The Optical Vision Site

OWA One Minute Mentor – Change is not always difficult

Thank you to the Optical Women’s Association (OWA) and Audrey Pavia of Tura for this post –
Change Is Not Always Difficult – This is relevant whether you are in a small or large business – optical or non-optical! Thank you Audrey for an excellent One Minute Mentor tip!

In corporate life, at least, change is not only the ‘only constant’ but it is also frequently a thorn in one’s side! You know that it is necessary, but how are you going to get people to go along with it and welcome it? The underlying assumption is that people are going to resist it. So it is necessary to design change management programs with touchy-feely content as well as the hard systems and physical changes.

However, there are situations where people adapt remarkably quickly, without ‘help’. For example, when you join a new company, they have a way of doing things that is undoubtedly different from the way you have been used to. But what do you do? You do your best to adapt to this foreign method of doing things. Whatever thoughts you may have had during the first few days about the oddness of the place are very soon displaced in your desire to become a useful part of your new environment. In the process, you have made all sorts of changes to yourself without pain: you have a cup of coffee at 10 AM, not as soon as you get in to work; you attend meetings that run into lunch, where before you had a strict lunch break; you complete your meeting notes the day of the meeting, instead of the day before the next one. And that’s just the small stuff. Now you are working for a new boss, with new colleagues and new people to get to know. These same changes could happen if you were already an employee and the organization simply ‘reorganized’. In this case would your actions and reactions be the same? Probably not!

So what is the difference that makes change easy in one situation but not in another? Surely it is in the mind of the individual. In one situation they have everything to gain and nothing to lose. In the other they might come out worse off. In the first case, they made the decision for themselves and had worked out in advance what it was worth to them. In the second case, the decision was made for them and the reasons for the change did not specifically have their personal interest in mind. The instigators of the change were looking for benefits to the organization, not to individuals. The first is self-centered; the latter is organization-centered. Being a part in the machine is fine when we’re a ‘big wheel’ but not so fine when you are a smaller one that may have to whirl faster.

The fear of loss is greater than the fear of gain. When there is nothing to lose, change is not a problem.

Audrey Pavia is Vice President of Marketing at Tura LP. Tura eyewear collections include Tura Flex, Lulu Guinness, Ted Baker, Tourneau and Goldfinch

Moody Eyes Musings – Independent Optometrist

I interviewed Dr. Penn Moody, owner of Moody Eyes, last September (Penn Moody, OD talks about …..) mainly to ask him about his experience with atLast by Pixel Optics. I did not make it through all my questions so I thought it would be good to continue our interview a few months later and get some more Moody Eyes Musings…..

One of the questions I still had was: “Does this product help distinguish an independent optical retailer from optical chains?” Dr. Moody had several  comments about this question and we had quite a discussion about it as follows:

“Product alone is not a silver bullet” Dr. Moody believes what distinguishes a vision care practice is not just products recommended and dispensed, but a total patient service viewpoint. Most competitors have access to the same or similar products. What really makes one’s optical business stand out is how you use your product mix to solve your optical patient’s problems. Certainly atLast! fills an important place in this mix.

“The devil is in the details” I thought this was a great comment as there are so many details to get right:  off axis, PD, seg height, frame choice and fitting, to name just a few.  “If only one of these is being wrong it can diminish the whole experience for our optical patients”
“The staff and the optometrist have to have a shared vision about patient care from start to finish”

It is often said one can tell most about a business or person by how they handle problems.  At Moody Eyes Dr. Moody personally calls patients with problems or issues that the staff have problems solving.  The goal is to demonstrate to the patient a total commitment to their satisfaction and to teach them how they should view the practice.  Specifically, after he has resolved their issues, Dr. Moody gives them the assignment of recommending Moody Eyes to their friends and family members.  Many optical patients follow through on this, which is one way of turning a problem into an opportunity.

As many people like to look up information on the internet, it is important to have a good website and I think Moody Eyes has an excellent one. It is very easy to search for information and user friendly.

I asked Dr. Moody for an update on his atLast experience and recommendations. As he has developed a better method of qualifying patients he is fitting more progressive lens patients with Pixel.  The first question he asks is what the patient likes and doesn’t like about their current lenses.  This usually leads to a discussion of visual demands and activities.  One of the most common complaints is of a narrow field of view, particularly when using a computer of for other intermediate distance tasks.  Since atLast! is specifically designed to provide a wide field at this distance it will typically be the lens of first choice. Another aspect of this lens patients like is atLast!’s clear distance and peripheral vision. Dr. Moody has also found a minimum seg height of 15mm works well, but 16 works better.  He believes this type of lens is a whole new category and well worth exploring to satisfy optical patients’ ever changing needs.

Health Care Reform And Eco Impact By Earth911

by Katherine J. Chen; More than 30 countries around the world operate under some form of a universal health care system, but it’s still not practiced in the United States, and 15 percent of Americans are uninsured.

In a September 2009 speech to Congress, President Obama discussed the changes he envisions for citizens with and without health insurance. Under his proposed universal health care plan, he says insurance companies would no longer be able to refuse coverage to the ill, and patients will not be expected to pay out of pocket for expensive treatments or vital operations.

But the health care industry is not one grounded on ecological principles. In fact, it is one of the single most polluting industries in the country. American hospitals generate approximately 6,600 tons of waste daily. As much as 85 percent of that is non-hazardous solid waste, such as paper, cardboard, food waste, metal, glass and plastics, according to Practice Green Health.

The Optical Vision Site Gets Recognized In Print!!

