last word
Managing the Unmanageable
Karlen McLean, ABOC, NCLC
My most successful, most audience-interactive continuing education course topic at both the Optical Laboratories Association and International Vision Expo shows has been redos. Focusing on “Managing the Unmanageable,” the course on warranties, spiffs, and redo-tackling addresses both lab and ECP viewpoints and strives to de-clutter thinking, planning, and action surrounding these redo spinoffs and having a diminished redo rate.
Audience members consistently chime in with their own methods for managing redos. While panelists are answering audience questions, I take note of audience and panelist input.
Here are three ways suggested for dealing with redos.
1 Retain, retain, retain. Properly compensating employees monetarily and benefits-wise may not ensure that they won't make mistakes or even stay with the practice; but it will lay a foundation that has a far better chance of keeping dedicated, long-term employees who know the business, who are less likely to mess up, and who can give exceptional troubleshooting service if there is an eyewear problem. Attendees cited this as their biggest redo trimmer.
2 Retrain, retrain, retrain. Retraining consistently and constantly is important, even more so today with the plethora of products and new fitting and measuring protocols being introduced. More than one practice owner makes lens product dispensing techniques part of their monthly office meetings (at least 15 minutes) and everyone, from front desk staff to doctors, is part of it.
3 Penalize repeat redo offenders. One practice owner said that after three optician-caused redos, he requires the employee to contribute to an office fund that's used, in part, to fund practice sales and marketing initiatives, and even donate to vision-related charity organizations. EB
| SCARY NUMBERS |
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| Most ECPs report low redo numbers—around two percent. Optical labs confess to a higher redo amount of around 10 percent. In actuality, the industry reports redos at about 18 percent. Experts believe that the increase in redos is primarily a result of a two-fold challenge:
1 Less experienced and trained dispensers. About 18 months is the average amount of field experience for opticians who aren't committed to opticianry as a career path. 2 The advent of free-form/digital, and other lens designs that may require more complicated and precise fitting and measuring to achieve proper end-product performance. As one industry insider puts it: “Ramifications are numerous, especially for manufacturers. Considering the high turnover, if you launched a product three years ago, chances are that more than half of the field wasn't around for the intro material.” |
| Senior editor Karlen McLean has been in the optical industry for 35 years. She has spent half of that time in the dispensary. In this monthly column, Karlen shares her own experiences, and hopes you'll share yours. Contact her via email at Karlen.McLean@WoltersKluwer. com or online at facebook.com/eyecarebusiness. |
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