Lens Chic of Eye Overheard
There has been much talk about Eye Overheard, a gossip, rumor, irreverent, optical blog. In fact many people have thought we are Lens Chic. We are not. Our commonalities are we 1.) Started blogging about the same time 2.) We are both on each other’s blog rolls. 3.) We email each other. 4.) We have different focuses, they want to wake up the optical industry in a impudent way, we want to wake up the industry in an ‘out of the box’ way. 5.) We both blog about some of the same topics. Other than that, we do not know who the people behind Eye Overheard and have not spoken to any of them. Quite frankly, we don’t want to know. We like the fact we don’t know, we want to keep them secret, we don’t want to have to lie to people when they ask us.
Do we agree with everything they say- No! Do we laugh- Yes! Do we get information- Yes! Do we like all their pictures- Yes and No! Do we think they have gone too far- Sometimes! Do we log on everyday- Yes! Have they ‘out-scooped’ us- Yes! Do we like them- Yes, we consider them our friends!
That said, we asked Lens Chic if we could do an interview (only online, because we do not want to know who they are) Lens Chic said yes and below is the very first interview with Lens Chic of Eye Overheard!
What gave you the idea for Eye OverHeard?
EOH is a culmination of industry people who have grown sick and tired of waiting to be listened to. We have some very insightful participants on the site that I honestly feel intimidate the current “brain-trusts” that are in charge of the big companies. Whether people like or dis-like EOH is irrelevant…we’re here to provide a forum that elicits honest opinions without the fear of retribution.( at least to date)
The purpose of EOH?
To open the proverbial closed box that is the optical industry. We don’t have a set agenda to bash anyone in particular but we do enjoy a good banter. We’re an equal opportunist ”commenter” to the whole optical industry. Besides, most of the companies do a well-enough job on their own embarrassing themselves. We just make sure the fire doesn’t go out too quicky.
How long have you been in the optical industry and in what capacity?
You can’t ask women that question! Let’s just say I’ve seen it all and remember the late 70′s very well. Although, DWO says the 80′s we’re much better for her but then agian she was in Florida. Go figure.
Your favorite posts?
One of my favorites is an oldie- when we first received word Essilor was going to mount Signet Armorlite, we ran with it. It’s a favorite mostly because it was our first “real”controversial post and what we heard back from our “friends” inside Essilor and Signet was overwhelming. Mostly curse words.. There are so many other posts that I love too. DWO’s submarine stories are pretty damn funny too.
What do you do besides EOH and work? Any hobbies?
The details of my life are quite inconsequential”- Dr. Evil.
How seriously do you take yourself?
VERY!! Nah I kid. Life is very short, enjoy it while you can.
What satisfaction are you deriving from your blog?
I love this industry, so writing about things that may or may not matter in this optical community is quite fun. We also like the creativity of our anonymous users and their names they give themselves. Speaks alot about a person. There are quite a few people posting comments who if you knew their real identify, you might be shocked!
Where do you get your pictures?
The Internet, is a very big place, just ask Al Gore. We search high and low on the net for pictures we just think are plain funny. Then we screw them up with dumb captions
| Where do you see the future of EOH?
EOH is a double-edged sword…on one side we’ve enjoyed tremendous growth and participation, being funny in just little over a year, but on the other side we’ve seen that being controversial in regards to the big manufacturers is what “sells”. The smarter marketing groups get this, roll with it and enjoy the free press and even send us thank-yous when when we elicit a laugh on their part. Then there’s the other marketing groups that think too highly of themselves and aren’t willing to listen to the ECPs,opticians and even their own sales force that would like EOH to “get back in line”.
So for now EOH will continue to write as long as our participants continue to read, comment and send us information. Currently, we enjoy close to 25 leads and stories a day sent to us via email which leads us to believe we’re on the right track. Expect big things in 2010!!
What do you think the biggest challenges there are for the ECP? I think this last year has caused more ECPs to take more control of their own practices, where in the past a fair amount of critical decisions were left up to individuals that basically didn’t have the best interest in the business. Their job was just a 9-5er. So now you have a fair amount of ECPs with little or no financial experience now seeing how much of their dollars were being spent irresponsibly to labs, vendors and 3rd parties.
The bigger lab groups saw this coming and in fact embraced this scenario by imposing their strength and influence over the “less than smart” ECP. Handcuffed Bundling as I like to call it where loans, points, spiffs, equipment etc. are thrown in for a minimum monthly committment of lab work or a minimun piece order is needed to qualify for that exclusive pricing. This is done in hopes that the ECP will agree and basically shut-up, not do any research on their own and wait for the next great program to come along. The irony is that for the most part, ECPs are by school standards “smarter” than their reps but the reps view the ECPs as easilly manipulated when it comes to business sense and they’re right I’d say 80% of the time.
So what’s the challenge for the ECP moving forward? To get off their ASS and do some research on their own. Be open to using multiple vendors and be weary of locked-in programs. Remember, the house (read: the big companies) always win but the ECP can improve their odds by just studying the industry a little more in-depth, by entertaining new technology for their product searches and realizing everyone of us in the industry is merely a vehicle for the next person to move forward whether it be a customer or partner. So just remember: Keep moving forward for your business and stop getting sidetracked to benefit others. One last thing we want to say to every ECP out there. Keep reading EyeOverHeard! |
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Thanks for listening to us Opti-girls!!! We LOVE your site and wish you all the best!!
Great interveiw!! I still want to meet her(?) sometime, she(?) owes me a beer or 19
and some donutz
I love the way EOH is done, humor and fact put together, along with some bogus things to make us all laugh at ourselves and our industy!
Fantastic interview. Thank you Lens Chic for being so witty, insightful, intelligent and snarky. A daily visit to both EOH and OVS are breaths of fresh air for me. Keep up the biting humor and who knows, one day EOA might even buy you out!