exempt.

ROXANNE ARNAL,

Optometrist and Certified Financial Planner

Roxanne Arnal graduated from UW School of Optometry in 1995 and is a past-president of the Alberta Association of Optometrists (AAO) and the Canadian Association of Optometry Students (CAOS). She subsequently built a thriving optometric practice in rural Alberta.

Roxanne took the decision in 2012 to leave optometry and become a financial planning professional. She now focuses on providing services to Optometrists with a plan to parlay her unique expertise to help optometric practices and their families across the country meet their goals through astute financial planning and decision making.

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Episode 30: Dr. Sophia Leung Takes The Road Less Travelled

Eyes Wide Open, Podcasts

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Dr. Sophia Leung, in a conversation with EyesWideOpen host, Roxanne Arnal, the tables are turned.  Once an OD student in Dr. Arnal’s practice, the student has evolved and honed her clinical and mentorship skills.  Together they explore professional burnout, mentorship and types of collaboration in a forthright discussion.

About the Guest

Dr. Sophia Leung has taken an atypical professional pathway following graduation from UW School of Optometry in 2014. After spending some time in private practice, she pursued an Ocular Disease and Refractive Surgery Residency in the US followed by an Advanced Glaucoma and Cornea Fellowship.

Dr. Leung is also a Diplomate of the American Board of Optometry, a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry (AAO), and a Diplomate of the AAO in the Anterior Segment Section.

Currently, Dr. Leung is the Principal Optometrist at a high volume corneal, cataract, and refractive surgical centre in Calgary and the President-Elect of the Alberta Association of Optometrists.

Episode Notes

Dr. Sophia Leung is passionate and thoughtful about mentorship, professional development, and education.

As an OD student, she rotated through many urban and rural clinic settings, including Dr. Arnal’s Alberta private practice.

They discuss their personal and professional insights on mentorship, professional collaboration, and the evolution of optometry. They also delve into stress and practitioner burnout and point to a few interesting reads on the topic (See Resource links).

Dr. Leung shares her not-so-typical pathway after graduation that brought her first to private practice and then to an Ocular Disease and Refractive Surgery Residency in Oklahoma, a state with a very wide scope of practice, followed by an Advanced Glaucoma and Cornea Fellowship.

In her current role, Dr. Leung is developing an OD-to-OD referral model the enhance patient access to ophthalmologic care that also increases time efficiency for ophthalmologists.

She explains how the demand for routine vision exams vis-à-vis medical eye exams will evolve and how this exacerbates the need to improve efficiencies to meet the rising demands for patient care

She challenges her OD colleagues to rethink primary care optometry and outlines why primary care will unavoidably migrate to medical optometry.  An insightful 30-minute discussion.

Resources

Click the play button at top of page to listen.

 

ROXANNE ARNAL,

Optometrist and Certified Financial Planner

Roxanne Arnal graduated from UW School of Optometry in 1995 and is a past-president of the Alberta Association of Optometrists (AAO) and the Canadian Association of Optometry Students (CAOS). She subsequently built a thriving optometric practice in rural Alberta.

Roxanne took the decision in 2012 to leave optometry and become a financial planning professional. She now focuses on providing services to Optometrists with a plan to parlay her unique expertise to help optometric practices and their families across the country meet their goals through astute financial planning and decision making.

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Eyewear Style Experts Are Made, Not Born!

Human Resources, Managing Others, Marketing, Merchandising

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Scientific research gathered by Florida State University with more than 100 scientists reveals that true expertise is mainly the product of years of intense practice and coaching, and that ordinary practice is not enough. To reach expert levels, you need to constantly push yourself beyond your abilities and comfort levels.

This report stated that what truly distinguished ordinary from extraordinary was that those who are experts continually analyzed what they did wrong, adjusted their techniques, and worked arduously to correct their errors.

Did You Learn Style in Optical School?

When it comes to style expertise, I can share that when I graduated as a Registered Optician in 1989 that no one taught me how to style eyewear. This skill was not part of the opticianry curriculum. I did learn how to select the best frames for a high myope and how to adjust the temples and nose pads, but nothing about fashion and style. I still cringe when I remember selling small frames to men with big heads because they required a high minus prescription. The frame looked ridiculous and was far from fashionable. At that time, I was only using my optical science skill set and not taking into consideration balance and proportion, let only anything that resembled style.

The longer I worked as an Optician, the more disillusioned I became with my career choice. I was bored selling the same frames every day and felt like I was not doing impactful work. I began to look at other careers as a way out of the optical industry.

