I visited a high end optical boutique where the optical associates wore white gloves when handling their frame lines. They even handled my eyeglasses with the white glove treatment. Very nice touch and exquisitely professional. Do any of your optical shops use this white glove practice or would consider trying it in order to raise the level of pride or customer perception toward the frame lines you are selling?
lol, no In our area, they would laugh us out of town, and rightly so. We sell high end frames, but our community can smell a pretentious rat a mile away.
It is somewhat surprising that if a potential customer is willing to spend "100s of dollars" for a high end designer frame, that a sales associate with greasy fingers would handle the frame and smudge and smear it all up while showing it to the customer. That probably turns off most customers and loses the sale. The extra care and pride and "going the extra mile" shown by the optical shop can make all the difference.
Scrubs.............
I bet you they probably are all wearing scrubs......good idea this time when everybody catches the flu............a facemask would make the case perfect and protect everybody from cough's and sneezes. :DOriginally Posted by EyeGlassesGuy
Are you kidding? $100's of dollars is not nearly high end enough to warrant white gloves. My patient's who have spent much more than that would be laughing hysterically. Should we also use our best British accent? We go the extra mile trust me but in service and workmanship not, as THE MEB stated "pretentiousness". And for goodness sake we don't hire greasy people. This is the funniest thing I've heard all day. Thank you.
I am just John Q. Public trying to offer some advice to what I see as a fledgling lack of service and pride in this market. Most optical shops seem to have a select group of Cartier, Mikli, Chrome Hearts, or other high end frames under lock and key that need a few sets of keys and several approvals from management to even look at. I always get the impression from the sales associate that this is a big inconvenience for him/her, rather than a great rare sales opportunity for a superior designer frame that should be welcomed enthusiastically.
WOW, my patients would laugh as well. I bet we might actually lose patients if we did this. I admit we don't sell any $500 frames.
I'm sorry. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but if you're just John Q. Public, what eyecare related field do you work in?
I don't we would ever go so far as white glove treatment, but we do make a point of cleaning a frame before having someone try it on. Primarily though it's because people are so much more sensitive about flus and colds, like Chris mentioned.
99.9% of the retail optical establishments think that they are "high end" and could not get away with sort of stuff. But, there are a few who cater to the "carriage trade" and have found that to be a very successful business model. It is true, the natives will smell something foul if you are "putting on airs" especially if your business is in Smoke Stack City.
How about a nice single malt Scotch or perhaps a latte while I style your new eyewear Mr Johnson?
How can you discuss style and fashion with someone wearing pajamas?
How can you consider your dispensary "high end" when it is next door to a noisy smelly lab?
How can you impress me with your fashion knowledge when I just came out of a dark room with some guy wearing lime green polyester trousers?
To paraphrase Popeye; you are what you are.
Well then Mr. Public you are shopping in the wrong place. It is never, repeat never, an inconvenience to open a locked case for a customer nor does this action require approval. Everyone carries a key. I cannot speak for the lack of service and pride in your area but it may have something to do with who they are hiring. Perhaps these are not opticians at all but sales clerks and therein lies the difference. Canape' anyone?
Canap'e \Ca`na`p['e]"\, n. [F., orig. a couch with mosquito curtains. what do you mean coco?
I'm hoping this was posted in jest. Go to a jewelry store--they'll hand you a 10K-dollar ring without first putting gloves on.
Or how 'bout the car dealership? A p.o.s. Saturn is worth way more than your Mikli frames, and yet others have dared to touch the wheel without gloves.
This just doesn't make sense.
"A canapé or canape (French for couch [1] and known in Italy as tartina) is a small, prepared and usually decorative food, held in the fingers and often eaten in one bite."
White gloves scream pretension. Lets not kid ourselves. Unless you're carrying $1500 gold frames with diamonds etc, there's no reason to do this. Especially since, for us atleast, we don't sell off the board. The customer doesn't get the frame I'm putting my dirty fingers all over.
