B&L's million dollar boost

Bausch & Lomb is investing $1m in additional support staff to work with optical practices in a bid to help them compete.

The move follows massive price cuts on some of B&L's spherical Purevision and Freshvision products announced at the end of last year.

Nick Loan, managing director of Bausch & Lomb UK, said independent practices had asked why the prices they pay for contact lenses were different from the prices paid by large customers.

As customers of B&L, Loan said he was committed to them and their businesses. 'We wanted to support those people and reward the loyalty they have shown to us,' he said.

While the price cuts would enable practitioners to prescribe the contact lenses they felt were best for the patient, Loan said he also wanted to take a consultative approach to working with customers.

'We are employing six new field representatives. They will be talking to independent opticians and helping them sort out their offering. I want those sales people to say to businesses: "What is it you need to improve your business?".

That additional resource amounted to an increase in fixed overhead of $1m, he said.