We are thinking of putting on the sign out front PDs taken here. Maybe at least we get a shot at them.
We are thinking of putting on the sign out front PDs taken here. Maybe at least we get a shot at them.
Service charges apply on all other items.
Full Service included in the products we make and sell.
Service charges apply on all other items.
PDs for your convenience. We will even help you solve problems when you get your online order. Thanks for coming in today.
I think that's a fantastic idea! You'll be able to advertise to not only the internut buyers but also to your regular loyal clients that normally pay you for a complete pair of glasses! I'm sure they will be thrilled to see you embrace and endorse them to go to the net instead of you! Just think of all that PD taking revenue!!!
If anyone is hemorrhaging patients to the internet to the extent they need to try to advertise that you're ready to help them secure mis-care through the net, you've lost the battle already. Time to put a "Shop Closed" sign up.
If you charge the customer for it, I commend you. If you are going to do it without charging, I don't.
I'll use it as an educational visit for the customer and myself! And not just online purchases, all places. I'll diplomatically explain any deficiencies with the eyewear and explain what can be done or should have been done. In addition I get a feel for what the other places are putting out ... Win Win!
cs
You should have posted this in the joke thread in the conversation forum.
Originally Posted by Speed
Let us know how that works for you!
I'm with cme and 24/7 on this. Another race to the bottom. Looks like you win!! Anything for 10 bucks just kills me, I don't need it that bad, sorry your office does. Good luck with that troubleshooting chair time, it's only insurance people you keep waiting, same net.
or we all will attend the funeral of opticianry ........................
That is the way it should be ...................
Your largest lens manufacturers have become your largest competitors.
If you follow their advice and advertising, you should only sell the fanciest additions to their lenses from the best AR to whatever that also absorbs a bit, or a lot of blue light and more.
All those new lens treatments have to be done at a lab, because you do not have the equipment to do it yourself.
Many of these newest extra treatments are old hat. in a new shape and name, and come heavily advertised with big public brainwash.
In the meantime your suppliers, turned online competitors, are selling directly to the public at near wholesale prices, and you have become a simple reseller of finished products.
The only way out of this dilemma is to sell in house finished products and sell what you can finish or produce yourself, charge for your services rendered on online purchased products, or we all will attend the funeral of opticianry in a few years from now.
Chris, as a third party you are not privy to the conversation that took place between the consumer and your competitor, your hearing one side. You don't know what motivated them to make that purchase. A rock and a hard place is not the position you want to put yourself and the business in.
I can't remember the last DIY pair of glasses someone brought to me that didn't have a defect and I see about 2 pair a day. I've had the adequate vs optimized eyewear conversation with people and it's a battle you can't win. There is no way to tell someone; irregardless of how diplomatic you may think you are, that they made a bad purchase. They either know they did or they just want you to say nothing and fix it. Do what you want.
Please send me some business cards. The break is ending and when the students come back for Spring Quarter, I will be inundated with ill advised purchases, cheaply made product, and all manner of crap that I never want to see. I will be more then happy to send them to you, so that I can take care of our patients and customers who are looking to buy from us. That Sir, is a win win situation.
I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it. Mark Twain
Paul, thanks for your comments .......................
Paul, thanks for your comments and I understand your point of view.
I did not mention any direct B&M competition, I clearly meant online opticals, and it is easy to understand that the motivation to buy there is nothing else than the pricing, and all of it without any service.
Also I believe that in the case of Essilor or Lux owned online optical businesses, the finished products should not be of inferior quality, as they have been produced in their own labs, and if the given measurements were correct.
Chris Ryser, my comments were not to you but to Sphinxsmith, CS aka Chris.
I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it. Mark Twain
Vsp's eyeconic is their answer to the on line opticals. It seems to be working so far. On Thursday I got a check from them for $70 for dispensing 2 pairs of specs one Rx and one pair of planos. I don't even know if I'll ever even see the patients as they picked them out on line. I kind of liked getting that.
So let me see if I have this correct. VSP markets online to YOUR base patient, and pays you a whole 70 bucks for 1 Rx pair and 1 plano, don't know what to say. Spend that whole $70 carefully, and forget about the $400 they took from you. Sell your practice to them, work for half, and they still take more. Glad it works for you Doc. Online consumer is not my customer, I do nothing to assist or fix, period.
