What changes have you made to Sight Care since becoming CEO in April 2016?
John French Changes are a gradual thing and my first objective has been to speak to as many members as possible. I held roadshows, and have the conference coming up in February. I have tried to ensure services we provide are reviewed so they are meeting certain needs as well as looking to see how much we can move online – it is a digital world now and independent practices have got to keep up to speed with it.
How are you finding the new role?
JF I am finding it very enjoyable, the independent sector is really friendly. Everybody wants to support each other and understands that, while they are independent, there is a great need for them to be a part of a community.
What is your professional background?
JF My background has been quite varied. I came from commercial management working for large organisations and then moved into not-for-profit organisations. I worked for professional membership organisations which specialised in healthcare practitioners and have always wanted to support small business owners.
How successful has the launch of the Sight Care networking initiative been?
JF Networking has been slow. There has been a couple of our members setting up groups but there is fear that they are taking a lot on. We have begun considerations to involve non-healthcare professionals to run these groups so they can offer business mentors or advisers so [optical] business owners can join a group without the responsibility of running it. It will be a network of like-minded people meeting and sharing their best practice advice with other professionals but it is still at its very early stages and these things take time.
What can visitors expect from the Sight Care conference?
JF We have made some changes to the conference this year, in the past the talks have been theatre-style where our members would just listen to speakers but now we a running a symposium-style event. It is a more two-way event as opposed to being talked at, and we hope visitors will find it more interesting and valuable.
We do not want independent practitioners to think they are taking on the multiples on their own. We are holding small workshops and masterclasses to engage with the challenges facing them, and we will be discussing all sorts of areas like contact lenses, luxury eye wear and digital marketing.
I do appreciate there are a lot of conferences to go to, and practitioners can be away for weekends in a row – I personally think there are too many.
Who is planned to speak at the conference?
JF We have four keynote speakers in total. Philip Calvert is a social media expert who I personally know, and can help businesses understand social media better and how to make it work for their businesses. We have the combined double act of multi-award winning speaker Geoff Ramm and respected author and television presenter Nigel Risner who have never presented together before but will be going in and out of the audience talking directly to people.
We also have Optitrade Retail Group commercial manager Pim Föster. Based in the Netherlands, Optitrade has more than 700 members and supports independent opticians and audiologists in their competition with the high street chains. Pim will draw on analogies between the UK and Dutch independent optical markets highlighting specific initiatives adopted by the independent practices to help strengthen their market position in competition with the chains.
The optical industry hosts a number of bodies, what makes Sight Care different?
JF I think there are lots of similarities between the various bodies. A lot of people think Sight Care is a buying group as that is how it started out but now that is just one of the many services we provide. Sight Care differentiates itself by being a community. We want it to be a place where our successful members will perhaps need less help from us because they are doing so well, and instead create a community feel where they can give something back.
What is the best advice you can offer independents?
JF No one thinks to spend more time on their business rather than in their business. Not being in the exam room but sitting down and ensuring they have got a marketing plan and social media strategy is important. You have to make sure you are giving patients reasons to come in rather than expecting them to come in.
Independents should be trying to be part of the community, such as getting involved with local schools and events and sponsoring things that are going on.
The Sight Care conference takes place at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole on February 26-27.
