MARKETING SPORTS
TAKING AIM
“Yes, doctor, there is an opportunity for new specialty sports niches in the medical model”
BY BRAD WILLIAMS, O.D.
If you’d like to take your vision care fulfillment and optical dispensary profits up a notch, consider providing what I call Specialty Niche Vision Care. It is a proven strategy for helping set your practice apart, increasing practice referrals, raising revenue, and providing great patient care.
This specialty niche strategy is a golden nugget that doesn’t get much publicity; but it is extremely powerful when implemented properly. I built a huge part of my practice fulfilling specialty eyewear needs from three specific hobby groups—fishing, golf, and shooting. Patients were often shocked and always impressed by what we knew about those hobbies. Best of all, most were and are willing to pay for these specialty frame and lens products because they understand the value.
The referral communities outlined in this article will give you a starting point. Most optometrists practice in community settings. And, within each geographical territory, there are what I call hobby or target groups.
There are occupational and safety groups you may already work with as well, and attracting hobby groups is much the same strategy. For now, let’s dig deeper into three hobby groups.
FISHING
You don’t even have to own a fishing rod to fulfill these patients’ specialty eyewear needs. You will, however, need to learn in depth the characteristics of the hobby and the related specialty frames and lens products that will enhance their enjoyment.
Top: Consider how the interests of your patients and the attractions of your region lend themselves to optical niches. Above image courtesy of Randolph Engineering
GOLF
The most difficult task here may be narrowing down selections to two or three specialty frames to carry. Also, there are a host of golf-specific tints and lens designs available, including several that are Rx- and PAL-specific
SHOOTING
These would include trap, skeet, sporting clays, and, of course, hunting.
Google resources such as Decot and Randolf Engineering. They will provide information regarding various tints, specialty frames, etc. You should be able to get by with about five to seven specialty shooting frames and tints. Competitors in this group will need earplugs and safety eyewear, too, so this expands your product opportunities as well. Many shooters only need plano sunglasses, so consider an inventory of 10 to 12 plano frames and tints that range in price.
Again, you don’t have to even own a gun, but there are hundreds of potential patients with these interests in your area. Look around your market. The rewards for being able to “walk the walk and talk the talk” with those patients about their hobbies can be phenomenal.
Remember, however, to start slowly and build your specialty eyewear practice gradually (see sidebar, p. 106).
Like other optometric care specialties, niche vision care is another powerful way to set yourself apart, maintain strong patient loyalty, and grow dispensary revenue as well.
Brad Williams is the founder of The Williams Group, based in Lincoln, NE.
BULLSEYE
A SPECIALTY NICHE PROGRAM CAN WIN YOU:
TARGET PRACTICE
HERE ARE EIGHT STEPS TO TAKE IN DEVELOPING YOUR NEW SPORTS SPECIALTY NICHE PROGRAM.
➵ Stick with the vision/optical model as long as you want. There is a lot you can do to generate significant revenue from your optical product sales along with medical care revenue. You don’t have to sacrifice one for the other.
➵ Change requires teamwork. Conduct a half-day office retreat and discuss a plan to develop a specialty vision care niche care.
➵ Start slowly by selecting a few hobby groups in your community.
• Talk to patients
• Google information
• Work with your wholesale laboratory.
• Attend a few CE courses with your optician(s)
• Last and not least, learn from your optician(s)
➵ Prepare to “walk the walk and talk the talk” about hobbies and other specialty eyewear needs so you build trust.
➵ Make recommendations in the exam room, make a good baton pass to the optician(s), and demonstrate lifestyle benefits of specialty eyewear products related to hobbies in your dispensary.
➵ Patients might not purchase specialty lens products right at first because they can only afford to purchase daily wear eyewear. However, if you and team members do your job right, I can guarantee many will find a way to purchase your specialty eyewear recommendations at a later time.
➵ Develop a specialty lens sample area in your optical dispensary…and place for specialty frame samples near your sunglass displays.
➵ Over time, develop your own “Specialty Eyewear and Lens Product Reference Manual.” I guarantee it will become dog-eared from use in a short period of time.
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