The Link
This OLA-sponsored roundtable points out how to mesh today's advanced lens options with your patients' lifestyle needs
By Alex Yoho, ABOM

PHOTO COURTESY: TRIVEX

Are you offering everything your patient needs? Is there a subtle trend that you might be missing? Correctly matching lens choices to lifestyle is dependent on the abilities of your entire office to find every nuance of a patient's lifestyle.

What can you do to develop and apply this skill? That's exactly what we asked the following OLA lab members: Tim Steffey, vice president, Sunstar Optical, Las Vegas; Anne Wolfenburger, sales and marketing director at Sunstar; Tom Mitchoff, owner, QC Optical, Portland, Ore.; Kim Scheidler, education director, Sutherlin Optical Lab, Kansas City, Mo.; and Michael Vitale, ABOM, director of operations at Sutherlin.

It's important to know the trends. This is where your OLA lab partner can help.

Q What's going over well in your immediate market, and what do you see on the move?

Wolfenburger: Fashion tints and AR are increasing, but mid-index seems to be dropping.

Mitchoff: I've noticed a trend toward less expensive lenses during a recession.

Scheidler: The drilled rimless is the hot thing right now. We've also seen increases in AR, as well as polarized lenses and photochromics.

Vitale: We continue to see an increase in polycarbonate, polycarbonate polarized usage, and "short corridor" progressives.

Q Overlooking underutilized lenses can end up hurting your bottom line. What lens types do you believe are underused?

Steffey: Some of our managed care accounts have recently slowed progressive use.

Photochromic lens sales often spike during consumer advertising campaigns PHOTO COURTESY: TRANSITIONS OPTICAL

Wolfenburger: I find that progressive addition lenses, high-index, and polarized are definitely not used enough.

Mitchoff: Computer lenses are definitely not used to their potential.

Scheidler: The near-point progressives have generally not been presented properly, and, because of that, many dispensers leave the patient with unrealistic expectations at the time of order.

Vitale: Computer/mid-distance lenses have got to be the lens style that we should see much higher usage of and do not.

Q A great option whose value is immediately recognized by patients is tinting. Which tints are most used, and what lifestyles are they appropriate for?

Wolfenburger: Gray and rose have been favorites for years. Gray is a basic choice for outdoor wear; rose is a natural tint for indoors.

Scheidler: Polarized and other sun tints dominate, but fashion tints are nowhere near as popular as they used to be.

Vitale: Gray #3, rose 10 percent, and light gray gradient remain very popular. However, we are seeing a slight increase in blue #2 tints. Gray #3 is obviously a great choice for sunglasses. Rose 10 percent and light gray gradient are cosmetic fashion tints.

Q When it comes to lens treatments, it's important not to refer to them as coatings, because that has a negative connotation. Which ones are you using most?

Scheidler: AR lenses and flash mirrors are very popular.

Vitale: Scratch resistant, UV, AR, and flash mirrors are our most popular treatments.

Q Having the right products on hand at the right time can optimize sales. When, for example, do you find photochromic sales at their highest?

Wolfenburger: Spring. People always seem to think of sunwear options then.

Scheidler: Photochromic sales are driven by national advertising. We find that when the manufacturers are running an ad blitz, our sales go up.

Vitale: March/April and September/October are our highest usage months.

Q What misunderstandings do you encounter regarding when to use certain lenses?

Steffey: Computer lenses, progressive seg heights, and thickness of high-index lenses all come to mind. There is a high level of turnover in some of our areas, so training is a constant duty.

Wolfenburger: Sunwear only for summer; we need to make sunwear a natural thing year round.

Mitchoff: Usually price and availability. Newer dispensers may not understand there are limitations in various lens types, or that there may be extra charges involved if they are pushing the limits of the lens design.

Scheidler: A lot of customers have problems keeping track of which AR coatings can be applied to different lens styles.

Vitale: The biggest misconception is that one lens could possibly meet all your visual needs.

	Computer lenses are a market worth exploring PHOTO COURTESY: PRIO

Q What should dispensers know about the relationship between frames and lenses?

Steffey: There's the age-old thickness surprise where the dispenser didn't take the amount of decentration into account and is surprised by how quickly they thicken up. We were also frustrated with wrap frames (especially with cheap finishes). But, like most other OLA labs, we have found techniques to make them work within reasonable ranges.

Wolfenburger: Lenses first. The frame will be the icing on the cake.

Scheidler: Size, shape, and function. These three keys--combined with the Rx and the ability to visualize the finished pair--will guide them to the right choices.

Vitale: Dispensers should have a better idea of what the finished product will look like in a given frame. The lack of required dispenser schooling or certification across the country makes this difficult.

Q What's your best piece of advice you for dispensers interested in providing patients with the latest lens options?

Wolfenburger: Always present your best products. Keep an open mind. Work with and learn from your patient.

Mitchoff: Always present all the options, then sell down from there. People can't buy what they see.

Scheidler: Adopt a good lifestyle discovery process.

Vitale: Find your niche--and be the best at that niche. A perfect example would be one of our customers who decided he was going to dispense Rx motorcycle goggles. Now, when that topic comes up, his shop is "the" place to get them.

There you have it: A snapshot of our industry that can make a tremendous difference in your business. What will you do with this sage advice? The choice is yours to make, but choose wisely, grasshopper --and Master--alike!

For an OLA laboratory near you, contact the Optical Laboratories Association by phone at 800-477-5652, by fax at 703-359-2834, by E-mail at ola@ola-labs.org, or on the Net at www.ola-labs.org.