Always passionate about fashion, I began to study Image Consulting and became fascinated with the profession. Image Consultants are experts in marketing and fashion. They style clients to improve their appearance and help them to achieve personal and business goals. I was intrigued with the process and willing to put in the time and study to learn more so I could make a move to a new profession.

Is Fashion Art or Science?

Fashion design is definitely art. It takes a creative person to design clothing that other people want to wear, but as I studied Image Consulting more, I learned that there is a science to dressing body types and personalities. Now I was hooked!

When I made the conscious decision to come back to optical it was only if I could learn to be an Expert Stylist and bring my love of image branding and fashion to my daily work. With the combination of image consulting training and solid optical experience, I now had the hands-on experience to create and develop the 5 Spec Style personalities.

Having this structure, allowed me the freedom to stop assuming anything about the people that I was fitting with eyewear and gave me a scientific approach to fashion and style that I was able to systematically implement and repeat with every client.

Spec Style Personality
The science of Spec Style personality is the combination of analyzing the body types, the clothing styles that complement the body types, hair styles, personal complexion and facial features.

Breaking down an individual’s personal style with science and practice allows us to be unbiased as we analyze and assess our
clients to better help them select eyewear. You are then not simply selling glasses; you are selling style expertise.

You can learn how to assess someone’s Spec Style just by looking at them. Seriously!

Top 5 Things to Assess Your Client’s Style and be the Expert Eyewear Stylist:

1. The design lines in their clothing: straight or curved?
2. The fabrics they are wearing: textured or smooth?
3. The colours in their Wardrobe: deep, light, bright, muted?
4. Hair Style: straight or curly?
5. Facial features: curved or angled?

Once you have assessed these personal details, select eyewear that mirrors or mimics the same. For example, if your client is wearing a tweed jacket that appears textured, select eyewear that has texture in design or material. If they have smooth, sleek straight hair, select eyewear in shiny plastic or metal with straight edges.

Moving away from what you intuitively default to in conversation is not easy, but it is necessary to learn new techniques. With
intentional and deliberate practice, you will confidently be able to refer to what you are specifically seeing with each individual
instead of falling into the trap of repeating the same vocabulary. Your clients will have confidence in your expertise, and they will buy from you.

1 Harvard Business Review, July- August 2007, The Making of An Expert

WENDY BUCHANAN

Wendy Buchanan, Eyewear Image Expert is a Registered Optician, Image Consultant and Educator.  She is the creative force behind the Be Spectacular Eyewear Styling System® for Eye Care Professionals.  Wendy helps eye care practices to systematically reinvent their eyewear dispensaries to create an exceptional buying experience and increase profits.

Connect with Wendy on Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/bespectaculartraining/

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Location. Tips on Getting it Right!

Finance|Wealth, Office Design & Renovation, Practice, Real Estate

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The location you pick for your practice is one the most critical business decisions you will make, and for new practices which rely on attracting new patients, will determine how quickly you reach profitability or even survive.  Here is a list of things to consider.

  • Awareness of your brand is critical to building the initial trial visit which ideally will lead to repeat visits throughout the years. Pick a location which is highly visible to thousands of consumers each week. Real estate with good traffic generators like grocery stores, liquor stores, drug stores, popular restaurants/pubs or big box retail like Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire, Winners, Marshalls, Home Depot etc. The highest volume optical stores in Canada are located in the large regional enclosed malls which provide huge flows of walk-by traffic. Occupancy costs are much higher so these practices must generate very high sales to survive.
  • Ease of access is very important. Most people do not casually visit an optical practice and in fact regard it as an expensive chore, so you want your store on the path of their normal round of weekly or monthly shopping.
  • Mature markets with established practices and loyal patients will be much tougher to penetrate than an area that is growing with new consumers looking for a new service provider.
  • Another key market dynamic is the type of competition. Some markets may have a competitor selling designer frames at close to cost, a battle you will inevitably be drawn into if you locate there. Conversely your research may reveal that the established operators are out of touch with the market and or give poor service, which spells opportunity.
  • Use an experienced retail agent if you can find one. Many real estate (residential) agents will take your business without being able to add any real value. Ask the prospective agent to list the specific retail deals they have done. A good agent will know listed and unlisted vacancies, and importantly what kind of deal is possible with a given landlord. The agent’s fees are generally paid by the landlord.
  • Understand that Optometry/optical stores are one of the best tenants a shopping centre can have. It is a clean, unobtrusive, attractive use, does not use a lot of parking and is likely to generate a good revenue stream for years.
  • Buying versus leasing. It’s great if your occupancy costs can go towards buying a location, but most of these are residential homes zoned for retail, condo ground floors, or commercial condos. These may work if you have a well-established practice, but unlikely to have the traffic necessary to build a business very quickly.
  • Don’t get sucked into taking a space larger than you need, the smaller and more efficient a space the better. Occupancy costs are a fixed expense and can crater your income for the life of the lease if they are out of line.

