continuing education

Differentiate Your Practice With Trivex® Material

Eyecare professionals who are active Trivex® users have taken a successful entrepreneurial approach to utilizing the product by developing something that is a reflection of the practice and personality of the owner. They find that the uniqueness of Trivex material helps to differentiate their business by offering an advanced, new technology product category that sets them apart from their competitors.

This continuing education course will help you understand, position, sell, and market the unique category of Trivex lens material, so that your in-depth knowledge and application will add to practice professionalism and profits.

WHY TRIVEX?

Challenging times call for reflection and action on your unique business advantage. In today's economy, volumes will be down and competition will be strong for an uncertain period of time, so it is more important than ever to offer value-added products and new technologies that differentiate your practice from the pack. Evaluation of the Trivex category of lens material, then action on your part, can help you capture more value and place your practice among the unique elite, resulting in improved patient satisfaction and retention.

SALES AND MARKETING GUIDE

STEP 1: Learn product information. Since its launch in 2002, the Trivex category of lens material has seen consistent growth in volume, lens manufacturer partnerships, lab distribution, lens design availability, and eyecare professional awareness. An in-depth understanding of Trivex is the first step in the Trivex differentiation advantage. Chemistry overview, features and benefits, processing methods, sales and marketing tips, and availability provided in this CE and by other sources—including manufacturers and wholesale labs—will keep you in-the-know and current on all facets of Trivex.

Staff training is crucial to success, as is having the doctor initiate a conversation about lens material options and making lens recommendations—even prescribing lenses—during the eye exam. Utilize training materials available about Trivex, including brochures and other print materials, available at www.ppgtrivex.com, as well as in-office presentations, and lab and lens manufacturer representatives, to achieve complete basic and ongoing training.

STEP 2: Internal marketing. A 2002 study commissioned by PPG Industries confirmed that Trivex material is an excellent material solution for low- to mid-range prescriptions—an uncompromising material alternative to mid-index, CR-39™, polycarbonate, and high-index lens materials. Optical labs, eyecare professionals, and consumers recognize Trivex for its optical clarity, light weight, durability, strength, and protection. Established businesses need new technology to re-energize business and bring them high-tech caché with today's tech-savvy customers. Don't advertise price. Instead, offer package pricing/bundling for easy-to-understand product presentations. Emphasize service and offer a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee.

STEP 3: External marketing. The message is: "Trivex is the newest lens material technology that offers a full range of real-life benefits." Detail that message outside the practice. Visit schools, clubs, senior centers, etc., plus light industry/other manufacturers who need safety eyewear (industrial safety accounts) and medical businesses—hospitals, outpatient clinics, dentists, etc.—that need safety eyewear. Update marketing touchpoints within the patient's experience, including prescription pads, dispensing mats, price sheets, and websites, to include Trivex.

STEP 4: Advanced marketing. Know the Trivex supply and Trivex supplier well. As the availability of Trivex is constantly growing, stay in close touch with manufacturers and labs for the latest updates, techniques, and sales and marketing tips and tools. It's especially important to stay in touch with patients. Start by reinforcing the patient's decision to select Trivex at dispensing by briefly reviewing all the benefits of Trivex and tailoring those to each patient's personal situation. Follow up with a telephone call to the patient around two weeks after dispensing to inquire how the patient is doing and again quickly reinforce the good choice they've made with Trivex.

STEP 5: Repeat and reinvent. Repeat and reinforce the Trivex technology message to staff by including Trivex updates in office memos and meetings and incorporating a Trivex rewards program into the practice. Seasonal promotions including Trivex and other lens enhancements can increase staff enthusiasm and patient buy-in. Examples include summer sports and back-to-school kids promotions. While trunk or style shows typically spotlight frame products, promote lenses made with Trivex to complete the premium product presentation.

AGE- AND DEMOGRAPHIC-SPECIFIC TIPS

One simple message to impart to all patients about Trivex material is that Trivex delivers sharp vision, protection, and comfort.

KIDS: The superior optics offered by Trivex material is important for children's developing eyes, helping to make schoolwork easier and playtime more fun (and safe).

Trivex also provides superior impact resistance and 100 percent UV blockage, excellent for outdoor activities. According to Prevent Blindness America, a third of the 40,000 sports-related injuries every year happen to kids between the ages of five and 14, and an estimated 90 percent are preventable. Trivex provides high impact resistance to help keep kids' eyes safe.

