Creating Face-To-Face Opportunities With Your Patients Through Products and Social Media

Sarah Vinson is the Owner and CEO of Lunette USA, a woman-owned company that imports and distributes luxury eyewear exclusively to independent optical boutiques across the US. She emphasizes building genuine partnerships with these independent opticians and helping them distinguish their practices. Sarah brings considerable experience in small-business operations to her leadership role. Under her direction, Lunette USA curates exclusive frames and supports its partners with competitive pricing, bespoke service, and designs not widely available locally.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

[02:09] How Sarah Vinson runs Lunette USA, wearing many hats as CEO, marketer, and salesperson
[03:31] Why a bungee-cable accident proves the durability of ZENKA eyewear toppers and frames
[07:32] Sarah shares her career path from banking and construction to owning two small businesses
[10:34] How frequent product releases create natural face-to-face opportunities with patients
[14:13] Why strong relationships and quality work can replace traditional advertising
[17:09] The biggest challenges small optical businesses face and how to overcome them
[21:57] How to use social media purposefully to create client touchpoints and stay competitive
[24:37] Why social media builds trust and connection even when posting feels uncomfortable

In this episode…

Building loyalty in optometry means more than just offering quality eye exams. Practices must find ways to keep patients engaged between visits and make every interaction count. How can optical businesses create meaningful touchpoints that go beyond routine appointments?

According to Sarah Vinson, a seasoned small business leader with experience spanning banking, construction, and retail, the key is to merge innovative products with strategic social media use. She highlights how frequent releases of new ZENKA eyewear toppers naturally draw patients back into practices for style updates, creating regular face-to-face opportunities. This steady stream of engagement strengthens customer relationships and helps practices compete beyond price alone. Sarah underscores that when small businesses focus on authentic connections, they build lasting trust and community loyalty.

In this episode of the Cleinman Connect Podcast, Kim Carson sits down with Sarah Vinson, Owner and CEO of Lunette USA, to talk about creating face-to-face opportunities with patients through products and social media. They explore how frequent product launches can spark repeat visits, why purposeful social media drives stronger patient connections, and how authentic engagement builds loyalty. Sarah also shares advice on overcoming small business challenges and leveraging creativity without big advertising budgets.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Quotable Moments:

“A light bulb went off when I realized practices really need more touchpoints with customers.”
“When you build relationships based on quality and integrity, that relationship becomes your advertising.”
“Every touchpoint you create with a customer keeps them one step away from thinking price matters.”
“It’s worth the cringe moment knowing my posts help others feel better and make connections.”
“You really can avoid paying for advertising when strong relationships naturally spread your reputation.”

Action Steps:

Create frequent patient touchpoints through product releases: Regular new offerings encourage repeat visits and strengthen practice loyalty.
Use social media to highlight services and products: Consistent online engagement builds trust and keeps patients informed between appointments.
Share authentic stories about your products: Real-life testimonials demonstrate quality and reliability, creating a stronger emotional connection with patients.
Build relationships based on quality and integrity: Strong connections reduce reliance on paid advertising and naturally promote your practice.
Encourage staff to explore multiple platforms for ideas: Broad research sparks creative strategies to attract and retain customers more effectively.

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Marketing4ECPs!

Working with them is like hiring a full-time marketing professional who knows the industry and understands your goals. Except, instead of one experienced marketer, you get a whole team in your corner.

Whether you’re an optometrist, ophthalmologist, or optician, they can help you grow your business with a plan that’s completely customized for you. Learn more, here.

Episode Transcript:

Intro: 00:07

Welcome to the Cleinman Connect Podcast, where we discuss marketing, ownership, growth strategies, and everything else surrounding the business of optometry. Cleinman is Optometry’s trusted business partner for over 35 years. Hello, I’m Kim Carson hosting Sarah Vinson on this episode of the Cleinman Connect Podcast. A past guest, very recent that you all should know and love is the incomparable Amanda Van Voris. Her episode came out and is available right now.

So, Sarah, this episode is brought to you by Marketing4ECPs. Working with them is like hiring a full time marketing professional who knows the industry and understands your goals. Instead of one experienced marketer, you get a whole team in your corner. Whether you’re an optometrist, ophthalmologist, or optician, they can help you grow your business with a plan that’s completely customized for you. You can learn more at marketing4ecps.com. So marketing4ecps.com.

