The first two articles in this series looked at tracking the performance of your practice and what the various business consultants specialising in optical practice have to offer. This week, Optician talked to practitioners in a variety of businesses about their reasons for using consultants, how the process went and what they learned from the experience.
INDIVIDUAL APPROACH
Why would a brass-plate practice owned by one of the UK's best known practitioners and with appointments fully booked five or six weeks ahead need the advice of a management consultant?
Brian Tompkins is MD of Tompkins, Knight and Son, a highly individual Victorian house practice established in 1868 and located in a residential area on the outskirts of Northampton. Patients tend to be fairly affluent and the practice also has a thriving children's clinic.
Tompkins is perhaps best known as a clinician with a special interest in contact lenses and has lectured extensively in the UK and overseas on the topic. But when it came to adopting a fee-based structure and more transparent pricing for his products and services he felt he lacked the time and confidence to do this alone. 'I'm very busy with my clinical work and I don't conceptualise figures well. Our price lists were 10 years old with just the odd percentage added from time to time,' he explains.
The answer was to call in Nick Atkins of PTR, the Hampshire-based marketing and professional services consultancy. Tompkins knew Atkins from the contact lens circuit and was aware that he had worked with other practices on their fee structures. 'I like to deal with people I know and like,' he says. 'It's nice to bounce ideas backward and forward with somebody.'
One year on, Tompkins has installed a system that will determine his price structure from now on. 'It's taken a long time to get everything in place but we're now virtually live.' Atkins has also helped with writing copy for new practice literature and continues to support the practice.
Tompkins advises other practitioners needing help with pricing and marketing to take the same route and has already recommended PTR to some of his colleagues.
TURNED AROUND
Glyn Jones Opticians in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire is an equally unusual independent practice. Spread over three floors in a city centre location, the single practice employs as many as 35 staff including seven optometrists.
Surprisingly, given the location, the patient base is mainly elderly. Director John Stevenson explains that the practice had traditionally struggled to attract new patients but at the end of 2004 found it had a more urgent problem that prompted it to call in business advisers Myers Laroche.
'We'd traditionally set low prices to compete with the big boys, offered discounts and targeted the low end of the market.' But this strategy was no longer working and the business had become less profitable.
With help from Myers Laroche, the practice changed its pricing structure and product range and became more proactive in targeting younger age groups. The first step was a 'practice health check' that identified potential areas for improvement. The lay-out of the practice was improved to be more welcoming and marketing initiatives such as school promotions started up.
Stevenson says that Myers Laroche gave the business a step-by-step structure to work to. 'We were overwhelmed by what we had to do but this gave us the confidence to turn the business around.' Within six months trading had improved significantly and last year's profits were more than triple those of the previous year.
Looking to the future, the practice is now building up its contact lens business, which is yet to reach its full potential, and has a new marketing campaign planned for the summer using a design company recommended by Myers Laroche.
FITTING ADVICE
Working in a small practice as a sole optometrist can be a lonely business. So when Tony Plastow took over RD White Opticians from his father two years ago he welcomed the advice of business support group Sight Care.
The practice has a total staff of just three and is located in a secondary site in the Wiltshire town of Trowbridge. Town centre competition includes multiple and regional groups and, although there are other services such as dentists and solicitors nearby, the business is unable to rely on footfall. The patient base is a fair spread of slightly older patients but few children.
RD White had been a Sight Care member for many years but when Plastow took over he called in the group's chief executive Paul Surridge to advise on refitting the practice and stepping up its marketing. Surridge visited the practice and surrounding area and recommended a total refit, which was completed just over a year ago. Sight Care's advice and the successful refit have led to substantial benefits to the practice.
For the longer term, Surridge discussed with Plastow the effects of advertising and potential areas for improvement, such as purchasing a fundus camera and considering a website. The practice already uses the Sight Care newsletters and is now putting together a practice brochure. Six months ago when the opportunity arose to acquire another practice nearby, Sight Care were on hand again to advise.
For Plastow the main benefit of this relationship has been the confidence of knowing that when business and marketing decisions need to be made there is someone more experienced in these areas to talk to and who will take the trouble to visit the practice. 'For the price of membership, it's worth every penny,' he says.
