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Dispensing By Appointment

Erinn Morgan

The goal at Silver Lining Opticians in New York City is to accommodate the customer, even if that means opening the doors early or closing them late.

“We deal with a lot of business-people who work late hours and often ask to come in at 9:30 at night or on a Saturday at nine in morning,” says Erik Sacher, co-owner. He estimates that 10 percent of his customers request appointment times that are outside of normal business hours.

Silver Lining also caters to a celebrity clientele that typically requests appointment times that are off the clock. “If it's during business hours, they often call ahead and we lock the doors,” says Sacher. Its new, larger space has a back room that “helps us accommodate people who prefer appointments away from the public,” adds Sacher.

At Gogosha Optique in Los Angeles, owner/optician Julia Gogosha offers customers the option to view frames on Mondays by appointment only, though the store is technically closed. “A customer's schedule might not coincide with what we have open during the week,” she says. “Plus, some people simply want absolute individual attention. Because they are focused, we usually find it to be a really lovely experience. These customers buy something about 95 percent of the time.”

ONLINE SCHEDULERS

While most ECPs schedule these extra-curricular appointments over the phone, a few are turning to more modern methods to increase the convenience factor.

Valerie Vittu, owner of Margot & Camille Optique in Philadelphia, recently launched an online appointment scheduler for her business via instant-scheduling.com. She found it to be an economical way to meet the needs of her busy clientele and set aside time for customers to pick up custom-made eyewear.

“It's an exclusive service perfect for busy professionals,” she says. “They can book online at home or via their iPhone. If you sell your customer a $1,200 pair of glasses, you have to follow their way of shopping and scheduling.”

This type of service also helps ECPs streamline their day. “Scheduling enables you to know what will happen each day and plan for that,” says Vittu.

To help market this scheduling option, Vittu sent an email to all of her customers. She also put the link to the scheduler on her business' Facebook page and sent a follow-up mailing to her customer list. “Mailing has more impact today because everyone gets so much email,” she says. In addition to the scheduler link, the mailing included a QR code for QR-enabled smartphones.

“You have to choose which way you want to handle appointments. I want to make it a personal experience,” Vittu says. “In today's environment, the old ways of shopping won't be happening any-more.” EB