The Optical Vision Site

Road Warriors- Opportunities For Eyecare Professionals

Road Warriors

Road Warriors are people that basically spend their time travelling on the road, whether in a car, a train or airplanes. Both Shirley and I are experienced road warriors. As glamorous as it may sound to many people, it is a hard life. You are never home, and when you do come home, you spend your time, cleaning, shopping, unpacking, re-packing, picking up email, paying bills all in a little space of time, like 2 days. The only advantage is true road warriors are not effected by Jet Lag, because they many times are on so many time zones the body never knows whether it’s coming or going.

As a road warrior, I am always packed. I have doubles of everything to make life much easier. What we  warriors buy that you can promote and sell: 2nd pair of  eyeglasses and sunglasses, cleaning cloths, eyeglass repair kits, small magnifing glasses, eyeglass retainers, flashlight, extra contact lenses and cases. I will also tell you, I have much of the below products in my car as well and I don’t even drive that much!

How To Promote

Get a clear plastic picture frame and put up a sign ROAD WARRIOR SPECIAL’ and group some of above in a little area. Should only take up about a 12×12 inch section.

Where To Get

• Amcom: Cleaning Cloths, Retainers, reading glasses, magnifiers, FlipUps, screwdriver kits, contact lens cases
• Hilco- Lens cloths, readers, cleaners, eyeglass retainers, screwdrivers, magnifiers, sunclips
• Nanofilm- AntiFog lens cleaners which are great for cleaning computer screens as well.
• Rons Optical- Contact Lens cases, magnifiers, eyeglass holders, repair kits
• Live Eyewear- Over RX eyewear, Cocoons -great to take along as an extra pair of sunglasses.
• Jonathan Paul- Fitovers and duality eyewear, great for sunglasses
• SwitchVision- Interchangeable lenses, is one pair of glasses with many types of lenses, so the wearer is always prepared for any weather conditions.

For those who are are going on a trip the below is a list of recommendations from Travel Experts:

1. Extra medications in case your flight is delayed (Medications must be in original bottles, not replacement bottles or plastic zipper bags.) For Carry on.
2. A list of your medications,
3. Travel-size toiletries in 7.5″ x 8″ plastic zipper bag (3-ounce bottles or smaller) for carry on.
4. Travel clothesline- I carry dental floss and clothes pins not the clothesline, extra long shoestrings work just a well.
5. Partial roll of toilet paper- a definite must for those times you may be sitting on the tarmac for hours. ( I take 2-3 depending on how long I will be gone and what country)
6. Travel-pack tissues- I actually carry handi-wipes which is what they use for babies, no tissues, TP works just as well.
7. Two band-aids- I carry more than that!
8. Hand Sanitizer- I take on vacations only.
9. Tiny mints and/or gum for in-flight dragon breath- Altoids are the best! And I carry on toothbrush and toothpaste.
10. Change of underwear- I always carry on no matter how long I am gone, so not an issue.
11. Electrical adapter(s) all adaptors or electrical stuff you may need for ipods, cellphone and laptops, cameras. hearing aids.
12. Curling iron if you use one (Tell inspectors about it.)- forget that, don’t curl your hair!
13. Small pad for notes, pens, pencils, paper clips, rubber bands – are in my rolling desk.
14. Business cards or address labels.
15. Copy of your eyeglasses or contact lens prescription, passport, travel info and copy of credit cards (hidden away in luggage. I have been ripped off before and to have all this information has saved me major headaches. I could write a book on this alone! You should have been there in my last adventure- Peruvian Standoff in Tujillo, Peru, with me, the police, the taxi-driver, the D.A. the neighbors and the bandits holed up in a house and nobody spoke English!
16. Eyeglass repair kit (The kind with the mini screwdriver and screws.)
17. Extra batteries if you wear a hearing aid
18. Small roll of plastic tape to repair a ripped luggage- I have a 1/2 roll of duct tape, you can’t miss, but only when I am going out of the country.
19. Large plastic zipper bags, and reusable bags are great as well.
20. Safety pins – always have.
21. Plastic magnifying glass- of course!
22. Deck of cards- I travel with 2 decks of cards when going on vacation.
23. Paperbacks and travel guide- a definite must, crossword puzzle book as well

Sleep And Eye Health- Opportunities For Eyecare Professionals

Audrey Hepburn: Breakfast At Tiffanys

I started this post because after reading this article on the untapped market for eye health supplements, I realized that many offices may not realize the opportunities that go beyond lutein, fish oil and the like. Sleep disorders are a huge market potential that 1.) Effect eye health 2.) Can be helped by the optical professional 3.) Offer an opportunity to increase income while helping your patients feel better. 4.) Set  you apart from your competition 5.) Open up a new markets

There is quite a bit of research about the benefits of sleep, eye health, glaucoma,  My suggestion: Make this a monthly topic of discussion in staff meetings. It a knowledge, preventive medicine and  customer service issue. The more you can help your patients, the more referrals you will get.