I’m joined today by Sarah Vinson. She is the CEO of Lunette USA which is the exclusive importer and distributor of ZENKA eyewear. It is the only high quality, changeable top eyewear designed and manufactured in France. She’s been the CEO at Lunette for three years, but Lunette has been the exclusive importer since 2014 and ZENKA eyewear has been in the market since 2001. So it’s been around for a little bit.

Well, thank you for joining me on this episode of the Cleinman Connect Podcast. I really appreciate it. I know running a small business is everything. Like we, we just discussed that you are the CEO of Lunette USA but it’s so much more than that right. Like you’re the marketer.

You’re going to the trade shows. You’re the person on the ground. You are the salesperson. You are the designer of everything online. Like what? What does your day to day look like with Lunette USA?

Sarah Vinson: 02:09

You’re right. It’s what people say in many hats I do have. I do have some support in the background. But for the most part because my business plan is intentionally very customer centered, partner centered. I have been working for the past almost three years to set up strategies and protocols that keep the partners that we take on well integrated into our process, the idiosyncrasies of selling a changeable top eyewear to try to ensure that their success is maximized. Therefore, our success hopefully is maximized.

Kim Carson: 02:54

Nice. So I was lucky enough to meet you back in May. Yay! At the Performance Network event.

Sarah Vinson: 03:05

And yeah, my pleasure for sure.

Kim Carson: 03:07

Oh, well. Thank you. But you told me a story about it involved a bungee cable and the zinc frames. Would you mind retelling that right now? I just think it’s such a it’s.

There’s no more perfect way to describe the quality of of of your product really to me than this story.

Sarah Vinson: 03:31

Oh, well, I, I always kind of cringe at the mention of of sharing that story because.

Kim Carson: 03:36

Oh, sorry.

Sarah Vinson: 03:37

As I’ve. No, no, it’s funny because I also believe it’s a real life testimonial that you kind of can’t compare with just statistics or numbers dealing with eye care professionals. The look of horror on Most optometrists, even opticians face kind of stops me in my tracks. But the short version is I was wearing my zinc of frames, preparing for a show, tying things down and securing them with those bungees with the metal hook ends. And I was rushing and not really paying close attention to what I was doing, and the bungee didn’t take a good hold.

And instead all that tension sprung back so that the metal hook end hit me square in the center of the lens of my zinc frames and scared the living daylights out of me. But miraculously, even though it shifted the glasses on my face, it only took a chunk of lens out of my glasses. Didn’t disturb the topper, didn’t even shift it to the side a little bit, and it didn’t damage my frame at all. The impact had no effect on the frames or the topper. And luckily the lens.

I guess I should probably wear safety lenses with this track record, but the lens was what took the brunt of it and had to be replaced because it took a big chunk out of the center. So when people ask me about the frames, because holding them in your hand, they’re deceptively lightweight, people assume that means they’re chintzy. Yeah, yeah. And I can definitely attest to the fact that their lightweight nature, which is purposeful due to their their function of having toppers, which you don’t want to be heavy, you don’t sacrifice anything with wearability, durability or luckily, safety. Although I cannot market them as safety eyeglasses.

Kim Carson: 05:39

Yes, they’re not safety eyeglasses. They did keep you safe. Safer than contacts. Yeah, I, I like honestly, you told me that story. The first thing I thought of was what if you had been wearing contacts and.

Oh, yeah. I don’t even like to think about it. So, no, I’m so glad you’re wearing them. And it is. It really is a great testament to how the toppers stay on their durability.

And, you know, you could have been wearing any of the toppers and they would have stayed on.

Sarah Vinson: 06:05

Right.

Kim Carson: 06:06

That is absolutely true. It really is pretty remarkable. Because the only thing on the market that even approaches the versatility of changing out the entire look of the frames are all based on magnets as the adhering adhering mechanism. And I’ve understood that when you turn just to look in your blind spot when you’re driving, if it’s a magnet topper, you run the chance that that will shift enough to even obscure your vision a little bit. And yeah, there’s pretty much nothing that dislodges these tops.

Even though each topper weighs less than a piece of paper that doesn’t impact their functionality.

Sarah Vinson: 06:50

Yeah. It’s just amazing. I yeah, you I’ve held them. I’ve worn them on my face like they’re super light. It’s it’s crazy how durable that they are.

I want to.

