Growing Your Business With Lens Centers
This OLA-sponsored feature answers readers' questions about what to look for in a lens center
by Alex Yoho, ABOM

When a consumer comes to your place of business for eyewear and you are with someone else, is it your natural inclination to let him or her browse and look at frames? It's an easy way to keep them occupied while you finish up, and sometimes it even makes your job easier if they find just the frame style they were looking for. Often, however, it makes your job tougher.

It's a smart business move to put your most fashionable product on prominent display, but is this the first thing the patient should be viewing? Why not lenses first? In some cases, the eyewear's main function is fashion. In most cases, though, lens function is the key element.

Many dispensaries have some sort of lens center. According to OLA committee chair Art Waite of Winchester Optical in Elmira, N.Y., to encourage real and productive utilization, a lens center must first and foremost be patient-friendly.

To that end, the OLA has just introduced the OLA Lens Center, which is designed to help your patients select the right lenses and is available from OLA-member labs. The tabletop unit includes a lifestyle wheel and 10 numbered lorgnettes, each carrying a different lens style or treatment (see sidebar on page 58 for details).

That represents one approach to lens centers. There are others as well. To help you decide how a lens center can help your business, we posed several questions to dispensers who already use lens centers, as well as to members of the OLA committee charged with developing its new center.

A variety of lorgnettes allow patients to see first hand the impact of various lenses and lens treatments

Q. What makes a lens center important for a dispensary?

A. With so much happening on the lens side, Waite says that if you're trying to position premium lenses in today's marketplace, a lens center or some means of demonstration is indispensable. "The days of pulling a lens out of your desk drawer and blowing the dust off are long gone," he says.

OLA member Steve Sutherlin of Sutherlin Optical in Kansas City, who is also chairman of the OLA's Eyewear Awareness committee, reports that the OLA Lens Center has been created to encourage patients to walk up on their own and dial in a lifestyle need, which will then lead them to the appropriate lens or add-on so the dispenser can make sure all their patients' needs are met.

The samples that Susan Scutti from the office of Drs. Luthi and Rosentreter, Olathe, Kan., uses are not very conducive to patients exploring on their own and she says the dispenser explaining the product in conjunction with their display is what makes it effective.

Q. What lenses should be included?

A. Whether you're making your own or using a ready-made unit, a good place to start a lens center is with a thickness comparison of CR 39 to lenses that represent high and super high index in both plus and minus, as well as in polycarbonate. For glare and reflections, AR-coated and polarized samples are essential.

Many of the demo lenses can incorporate several features at once, notes Kevin Bargman, president of Hawkins Optical Lab in Topeka, Kan. Edge treatments and other lens add-ons allow the lens consultant to begin with the ultimate lens scenario and then adapt it to the patient's needs. That, he says, is much easier than starting with a base lens and piling on additional charges. This is also a good opportunity for packaging of lens options.

Q. Should lens centers include task-specific lenses?

A. There should be computer lenses and the most common multifocals for different tasks. Of course there are also lenses for sports, work, hobbies, and safety, to name a few task groupings. This explains why Kimberley Sandlin of Jackson County Eye Clinic in Lee's Summit, Mo., says another reason for lens centers is increased sales resulting from its usage.

	OLA Lens Center committee chair Art Waite of Winchester Optical with the group's lens center

Q. Should you include lenses that you rarely use?

A. Although it might be handy once or twice a year, having a sample of something like a didymium filter for glass blowing is really overkill. The lenses you want to promote are the ones that will encourage add-ons to enhance the function and fashion of patients' eyewear, and hopefully promote thoughts of multiple sales of sunwear and other specialized eyewear.

Waite mentions that it's OK to collect samples of rarely used lenses, but be sure to display them in lorgnettes or frames. Patients have a hard time relating to loose lenses.

Q. Should tint displays be separate?

A. Sandy Carter with Drs. Crum & Todd in Augusta, Kan., says that tints should be separated from the lens display because the variety of tint options will overwhelm patients.

Do, however, include photochromics and polarized lenses in your dispensary's lens displays.

Q. How would you demonstrate lens treatments that cannot be seen side by side--such as anti-scratch coats and UV coatings?

A. It's possible to explain the benefits, and in some cases warranties, that will promote these products. But there are also a number of ways to display these special treatments.

With anti-scratch coatings, for example, you can get lenses that are half anti-scratch coated and half uncoated or a pair of lenses with one lens coated and one not. These can be rubbed with steel wool, which will scratch the uncoated areas; or, you can display them under a bright light such as a halogen track light to show the haze of the scratches.

As for UV protection, there are many items that glow brightly when exposed to UV radiation, such as a piece of white cotton cloth. By simply placing the sample lens with UV inhibitor between the source lamp and the cloth, you'll see a shadow on the item that would normally glow.

Q. What is your favorite way to display lenses--in a frame or a lorgnette?

A. Tonya Askew, at Drs. Grant & McKinney in Newton, Kan., says there are advantages to each. Using frames that are up-to-date, the patient is able to try lens options in frames that they would realistically purchase. One disadvantage is that frames go out of style, so a schedule for replacing them on a regular basis is needed. The advantage of lorgnettes, says Sutherlin, is that the focus is only on the lens differences, because everything else is uniform in appearance. It also it keeps costs down because less updating is needed.

Q. What problems have you had with lens centers?

A. Lens centers require maintenance. Cleaning and handling necessitate occasional replacements. Make sure the lenses you show are ones your lab normally produces. This prevents delays that discourage the patient.

Bargman adds that, without proper labeling, samples are never where they should be. To help "the OLA Lens Center has an easy-to-use numbering system, making it a simple task to keep things orderly," says Waite,

Q. Where would you place a lens center in a dispensary?

A. Proper positioning is critical. The ideal location is one that will encourage patients to browse lenses as naturally as they would frames, and preferably before they select frames. It should also be in a position where the dispenser can grab a sample when discussing the details of a product with a patient. The fact is, a well-maintained and attractive lens center can increase your sales exponentially. Happy customers share their happiness with their friends and relatives, and that means growth.

No matter what method you use to display lenses, don't forget that your OLA lab is a valuable partner that can help you make these plans a reality.

For more information about the OLA Lens Center, or for a list of OLA labs, call 800-477-5652.