Eye Bogglers

• Estimated people with insomnia: 10%- 20%
• About 50% of adults over 65 have some type of sleeping disorder
• Estimated Americans with Sleep Apnea- 20 Million
• It is estimated that the average untreated sleep apnea patient’s health care costs $1,336 more than an individual without sleep apnea. If approximations are correct, 17 million untreated individuals account for $22,712 million,or almost 23 billion in health care costs.
• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects 9% of women and 24% of men between the ages of 30 and 60 years old
• We found that overall, about two-thirds of high school students are getting insufficient sleep on an average school night,” said study author Danice Eaton, a research scientist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Eaton added that females, blacks and students in higher grades tended to get the least shut-eye.

Hilco Beauty Sleep Mask #165-0000140-00

• Fun and Fashionable Sleep Masks Eye Catching Shut Eye Sleep Mask
• Breakfast At Tiffany’s Sleep Mask Silk Satin Eye Mask!

Bottom line: At least 20% of your patients have problems sleeping. That 20% can mean additional income, 20% can mean new markets, 20% can mean new referral sources, 20% can mean additional opportunities to form strategic alliances, 20% can mean loyal long term patients.

Think about it, S

Resources

• National Sleep Foundation
• Can Sleep Issues Effect Eye Health?
• Vitamins To Help You Sleep Better and Cure Insomnia
• Sleep Apnea A Risk For Developing Eye Disease
• Natural Remedies For Insomnia
• 42 Tips To Help You Sleep

Free Stuff From Google- Mapping Eyecare Offices

Both Shirley and I try to take advantage of everything we can Free from Google. We use email, Docs, Calendar, Analytics, Feedburner (subscription) and more. One of the most useful tools an eyecare professional can use is Google Maps, especially since so many mobile and desktop users are turning to Google Maps to find local and other business.

Duct Tape Marketing has simplified the process of optimizing your web pages for local search which has become an extremely important part of the local marketing mix. From Duct Tape Marketing:

‘The above video explains a bit of tweak that  suggest can make your Google Maps profile even more local search term friendly.
As shown in the video above, once you claim your Google Maps Profile (Go to the Google Local Business Center) you have the freedom to do lots of customization, including customizing the very important “category” listings, which Google relies very heavily upon to determine when to show your profile. You must choose one category suggested by Google, but are free to add up to four more that can contain city names as part of the category. In my opinion, Las Vegas plumber is a much stronger local category than just plumber.’

Understanding Our Celebrity Craving and Celebrity Eyewear Need

I read a great article by Neal Gabler in Newsweek last month  about understanding our craven celebrity culture.

George Clooney wearing Izod by ClearVision Optical

It is interesting and we need to understand it because we see this so much with eyewear. Every eyewear company wants George Clooney, Lindsay Lohan, Bragelina, etc. etc. to be photographed wearing their brand of eyewear no matter how badly behaved that celebrity might be! (I am not saying that any of those mentioned above are badly behaved, well one maybe!) WHY WHY WHY?  Because it is all about MARKETING and good marketing needs to be entertaining! What is more entertaining than celebrities?

Gabler says  that “Celebrity”  is actually a new art form that competes with—and often supersedes—more traditional entertainments like movies, books, plays, and TV shows (and the occasional golf tournament), and that performs, in its own roundabout way, many of the functions those old media performed in their heyday: among them, distracting us, sensitizing us to the human condition, and creating a fund of common experience around which we can form a national community.

He says “Celebrity” has tremendous advantages over its more traditional, and fictional, competitors. For one thing, celebrity doesn’t have to create the pretense of reality; it is real. The stories are enacted in life, which is why, aside from the inherent drama of hookups and breakups, sex has featured so prominently in celebrity narratives. (So has violence.) There is an almost voyeuristic frisson in knowing that this isn’t simulated as it is in the movies. Nor does celebrity have to labor at creating identification; celebrity protagonists are almost, by definition, culturally preselected on the basis that we identify with them (Everyman) or enjoy a vicarious attachment through them (Superman). And because there are real consequences to the events in the narratives—people actually divorce or fall off the wagon or die—something is always at stake. We don’t have to suspend our disbelief.

