What makes you use a product? Is it because you woke up one morning, and decided that “You know what, I’m going to go find a lens I’ve never heard of, and just start using it”. Well, no, that’s not how we work. We like being made to feel comfortable. To feel safe with a product. We want it to be familiar. That makes it easier for us to use their products. That’s why you’ll see … [Read more...]
Where’s My Support?
So after going through an exam and spending the past twenty minutes hearing the customer's life story, it’s come time to take them out to see what eyewear they want to pick out. Then come the words you really don’t want to hear: “I don’t need glasses. Can I just have my prescription?” You’ve gotten this a lot recently. People just want the prescription - when you KNOW they … [Read more...]
Your Insurance Has Been Terminated
“I love dealing with vision insurances. They’ve helped me make more money, and make my business run more smoothly”- said no optical professional ever. If anything in the optical world is most aptly compared to Skynet, it would be vision insurance plans. They started off as a great idea to try and help people get eyecare. Over time, however, they seem to have morphed into … [Read more...]
Letter from the Editor – Spring 2017 Issue
If you've followed us up to this point, then you've probably noticed a distinct lack of frames in this magazine. I think that served a purpose once, but now it's time for a change. No, we aren't merging with anyone. There’s not going to be an OPTluxilor. We do, however, want to stop discriminating against frame companies, and instead support all of the independents in this … [Read more...]
Dilation Man
John opened his eyes. The world slowly brightened, but remained blurry. He was very groggy and hazy, and couldn’t really remember what he had been doing or where he was. He tried to reach over to his nightstand to grab his glasses, but instead his hand slapped against something cold and metallic. “What the…” he began to say, but was interrupted with a loud hiss of air escaping … [Read more...]
Patient Loyalty
As I’ve mentioned before, my daughter has recently joined the ‘glasses club’, as she calls it. As we’re out and about, this can sometimes start conversations with other people. Usually, they’ll say that she looks cute in her glasses, and the conversation about eyewear moves on from there. As a side note - people never tell me that I look cute in my glasses - what’s with that? … [Read more...]
You Can Make It
With all of the uncertainty that we have going forward in this industry, your best hope for survival is really down to one person - you. I’m sure you knew that lesson was coming. When it comes down to it, these are business decisions that you need to make, and you need to make sure that you’re well-informed about the way things are, and where they could go. To … [Read more...]
Survival Guide: Frames
If you’re currently in a situation where you carry a large number of big-brand frames, what can you do to get yourself out of there? Obviously, you don’t want to just swap to any frame line - you need to research what your options are. When doing that research, however, what kind of things do you need to be concerned about? You want to make sure you’ve asked the right questions … [Read more...]
Winter is Coming
For those of you unfamiliar with Game of Thrones, allow me to give a very brief summary of the plot-line, as I feel it is startlingly similar to what's going on in the optical industry at present. Picture it: you have one extremely wealthy and powerful family (or company) that is seeking to rule everyone else. In their quest for that, any competing families are either bought … [Read more...]
It’s A Wonderful Lab
Why Would You Ever Want To Run an Optical Lab? The words bounced around in his brain. “Nobody makes money in a lab,” he could still hear what they had told him years ago. They might not have been wrong. George sat, staring down at the contract in front of him. He was tired. So tired. He’d spent so many hours behind this desk, sitting in this chair - checking work, filling out … [Read more...]