The customer is always right? Not anymore...

[Jana Lewis]

Interesting.....

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ss...

[rep]

I believe you will find at least one major Frame distributor doing the same thing. If you have a high return rate and or do less than $1000 in business they will close your account.

Rep

[ikon44]

it is an interesting idea, I am sure we all have clients who end up taking up a disproportionate amount of our time compared to what they spend with us.

It applies particularly with some contact lens patients, usually they are the ones who are difficlult to fit, then when you get them sorted out, they turn round and tell you they can get the lenses for a lot less on the internet.

[Pete Hanlin]

I've been advocating this kind of approach to customer management for some time now. Don't get me wrong, good service is the best way to build loyalty with your good customers- but that loyalty has to be a two-way street.

In private practice, my favorite was the customer who would come in "upset" and proclaim- "I want you to fix this and then I'm never coming back here again!" Well, why should I fix it, you're not coming back anyway!

Unless you are really lucky, I bet most practices also have at least one patient who is NEVER satisfied with "the first pair of lenses." I used to have a patient who prided himself on the fact that we would have to make 2 or 3 pairs (and then he would have us swapping lenses between the sets until he found one his "discriminating" eyes could tolerate). Nah-uh, I don't think so... It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out you're losing money on a patient like this every time he walks through the door.

In the lab business, you have the occasional account for whom ANSI "isnt' good enough." Obviously, this account doesn't understand the reason ANSI standards exist- nor do they understand the dynamics of ophthalmic lens production. However, they will cause you to have higher than average spoilage as you toss lenses that would otherwise pass the standards of "normal" accounts.

Here's the problem (IMHO)- people have aquired a Wal-Mart Mentality (nothing against Wal-Mart, but the ubiquitous nature of this discount retailer has created a real change in our nation's consumer habits). The paradigm of this kind of customer involves low prices, high service, and the ability to return anything anytime. Supporting this kind of consumer is only feasible if you are selling huge quantities at a decent profit to offset the losses this kind of customer creates- but most smaller private businesses (and even some large ones with lower per location sales) cannot thrive in this kind of atmosphere.

In a way, beyond the direct competition of it all, various leaders in the retail industry have fought the war with a clever tool- that is, change the battlefield to an environment where only they survive! This is no different from some of the ploys used to generate sweeping changes in the retail industry in the past. Sears & Roebuck changed the industry with their catalog, K-Mart with lower prices and local stores, and so on- this too will eventually be replaced by some new mode of retailing (the internet?)...

In the meantime, my advice is to identify the "black holes" in your practice, lab, etc. Besides saving money on a customer whose hobby is wasting yours, you will save on the aggravation and frustrations these people cause!

[Joann Raytar]

Pete's right. I used to have a boss that told us we wanted customers for life; however, there are certain times when you need to ask yourself if you want some people as customers for life. Sometimes, you just need to let them go.

[Texas Ranger]

Jo, we want the good customers for life. But I will say that we have hung onto some good clients who went through some tough times, that had little to do with their vision, and some things did affect their vision, but many things affect their degree of difficulty to deal with stuff...like menapause, cancer therapy, divorce, or a death; so, I always figure that folks have priorities when they come in with a new Rx, or maybe they lost/damaged their glasses, they need to see better, they want the glasses to be comfortable, most care that they look nice in them (some don't have a clue), they ALL want them NOW... they want the very best price possible, God bless them if they have some "vision care plan" for them and you to decifer; and then there's the whatever else is going on in their lives, not to be overlooked by any means. Some folks that opt for the NOW eyewear, later wish they had waited for the Crizal, or for that frmae they really wanted...what's a couple days when they're getting something that they'll be wearing everyday for the next couple years..? Of course they NEED to have something to wear while they're waiting? so, why don't folks have more than one pair of glasses? they'll all say that they are too expensive, so maybe we, as a profession need to figure out ways (besides BOGOs). At least we can encourage folks to keep their current glasses intact, so they have their last rx as a back up, instead of doing a 'lens only" in their old frames. And tell them why they should do that. Also, encourage people to have at least a SV pair of glasses in the area of most need, i.e. myopes a distance driving pair; presbyopes, a reading only pair. have some affordable or discontinued frames, and recommend just "plain vanilla" CR-39, no AR, etc. (ugly utility glasses)...at least in an emergency, they could still function for a bit...

[ikon44]

so, why don't folks have more than one pair of glasses? they'll all say that they are too expensive, so maybe we, as a profession need to figure out ways (besides BOGOs). At least we can encourage folks to keep their current glasses intact, so they have their last rx as a back up, instead of doing a 'lens only" in their old frames. And tell them why they should do that. Also, encourage people to have at least a SV pair of glasses in the area of most need, i.e. myopes a distance driving pair; presbyopes, a reading only pair. have some affordable or discontinued frames, and recommend just "plain vanilla" CR-39, no AR, etc. (ugly utility glasses)...at least in an emergency, they could still function for a bit...

Sometimes there is a tendency to try and give people all singing dancing glasses
with bells and whistles, this is why they cost so much.I think we as a profession are to blame by concentrating on A pair of glasses (singular). when it would be in both our interest and the patients to perhaps sell them 5 or 6 pairs.

The next time you see a client that is holding onto his one and only pair of specs, and he gives you the line about the cost , ask him how many pairs of shoes he owns, and what he uses them for. Most people will have casual shoes,dress shoes, slippers, trainers, hiking boots, wet weather boots, sandals etc.
the point is he will use whatever pair is appropriate for the activity he is engaged in.
We should do the same with spectacles, i.e. a nice dress pair, a tough hard wearing pair for work , multis for gen purpose, readers for long bouts of close work, perhaps a hobby pair e.g. extra strong add for model makers, polarised prescription wrap for sports etc...

The point is we should educate them to look at spectacles in the same way they look at footwear.
they will probably end up spending more, but i dont think they will begrudge it
because they can see the benefit to themselves