Source: Newsweek.
Picture: Courtesy of ClearVision Optical

To read the whole article go to http://www.newsweek.com/id/226457

Strategic Alliances:Luxottica+Essilor+Macy’s+Vision Direct+Alcon+…..

Synergy Ball

Screaming headlines and The Lessons I have learned from Luxottica and Essilor’s Strategic Alliances

It is probably not love that makes the world go around, but rather those mutually supportive alliances through which partners recognize their dependence on each other for the achievement of shared and private goals. Fred Allen

• Luxottica and drugstore.com Form Strategic eCommerce Alliance to Expand … CNNMoney.com (press release) Under this exclusive agreement, Vision Direct, Inc., a leading online contact lens retailer and a wholly-owned subsidiary of drugstore.com, will collaborate … See all stories on this topic
• Luxottica to offer contact lenses online with new partnership … By lenschic As of September 30, 2009, Luxottica operated 2939 optical stores across North America, including LensCrafters and Pearle Vision. The new contact lens ecommerce services are expected to launch in mid-2010. drugstore.com will incur a one-time … That is a benefit for me because if I provide very good customer service I can have the customer come to us to get contacts and not have to jump through hoops to just get what works for them. Customers do you want the contacts you …EyeOverheard.com – http://eyeoverheard.wordpress.com/

I have watched with interest the continual buyouts and strategic alliances from both Luxottica and Essilor. These are large companies that have to answer to shareholders, therefore they have to have growth. The easiest way to get growth and eliminate competition is to buy other companies, cut costs and Form STRATEGIC ALLIANCES with non- compete vendors to break in new markets and synergize their energy and efforts.

What can you learn from this? Form your own strategic alliances in order to compete and add growth, and enter new markets. Find other companies that have the same core values as you and compliment your services and products while allowing you to create and open new markets.

• Get together with your local shops and cross merchandise, put links on your website, advertise together, promote one another.
• Get together with make-up artists, tattooist, spa, masseur,  and offer discounts or specials with each others clientele
• Form your own ‘medical group’ get with your local dentist, chiropractor, podiatrist, make up a brochure and cross promote.
• Get with your local pet store and promote doggie sunglasses
• If you are in area with  of hotels, work with them to provide services for the traveler.
• Restaurants- many are hurting, why not work with them to put on lunch fashion shows?
• Clothing And Accessory Boutiques- Do a trade, you supply the sunwear and eyeglass accessories, if they merchandise your windows and displays.
• Get together to put your own website or blog together.
• Form alliances with your favorite causes.

Whatever you do, consider both informal and formal marketing avenues to cross merchandising and promotions. The goal should be finding and leveraging both powers to create cross promotional opportunities for both or all parties.

Tags: Business, Marketing, Trends
Posted in Marketing | 1 Comment »

Top 25 Eyecare Predictions For 2010 And Beyond

www.google.com/trends/eyeglasses

All About Vision, one the top eyecare sites released a press release with their eyecare predictions for 2010. We added our own optical and eyecare trends at the bottom.

(PRLEAP.COM) Will new eyeglasses be self-adjustable for better focus? Can blindness be cured? Read what the editors of AllAboutVision.com say about trends and new products that may be in store for 2010:

1. Presbyopes, or people with near vision problems from presbyopia, may soon be able to adjust their own eyeglasses to achieve sharper focus. One company recently introduced adjustable lenses that give clearer focus up close or in the distance, depending on the individual’s vision needs.

2. For frazzled parents who find it tough to keep eyeglasses and sunglasses attached to young children’s faces, more conveniences are available in the form of adjustable straps, headbands and Velcro for attachments. That’s especially good news for tiny tots, who need sunglass protection outdoors just as much as adults do.

3. Companies are expanding availability of self-service vision screening kiosks in malls, grocery stores and drugstores. These self-service kiosks help assess vision and determine when the person should see an eye doctor for a full eye exam to update his or her prescription and help prevent eye problems.

4. Advances continue to be made in gene therapy, which eventually may cure blindness caused by eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. In fact, scientists recently used gene therapy to reverse blindness in animals with an eye disease similar to retinitis pigmentosa. Human trials using this method could begin in 2010.

5. Scientists also have used gene therapy to reverse color blindness in monkeys, which could have long-term implications for humans with color blindness.

