FRAMING A SALE

Framing A SALE

Cutting prices isn’t the only way to make your frames sell; here we explore other considerations

BY AMY SPIEZIO

SELLING FRAMES CAN BE A COMPLICATED BUSINESS, and that’s not even considering the actual frames. The retail experience has gone from a simple selection to a massive—and occasionally overwhelming—decision process. Jollying patients into the frame-buying mindset and keeping them there takes some savvy selling strategies.

GETTING OVER GRUDGES

Even before the now infamous “60 Minutes” piece on Luxottica and Warby Parker’s in-optical’s-face “Middle Man” campaign, there was a certain “grudge purchase” aspect to eyewear consumption. Notes Bob “The Retail Doc” Phibbs, “A grudge purchase is when I have to buy because I have to, not because I want to. It’s not a trip to Hawaii or a new necklace.”

To make frame sales more than a grudge, it may be time to think about how you are approaching your sales, Phibbs says. “[Needing glasses] reminds me that I am not whole. The more you can get me out of that feeling, the more you can sell.

“The customer comes in feeling bad, and dumbing down the purchase instead of making it good is a mistake,” he adds. “Make sure no one is throwing cold water on the sale.”

ECPs’ embracing of the selling process is critical, as patients are strongly influenced by the presentation experience. “About 70 to 80 percent [of consumers] take what the sales rep presents,” Phibbs notes, adding, “You sell a grudge purchase if you approach it in the wrong way.”

Part of getting over a grudge is to treat patients to the very best, and start selling from the top. A Marchon program, “Offer the Best First” is about selling consumers what they want, emphasizing the need for ECPs to reserve their decisions about what patients can afford.

Though offering the least expensive frame may seem polite, it can actually be insulting and damage long-term potential relationships with consumers. “Offer the best first; it’s a way to show respect,” the program recommends.

And Phibbs agrees, “How would it feel to get what you want instead of what ‘you can afford?’”

BUSTING BOREDOM

Patients have a world (wide web) of shopping potential at their fingertips at all times, so the pressure is on brick-and-mortar locations to provide a more encompassing shopping experience. When patients come in, they are looking for a vision care resource, and that includes all aspects of vision care, including readers, sports eyewear, Rx and plano sunwear, and accessories.

Though this smaller category of frame sales might not be the first thing that comes to mind as a business driver, John Nides, director of Scojo New York, notes, “If you do it right, you have a loyal customer.”

He recommends treating reader sales like a birthday club and sending patients a birthday greeting with a readers theme: “You’re one year older and your diopter may have changed. Come in and we will donate the old frame and get you [a new one].”

High-quality displays and smart placements at impulse buying points can help drive the success of these frames and accessories. “Anybody can do accessories; what will differentiate you is how you do them,” Nides says. “The key to success is how you merchandise the category. Accessories make it a one-stop shop, and that category is going to pay to keep the utilities on in that practice.”

DEFEATING DECISION FATIGUE

For those who think that offering a welcoming beverage and snack is for high-end opticals only, a look at research may tempt you to feed your frame-buying patients. Hunger and the completion of repetitive processes can negatively affect thinking processes and result in decision fatigue.

For example, one Israeli research project, “Extraneous factors in judicial decision” by Shai Danziger, Jonathan Levav, and Liora Avnaim-Pesso, followed a group of judges deciding similar parole cases and found, “from the perspective of the prisoner, there is a clear advantage to appearing at the beginning of the session (i.e., either at the beginning of the day or immediately following the break).”

Retail ready sun display by Tommy Bahama for Altair

Leader Rx Sun Center from Hilco

Scojo New York reader display

The lucky prisoners whose cases were heard when the judges were fresh and fed were more likely to get their freedom; those being judged just before the next break or near the end of the session, the researchers note, weren’t as lucky. And though opticals are not courtrooms, patients may need a boost to their patience in frame selection to keep things positive.

Another facet of decision fatigue is the case of the overwhelmed patient presented with too many choices and not enough direction. Walking to the frame board and trying to decide on the right style can be an overwhelming task.

Phibbs suggests thinking about it like shopping for beds. “The salespeople suggest trying no more than two mattresses, because then you can’t tell the difference.”

Instead, he suggests tailoring the frame buying experience to keep decision fatigue at bay and creating an edited frame presentation with a full range of product for the patient without asking him or her to weed out too many options.

FRAME YOUR GAME

In a white paper, “Introduction to Gamification,” Piet van den Boer describes how gamification, first coined in 2002 by Nick Pelling, is an up-and-coming marketing technique.

Defined by van den Boer as “the use of game elements and game thinking in non-game environments to increase target behavior,” gamification builds customer engagement by appealing to clients who have grown up gaming.

Not to say that walking into the dispensary of the future is going to be the equivalent of entering a laser tag center. Instead, gamification uses the elements of games to direct customer thinking toward specific goals. Think utilizing P.O.P., tablets, personal devices, and on-site computers and screens for interactive frame sales and education. A particular aspect that is coming to the forefront of optical gamification is customization.

• For CLEARVISION, “2014 is the year of personalization, and personalization is one of today’s biggest trends when it comes to fashion, whether its footwear, clothing, or eyewear,” says Peter Friedfeld, ClearVision’s executive vice president. Izod’s materials include a fun, hands-on P.O.P. piece with which patients can select various colored temples for their eyewear.

• SILHOUETTE’S displays claim a multitude of frame options that can be pieced together in the shop by patients who utilize the display for a customized ordering experience.

Handheld tablets and touch screen-equipped computers in the dispensary also bring the gaming world into the optical universe. Several companies are offering web-based sampling and ordering systems for one-of-a-kind eyewear.

• MARCHON’S interactive option, nikevision.com, shows off Nike eyewear, which has navigable sections for specific sports categories, such as baseball, and features a simulator that allows the user to experience tinted lenses and see sport environments in a “before” and “after” scenario with various terrains.

1. Izod’s personalization program P.O.P.; 2. Nikevision’s sport-specific eyewear interactive shopping guide with Marchon; 3. Silhouette walks patients through customization with a banner; 4. REM’s Converse customization site

5. Ray-Ban Remix; 6. Safilo’s catalog app for ECPs and their patients

• REM EYEWEAR’s Converse Custom program utilizes an iPad in a kiosk that allows patients to “create your own custom look.” Starting with eight metal and plastic styles, consumers can select patterns for temples that will be laser etched to order in a variety of colors.

• SAFILO USA has released a Safilo Catalog App for iPad and Android that features the same technology that the Safilo sales reps use. The program can be switched to patient mode to let customers browse the catalog and use the Wizard tool to select frames that will suit the patient’s needs. This creates the feeling for the patient that he or she is getting something extra and exclusive.

• LUXOTTICA’S Ray-Ban fans can also click and customize their frame colors, lens colors, finishes, and personalized etching at the Ray-Ban Remix program website.

FRAME YOUR SALES FUNNEL

The sales funnel isn’t a new concept. This multi-step guide to directing sales has helped businesses direct their operations and maximize their sales leads for many years. This timeless formula can be applied to frame sales, too.