Small Lab It’s in the small towns that you can really get that feel of what it means to be America. Not “American”, but the feel of the country itself. Each little town is decidedly unique, but they all have these tiny little threads of commonality that run through them. It ties everything together, and gives it form across the great expanse that is the country. When … [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...]
FEA Industries, Inc.
At FEA, we are focused on providing the best combination of value, performance, service, and technology to our customers. We aren’t concerned with jacking up our prices so you can pay more for a brand name. We want to be able to offer the best vision for your patient, while making sure you can run your business cost-effectively. Eagle™ progressive lenses give you an option … [Read more...]
Are Your Sales Frozen?
Sometimes your world changes. Things happen that you don’t account for. Whether it’s a change in the business landscape, or your parents dying horrifically in an ill-fated sea voyage - things can go from ‘ok’ to ‘oh no’ quickly. Being able to adapt to new situations is necessary in both business and everyday life. As many have no doubt seen, the eyewear industry has changed … [Read more...]
A Hand-off is not just a Hand-off but a Transfer of Care
After many fumbled hand-offs between my optometrist and I, we decided to analyze how we perform our hand-offs and what it means to the patient. After much review, we found that a hand-off is not simply pawning the patient off from optometrist to optical (or check out), but a chance to transfer the care and expertise. We found that patients don’t want to have a first-class … [Read more...]
A Few Thoughts on Seeking Advice
Forward - Sometimes when we need help, we turn to those around us, even if they aren’t any more qualified than us to answer a question. These people may be colleagues, ‘consultants’ with no real qualifications to consult, or whoever will listen. One wonders, are these help-seekers creating more problems for themselves when they do this? Or should they simply go find a … [Read more...]
Waiter! There’s some cylinder in my sphere!
NERD ALERT! (for all your super-duper techie stuff) One of the most frequent ‘problems’ that I hear about when talking about compensated lenses is when we’re dealing with spheres. All too frequent are exchanges like this: Doctor: I ordered this lens as a sphere, but there’s cylinder in it - it’s wrong! Lab: Yes, I understand you ordered it as a sphere, but the … [Read more...]
Increase Patient Revenue with Add-Ons
What is one of the best ways to improve your bottom line this year? You can add more patients or more hours, but these options will cost more in payroll and marketing. The best way to improve your bottom line is to increase revenue per patient. This can be done in a number of ways, such as raising prices on frames, lenses, contacts, and services. In spite of that, insurance … [Read more...]
Independence® Coatings
When you offer a product in your store - especially AR coatings - you want to be sure of the product you’re selling. You don’t want to find out later that what you sold wasn’t any good, since you’re the one that it’s going to come back and bite. When it comes to a quality coating, I like to look at the warranties. Usually the longer the warranty, the safer you are, … [Read more...]