close up on contacts

New Color Approaches

Karlen McLean, ABOC, NCLC

Prescribing, recommending, and dispensing color contact lenses can be a fun challenge.

There are opportunities every day to offer color in addition to clear contact lenses.

Here are some key examples and tips on how to bring more color into your practice and patients' lives.

William K. Shiomi, OD, who successfully works with color contact lenses in Carson City, Calif., has developed unique ways to introduce and expand the practice's color contact lens business.

He offers five steps for color contact lens success, starting with training, blending dispensing into conversation and recommendation, and finishing with try-on (both virtual and real).

STEP UP

1 Train the entire staff on color contact lenses and maintain standards. Training includes product awareness and updates, recommendation tips and techniques, sharing successes, and incentives when appropriate.

Enlist manufacturers to participate in the training process, and also incorporate staff and patient input.

2 Offer conversational nuggets. Repeat things you say to patients over and over to maintain continuity.

Market research shows that the question, “Would you like to enhance your appearance with color contact lenses?” resonates the most with patients.

3 Recommend from chair-side. This can be the simple question, “Would you like to enhance your appearance with color contact lenses?” or another question that generates interest in and discussion of colors.

Asking patients if they want to enhance their appearance helps drive sales. FreshLook image courtesy of Ciba Vision

4 Utilize virtual try-on tools. When patients make their appointment, the front desk staff tells them about the online color contact lens studio and how to access it. This allows patients the ability to virtually try on contact lenses prior to their visit.

Sixty-five percent of contact lens patients are female. Image courtesy of Ciba Vision

5 Focus on in-office trials. Current contact lens wearers already know insertion and removal techniques. So office visits are an opportunity for quick and smooth in-office trials of color lens options.

At least one contact lens manufacturer's research substantiates “if you try, you buy.” The data shows that two out of three patients who try color contact lenses buy them.

DOCTOR'S ORDERS

According to Shiomi, staff participation is the key ingredient to successfully marketing color contact lenses.

“This begins with our staff wearing color contact lenses themselves,” Shiomi says. “Patients are immediately more receptive to colors when they see them on ECPs. It also provides the staff an opportunity to explain how happy they are with contact lenses.”

The practice also heavily markets color with counter-cards, banners, pamphlets, posters, and other printed materials in the office. Flat-screen monitors throughout the office—including exam rooms—show color contact lens presentations.

“Every other month, a trunk show features a specific designer frame line,” Shiomi says. “This also provides an opportunity to introduce and market color contact lenses. We also receive an excellent response to colors from various health fairs we participate in throughout the year. Those health fairs located at local college campuses have been especially successful.”

Finally, focus on females. Consider an average practice that sees 40 soft contact lens exams per week. Sixty-five percent of those patients are female. That is 26 opportunities a week to sell both clear and color contact lenses. Even if a fraction of that number opt for a new hue, that's a significant jump. EB

Balancing professional fees can be a tricky task, but William K. Shiomi, OD, has a handle on it. “Similar to all contact lenses dispensed in our office, we try to keep our professional fees reasonably high and materials reasonably low when pricing color contact lenses,” he says. “We don't try to compete directly dollar-for-dollar with online merchants. However, we do try to keep our fees reasonably close for most contact lenses.”