Kim Carson: 07:01

It is. I want to shift gears just a little bit. You said that for the last three years, you have been, you know, most, most things. You have some support in the background for the USA. But most things. What were you doing before?

I know that we had mentioned, you know, I’m, I don’t have a full scale optometry background. I am by no means an OD, but you know, what were you doing before you got into the the optical eye care world?

Sarah Vinson: 07:32

Yes. As as you mentioned, I don’t come I, like you do not come from an optical background other than I’ve worn glasses since I was ten years old. So that really doesn’t make me a glass eyewear professional, but I this is the second small business that I’ve owned and operated in my career. And previous to the other small business I owned, I worked in banking and assessing creditworthiness of loan applicants. And so I kind of would do a deep dive into their operations and, you know, help assess metrics that keep a business successful.

So I do feel fortunate that my variety of what are seemingly unrelated business background positions, really, I believe, helped me understand both the import aspect of this product and the needs of the independent optical boutiques that I strive to make a partner because I, you know it almost in my opinion, it doesn’t matter what Small business? Small businesses in this day and age all face a lot of the same pressures and challenges in both competing and staying profitable. So really, that’s other than constantly trying to learn more about optical and gain skills and understanding of the optical realm. I my largest focus after that is trying to see how my business can support the success of other small businesses trying to make their way in this kind of monopoly driven realm. If that’s not politically incorrect of me to say, but.

Kim Carson: 09:27

I don’t think it is. Yeah. And and that is the topic of today, you know, being a being a small business owner. You nailed it. I think you can relate. All small businesses face all types of problems.

A lot of them are similar across industries. You know so so not necessarily being from I care. I think you still can relate to lots of the the odds and the owners listening in. Just being a small business owner, you know, we discussed a little bit that it can be difficult to, especially in optometry, create those kind of face to face moments with people like opportunities with your clients, you know? Of course, ZENKA frames are a great way to have a touchpoint for, you know, more like people coming in to pick up their frames or seeing or their toppers.

Sorry. And seeing, you know, the new stuff that’s out there. But how do you create some of those opportunities with clients of yours?

Sarah Vinson: 10:34

Thank you for for acknowledging that that direction that I try to push my company and the interaction I have with independent opticals. Because, absolutely, when I was learning more and more quickly about the industry, I really felt the pressures, even though it was indirect, when I observed an optical trainings and shows that an optical practice is in almost a more challenging position than a dentist, because at least dentists almost count on seeing their patient twice a year. And in optical, any practice that relies somewhat on patterns of insurance utilization, FH, HSA utilization, or flex accounts, they are constrained by sometimes 24 months, but definitely 12 year 12 month cycles. And a light bulb went off in my head when I realized what these practices really need are more touch points with the customer, because every it’s proven in any industry that the more contacts, the more face to face. Even if they’re a matter of a few minutes, the more face to face interactions that you have with a customer, the greater the depth of the relationship, the more likelihood that there’s going to be practice loyalty that supersedes price driven choices.

And again, the light bulb just shone bright for me that ZENKA because it is designed in France, they kind of mimic the fashion industry in that they have two large fashion releases, one in the spring summer and another in the fall winter. And then they also have mini releases of new fashions for mid-summer and for mid-winter. That provides, without exaggeration, an average of 120 new products, completely new styles, colors and patterns that any practice can then advertise and offer to a wearer that’s part of their practice, and that engages them both through social media or emails, but gets them into the office when they add to their collection of toppers and and new looks for their wardrobe. They have that many times that they have access to your counter staff or your floor people to chit chat and talk about cross-selling, talk about other ways that the practice enhances their general health, their eye health, whatever direction you’re taking your practice to kind of encompass more people and serve more, serve more aspects of people’s whole self.

Kim Carson: 13:25

Yeah, yeah. No, I think that that is a really great point, and I never thought of it like that before until you said that that it’s, you know, why why do I go to the optometrist that I go to? Why do I go even to the dentist that I go to? Why do I go? You know, something more regular, even like, why do I go to the gym that I go to? And it’s all the relationships.

Like it’s it kind of boils down to that in a lot of cases. Do you find that in your small business you know pre Lunette USA. And currently do you find that you use similar routes to to create touchpoints. Or because they were kind of different industries. You’ve had to kind of relearn how to create those relationships and those multiple touch points with clients of your own.

Sarah Vinson: 14:13

Yeah. Correct. No, it it’s probably an equal mix where again, different industries give you different precise strategies. But I do fall back on basic principles. I was fortunate enough that the last business I owned, it was related to construction.