6. Several companies are very close to creating more modern drug delivery systems for the eye that could eliminate the need for painful injections used to control macular degeneration, a common eye disease affecting the elderly that can be blinding.

7. New drug delivery methods other than eye drops also are being investigated for common eye diseases such as glaucoma. Tiny devices the size of a grain of rice (punctal plugs) could be inserted in the corner of the eye to slowly release medications needed to control high eye pressure that can damage the eye in glaucoma.

8. Smart phone applications will help users monitor their vision and certain eye conditions.

9. New corrective lens technology will provide greater customization of vision correction than current glasses and contacts, providing sharper vision than “20/20.”

10. All-laser cataract surgery may replace more traditional methods that use ultrasound (phacoemulsification) to break up the cataract in the eye before it is removed. Newer methods use a special laser to create incisions in the eye and also to break up the cataract.

11. The same special laser (femtosecond laser) is being studied as a way to correct near vision problems caused by presbyopia, which affects most people beginning after age 40. The laser creates incisions on the front of the eye to steepen it, which improves near vision.

12. Tiny implants inserted just below the clear surface of the eye (cornea) also are showing promise as a way to correct presbyopia.

13. The eye may become a diagnostic tool for identifying people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists have found that examining the retina in the eye’s inner, back region can reveal lesions indicating presence of the disease.

14. Stem cells may soon be used to treat Stargardt’s macular dystrophy (SMD), a retinal disease that causes blindness in young people. The treatment uses embryonic stem cells to re-create a type of cell in the retina that supports the photoreceptors needed for vision.

15. Contact lenses are being studied for many futuristic uses, such as monitoring a person’s vital body signs and blood sugar. Contact lenses currently are being developed to give instant views of charts, graphics and other displays through sources such as wireless Internet connections.

Our predictions:

1. Wearable technology in the form of USB ports in eyewear, solar powered, video eyewear will be on the rise. Eyeglasses will become mini-computers. Eventually one of the ’standard’ optical vendors will break into this market. No matter what this is a potentially lucrative non-managed care market.
2. Green and sustainable manufacturing and products will continue to rise as manufacturers and optical professionals continually realize the cost advantages and respond to consumer demand.
3. The consumer (Patient) will continue to seek DIY healthcare, sustainable and green medicine. It will become more important for the ECP to offer natural and green alternative products and services in a non-toxic environment.
4. Blogs, Social media will become the way to reach the GenY and older patients. Reputation Management will become part of a daily task for the eyecare professional. New titles such as Brand Ambassadors will become a part of every office.
5. Growth in colored contact lenses as an important fashion accessory.
6. There will be lots of growth in online retailers of both contacts and eyewear. People who are unemployed have started blogs and websites and one of the easiest and affordable things to sell is eyewear and contacts over the internet especially with the number of affiliate programs available.
7. Large companies will continue to merge, form strategic alliances to sustain growth and eliminate their competition.
8. Eyeglasses accessories if you stock them can and have a huge growth and income potential. People are struggling as to where to put all their gadgets, ipods, cell phones  and all the wires that go with them and how to keep them protected and not lost.
9. Celebrities will continue to drive the outlandish eyewear business. Stars such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Beyonce will be on the lookout for innovative, wacky, eye-catching eyewear and sunglasses. As a results new, small ‘niche’ street driven fashion ‘people’ will continually be coming up with outrageous and extravagant eyewear.
10. Paperless is the way to go- companies will stop printing catalogues, consumer will ask for paperless, recall will be done by email or mobile marketing

For more information on vision, eyewear and eye health, please visit AllAboutVision.com.

About Us

Online since January 2000, AllAboutVision.com provides consumers with hundreds of pages of comprehensive, doctor-reviewed information on eye health and vision correction. The site’s most popular content sections are those about eye diseases, LASIK, contact lenses and eyeglasses. The site is accredited by the Health on the Net Foundation. AllAboutVision.com is published by Access Media Group LLC, a print and electronic health communications company that specializes in vision care. All About Vision and AllAboutVision.com are registered service marks of Access Media Group LLC.

EyeStar TV – Eyecare Marketing For Today and Tomorrow

EyeStar TV

I am a firm believer in digital signage for the eyecare office. In the everyday running of the office, sometimes you just don’t have the time to educate, inform, present all of your products and services to your patients. EyeStar TV is the future of eyecare marketing for today and tomorrow. It helps the eyecare professional entertain, educate and present effectively your products and services to not only your patients, but their friends and family as well. (Capture those people waiting for their friends! ) The best part the revenue statistics on digital signage and sales results are incredible.