A lightweight material, Trivex increases eyewear comfort so that kids are more likely to keep their eyewear on their face where it belongs. It also offers clear, crisp vision they need for school, homework, and all activities. Combined with photochromic technology and AR coating, Trivex offers a powerful advantage for kids' vision.

Every age group can benefit from the features and benefits of Trivex lenses, ranging from impact resistance to optical clarity and superior optics for visual comfort

ADULTS: Trivex material provides visual clarity in the office, on the road, and during leisure activities. With lens designs proliferating in Trivex material, a variety of progressive, multifocal, and digitally surfaced lens options are available to satisfy the majority of patients' needs.

High impact resistance keeps eyes safe during any activity, and 100 percent UV blockage protects eyes from harmful UV radiation, which can contribute to several eye diseases. Lightweight Trivex keeps eyewear comfortable all day long. Advanced single-vision and free-form produced lenses are the latest offerings in Trivex material.

Recommended Rx Range

Trivex is a high-tech lens material foundation for all the latest lens technologies and enhancements and is available in a wide range of designs and power ranges. While this chart indicates Trivex as a high-tech, top option for Rx's between +/- 3 diopters, savvy ECPs may recommend the product to patients with more severe prescriptions who are sensitive to chromatic aberration, and by recommending smaller frames to minimize any appearance of thickness.

SENIORS: Trivex material's superior optics are important given the "dimming" that seniors are likely to experience due to aging to help ramp up available visual acuity.

Combined with AR, Trivex can offer seniors the best transmission and edge-to-edge visual clarity. Lightweight Trivex material is ideal for older patients with thinning skin on the bridge of their nose by helping make eyewear as light and well-fitting as possible. Also, 100 percent UV blockage is a must for seniors because they have a higher risk of eye disease. Standard and free-form progressive as well as bifocal and trifocal designs are currently available in Trivex.

SPORTS: Combining superior impact resistance with great optics and light weight, Trivex is an ideal material for sports eyewear for all ages. The lens design and enhancements for patient needs—including photochromics, AR, and polarization—can be combined with Trivex and help make the difference between merely seeing well and significantly improving performance in any sport. Trivex is available in high base curves for the latest wrap frame designs as well as polarized and polarized photochromic options.

ASK AWAY

Some suggestions for questions that ECPs can ask patients to establish Trivex as the lens material of choice include:

1. "Would you like to hear about a tough new lens material that provides the clearest, sharpest vision for your prescription?"

2. "What activities do you participate in at home, at work or during leisure time that might potentially cause trauma or chemical exposure to your lenses?"

3. "Would you like to obtain thin and light plastic lenses in your new frame without sacrificing visual performance?"

FEATURES AND BENEFITS GUIDE

Knowing the features and being able to impart the benefits of Trivex material to each patient helps increase your professionalism and the practice's bottom line through successful lens sales.

1. Visual clarity: Trivex material delivers edge-to-edge visual clarity that the patient perceives as on-par with the clarity of glass material and virtually eliminates color aberrations, including high Rx powers.

The Abbe value of Trivex is 43 to 45, depending on lens manufacturer. The higher the Abbe value of a lens material, the more accurately a lens will align the spectrum of light waves that pass through it. As a point of reference, the Abbe value of CR-39 material is 58 and that of polycarbonate is 32.

2. Light weight: Trivex is the lightest commercially available lens material with a specific gravity of 1.11 g/cm3. This means, depending on the selected frame and Rx considerations, that, in most cases, eyewear with Trivex material will feature the lightest weight lenses.

3. Thinness: Trivex material has an index of refraction of 1.53. Since approximately 80 percent of all Rx's are in the +/- 3.00D mid-index range, Trivex can be a go-to lens for most patients. Aspheric/atoric designs allow Trivex material to be thin in Rx's up to +/- 6.00D by additionally minimizing center thickness on plus lenses and edge thickness on minus lenses.

4. High impact resistance: Lenses made from Trivex pass the American National Standards Institute ANSI Z87.1.2003 high impact test, making them on-par with polycarbonate lenses for safe wear in circumstances where eye protection is necessary, as in sports or industrial work situations.