So, you know, it couldn’t seem more diametrically different than optical retail. But we actually never paid for advertising. Ever. And this was long before social media. But what it taught me was that when you do good work, when you build sound relationships based on quality, product based on integrity, you really can still, even in this day and age, not pay for advertising because that relationship becomes your advertising as people just chit chat in natural daily life.

You know, usually optical practices, no other optical practices, and there is no substitute for that strong relationship where somebody says not only is the product that Sarah is importing of excellent quality and uniqueness, but moreover, he is always looking for ways to give me strategies to share success practices from other opticals, so I don’t have to spend time reinventing the wheel. We try to disseminate a lot of information and be kind of the nexus point where I’m not connecting customers directly to each other, but I try to pick people’s brain and add that to the support materials that I offer every customer, so that they can pick and choose what are going to work with their own clientele. But again, and I know every business is like mine, where everybody’s wearing two and three and four and more hats. And if your staff doesn’t have to take a painstaking year or two to figure out, see, how do I market this? Because it’s a little different than the normal frame board.

If I can help you jump start that, you make the connections with your customers along the same lines, and you end up seeing a real change in your forecastable sales quicker than the person who was the first ever to carry ZENKA.

Kim Carson: 16:41

Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. I would like to ask about kind of just like small business in, in general, what are some of the the kind of challenges that you think, you know, people listening may have faced in their small business that you have faced as well? And if you have any like, offerings on how they could overcome some of that, I think that that would be very valuable.

Sarah Vinson: 17:09

Oh, well, I, I would I would be flattered to think that I overcome very many of the, of the challenges effortlessly, because I definitely don’t. But specific to optical, I definitely can see that in addition to the normal annual ebb and flow based on summer and people being preoccupied or back to school and people needing to fulfill something but not necessarily having time. All those situations, luckily or unluckily, apply to almost every practice from coast to coast. And so I do a lot of listening when I’m talking. I guess it’s the helpful nature of being the exclusive distributor, because I do hear what’s going on in Vermont versus California versus Arizona, and the stories are usually pretty similar.

So I’m able to disseminate, you know, some of the strategies I see other people utilizing. But really, I am surprised how many of the small opticals don’t use and maximize social media. I, I know that most people probably don’t enjoy it because I don’t enjoy it either. When I think when you’re a small business person, the social media just seems like a time suck. And so to me, when you’re really stressed about the things you can’t control, like seasonal ebbs and flows or the economic stress that’s been happening because of the unknowns regarding international trade and internal supply and demand pressures, those things we just have no way of controlling.

But when people figure out how to leverage social media, since it’s free and watch what other people in the industry are doing, I find that that it makes you feel like you’re doing something constructive when you’re searching, not blindly, but searching to see what are other obstacles other, even physician medically driven obstacles. How are they interacting? What kinds of specials. What kinds of offers? What are they doing to engage both their existing customers and new customers?

That might apply to me. Because again, you really don’t have to use paid advertising or paid time on the different platforms. If you have 1 or 2 people in-house that just have either an interest or a aptitude, they can do some targeted searching and come up with things that apply to you, and you could mimic for free and just trial and error. The only expense then is the time that goes into it. But it’s really, I find it kind of shocking how creative people are when you’re looking out at just as an observer and kind of a researcher.

So it certainly isn’t a very specific recommendation, but I think the most frustrating element are these things that are completely out of our control because they are either national, regional or world pressures that we can’t really affect very well on our own. And so instead of being frustrated and seeing that, you know, your door hasn’t opened very many times this week, see if you can shift gears to something that could be productive, even though it’s still a crapshoot. It’s not. It’s not as much of A as a shot in the dark as just sitting and waiting, because that doesn’t make you feel very good. The frustration that comes from that is overwhelming.

Kim Carson: 21:06

Yeah, I love that advice. Actually taking a purposeful scroll through, you know, not even necessarily like competitors. Like it doesn’t have to be a like a you’re creeping situation. But even, you know, other other practices that you admire that you, you know, have visited previously, that you have friends that work at like Have a look at what they’re doing. When you feel like things are kind of out of control.

And, you know, maybe, maybe that afternoon you could do something a bit more purposeful. With some of your staff’s time or, you know, maybe, maybe someone has a Gen Z person on staff and they they are just chomping at the bit to to get Ahold of the, the social media passwords and, and deliver you the next, you know, Super Bowl commercial but just for your channels.