Love this comment. I've never understood the mentality. Maybe if you're ONLY doing exams, but the moment you start dealing with a dispensary, it's time to update the look. I'm 22, and I dress to the nines every day. Suit, tie, great colors, and I have 4 pairs of glasses to wear with the different outfits. You need to represent yourself when talking to people about style, or else they're just going to laugh at you.
"An ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure. " I'll give a brass figlalee with gold oak leaf cluster to the first person who correctly IDs the quote.
I've sold on Madison Ave as well as Newberry St. in Boston. I owned a shop in Jersey City NJ when it was scorned by Donald Trump. My union contracts and medicaid paid the rent so it afforded me the luxury to offer upscale (for JC) eyewear that they wouldn't have to travel to NYC. For all the $1000 sales I've made, nothing can replace the satisfaction of supplying eyewear to the homeless population of Jersey City, because the director of the program saw that I treated them the same as the professionals of the area.
Money carefully refunded
julia roberts in Steel Magnolias, 1989
C'Mon...
If I get a vote, I vote: NO.
Rbaker: your idea reminds me of old Lugene Days...we served sherry (only Sandeman's Royal Esmiralda (sp?) when we sat down at the dispensing table...
during the holidays, our multiple sales certainly increased!
: )
Back to white gloves...IMHO, the high-end client (in today's market) would find that to be too much, almost laughable.
I dispense one day a week at a high-end boutique in downtown Tampa, Chrome Hearts, Gold and Wood, Keiselstein Cord with diamonds, etc... (retail between $1,000.00 to $3,500.00)...
It seems to me that the 'glam-meets-rocker' works better than tuxedo/white goves in today's high-end market...could be geographical.
What really blows them away is to do a custom color/face analysis, using draping cloths (cool tone/warm tone) and a facial chart (to create an oval)...while we do this already in our heads, showing them the method to the madness seals the deal.
just my .02
Laurie
why is giving your two cents worth more than a penny for your thoughts?
It's a fancy snack. I don't know how to spell horderve.
First off...
John Q. Public does not purchase high end, luxury items. Maybe John Q. Hamptoms, or John Q. Wilshire, but not John Q Public.
Secondly...
In most cases, the only time John Q. Public is approached by a professional wearing gloves, it's accompanied by, "This may feel a little uncomfortable at first..."
:D
Ophthalmic Optician, Society to Advance Opticianry
Sounds like me last fall when I was giving flu shots. :bbg:
I don't know what I would think of an optician wearing white gloves, but then I'm from the Midwest. :D
:cheers:
tis a bit much gov'ner
I got chewed out because I cared about the finished gl being in trays with
paperwork with staples, sliding back and forth...so I of course wanted them wrapped in the labs sponge till delivery. My fellow opticians tho't
I was over-reacting.......so did my manager (tho I didn't push it) and got
fired after a few wks on the job.............(It is ok, they didn't care about
pt care either.....) A blessing for me.
But....on the other white gloved hand , how extreme! What I dont' dig, is the more expensive lines being tried on by every customer then used
to send to the lab for the poor soul that tries them on in the end.
The only pt that cares about this seems to be the one buying the really cheap frames.....(I need it in 2 days with a/r cause I am leaving the country......and oh by the way ......you aren't planning to use THIS FRAME ARE YOU?).............................(OH NO SIR.......i CAN GET YOU A NEW FRAME AND A/R AND GET IT BACK TO YOU IN 30 MIN FLAT.... :o)
This glove-ness happens in Tennessee? Wow, I might believe it
in Hollywood........at a stars home with diamond studded frames perhaps.
In today's world where cashiers wear rubber surgical gloves.......
maybe the pt could think there was a virus running amuk in the dispensary that you are fearing? :hammer:
Maybe it's where Howie Mandel shops.:D
DragonlensmanWV N.A.O.L.
"There is nothing patriotic about hating your government or pretending you can hate your government but love your country."
I've never seen that one.
well, just maybe, you haven't visited those "adult" themed stores before then.
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