• Digital Signage have 47.7 per cent effectiveness on brand awareness, increase the average purchase amount by 29.5 percent, create a 31.8 per cent upswing in overall sales volume, generates 32.8 percent growth in repeat buyers and pull in 32.8 per cent more store traffic ( Source: InfoTrends)
• Consumers are more interested in video that focuses on store sales, product information, and special events. Eighty one percent consumers regardless whether they have already experienced in-store video are most interested in seeing video programming for the store they are in including sales and special ( 81%), product information (72%) and special events (68%). If given a choice forty two percent of retail video viewers would prefer to shop that has video display. (Source: The Arbitron Retail Media Study-Volume II).

With those type of statistics, how could you lose? EyeStar TV , our newest sponsor, is an online digital signage solution especially made for the optical professional. They offer over 150 different video options and will also do custom videos that are geared for your office, your patients and your products and eyecare services. The Benefits are numerous: More staff productivity (not having to spend alot of time reviewing product options), no more stacks of brochures, increase in revenue, pre-sells your patients and informs your staff as well, best of all it engages and educates your patients.

Transitions Introduces Eye Care Communication Guide

We have subscribers from all over the world,  more than 80 different countries which is why we have the Google Translator feature on our site enabling our blogs to be read in several languages. We like to spread the word in as many languages as possible but especially Spanish as it is such an important one here in California as well as the whole country.

Therefore, we are pleased to see optical companies providing patient information and communications in Spanish. We congratulate   Transitions especially. The Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA) - the country’s largest organization of ethnic public relations practitioners – has recognized Transitions Optical, Inc. with the 2009 Hispanic Healthcare Campaign of the Year award.

We would like to share Transitions press release for their new Eye Care Communication Guide:

New Resource Explains Key Steps of an Eye Appointment in English and Spanish
LAS VEGAS, Oct. 1, 2009 – Eyecare professionals are increasingly seeking effective bilingual communication tools to help them communicate with and provide better care for their Spanish-speaking patients.

The newly released What to Expect: Eye Care Communication Guide from Transitions Optical, Inc. builds on the company’s efforts to provide essential bilingual tools to help eyecare professionals grow their business by meeting the needs of their Spanish-speaking patients.

The guide features a series of cards organized by the common steps of an eye care appointment to help improve interaction between patients and eyecare professionals. English and Spanish versions of basic words and phrases are listed side-by-side on each card so that eyecare professionals and staff can simply point to what they want to say and drag their finger to the Spanish version.
“Eyecare professionals continue to express strong interest in language tools to help them provide the highest possible level of eye care,” said Greg Marko, marketing director, North America, Transitions. “This guide builds on existing tools from Transitions intended to help eyecare professionals provide an excellent patient experience for their Spanish-speaking patients by facilitating effective communication in both languages – from the moment they walk through the door, to when they leave with their eyewear in hand.”
The Eye Care Communication Guide complements the previously released Eye Exam Guide, which details common eye tests and equipment. While the Eye Exam Guide is meant to be kept in the eye doctor’s office, the Eye Care Communication Guide is designed to be available in appropriate areas of the optical practice. For instance, the Pathfinder card can be used at the front desk to provide patients an overview when they arrive, while the Lens and Frame Selection card can be kept in the dispensing area.
The Eye Care Guide includes the following cards:
• Pathfinder – provides an illustrated description of the different areas a patient visits during a typical appointment.
• Reception – details common phrases used during sign in and when filling out paperwork.
• Check Out – highlights basic terminology used while discussing payment and scheduling the next visit.
• Lens and Frame Selection – six-panel card includes phrases used to help choose the optimal lenses and frames based on the eye doctor’s recommendation and patient lifestyle. Plus, a complete description of premium lens options, materials and frames is included.
• Pick Up – lists key phrases to make sure patients see well through their lenses and includes a reading card.
• Pronunciation – provides a Spanish phonetic guide for common phrases, such as basic greetings and thank you expressions, to help eyecare professionals better pronounce basic words and phrases.

Although developed with Spanish-speaking patients in mind, eyecare professionals may also find the Eye Care Communication Guide helpful in explaining the eye care experience to all patients. Eyecare professionals can request the What to Expect: Eye Care Communication Guide and other tools to help meet patient needs by calling Transitions Optical Customer Service at 800-848-1506, ext. 7448. Additional information and resources are also available in the Multicultural Programs section on Transitions.com.