Recognize that a well-established visible location in productive real estate is one of the biggest drivers of your practice’s value. Take your time planning for it, finding it and negotiating for it.

TOM BOLLUM

Tom Bollum was the founder and CEO of Eye Masters Canada (sold to Lenscrafters) and has held senior management positions in New Look Lunetterie and other optical companies before joining the Avison Young Commercial Real Estate Brokerage retail practice. He has sourced and negotiated locations for many optical stores across Canada.

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How to Manage Life-Work Balance in Your Practice

Human Resources, Leadership, Managing Others

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Gone are the days when employers could decree when and how employees work. Employees control the narrative now. They demand more, they have higher expectations and when their needs aren’t met, they don’t roll over complacently. They change things. How does this dynamic play out in your practice?  

Changes in today’s workforce world are all employee-driven. While plenty of companies are jumping on board and meeting their employees in the arena as part of their team some are choosing to be on the opposing team.

This is not a fight that you want to lose, it will be violent and catastrophic.

Quiet Quitting and Burnout
If you are on any social platform, you’ve probably seen “Quiet Quitting” trending recently.

Suddenly, it seems everyone is talking about it. Quiet quitting isn’t about employees leaving their jobs; it’s about them setting boundaries to prevent burnout or reclaim their lives. This is often done as a response to being expected to work longer hours and take on more work.

Employees are tired. They are fighting back against employers who expect them to do more. Some employers may think this is unfair pressure or underhanded tactics as they face a hiring crisis of epic proportions at a time they are short on staff.

However, loading your current employees up with more work may make your situation worse. You may cause even more employees to leave while gaining a reputation for overworking your staff.

Work-Life Balance, or Life-Work Balance?
Instead of fighting your employees tooth and nail, consider what they are asking for, and how providing them with the balance and the boundaries they crave could boost productivity and be beneficial to your organization.

You may be used to having employees who dedicate themselves to long hours and spend time socially with colleagues outside work hours but that has all changed. And in hindsight, was their work truly better?

The pandemic shifted at a foundational level how people view work as part of their lives, and it isn’t about work-life balance anymore, where ‘work’ takes pride of place. Instead, people are turning to life-work balance, re-imagining and re-engineering how work fits around their lives rather than their lives fitting around their work.

With the state of the labour market right now, with demand far outstripping supply, employees have the power to do this. Across North America right now, there are more than 12 million jobs that need to be filled. It’s a seller’s market and if an employee feels like their boundaries are not respected, they will simply choose to take their talents elsewhere.

Like all of us, they want to spend time with family and friends, improve their physical and mental health, and lead balanced lives where they can very happily work hard in the allotted time, and then move on to other things, guilt-free.

If they cannot do that while working at your company, they’ll be out the door faster than you can say “but…”.

Working With Employees
Those of us who are of a certain age may still hear our fathers’ voice ringing in our ears: “you should damn well be happy to have a job. You don’t have to love it. Suck it up and get on with it”.

That was a common paradigm a generation ago. One that, for better or worse, has gone the way of the dinosaur.

It’s time for a new paradigm to emerge, one where the power is no longer master-servant, but more balanced. When someone feels an affinity with their role because it fits them, where they feel respected and where they can contribute satisfyingly, they will naturally be much happier, more engaged, and more productive during working hours. This results in higher quality work, a better work environment, and overall better engagement among employees.

Engaged employees with set boundaries don’t need to work extra overtime hours to get things done because they can complete their work during working hours.  

By respecting boundaries and allowing your team members to manage life-work balance, you create the kind of environment more people want to work in. Your associates feel respected and satisfied, their quality of work reflects this, and you get the reputation of a great employer. Suddenly something that started as a scary trend doesn’t seem so bad.

This post is sponsored by EyePloyment.com and Fit First Technologies

Learn more.

TIM BRENNAN

is Chief Visionary Officer with Fit First Technologies Inc, the creators of Eyeployment, TalentSorter and Jobtimize.

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