FROM IT TO OPTICS
Kidderminster-based Chapman Opticians has seven practices in the Midlands, from affluent Cheltenham to well located town centre and tertiary sites. The family business was established in 1940 by the grandfather of the current MD, Andy Chapman.
With a background outside optics, in the IT industry, Chapman brought a different perspective on qualifying as a DO nine years ago and joining the company. 'The group had been trading successfully for a number of years but the level of profitability was not as good as it might have been.' Outsourcing skills was normal practice in the IT industry so it was natural for Chapman to want impartial input to assess the business.
Hirji Associates was chosen because, as a qualified optometrist, principal consultant Nizar Hirji could discuss with staff aspects of the job that Chapman could not. Hirji had worked in practice as well as providing consultancy to small groups and major multiples. His approach was to develop a series of short, medium and long-term strategies to maximise business performance.
Short-term solutions might be as simple as improving frame display, lighting or window dressing. Mid-term strategies were related to understanding staff opinions, setting objectives and introducing new appraisal procedures. Hirji has also advised on the future direction of the business, working closely with Chapman and taking into account his personal aspirations. Hirji continues to attend the practice's regular meetings for optometrists and provides CET presentations.
'It's been a positive experience for me and my staff,' says Chapman. 'Perhaps the biggest gain from the whole process is that everyone in the organisation has a better understanding of where our money comes from and where it goes.'
SENSE AND SENSITIVITY
Qualified both as an optometrist and a dispensing optician, Richard Stent is one of four partners in Earlam & Christopher Optometrists, based in the Somerset town of Taunton. The company was established about 80 years ago and has four practices in Taunton and the surrounding market towns.
As full-time optometrists, the partners had little time for strategic thinking and planning and felt they didn't necessarily have the expertise to move the business forward. When they were approached by Tony Clark, who had recently set up the specialist business consultancy, Tony Clark Optical Services (TCOS), they arranged an initial meeting.
'Importantly, he listened to us as partners explaining the main issues and from what he was telling us and his experience in senior management he was well placed to help. We wanted an overall strategy although we had some ideas of what to look at. We gave him a brief but were fairly open-minded,' says Stent.
The result was a business plan that included detailed activities within the key business disciplines of finance, operations, marketing, people and communication. Clark also brought in his associates to look at HR issues and help the partners understand their own management styles.
'Although he comes from a multiple background, Tony was very sensitive of independents and understands where they stand. The consultancy support from TCOS has given us a lot of confidence in what we're doing and helped us put plans in place to go forward.'
Earlam & Christopher was not particularly strong on marketing its services but with Clark's help in shaping a new brand identity, the company has started to market itself more confidently. 'So far we have seen extremely strong and consistent growth across the group,' says Stent. 'We haven't come to an end of what we initially outlined and continue to work closely with Tony and his associates.'
FATHER AND SON
The Toppin/Young adage of 'Earn more and work less' has certainly worked for one of its clients, the Reid Mackellar practice in Greenock, Renfrewshire. The Glasgow-based consultancy set up by optometrist Archie Toppin and training specialist David Young has significantly increased the practice's sales and profits, as well as helping it to offer a better and more efficient service.
Optometrist Campbell Mackellar, whose grandfather founded the business in 1936, says that the practice already had a good reputation but felt that a new direction and new ideas were needed. 'It was a really good business but we needed to sharpen it up. We were fully booked but had to get the right patients in,' he explains.
With a team of 12 staff, the town centre practice sees a wide variety of patients of all ages and has plenty of competition, with all the major national and regional multiples nearby.
Mackellar's father, James, knew Toppin from college days and got talking to him at local meetings. Toppin/Young started working with the practice in late 2002 and has advised on many aspects of the business, from pricing and offers to better patient care. Partner David Young has provided sales and management training, including advice on running meetings and conducting appraisals.
So has the experience been positive? 'It's been a big success,' says Mackellar. 'Archie and David have helped us focus the business, buy better, price things better, give better offers, and generally help manage the staff, motivate them and train them well. Because he's had practices himself Archie knows the business inside out.'
