Cold-calls

[optigrrl]

Optigrrl: What do you think your "women" are selling?

My women?

[Opticia_n]

Very difficult to convince someone on the phone because you don’t know who they are, how the product looks like.

Although I do prefer a heads up phone call a walk in is better to get a feel of the individual.

[KrystleClear]

I prefer reps make an appointment ahead of time. That way myself and my co-optician can arrange to both be present and we can schedule it during a slow time. Otherwise, we have a rep pulling out frame trays and taking up space and patients still coming in needing adjustments, repairs, and wanting to pick out frames. We only have one dispensing area and a island table that is also a frame display, so we don't have the space to multi-task like that, and we only have one optician working at a time. I like us both to make decisions on what frames we bring in.

[NAICITPO]

It feels like if you give reps an inch they take a mile. I like to be in control of the situation, always make an appointment to come see us. We also don't let them run our boards, we have an exact amount of each brand we want and we stick to it. So when a rep comes in after they check our stock we tell them exactly how many we need. Just makes it easier...

[mervinek]

We do board allocation here. It works quite well and reps don't take over. A new rep stopping by is ok if only to drop off their card or paper information. I tell them if I'm interested we will contact them to schedule an appointment. We do everything by appointment. I was quite angry with a new rep with an unknown company that came in while I was working with a patient and wouldn't take no for an answer and proceeded to open trays on our counter while I was working! Kicked her out and said not to come back. My patients get the priority. Some reps are awesome and worth their weight in gold... others just pain suck.