Lenses made from Trivex are thin, light, and extremely impact resistant, passing the ANSI Z87.1.2003 high impact test

5. UV protection: Trivex lens material delivers inherent 100 percent UV blockage, important for long-term eye health.

6. Tensile strength: If you're not using Trivex for most of your rimless drill mount jobs, you may be spending too much time and money on remakes. Trivex has proven rimless results including no cracking, fraying, or elongating at drill holes during processing or through wear.

7. Durability: Lenses made from Trivex feature a durable frontside hard-coat and a backside hard-coat that can be applied for additional durability. Because Trivex lens material is inherently safe and strong, the lenses naturally stand up to more punishment than other plastic lens materials. The lack of internal stress also means less breakage and less birefringence, which can blur vision, especially around the lens periphery.

8. Chemical resistance: Trivex material, more than any other plastic lens material, is resistant to chemicals. This makes Trivex easier to process and care for (rubbing alcohol cleans but doesn't cause Trivex to develop micro-cracks). Trivex is also the premier lens selection for any environment where chemicals are in use, including industrial, hobby, and home (housecleaning chemical) use.

9. Designs: Detailed lens design availability in Trivex material answers most needs-based requirements from basic (single vision, bifocal, trifocal, standard PAL) to advanced (free-form single vision and PAL designs). An updated Trivex availability listing is always online at www.ppgtrivex.com.

TRIVEX: A close-up look at this breakthrough technology

Trivex lens material provides unique benefits by combining high-tech polyurethane chemistry with nanotechnology. Nanotechnology uses components created in a tiny dimension between 1-100 nanometers. In Trivex material, polyurethane chemistry is enhanced with nitrogen to produce a reinforced structure, similar to the way that plastic is enhanced with glass strands to create reinforced fiberglass. This self-assembling structure is made up of nano-domains that are approximately 30-50nm in diameter. For comparison, a human hair is 10,000nm thick. The nano-domains in Trivex material give the lenses high impact resistance and durability, but are too small to interact with light and interfere with the material's extreme optical clarity. The unique benefits of Trivex are possible only through this advanced nano-technology. Trivex Polycarbonate High Index 1.60 (MR-8) These images are extreme magnifications (×170,000) of lens cross-sections. The image of Trivex (top) shows self-assembling nano-domains. The dark areas are "soft" regions imbedded within the brighter "stiff" matrix. Nano-domains do not exist in Polycarbonate or other High Index materials.

HOW LABS AND ECPS USE TRIVEX

Key tips from committed Trivex users offering real-life situations and solutions can help guide you in making Trivex your practice's and patients' go-to lens material. Justin Hoatson, corporate coordinator, optical department, Eyecare Specialties, five retail locations, Lincoln, Neb., observes the following.

INTERNAL STRATEGIES: "Our opticians fully understand Trivex's place amongst everything else we offer. We also used this meeting to generate interest and excitement amongst the staff."

EXTERNAL STRATEGIES: "We introduce Trivex material on a case-by-case basis with our patients. Our doctors see the value of Trivex and have reprogrammed their protocols and recommendations to include Trivex. Hearing the same consistent message from the exam room to the floor and reinforcing it in the dispensary is the best way to instill confidence in the patient base."

POSITIONING: "We position Trivex material as the primary product in our children's packages, replacing poly. It provides a clearer lens with similar benefits of durability and impact resistance with UV protection. Trivex is also the primary material we recommend for rimless frames."

MANAGED CARE: "We offer Trivex as an option just as we would with our private pay patients, explaining the benefits and differences."

Joe Kasyan, president, Donaldson Optical Company, a wholesale laboratory in Pittsburgh, notes the following.

ENTHUSIASM: "We track monthly lens sales to see if our Trivex usage is increasing, staying level, or decreasing. We remind staff of when and how we recommend Trivex. We reiterate the benefits of Trivex material when patients pick up their glasses. We demonstrate this to patients when they have their new glasses in-hand."

INTERNAL STRATEGIES: "We continue educating our staff and sales reps on lenses as they became available in Trivex material. Most of our employees are now wearing Trivex so that they have firsthand experience in how good the material is."

EXTERNAL STRATEGIES: "Our sales reps do lunch-and-learns with ECPs. We also hold dinners and have the manufacturers teach the benefits to practice staff."

MANAGED CARE: "Most managed care programs cover poly for kids. By having doctors upgrade kids to Trivex, they are still covering the requirements and giving kids a better material plus increasing profit for the practice."