Designs of the times

Nicholas Bateman admits he gets ribbed by optical friends about the number of times he is pictured in optician handing over bouquets to long-serving staff, or rather, as he says, on the weeks when he is not featured.
As the chairman and managing director of the GC Bateman Group of 79 practices, with a particularly loyal group of staff, he is something of a dab hand at making these presentations. However, personnel director Colin Franklin debunks the myth a little, explaining that five members of staff achieved the 25-year mark in 2004.
There are also people with considerably longer experience in the company's century-plus history. The laboratory managing director Derrick Bond joined Batemans straight from school and has now racked up more than 40 years. He is responsible for 60 staff, 50 per cent of whom have worked in the lab for 20 years or more.
Franklin can give numerous examples of employee loyalty, personnel who have moved within the company when their partners have relocated through work, even several staff who went to Australia and re-joined the group on their return.
'It gives me job satisfaction that people want to stay and that people we train go off on maternity leave and come back again,' he says.
Nonetheless, the average age at the company has dropped as it takes on new staff at its practices that stretch from Helston in Cornwall to Dover and Deal in Kent.
'On the professional side, we are a name in the market and people want to come to us. They've seen what the opposition has and want to come back to us. We have stuck to our principles and are fair. Our remuneration package is very competitive and people still have a name, not a number,' adds Franklin.

additional anniversaries
This year is a particularly busy one for Batemans, as it celebrates the 75th anniversary of its Godalming lab, while marking the fact that its headquarters have been at The Hallams, a large Victorian house outside Guildford, for 25 years.
More importantly, it is rolling out a new fascia and total practice redesign across the group, although the process will take some five years to complete.
Both Nicholas and his brother Dominic, who is the group's property director, describe the shopfitting as akin to re-painting the Forth Road Bridge. As soon as one redesign is finished, another is starting at the practices that were first updated.
'We have emphasised over the years the traditional nature of what we do, now people want to see modern things,' explains Nicholas of the move.
It is difficult to have a one-fits-all solution when the outlets range from small listed buildings like the three-storey house practice in Truro, to modern retail units, such as the relocated Woking practice, the first of the new design.
'We have practices that are in old buildings that still work well as practices and others that have had to move premises when the retail centre of the town has moved on, as in Woking,' explains Nicholas.
Along with a more modern fascia, the refit uses vertical open frame displays with drawer units below of differing heights. Practice walls are peppermint green and the reception desk is a mix of brushed aluminium, oak and glass.
'Generally there is more space for display. We still have a reception desk with staff sitting down, but we have tried to avoid making it a barrier,' says Nicholas. 'We want to attract an element of younger people but not make it too "boutiquey" for the older market.'
Batemans has used a local design firm, to give what Dominic describes as a fresh, sharp and harmonised look, one that staff in the other practices are keen to experience.
'There's a bit more pressure to modernise. Staff get enthusiastic, having seen Woking, which has gone down very well.'
He adds that the new Batemans logo also works better with the variety of shop fronts. Its stylised 'B' can be used as a frosted logo on practice windows and is carried through to frame displays, or even the brass plate of a house practice.
Cross-country concerns
With the geographical diversity of the group, three area managers have been appointed from the ranks of branch managers, each in charge of 25-26 practices. The practices have the freedom to see reps from a list of suppliers and choose their own products.
'A company of our size can and does make savings by producing our own branded frames, but there is still a requirement for branches to choose frames that are geared to the particular area or clientele,' says Nicholas.
In fact, Franklin describes the group of practices as 'effectively 79 independents'. 'It is my job to bring them together, with the right OO, DO and a good receptionist.'
The West Country practices generally do well, a result says Nicholas of the clientele being more loyal, with larger numbers of retirees.
'They are not as promiscuous shoppers. People have more time and are more relaxed. They appreciate traditional service, compared to customers in shopping centres where they tend to go for products that have been advertised.'

Techniques and technology
As part of the restructuring, Batemans has promoted Steve Wright to the role of contact lens manager and now the group will offer orthokeratology.
'We are exploring ways to improve and increase out contact lens business. It's a different angle. We'll be concentrating on branches that are already more specialised in contact lens fitting,' says Nicholas.
In another move that involves further investment, the group will roll out digital retinal imaging systems into five branches to begin with. To date, one user-friendly system has been trialled. He believes that in a larger practice there could be a payback in 18 months.
The litigious nature of today's consumer spurred the move, along with the realisation that every practice will need these facilities in the next 10 years, explains Nicholas.
Along with considerations on equipment, pricing, and the need to meet data protection legislation, there are logistical issues. 'Some consulting rooms have no space for the system. We've added so much instrumentation that we are squeaking at the seams. It's not something that will fit into a small corner.'
The modernisation does not end there. 'We realise the need to invest in IT and in conjunction with Hugh Draper, branch operations director, we have an IT manager, Colin Floyd, to oversee the commissioning and roll out of a new practice manager and EPOS system,' he adds.
The company has spent time researching the most appropriate system and Draper says he believes the Relcon Focus software will give the control and information needed to take the company forward. Orders are already sent to the lab electronically and Focus can be linked into this for speed and accuracy.
With the volume of changes in store, all Batemans needs now is someone to tell the public about it and, as a result, it has taken on a new marketing executive in Aneliese Franklin, also under the direction of Draper.
'It's easy to throw money at advertising in the press, but someone with marketing know-how will have the level of expertise to know where and how,' explains Nicholas. 'All the time we are competing for people's spending power, yet optics has always taken a back seat.'
He believes the profession needs to concentrate on product benefits, as well as informing people of the need for eye care, without being alarmist. As Batemans has already shown with its 2004 driver's vision campaign, he believes there are opportunities to promote the health message without scaring people. Another example is its Valentine's Day promotion with a couple gazing into each other's eyes, and the strap line 'Why not let your optometrist look at your eyes?'.
Nicholas is also keen that the group's optometrists start the sales process in the consulting room by opening the discussion about contact lenses or spectacles, as part of the team.
While eager to make the existing practices work more efficiently, the company would not rule out expansion. Two unprofitable branches closed last year, examples where the landlord had put the rent up, nonetheless if the correct opportunity arose...
'We're always on the lookout, but won't do it just for the sake of it. It helps if they fit in with what we're doing,' explains Nicholas.
He would rather fill the gaps in the south than move further north, and there are several towns where practices could be opened from scratch.
Such moves can also be driven by Batemans' practitioners who are interested in managing a practice in a nearby town, should an opening arise.

Lab investment
The laboratory is also core to the business and it too has benefited from recent investment, including two rimless computerised glazing machines. It now has floor to ceiling vertical storage bins for efficient storage of lenses and there are plans to increase the stock holding of frames and to use barcode reading for stock control. About the only thing the lab doesn't do is anti-reflection coating as there isn't the throughput required for the investment.
While much of the lab is automated with CAD machines, and the work can involve a lot of 'button pushing', Bond adds that the skills and experience of staff still come into play. Other groups regularly come to Batemans with particularly complex prescriptions for its glass surfacing and glazing plant. An example is a -26D lens ordered in the past two years, which he explains was completed using 'poker-arm grinding by hand and rolling of the cyls'.
'Modern labs won't do it. They come to us and we will do our best to manufacture to the requirement of the optician. Our staff love the challenge and the chance to show off their expertise,' says Bond.
There you have it again, another example of the mix of the traditional with the very modern that seems to be increasingly the way of Batemans.