Taking AR Higher
Sales of anti-reflective lenses continue to grow in the U.S. Are you maximizing this area of your business? Read on to discover five ways to build AR in your market
By Erinn Morgan

While the national average of AR sales is nearing 20 percent, according to the AR Council, many eyecare professionals are ringing in much higher numbers by taking a more assertive stance with this premium lens.

"We do about 75 percent AR now. Three years ago it was at 50 percent," says Mike Stack, an optician at Blaine Clinic, an optometric practice based in Blaine, Minn. "If you present it correctly, why wouldn't the customer want it? Especially when you are fitting premium lenses--and AR is so much easier to clean--it sells itself."

With the newest AR lenses, cleanability and smudging are no longer the big issues PHOTO COURTESY: CARL ZEISS OPTICS, INC.

Optical retailers like this are making progress similar to countries such as Japan and France, long applauded for their success with selling AR lenses. Current estimates by the AR Council peg sales at 50 percent in Europe and 90 percent in Japan. What is their secret? What are successful eyecare professionals doing stateside to generate similar numbers?

The first step is to stand behind the lenses. Beyond this, eyecare professionals successful with the premium lens recommend several strategies. From using selling tools like virtual try-on systems to educating customers on how to keep their lenses clean (and, thus, keeping their AR experience positive), savvy ECPs serve up five ways to build AR lens business.

1. USE SELLING TOOLS

There are many items available to help presenting the merits of anti- reflective lenses to the customer. Some of them are simple and inexpensive, like a lens demonstrator with one AR lens and one regular lens.

"I have a pair of glasses that I use with one anti-glare lens and one plano lens," says Nicole Schwartz, OD, who has a practice in Forty Fort, Pa. "I show them this demo and it works out pretty well."

At Morgenthal-Frederics, a high-end chain with five stores in New York City and one in Boston, similar demonstrators are employed. "We put [the AR lens] on first and say, 'This is the cosmetic affect. See how much more clearly you can see the right eye compared to left eye?'" says store manager Howard Roth, who also pegs AR sales at 80 percent for the chain. "Then we go on to the optical advantages. We put it on them and have them look in the mirror and they can see it, too. That's how we do it. With some people, you can just explain the benefits of AR and they understand it. But with most people, you really have to show it."

Other tools useful in presenting AR are more sophisticated (and expensive). Virtual try-on systems incorporate a camera that takes the customers' photo to show them--either on the computer screen or in a print picture--how they look in the glasses and lens treatments they are trying on. Most systems can compare up to four photos of different frames on the computer screen.

"It allows us to show what those glasses will look like with AR lenses," says Walter Paris, president of Brecks ville Opticians in Brecksville, Ohio. "We say, 'Here's what your glasses will look like with AR and without.' That is the best selling tool in the world. It saves time because they can see it on the screen."

	Be sure to discuss the benefits of AR for glare-free driving with your patients. PHOTO COURTESY OF HOYA

2. CLEAN LENSES MEAN SATISFIED CUSTOMERS

Some anti-reflective lenses can be difficult to keep clean--an attribute that can be frustrating to customers. "If you address the problem, you will increase your AR sales," says Rich McQuarrie, optician at Professional Eyecare in Edison, N.J., an optometric practice that boasts 88 percent AR sales.

If customers understand that the technology has improved, and how to keep the lenses clean and functioning properly, they will enjoy all the benefits AR lenses have to offer, ultimately keeping them coming back for more.

"We have a little form on the dispensing tables on how to clean AR lenses," says McQuarrie. "It's a little piece of paper in a holder with cleaning instructions. We include that when they pick up their glasses."

In the past customer problems with AR lenses getting dirty has been an issue, McQuarrie notes. "With education, we've gotten past that," he says. "With the new hydrophobic coatings we also get less of that. But AR can be difficult because the lenses are so clear that people can see the dirt more. You have to clean them more thoroughly."

As a result, Professional Eyecare has found a side business selling cleaning devices . "The issues with cleaning AR lenses bothered me so much that I encouraged customers to buy an ultrasonic cleaner," says McQuarrie.

While much of the trouble with smudging and cleanability has been resolved with the newest AR lenses, McQuarrie says he finds the ultrasonic cleaners are an interesting side sale that has multiple uses for patients. "The nice thing is that their entire family can also use it for their jewelry and other items."

Don't underestimate the cosmetic benefits of AR to your patients. PHOTO COURTESY OF ESSILOR

3. PRESENTATION IS EVERYTHING

The clincher for AR sales is definitely a proper presentation of the product. Step one is to present it to every customer. "Once we started seeing the results of AR and started talking to our reps more about it, we saw that the proof was there," says Schwartz, whose practice is relatively new. "Now we explain it to all our patients who walk in the door."

Certainly, there are exceptions. Most dispensers don't recommend AR for kids or some adults with reading-only glasses. "We recommend it to everybody, except for those who are just going to use glasses for reading," says Morgenthal-Frederics' Roth. "When reading, you don't necessarily need it. We just like to recommend what works the best for each individual situation."

Adds Brecksville Opticians' Paris, "Every once in a while you get a woman in who says, 'I am conscious of the bags under my eyes and I want my glasses to mask this.' She is not right for AR [unless the lens is tinted] because the coating will make her lenses ultra clear."

A good presentation will explain the features and benefits of anti-reflective lenses. "We tell customers the benefits of the coating--that they will look better, see better, and have reduced reflections at night when driving," says Roth.

The best means to this end is to be educated about AR and the new developments in the area. "We are very lens and optically knowledgeable," says Roth. "Our customers are very upscale and they understand the benefits and advantages when we explain it to them."

Positioning AR as a necessary luxury for better vision can also increase sales. "Everything is easy if you take care of the customer," says Craig Chasnov, owner of Eyetopian Optical, a retailer with two locations in Bonita Springs, Fla. "Everyone wants nicer things. As a result, we do 100 percent non-glare coating in our two stores."

	Educating patients on the benefits of AR is a crucial part of the presentation. PHOTO COURTESY OF AR COUNCIL

4. MAKE IT A GIVEN

Some dispensers believe in presenting AR as a part of the lens package that is not an option, but a must. "It's easy because we don't give the customer a choice," says Chasnov. "We just give AR to everyone. It is included in everything I do--all our Rx sunlenses, polarized lenses, and regular prescription lenses. No customer gets to decide what they get."

Is this tactic dictatorial or just plain good business? ECPs have to take the approach most comfortable for them, while remaining aware that in countries such as Japan, it is simply a given that the customer will get AR lenses.

"We've been here for five years and as owner of these stores, I teach my staff that there are no choices with AR," Chasnov adds. "At first the staff complained and then they said, 'Hey, this is pretty cool. We like this.' A surgeon is not going to give you a choice of what knee or hip to use in the surgery. If our customers are educated and informed, they buy whatever is proper."

5. PRICE IT RIGHT

For those who opt to sell it separately, proper pricing for AR is also critical. Many sell it as a separately priced entity. "Our pricing is pretty much set," says Schwartz. "We say, 'Here's your basic pair of glasses. If you want AR, it will be this additional cost.' Usually they don't balk at it. It's easier to present successfully if the amount you are telling them for AR is smaller versus if you bundle everything together."

Others offer several levels of AR lenses from which customers can choose. "We have a standard ($55), premium ($80), and ultra-deluxe AR ($95)," says Paris. "We present as good, better, best. And if someone walks in the door and they already have AR, we try to offer them up to the next best one."