Only a few of my patients have used it, and I think most of those were only for a 2nd or 3rd pair, and some of those are test patients (vsp employees testing the system). But some I'm sure are truly internet shoppers who find it convenient. If I were a hungry provider I'd be afraid of it, but I almost look at it as free money since so far I haven't had to do much of anything for those payments, and I'm not burdened with any paperwork at all. No lab orders, no frame orders, no material bills, no shipping costs, no return costs. That's really pretty much how the internet works. The fees aren't huge, but they aren't bad. But I wouldn't worry too much about it. If they make a mistake on their frame choice and end up returning it, I get to keep the $70 AND I don't get blamed or badmouthed for their bad choice. As I've said before, I'm not sure Eyeconic is making money or losing it at this point. For now, I'm staying on as a "preferred provider" listing for offices that will accept the almost free money. BTW I think the patients have to choose an office from that list at the time of ordering, which is yet another free advertisement for us.
Oops, I forgot one thing. I guess I need to do a little work for these. Notate their file that they selected us as their provider, or if they are new to us, enter their name into my database and notate it so they don't get turned away or charged for any subsequent adjustments to that pair. In my system this takes less that 20 seconds for an existing patient, maybe a minute for new patients. AND I can market to those new patients if I want. They have to go somewhere for their exams and most will look at frames when they do come in. So I get to add another soul my database, maybe a whole new family who has VSP coverage, and get paid to do it. Seems fair to me.
Turn up the heat... the frog is not only boiling, but he's liking it!
Ophthalmic Optician, Society to Advance Opticianry
Maybe he thinks it is a Jacuzzi.
This old frog keeps an sharp eye on his monthly gross and net. If either ever takes a dip from the prior year, he will be the first to jump out.
I can answer that for you. You won't.
You don't think trading a $70 dispensing fee for the lost opportunity of an additional 2 pr. sale won't affect your net?? I don't care how "old" the frog is, that's just plain stupid thinking at any age.This old frog keeps an sharp eye on his monthly gross and net. If either ever takes a dip from the prior year, he will be the first to jump out.
Ophthalmic Optician, Society to Advance Opticianry
[QUOTE=Johns;522103]I can answer that for you. You won't.
That was one of my points. If those checks keep rolling in and I never see the patient that suits me just fine.
You don't think trading a $70 dispensing fee for the lost opportunity of an additional 2 pr. sale won't affect your net?? I don't care how "old" the frog is, that's just plain stupid thinking at any age.
I think you misread my posts. On the ones that were my patients, I already did the exam and processed their VSP first and some second pair plans; they are using Eyeconic for a 2nd or 3rd pair. It's only the "not my patient" people that I'm ok with never seeing and taking that free money. Of course that was before I realized that I could use my Eyeconic connection with these non patients to try to woo them over to my office for their exams next year...
I wonder just how smart the people who want nothing to do with the internet actually are.
Last edited by Dr. Bill Stacy; 03-28-2016 at 02:00 PM.
No Bill, I read the post correctly.
Just in case your (or somebody else's) patients wondered about whether or not the internet was a good idea, they now have an eye doctor who will confirm for them that it is. You might be old, or have been in this for a long time. I've only been doing it for around 30 year, and I want to see, communicate with, and educate as many people as I can - in person, in my office. I don't care if I get checks for doing nothing, and seeing nobody - I want to sell eyewear, as that's how I make my living. If I was of the "money for nothing school" I'd just quit and go on the dole like much of this country has.
I don't mind the challenge of working for what I make.
...and I just wonder what kind of practice you would have had if the ODs before you had been of the similar mindset.
I wonder just how smart the people are who want nothing to do with the internet actually are.
Ophthalmic Optician, Society to Advance Opticianry
After finishing my 24th season in a place down south, the population has increased by some 100,000 by some older folks that come from a much younger generation called the "Baby Boomers" which are not anymore that anti Internet, but take full use of it.
How about a hypothetical? If you were given an opportunity to be listed on the internet as a source for adjusting glasses for people who purchased their glasses elsewhere, including the internet, and this listing would require you to post your fees for doing this service (even if it is zero, but the fee can be adjusted instantly at any time by you without charge), would you do it? Remember, you set your fees and they will be visible on the internet for easy comparison to those fees that any other opticals in your area who sign on to this hypothetical internet listing.
Last edited by Dr. Bill Stacy; 03-28-2016 at 02:25 PM.
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