Sarah Vinson: 21:57

Absolutely. I mean, I know it sounds like it sounds like a pipe dream, but I really think that when people spend the lunch hour brainstorming and having these discussions, they’re highly likely to find out that somebody on staff has those predispositions or talents or interests. And, you know, you can creatively compensate them, even if they want to do it from home when they’re information gathering. And then, you know, you figure out how they get rewarded or, or whatever for that contribution. And the other thing is, I think that people are it’s you’re quick to go to the platform that you’re familiar with, and I even have to remind myself that when I’m doing some research, I check out LinkedIn as well as Instagram, Facebook.

I’m not the greatest on TikTok, but I do try to delve into it and YouTube because those searches just, you know, independent optical practice or the like, that’s a great thing. You don’t have to know who you’re looking for. You’re just going to get someplace. Like I said, that could be entirely across the continent from you that you never know existed. And therefore they’re thinking outside the box in a different way, and maybe they’re going to learn from you in the future.

But today it’s your turn to kind of borrow some of their strategies. And, and this is coming from someone who is actually very anti-technology. I mean, I used to have to get badgered by my family to even carry my cell phone because I would leave the house without it. Once upon a time. And then they’d be like, what’s the purpose of you owning it if you don’t use it?

And. And now my life, you know, revolves almost 80% around it. And I never thought that day would come.

Kim Carson: 23:44

But, yeah. Yeah. No, you you have a great. In fact, I’m going to point out Instagram specifically, but you know, all your channels. But yeah, I follow you on Instagram and it’s like I’m like, I don’t know how she does it or like I couldn’t, you know, coming coming up with some of those, the stuff you film or you know, it’s, it’s, oh, I have a picture of this or I have a picture of this, like to, to have almost like the, the confidence to go out on a limb to, to post something can feel a little, a little overwhelming. And I think you do a really great job of just like building that consistency.

And, you know, even if, even if you don’t necessarily want to that day, it’s like, okay, I have to put something out. Like, I have to I have to do something that, you know, entertains or educates. So, so this is it for the day. And and that just has to be what it is.

Sarah Vinson: 24:37

Well, I can’t tell you how how much I appreciate that comment because I, I’m not fishing for some sort of compliment. I really dislike doing it. Like, I as far as I, I experimented a while ago with having people like do features for me and kind of do a takeover. And much to my chagrin, I had, you know, not that I have very many followers, but the people that were followers, the feedback was entirely that they wanted to see I was doing or what I would suggest wearing or or, you know, what I was creating, even though I think I do it kind of clumsily, it was. So I mean, it was nice of them, but it was so strange.

And I think your, your, your partners, your business partners will find the same thing that it’s so bizarre that I don’t feel like I’m usually Instagram ready, but people want I think it’s going back to that theme of connection. People start to know who I am. Like it or not, I have started to represent ZENKA in the US or in North America because I definitely have a lot of contact with Canadian practices, and even though I don’t feel like the best spokes model people love, apparently that connection that they’ve made associating me with the product, and more so I hope that the connection is associating me with a true care about their success. And it makes me sound so corny. But that’s really what drives all of it, including my forced social media presence, which I’m forcing on myself, but it’s because I.

I love the concept that this what I hope is my final career is, is focused on creating partnerships where everybody benefits and you can actually see and hear in somebody’s voice the satisfaction they get from providing a product to their customer that’s dynamic and high quality and gives them a little extra confidence and enjoyment when they get dressed and when they embark into the sometimes unfriendly world each day. It’s gratifying, and I am definitely not feeding the hungry or creating world peace. But in my own little realm, it makes me feel like I’m making a contribution.

Kim Carson: 27:06

Yeah. For sure. And and you, you hit the nail on the head. It’s like social media can very much be another one of those touchpoints. Just like someone coming into a practice to to look at a new topper or pick up their next order instead of waiting, you know, 24 months before their next eye exam. It can be another touchpoint for people, and you just have to kind of be willing to share. And, you know, I think I think when people get into optometry, they’re asked to put on so many hats, just like being a small business or not, like it’s it’s not a it’s not a simile. It’s not a metaphor. It’s the same. It’s it’s wearing so many hats.

But you know, that that kind of willingness to put yourself out there is, is part of it. Now in, in this day and age. Right.

