Fellow opti-boarders I have looked in previous threads and have seen some advice, but want to pull on the expertise of the group agian.
We are looking to potentially do trunk show. However I have a few doubts, or see a few road blocks.
How big should it be and what should we expect,
How to best market, I feel this is key?
and any unforeseen advice anyone can give.
Thanks in advance
Dan
Start promoting at least 3 months in advance.Originally Posted by EyeManDan
Facebook posts weekly about the event.
We printed 8 x 5 photos as promotional handouts and placed in every tray dispensed.
Large in office poster.
Redid all our displays to showcase only the reps products and color schemes.
Prizes and giveaways with raffle just for showing.
Catered, maybe wine and beer if it fits the practice.
We made custom printed labels for water small water bottles and handed them out like water as a promotion.
All the staff engaged pstients about the event and asked for a commitment to show and bring a friend.
I have pictures I can post when available, we experienced great success.
We have done six. Each year about the first weekend in May, and the theme has always been "JUST OFF THE NEW YORK RUNWAY". We do start promoting about 6 weeks in advance run it on Sat. morning within our normal business hours 8:00am-12:00pm. We have a large waiting area in the front of the office which we clear out and put 8 6foot tables with black linens. We do radio, cable TV and print ads. Also in office signage and at check out fliers, we also send invitations to customers who have expressed interest. We do a 30% one day only per year discount. No rain checks buy the frame today and if you have an exam later you can use the frame then. NO EXCEPTIONS! The frame reps are always asking if they can come but I only bring in 3 per year. They are required to be here set up at 7:00 am and stay until 1:30pm. Opticians do not style but are at their dispensing stations and reps bring the customer in where the optician takes the order and sells the lenses. We serve a continental breakfast door prizes donated by the vendor and you must be present to win, 1 per hour. We also have price books for the reps with all the vendors retail prices before discount. The reps love this as they are not standing there with a calculator trying to figure out what the price is and if someone walks up to them with a competitors frame, they can help them. We have a gift with purchase, generally it has one of our eyeglass case, cleaner, cloth and pen as well as whatever little thing the frame company has to throw in. We average 85-90 jobs on that day. They stand in line at 7:30 am to get in. No, we don't experience a drop in sales prior to the show. We also have another opticians set up away from the dispensary with a table and tools to adjust or deliver should someone wander in and need something. It then doesn't upset and keep those few people waiting.
We found that our staff often came in and they were the ones to create clogs in the waiting area so they are allowed and encouraged to come between 12:00-1:00 after the doors are closed. This keeps the paying customers front and center allowing the staff and their friends and family to feel like it's an event for them as well. We have 65 staff members.
Hope this is helpful.
We had a Ray Bann one that was very successful and a Gucci one that really wasn't. We give 30% off the entire pair and we have door prizes and light food and drink. We send out email notices.
Last edited by Happylady; 09-24-2014 at 09:15 PM. Reason: spelling
We have done several, all to varying levels of success. Here are a handful of things we've learned:
1) Direct mail and newspaper advertising did not bring in many customers. A select email list of repeat customers, multiple-pair buyers, long-standing patients, and impulse buyers coupled with fliers handed out to local businesses to attract their employees have been the most successful ways to bring people in for us. One or maybe two emails about the event to your entire patient list will bring some as well.
2) We have found that if we talk it up to our patients about two weeks out, we avoid the worst of losing day-to-day sales in favor of trunk show sales. You don't want your daily exam patients all holding off on their purchases to wait for the trunk show; that misses the point of a trunk show adding new, unique sales.
3) Whatever your discounts are, make them fun. We have put slips of paper in balloons, in flowers, on lottery tickets, etc., with options like "30% off one complete pair of glasses!" "Free upgrade to AR coating with purchase of a complete pair!" "Free upgrade to Transitions or Polarized lenses." Make them less like promotions and more like prizes. Have a couple big ones available, such as 40% off or a free frame, for example.
4) "Free" is a magic word. Patients get more excited about getting a free AR upgrade worth $125 than they do about getting 25% off a $500 pair of glasses, even though the math is identical.
5) Only invite frame reps who are enthusiastic and engaged in the process.
6) Get your doctors involved. Get your whole staff involved.
7) Offer to do on-the-spot refractions for patients without a current RX--and insist that they schedule the remainder of their comprehensive exam.
8) Too much traffic can be a bad thing. For our first trunk show, we had 105 unique patients in our office between 2:00 and 7:00 on a Thursday. It was exhausting and difficult to connect with our patients. I consider half of that to be a roaring success. The proof is in the numbers: those 105 patients places 55 unique orders. For our last show we had 46 patients place 47 unique orders.
9) Decorate the office. Have a theme. Offer food. Find the restaurant in town that makes the best cookies.
I'm Andrew Hamm and I approve this message.
Thank you for some great feedback.
how is the ratio men to woman sales and interest
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