Are you an SME? What’s your USP? And is your KPI your ATV?
If some or all of these acronyms mean nothing to you, you’re not alone. Most independent optical practices fall into the category of small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for whom terms used widely in other retail sectors may seem like a foreign language.
A recent series of evening events, organised by Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, introduced eye care professionals (ECPs) to retailing concepts used in other sectors and showed how these might be applied to optical practice. The aim was to help these businesses thrive in an increasingly competitive environment, grow incremental practice sales and retain customer loyalty.
More than 300 practice owners, managers and their staff attended the Acuvue Centre of Excellence Building Business Programme, held at nine venues around the UK and Ireland during September and October. Each event opened with a presentation from the company’s category manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa Matthew Dealtry on the changing optical market in these countries.
Contact lenses accounted for £420m of practice revenue flow but consumers were leaving the contact lens category at an average rate of two per practice per week, representing £41m each year or more than £10,000 per practice. Increasing contact lens penetration by just 1 per cent, from 9.5 per cent at present to 10.5 per cent, was worth £8,500 per practice each year, said Dealtry.
Results from a J&J survey showed that help with marketing, strategy and practice development were top of ECPs’
wish-list to grow their businesses. To meet this need, the company had looked outside optics and brought in Retail Performance Specialists, a consultancy headed up by former Olympic coach Dennis Reid, which has worked with large retailers
such as Marks & Spencer, Boots and Harrods.
In a fast-moving, interactive presentation, Reid used real-life examples to describe some of the basic systems and processes that worked well in other retail sectors, challenging the audience to reveal their own strengths and face up to their weaknesses. ‘Ask yourself: what do you need to do to your practice to re-energise it?’ he said.
Over the next two-and-a-half hours Reid described a step-by-step approach to business building, from defining the practice vision, customer journey and unique selling point (USP), to identifying the key performance indicators (KPIs) needed to assess the success of an activity and the business. For Reid, the single biggest reason that companies and managers failed was managing on something other than KPIs.
To support this approach he offered a range of useful tips for creating a sales environment and measuring performance. Some were simple measures such as displaying the practice’s maximum transaction for staff to see and introducing a reward system based on average transactional value (ATV). Others were more detailed, including a weekly sales tracking system for measuring KPIs and sales in various product sectors against target and the previous year.
retail response
So how was this strong retail message received among a mixed audience of mainly professional staff?
At the London Heathrow meeting was DO Graham Ackers, general manager at Thomas H Collison Opticians. With 21 practices in the south east, Collison is a medium-sized company, rather than a small independent, and Ackers says many of the systems proposed are already in place. He came away from the event enthused by the experience and wishing he had taken his staff along with him.
‘The presentation covered many of the things we’re presently doing and some that we could do but don’t. I came back with a lot of ideas and have been going around the practices reinforcing these,’ says Ackers. ‘For instance, staff should be looking at patient records first thing in the morning so they know what patients have, what they’re likely to want, and what we can offer them. Then you’re half way there,’ he observes.
Ackers acknowledges that business has changed and that customer service levels need to be higher and more personal, taking into account individual needs. ‘When this message is spelt out in clear terms, it can make an ordinary day’s business into a really great day. The difference could be huge.’
For optometrist Mohinder Kalsi, with two practices in suburban Surrey and a team of just three, the motivation for attending was, in part, the arrival of new competition from the multiples in his area. He attended the Heathrow meeting with his wife, Saran, who works in the business, and their daughter.
Kalsi says the business hasn’t yet felt the effects of the new competitor, but attending the meeting has already made him revise his policies, particularly towards setting fees. The practice is also looking at other measures, such as ensuring that the correct time is allocated for contact lens fitting and aftercare, and introducing new product lines, such as sunglasses.
Although some of the systems proposed by Reid were not appropriate to Kalsi’s business, he says that the programme has given him the confidence to re-examine his strategy and think about the commercial, as well as clinical aspects, of his practice. ‘It’s woken us up – we feel that half our minds were shut to that area.’
These events are part of a larger programme by J&J to support independent optical retailers. A handout will be available from account managers for those who did not attend. More events are planned for the first half of next year.