Sarah Vinson: 27:58

Right. No it is. And I think I’m definitely proof that I cringe when I am scrolling. And, you know, they sometimes show you your own posts. And so for that split second, your brain has to switch gears and realize it’s looking at you because you didn’t expect to see yourself.

And it always makes me cringe a little bit because I’m like, I don’t want to see myself when I’m, you know, scrolling or not expecting to see it, but it’s worth the cringe moment to know that maybe it’s facilitating other people’s journey and and making them feel better by this conversation that even if they cringe when they see themselves, other people enjoy making that connection and they won’t always tell you, but once you take it away, is when you find out that you know, oh my gosh, they did kind of like being Doctor Jones once a week for his eye health tips or, you know, whatever. Even though he it’s his worst part of the week because he knows he has to be filmed for 10s saying something. Yeah, that he’s passionate about. But then he’d rather stay behind a green screen or something.

Kim Carson: 29:10

And yeah, yeah, he’d rather say to somebody in an appointment or or something like that. He’s got to say it to, to someone holding up their phone.

Sarah Vinson: 29:20

Yes, exactly. And I’m assuming from the doctors that I’ve met that it’s probably, like I said, his his least, his lowest point of the week potentially is having to do that. But maybe my testimonial will allow him to accept and embrace how much that means to his own patients and, you know, community to kind of make that little extra connection, because otherwise people are just left with price. And, you know, it’s such a negative about every industry that if you don’t compel people for another reason other than price, then they’re going to end up going straight to the internet and only buy bad experiences. Will they realize, gosh, the last thing I should have purchased was glasses on the internet.

Like what a crazy The thing to leave up to chance. Yeah, but people do it all the time. And so I really feel strongly that every, every I keep calling them touch points because I can’t come up with a different phrase at the moment. But every touch point you create with a customer keeps them one step away from thinking, oh, it’s just all about price. It doesn’t matter, because that is a disservice for people to think that the price is always the driving force, because they don’t know until they’re there already.

Sorry about the purchase. And then, you know, then they’re coming to you saying, oh, what kind of deal can you give me? Because now this is my second pair of frames in two months, because the first pair didn’t fit right and the lens was wrong and but there was no return policy.

So because I tried to recapture my pupillary distance in online and I didn’t know what it was, so I just put a number that sounded good, like.

Kim Carson: 31:07

Right, exactly. Or I read it off my existing glasses, is not knowing that that number had nothing to do with my pupillary distance. I mean, you’re right. I mean, we all, even somebody like myself, that’s worn glasses since I was ten years old. It wasn’t until I was in this industry that I had even the foggiest clue how much precision and skill goes into just fitting a pair of lenses.

It is. It was really mind boggling to to think that something you took for granted is, oh, I just give them a prescription and they come back with glasses. You have no idea that the lens shape, the lens composition, all those things can make or break, whether you wear them comfortably and and actually see. Yeah. Kind of an important topic.

Sarah Vinson 31:58

Yeah. And now, you know, there’s there’s so many different things you can get in a lens with like blue light blocking, anti fatigue. If you have astigmatism, if you don’t like There’s there’s so many different ways lenses can go for you. So yeah, it’s very important, I think, for people to be going to not the internet for buying glasses specifically. But, but yeah, I.

Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. And I mean when I attend the optical shows it is such, it’s such an informative experience that I almost am sad that I’m a vendor because I’d like to go to the more of the classes and demonstrations, because even with a very medical centered optical practice, there’s so much exciting auxiliary offerings that exist to kind of support and temper that potentially 12 and 24 month lag between seeing customers. You know, there’s the the chairs with multi-spectrum light that can not only affect and improve vision and eye health, but that people really kind of clamor to for other skin and mood health reasons. Yeah. And your customer doesn’t know that you’ve embarked upon these supplemental services because they ran in for an eye exam, picked out their frames and ran back out because dinner was ready to pick up at the takeout place or soccer starting or whatever’s going on.

There’s not enough time to naturally talk about the other things that the industry makes at your disposal. But when they come in and you don’t ship them a new style for their topper, you ask them to pop in quick. That’s when those natural conversations occur, and you don’t seem salesy because your counter staff knows to just, oh, chat about. Your eyes look really red. Do you suffer from dry eye or whatever?

But it happens naturally. And I think that’s the other thing about touch points and ZENKA. Creating touch points is I don’t think anybody makes the statement I love to be sold things. You know, maybe there’s people that say that, but I have never said that in my life.

