Offer of something extra

 'For decades we didn't have to worry about work, we really didn't, in fact at times we had to turn it away. It probably sounds arrogant but that is the way it was. My role has changed from getting work done to getting work in.' So says David Miller, managing director of Kentoptic, but how times have changed.

Kentoptic could be classed as a quintessential prescription house. Its home is a century-old cricket ball factory in leafy Tonbridge, Kent, and for 33 years it has supplied practices in the Kent and East Sussex region.

The company came into being from the vestiges of  Crest Optical which itself was set up after the second world war to supply glazing services.

David Miller was brought in as managing director to run the new firm and serve the glazing needs of local practices.

'In those days the majority of practices were independent and they sourced their work from prescription houses. It was pre- Optical Courier Services so you had to use Royal Mail or the lab had to be local,' says Miller.

Lens and frame manufacturers were only too happy to see this situation and supported it, he adds. This brought in a decent amount of work from a reasonably tight number of practices that put the majority of their work Kentoptic's way.

In keeping with the experience of local labs across the country Kentoptic has seen a number of changes take place. This has included a reduction in the number of independent practices, a reduction in the volume of work they provide and a move into the glazing business by the lens suppliers.

Thanks to its reputation for quality Kentoptic has seen the value of its average job increase, says Miller, but the number of jobs it handles has fallen slightly and the number of practices it deals with has rocketed.

This doesn't make for a good economic business mix and Kentoptic has had to think about its position in the market, how it wants to be perceived by customers and how it moves forward.
It has played to its strengths and has repositioned and rebranded itself with an updated logo and the strapline national optical supplies. By doing this it hopes to offer its quality and service proposition to practices nationwide. 

Miller says he still gets satisfaction from hearing from clients that Kentoptic has done a good job. 'People come to us because of our expertise, not because they have heard we are very cheap,' he jokes. 'We have always achieved a fair amount of work by word of mouth because of our reputation for specialist and rimless glazing.' By promoting the lab on a national footing he hopes to spread that reputation further.