As to the single best outcome from the consultancy process: 'It's allowed my father to cut down to three days a week,' says Mackellar, 'although I'm still working full time!'
NICHE MARKETING
Dispensing optician Melanie Chilvers is a partner in Coe, Costa and Moore Opticians, which has two practices in the suburbs of Norwich and a total staff of nine. The patient base is mainly middle-aged, the elderly and children. The company was established in 1911 and tends to attract generation after generation of local people.
A chance meeting with Graham Hutchison at Optrafair led Chilvers to join the Independent Marketing Partnership support group in 1996. One of the partnership's first members, Coe, Costa and Moore has since used more and more of its products, including newsletters, leaflets, prescription form and a quarterly benchmarking service.
With a degree in business administration, Chilvers has experience in practice management and finance but sees membership of the partnership, and the marketing services it provides, as another weapon against the competition. 'As an independent we can't just sit back and let the multiples - and now supermarkets and the internet - steal our thunder. We have to make our presence known.'
She says that the partnership offers tools to market the practice in a professional way and target its own niche. For instance, a section of the practice newsletters is personalised to the company's activities, such as the purchase of a new fundus camera or the launch of a new frame range.
Hutchison has visited the practice but most advice is given over the telephone. Chilvers says the support group is open to new ideas and suggestions, and canvasses opinion among members as to what would work for them. 'My advice to other practitioners would be to cherry pick the bits you want to use - the products and services are there so it's up to you how you want to use them.'
FAMILY MATTERS
The description 'family practice' could have been coined for SA Hing Opticians in the small Bedfordshire town of Shefford, with as many as six of the Hing family employed there. Optometrist Stephen Hing established the business in 1976 and has been in Shefford since 1979. The practice is outside the town centre and mainly caters for the over 60s, so much of its work is NHS.
Faced with a major problem with his VAT returns, Hing called in Eros Business Consulting to help. Eros MD Bob Hutchinson was a friend from university days and had experience of negotiating for clients with local VAT officers, as well as helping to secure a national apportionment system for VAT.
Although this was a one-off project, Hing says Eros has also helped the practice to develop a business plan and provided spreadsheets for it to work with. 'We already had software to produce key performance indicators but needed to know how to use these.' Eros also advised on the introduction of performance-related pay - not an easy task when close relatives are involved, he adds.
For Hing, the best outcome of the process was an agreement with the VAT man that has saved the business significant sums. So would he advise other independents to seek help from consultants? 'If you have a problem, yes, it's wonderful,' he says. 'But if you're happy with your business you may find it difficult to accept outside advice.'
WORKING SMARTER
Woodhouse Opticians in the seaside resort of Blackpool, Lancashire is a similarly sized practice that sees a cross-section of the local community. Since the town attracts large numbers of retired people the practice has a high proportion of elderly patients.
Owner Stephen Woodhouse is a long-standing member of Sight Care and now serves on its on the board. It was at Sight Care meetings that he first saw Martin Russ, of specialist consultancy TMR, lecture on practice management. 'We developed a good rapport and I decided it would be useful to the practice to have ongoing staff training.'
Russ has now worked with the practice for four years. Initially, he visited every six months and started by providing bespoke training in customer service and patient care to the team of seven staff. Recently he has become more closely involved in the financial side of the business. Woodhouse now conducts three-monthly reviews where he sits down with Russ and looks at quarterly management accounts, key performance indicators and the outcome of various training initiatives.
'We're measuring our performance all the time to see what outcomes we're getting from our actions,' says Woodhouse. 'It's no good coming up with ideas and concepts unless you can show that they work.'
One simple measure that has made a major difference to the practice is rearranging the appointment book to make better use of patient contact. Woodhouse moved from seeing patients every 20 minutes to allocating half an hour for adults and 15 minutes for children and contact lens checks. Dual qualified as an optometrist and dispensing optician, he uses the extra time in the consulting room to introduce discussion of lenses and frames. The result is a smoother, more personalised hand-over to the DO and higher dispensing values.
'We're getting busier in terms of turnover but, more importantly, profits are also up - we're working smarter,' says Woodhouse. The practice is also looking at additional professional services it can market and charge for. 'Independents can react very quickly to changes in the market - we're using that to our advantage.'