Kim Carson: 34:27

For some reason, maybe like I love shopping, but but I don’t love it. I don’t want to be sold. And I think that’s where this concept of touch point is so priceless. Because not only is your counter staff or your greeter or whoever’s on the floor maybe starting to learn about Mrs. Smith or what she does for a living, but you’re also striking up very natural conversations that inform them of all the other services that they never would have guessed that you’re offering.

Sarah Vinson: 35:04

Yeah. Yeah. And just to bring it back to social media, too, right? Like, you could use that platform to show this new piece of tech, this this light therapy that you have.

Use it. You know, in an educational way where you’re like, these are the benefits of it. Use it in a more entertaining way where you know your optician, you keep catching your optician, trying to to use it on themselves. Like because it does have skin benefits as well.

Kim Carson: 35:30

So, you know, there’s lots of ways that you could show that you have that in your, in your practice. But just creating those touch points, it can be in person, it can be with a with with toppers and it can be on your social media as well.

Sarah Vinson: 35:46

Exactly. I think I think it’s probably the simple difference of an organic conversation versus a sales conversation. You know, I think. 100%. Almost everybody prefers the feeling of that organic Conversation over a sales conversation or a sales postcard that comes in the mail. You know, like those are very effective, but I think the conversation pops into your head so much more readily because of that human component, for sure.

Kim Carson: 36:17

Well, I, I want to thank you for joining me today on this episode. This will be coming out at the end of September. So are you going to be anywhere that people can can find you and talk to you in person? During October, maybe into November?

Sarah Vinson: 36:35

I’m very yeah, I’m very excited to be a partner with Cleinman. Therefore, I will be at their Miami meeting. It’s an invaluable relationship that I am happy. I was able to connection. I was able to make a little over a year ago.

And it is it is such a support system. And again, it’s it’s not really nobody’s being sold Anything. It’s this dynamic of information exchange and mutual benefit. So I love attending and I love meeting the Cleinman customers because they are singularly motivated, I’ll have to say, of every show or anything I attend the Cleinman customers, their practices are so driven to exceed expectations and that’s a great partner to have. So that’s actually other than I’m going to my first Vision Expo, but it’ll be prior to this airing.

So between that and Cleinman, those are my big focuses for the fall.

Kim Carson: 37:38

Yeah. For the rest of the year. Okay. Well, you know, I, I will say too, we love having you as a partner with Cleinman. I don’t know how many of our practices have zanca frames or, sorry, how many of our partners have zanca frames in their practices, I should say, but I know that whenever I’m in the room where all of our sponsors for the network events are.

Your booth always has a line up of people because they want to talk to you because you are so, so good at it. So thank you for coming on this episode.

Sarah Vinson: 38:13

Well, that’s. Oh, you’re too kind. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah, those meetings are super fun. And and I do seem to create a little bit of a buzz.

The product does not me, but thank you. Thank you very much.

Kim Carson: 38:27

Yes, yes. And if we wanted to have a website that we could, we could shout out right now maybe. Or your social media handles. People can go see it.

Sarah Vinson: 38:35

Definitely. Whether the good starting point is my import business which is Lunette USA. So that is the website is LunetteUsa.com the Instagram and and other social media including LinkedIn and Facebook. And I even think YouTube is also Lunette USA. And then if you cross-reference ZENKA USA you’re going to find me.

And if you exclusively want to see the product collection and want to explore France online then it is ZENKA and they have a really great website that showcases all of the products they have in manufacture at any time. But as a little aside, nobody, neither the manufacturer nor myself, sells online because that’s part of the that’s a tenant of our business plan, which is to keep the circle closed so that partner boutiques are the only source in North America for ZENKA.

Kim Carson: 39:45

Oh that’s amazing. That’s absolutely practicing what you preach, I love that.

Sarah Vinson: 39:50

Yeah. No, we value those relationships too much to have a direct sales component.

Kim Carson: 39:58

Okay. Well, thank you so much for joining me, Sarah. I really appreciate our conversation. And I think that a lot of the stuff that we talked about today can be transferable to anyone who is running a small business and needing to create touch points and just set themselves apart from their competitors. So that’s the show.

If you want to hear more of the podcast, you certainly can at Cleinman.com and you can get episodes wherever you like to listen. Thank you for joining us today.

Outro: 40:34

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