Comment: Be in it to win it!

Everyone likes recognition but in retail optics formal approval of excellence is not easy to come by.

The one benchmark against which best practice can be measured is victory in the Optician Awards and entry forms for this year’s Awards are in this issue of Optician.

For a decade Optician has been pulling out all the stops to provide recognition to the legion of optometrists, dispensing opticians and optical assistants that work day in and day out to meet the needs of their patients and customers.

Optical folk are a pretty self deprecating lot. They value recognition the same as everyone else but blowing their own trumpet doesn’t come easily.

Many comments have been made to me about the Optician Awards over the years, but I have never heard a pejorative comment on the fact that a practice has entered their own business for an award. Entering your practice for comparison with your competitors and colleagues is an action of confidence and not conceit.

Remember last April when the Optician Award winners were announced? While you had admiration for the winners, there was a little bit of you that said ‘it could have been me’. There is no magic formula to success but if you want recognition you have to put yourself in the running.
Optician Awards are won by practices just like yours. Big or small, independent or multiple it is the quality of the care and the ethos of the practice that shines through to impress the judges.

Not everyone can be victorious. But if you want to own a prestigious Optician Award you have to be in it to win it. Make your entry today.