Thinking cap time. I need policy input.

[Dr. Bill Stacy]

It sounds like your intentions are good with what you've listed. Hospitality is key, so the more you can make people FEEL welcomed (even if they have to wait), I think you've got a good grasp on things.

The only other question I'd be curious about is what level of products you are providing. If you are busy to the point of roping off the dispensary, then you might be working in mid level product which has you being too busy to provide the desired level of care. Perhaps higher end product, with higher prices, may reduce your traffic, increase profit margins, and allow you to provide a higher level of customer care.

our frames on display are priced from $175 to $900, average is about $300, so I think I've got the higher end covered pretty well. Being in a busy mall we will always have lots of walkins. I will always have a low end "in the back" and I offer the same high quality customer care for all. I am very efficient, and do not like the high enders wasting my time with demands of more special handling (read that time wasting) than I can tolerate. That said, I'm open to having frames over 1K, and my wife wants us to set up private showings for high rollers in after hour times when we can lock the door. Open a bottle of wine, have some snacks.

[ThatOneGuy]

If you know what lens products the other OD uses, then offer those patients (once you start tracking them) a discount and then capture them forever!!!

[Dr. Bill Stacy]

In my case, no can do most of the time. These are mostly vsp patients and the lens upgrades are pretty much set for us by contract. But yeah, where I can compete, I will and do. Of course it's a double edged sword. Those will keep returning and keep asking for that initial discount. Or should I say "demanding" it?

[ThatOneGuy]

our frames on display are priced from $175 to $900, average is about $300, so I think I've got the higher end covered pretty well. Being in a busy mall we will always have lots of walkins. I will always have a low end "in the back" and I offer the same high quality customer care for all. I am very efficient, and do not like the high enders wasting my time with demands of more special handling (read that time wasting) than I can tolerate. That said, I'm open to having frames over 1K, and my wife wants us to set up private showings for high rollers in after hour times when we can lock the door. Open a bottle of wine, have some snacks.

Instead of sacrificing your own personal time (after hours showings), you might consider narrowing the price range. Incrementally raise the lowest cost frames over the next couple years and start phasing out low end product. If done slowly and monitored closely, you should see a reduction in traffic, but an increase in profit margin. That should free up more time for you to consider sales, etc., to bump up the traffic flow in a controlled environment when so desired.

[Dr. Bill Stacy]

I hardly feel I'm "sacrificing" if I'm sharing a bottle of wine and some canape's with someone who is probably going to drop a few grand or more my way. Besides, I enjoy doing what I do, and I can always hire more staff to handle the low enders. It's hard for me to push them away into the arms of who knows what down the street. It was hard enough for me to dump Medicaid.

[Uncle Fester]

Problem solved!!!

Recommendations: 9

Store Owner Gets Tough with Window Shoppers
December 8, 2000 10:10 am EST

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese shop owner with an acute aversion toward window-shoppers has been arrested for allegedly threatening a woman and forcing her to apologize for eyeing merchandise in his store she didn't want to buy.
Fed up with having shoppers leave his clothing store empty-handed, Akira Ishiguro, 38, had put up a sign at the entrance of his shop in Yokohama, near Tokyo, prohibiting entry to those who had no intention of buying, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said Friday.

The sign read: "Entry strictly prohibited to shoplifters, browsers, and teasers."

Many customers didn't notice or paid no heed to the warning, but Ishiguro meant business.

"Didn't you see the sign outside? Do you take me for a fool?" Ishiguro allegedly shouted at a 26-year-old woman when he discovered she wasn't interested in buying a coat she had handled.

He then proceeded to force her to get down on her knees and apologize -- considered the ultimate form of humiliation in Japan -- and coerced her into handing over the 3,000 yen ($27.12) she had in cash as down payment for the coat, priced at 42,000 yen, the report said.

A shopping mall association said it had in the past received several similar complaints about Ishiguro, who was said to have, in one instance, kept a customer locked in his store until she agreed to purchase something.

Police said Ishiguro denied having made the 26-year-old woman get down on her knees, according to the newspaper.

[rbaker]

The folks that brought us Pearl Harbor don't screw around.

[Dr. Bill Stacy]

She probably kneeled on her own when he unsheathed his Samauri sword. LOL I think I need to tighten up the language on my no unassisted browsing sign. Maybe something like "All persecutors will be violated"...

[Lelarep]

The folks that brought us Pearl Harbor don't screw around.

I can't believe you actually posted that.

[Dr. Bill Stacy]

I think he meant it more out of admiration for the gutsiness of citizens of Japan than as a criticism or something racial. But hey, us old guys can get a little crusty and loose lipped.

[Chris Ryser]

POLICY:

1. Shopper is never allowed to write down frame name
2. We are never to provide a frame name or any information to a shopper

3. Shopper MAY NOT take pictures of products themselves (unless they're trying to see themselves in it).

4. If shopper wishes to retain the favorite frames shopped, we can write down OUR INTERNAL product code from the tag on a business card.

5. OK to provide price/ estimate


So what am I missing? Let's collaborate!

Looks like a re-invented rule by the old KBG.

[Johns]

Chris, many of these "policies" are not new, and they are certainly not exclusive to opticianry. You are not allowed to take photos in most retail stores, including Walmart.

[drk]

Doc Stacy: very nice post indeed.