Delivering Superior Service…at 100 MPH

Sponsored by the Optical Lab Division of The Vision Council, member labs talk about building relationships …and business

By Alex Yoho, ABOM

Many of today's labs have fine-tuned their operations to a science, but mass producing a custom product in the most efficient way possible is a challenging task by any measure.

In this article, sponsored by the Optical Lab Division of The Vision Council, we'll look at what can be and is being done from a lab perspective to ensure the very best service to the eyecare practitioner … and, in doing so, keep costs to a minimum for everyone involved.

Thanks to this month's participants: Jeff Szymanski, vice president, Toledo Optical, Toledo, Ohio; Bruce Calhoun, vice president, R & D, Riverside Opticalab Ltd, Ottawa, Ont., Canada; Swen Carlson, vice president of operations, Central Region, VSP Optics Group; and Mike Klotz, manager, Duffens-Topeka, Topeka, Kans.

SERVICE IMPROVEMENTS

Q What has your lab done recently to improve the service you provide?

SZYMANSKI: We have continued down a path of offering our customers an aggressive dose of practice management training, In addition, we are driving forward with private label “digital” lens offerings, which will reduce the cost of goods for our customers while laying the groundwork for higher ECP profits. Advancing technologies will ultimately be the key to success.

CALHOUN: We have increased production capacity by purchasing new, faster equipment, extending production hours, and expanding sales and support staff.

CARLSON: We continue to attack sources of delays using Six Sigma process-improvement approaches. Although average turn time is frequently referred to as being all-important, we stay hyper-focused on sources of delays—specifically, orders that take longer than four days. We feel this is where the most opportunity is. We improve consistency, and that translates into reliability for our customers.

KLOTZ: We utilize a spreadsheet call list that is attached to all our customer service reps' computers.
[They] use it to keep customers up to date on problems, delays, etc. We also have an expediter who tags and follows up to make sure Rx's that customers need at a certain time are ready when needed.

RECEIVING ORDERS

Q In a perfect world, how would you like to receive orders?

SZYMANSKI: Currently we receive nearly 70 percent of all Rx's electronically, and in a perfect world, this would be a consistent 100 percent. In addition to streamlining the ordering process, electronic submission of Rx's saves time, reduces errors, and increases overall turnaround time. Electronic Rx submission can be used to benchmark performance…and track patient history.

CALHOUN: Ideally, electronically using our software and Internet facilities, not dependent on third-party intervention and additional costs.

CARLSON: In a perfect world, we would enjoy 100 percent electronic ordering with 100 percent perfect frame information, so that frames would not be necessary and offices that simply wanted to mount their own work could do so with confidence that the fit was always perfect. Lastly, in a perfect world, no callbacks would be required for product incompatibilities and missing information and office data input errors would be eliminated. This may sound like nirvana, but we are working on ways to do all of this.

ELECTRONIC ORDERING

Q How does this method make a difference?

SZYMANSKI: By tracking performance, and accessing broad built databases that your laboratory can develop, eyecare professionals can realize they have a new source of both information and data to build into the practice and patient care.

KLOTZ: It's a time saver—there's much less in the way of phone calls, missing information, and ordering lenses that are not made or are discontinued.

CALHOUN: We can support this service in-house, revise the features as required in a very timely manner, and support our customers directly.

CARLSON: These issues represent industry inefficiencies, which, beyond costing us and the customer more, negatively impact competitiveness in the independent ECP channel.

MONKEY WRENCH

Q What orders throw a monkey wrench into the works?

SZYMANSKI: There remain times when being able to work through a difficult prescription needs the advice and counsel that can only come through a conversation. Whether it be material selection or dealing with a high-wrap sunglass with cut-out ramifications… it's important to always have the ability and relationship with your laboratory to get someone on the phone who can handle the technical side.

CARLSON: The dreaded “poor lens-to-frame fit.” This can be a frame that isn't designed to adequately retain an ophthalmic lens or a prescription that, when edged, is going to be very difficult to be retained in the frame or will look unappealing. Systems can help, but we mainly rely on good up-front evaluation before lens pull so that we can have a discussion regarding options with an office, or at least, if a change can't be made, temper expectations.

RETURNS

Q From a lab perspective, how could our industry handle returns better?

SZYMANSKI: It's been estimated that the average ECP will generate about 12 percent in warranties and returns. By better understanding the root causes for both—and by establishing a more structured approach to engaging patients—we as an industry can reduce returns and maximize our time and, ultimately, the patient's perceptions of the value we deliver.

CALHOUN: Make patients and accounts accountable for their errors and handling abuse. The lab is not a bottomless pit to be used to cover the errors or mishandling by others.

CARLSON: Awareness of the real cost of returns…the time, energy, and cost to patient, office, and lab. I'm not referring to laboratory quality redos; those are clearly the responsibility of the lab.

Rather, I'm referring to what the industry categorizes as warranty (defective product, AR and scratch-coating warranty, and progressive non-adapts), and doctor returns (order changes, order errors by the office, and prescription changes)…. Strong training programs can help offices reduce unnecessary returns. The best offices know this already.

KLOTZ: Some offices have patients who abuse a warranty. I've seen Rx's made up to eight times for an AR scratch warranty over a five-year period. [These] are extra costs for all that could be curtailed. I don't think the doctors' offices realize the percentage of returns that is actually incurred on a monthly basis. Some offices are as high as…35 percent.

BUSINESS PRACTICES

Q What business practice on the part of an ECP creates the best symbiotic relationship with your lab?

SZYMANSKI: TRUST! There remains no more important relationship within the entire eyewear delivery channel than the relationship shared by an eyecare professional and his or her laboratory. An ECP's lab bill is the largest check he or she will write every month. It remains then vitally important that this relationship be both leveraged and cherished.

CALHOUN: Depending on the lab's experience, it may…have solutions to many dispensing issues. Labs are a partner.

KLOTZ: Communication. It builds a great working relationship.

CARLSON: The most fundamental [issue] is the way the ECP views the relationship with the lab. Is the lab simply another supplier of a commodity you negotiate with? Instead, we feel that the ECP who sees it as a key relationship will tend to get the most out of it. This takes finding a laboratory that aligns well with the practice's business needs and philosophies. Only then can the two work together to build a successful end-to-end process that enables them to create fanatically loyal patients. EB

For more information on labs, visit the Optical Lab Division of The Vision Council website: thevisioncouncil.org/ola.