After a long day of blogging and slogging away and working on BBS (blogger butt syndrome) I finally sit down on my (BBSB) with that nice glass of organic wine and pick up the February issue of Vision Care Product news and Surprise! There we are on the column Spec-tacular Blogs! It made my day! Thank you Vision Care Product News! The blogs you picked out we also read and like and are proud to be included in such esteemed blogs.

Spec-Tacular Blogs by Vision Care Product News

Optical Retail Business Alliance (ORBA) Helps Opticians Prosper

First Vision Media Group  (totallyoptical.com)  launched a new organization- website designed to help the independent opticianry business thrive.

Optical Retail Business Alliance (ORBA.org)

In the old days there were as many independent Opticians as there were Optometrists and few Ophthalmologist dispensed eyewear. As managed care has increased and the M.D.s’ were encouraged to start dispensing, the independent optician has found it increasingly difficult to gain business and grow, as their referral sources dried up.

Vision Media Group, ORBA (orba-usa.org) has developed an organizations of independent opticians owners and managers to form an alliance to share information and participate in programs that will enhance their business skills and thus their business.

It cost $50 to join, but if your ROI is $5,000, what an excellent return on investment! ORBA will provide benchmark numbers, educational programs to improve management skills, product knowledge, marketing, merchandising and selling skills, all programs that each of us can learn by. Education will be provided through Webinairs, prints and newsletters.

Noted writer and speaker, Ed DeGennaro is the director and will be creating the programs. For more information please contact Ed DeGennaro at ed@visioncareproducts.com

Optical Global Leadership Summit

Any Optical people going to Vision Expo East or working in the New York area should not miss the 2010 Vision Monday Global Leadership Summit event.

This takes place Wednesday, March 17 and features expert speakers from both inside and outside the Optical Industry. Cathy and I know some of the speakers and know they will have plenty of insight to share. Some of the ones we don’t know are speaking on topics that we want to know a lot more about particularly the changing consumer i.e. the optical consumer too!

New Paradigms: A New Economy Redefines Price, Value and Retailing Formulas

What is prompting the spend today? Which formats, old and new, are successfully tapping the consumer’s discretionary income? Which formats are challenged within optical and which are emerging from the ‘outside’?

New Mandates: Eye Health Transforms Eye Care Delivery

From health care reform to initiatives within the vision care arena to redefine the role of optometry within the delivery system, new initiatives are challenging the status quo. What do they mean for the future and how can eye care connect to the wellness trends gaining ground?

New Rules: The Digital Realm Redefines Access, Consumer Takes Charge

From social media to user reviews and recommendations, the internet is enabling consumers to exert more power in the relationships between buyer and seller, doctor and patient, and forging new power among consumer groups.

Street Eyewear Blogs-EyeHow To Sell Eyewear Online

I know you are thinking, more eyewear blogs, how much information do we need!!! Probably not much more, but there are a few what we call street blogs just about eyeglass products, that I think are great. They feature optical trends, hip, cool and fun eyeglasses, celebrity eyewear from a street perspective.

As many of you are going into e-commerce, how are you going to entice your patients and the consumer to buy from you? These are a few of our favorite street blogs about eyeglasses, spectacles, eyewear, sunwear from a consumer perspective.

EyeWear Glasses- features big pictures of eyewear, celebrities and lots of European styling you don’t see here in the states.

Eye Heart Glasses- from Australia, also giving us an outback look on eyewear. Pics of people on the street wearing cool eyewear, and other spectacle finds she finds.

I Hate Sunglasses- Written by a dispenser in Sacramento, CA, she is just starting out in the blog-sphere. Written from a perspective of a young women dispenser and what she likes and doesn’t like.

Note Del Hotel- is actually a retail Vintage Eyewear store out of Los Angeles. Their blog features lots of old pictures with what else vintage eyewear.

Everything Sunglasses- is an excellent example of selling eyewear on line as well. He features the celeb and then showcases the product. He is out of Taipei, so again has lots of information about what is Hot in Asia and Europe.

Spectacles Blog- Also from the UK, a little hard to read with the green, but interesting tidbits of information.

Spectacles Loves You- Retail out of Toronto, Canada

EyeGoodies- Another retail location with a blog, not even a year old.

Vintage Frame Company- Interesting on how they sell and display vintage eyewear

This is not to detract from other blogs and websites we have mentioned. As we come across great sites, we will definitely feature them.

Optical Consumers Exposed to More and More Media

The last day of The Vision Council Winter meeting was just as informative as the others, having the opportunity to tap into all that optical brain power! You can see some in the picture below Peter Friedfeld of ClearVision Optical, Steve Horowitz of REM, Marge Axelrad and Marc Ferrara from Jobson. These were just a few of the optical brains sharing ideas and discussing ways of marketing and improving the way we work with the optical consumer.

Optical Brain Power - Peter Friedfeld, Steve Horowitz, Marge Axelrad, Marc Ferrara

One of the most eye boggling subjects for me is the additive effect of more and more media and how we need to adapt the way we reach the optical customer.

One of the speakers, Ruth P. Stevens of EMarketing Strategy, showed a very interesting slide about how new media is additive, it does not just replace old media but adds to it. This means that our customers are exposed to many more hours and the prediction is at least 100 hours a week by the average consumer within the next few years.

More media - 100 hours!

We have to embrace this fact and find ways of engaging our customers through the channels that they are  spending time with. But it does not take away from the importance of face to face contact and essentials of good eye care and eyewear, it is more about how we have to adapt our communications.

This was a much  talked about  subject  during the course of the event and we will be making this a major subject of discussion during 2010. Your thoughts and ideas are very welcome!