VISIONOMICS

Made in the Shade

Strategies for boosting polarized sun sales and patient service

Visionomics^®, a series of COPE- and ABO-approved business-building courses, will be held at this year’s International Vision Expo East show. The courses focus on strategies for assessing and maximizing practice profitability. In this series of articles, Eyecare Business—the official trade media partner for Visionomics—will feature some of the program’s speakers. This month, Sharon Carter of Eye Care Optometric Consulting in Waldo, AR, discusses her course, “Successful Sunwear in Today’s Practice.”

In today’s world, with decreasing margins in so many areas of our practices, sunwear is a great place to focus on increasing profits and service. It does not require seeing additional patients, and research has shown that the majority of consumers are already aware that polarized lenses are beneficial in cutting uncomfortable glare. The door to increased sales and patient satisfaction is wide open.

For more info on Visionomics, go to: visionexpoeast.com/Education/Highlights/#visionomics

PRESENTATION STRATEGIES

The key to sunwear success is to present the benefits, not the product. Position polarized lenses as the “ultimate” sunglass lens, not a specialty lens. And don’t leave anyone out; polarized sunwear should be presented to most patients.

■ DEMO AWAY. Make good use of the merchandising tools provided by the brands and manufacturers. The demo units and point-of-sale materials have been designed to initiate patient education.

Though a picture may be worth a thousand words, a hands-on demonstration is even better. Provide the patient with a plano polarized lens and ask him to step outside and look through it. Provide a standard gray-tinted lens for comparison. Ask, “Which lens do you prefer?”

■ EDUCATE. Talk to patients about the dangers of UV exposure and the need to control the glare reflecting off roads, water, and other horizontal surfaces.

■ WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE. When talking about the benefits of polarized lenses, use words such as comfort, high performance, and safety.

DON’T FORGET PLANO

Many practices don’t take plano sunglasses seriously, perhaps because they do not correct vision or more likely because they are perceived as having little monetary payback. Therefore, the plano market has been forfeited to drugstores, department stores, and mall kiosks.

The sunglasses sold in those locations may have non-ophthalmic quality lenses that are basically stamped out of a piece of plastic and can actually decrease visual acuity. Have you ever heard a contact lens patient say that signs at a distance are not clear even though they are seeing 20/20 out of their contacts? This could be the reason. And they aren’t aware they are missing out on anything unless you show them.

Doctors and trained staff members can seize the advantage by educating their patients that there is more to plano sunwear than flashy, good looks.