Michele Schenley is a Senior Account Executive and Dennis Holloway is the Managing Director at E-Dr., a leading contact lens distributor serving eyecare professionals across the United States. Under their leadership, E-Dr. has built a reputation for pioneering internet-based ordering in the vision care industry since its launch in 1998. Michele brings over a decade of experience in optical supply chain management, while Dennis, an accomplished IT executive, played a key role in building the company’s digital infrastructure and data-driven operations. Together, they are dedicated to making contact lens distribution seamless and accessible, and are advocates for integrating technology and personalized service to support the evolving needs of eyecare practices.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [02:39] Dennis Holloway talks about how E-Dr. revolutionized online contact lens ordering
- [05:46] Michele Schenley outlines E-Dr.’s simple and efficient onboarding process for new practices
- [07:35] How E-Dr. handles every order type without hassle, from direct-to-patient to in-office inventory
- [14:54] E-Dr.’s streamlined returns process and extended 12-month return window
- [18:40] Michele shares how on-demand analytics help practices make smarter business decisions
- [24:21] Dennis discusses how software integrations improve efficiency and ordering workflows
- [32:37] The role of family values in shaping E-Dr.’s culture and customer relationships
- [32:37] True family values in customer care and company culture
In this episode…
Price is easy to compare, but it rarely tells the whole story. When you’re choosing who to work with, are you picking the lowest number on the invoice, or the partner who actually helps your business run better over time?
Michele Schenley and Dennis Holloway believe that the real value comes from choosing partners who treat your business like their own, not just vendors who fulfill orders. They point to a model built on flexibility, like tailored shipping programs, easy returns, and systems that adapt to how each practice actually operates instead of forcing a one-size-fits-all approach. The takeaway is simple but powerful: When you stop chasing the lowest price and start prioritizing alignment, service, and trust, the long-term gains far outweigh any short-term savings.
In this episode of the Cleinman Connect Podcast, Kim Carson is joined by Michele Schenley and Dennis Holloway of E-Dr., to discuss why partnership matters more than price in contact lens distribution. They break down how tailored programs improve efficiency, how data and analytics support smarter decisions, and why ease of ordering impacts patient care. Michele and Dennis also talk about building long-term trust through service and flexibility.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Kevin Wilhelm on LinkedIn
- Marketing4ECPs
- Cleinman Performance Partners
- Michele Schenley:LinkedIn | Email | Contact no.: (904) 647-8348
- Dennis Holloway on LinkedIn
- E-Dr.
- “A Reflection of 2025 with Amanda Van Voris and Nancy Dewald” on the Cleinman Connect Podcast
Quotable Moments:
- “We don’t take a one-size-fits-everyone approach. We don’t require an account to hit a minimum.”
- “We treat our customers just like we treat our employees — right. We treat them like family.”
- “We need to look forward into the big, wide windshield and stop looking in the rear view mirror.”
- “Analytics are only as good as what you feed into it, so you have to buy everything in one place.”
- “We were trying to change a habit, right? We’re trying to get them off the phone and onto the internet.”
Action Steps:
- Choose partners based on long-term value, not just price: Prioritizing reliability, service, and flexibility leads to stronger operations and better patient outcomes.
- Streamline ordering and workflows with integrated systems: Efficient processes save time, reduce errors, and allow staff to focus more on patient care.
- Leverage analytics to guide purchasing decisions: Data-driven insights help practices optimize inventory, reduce costs, and maximize profitability.
- Eliminate unnecessary friction in daily operations: Removing barriers like minimums, fees, and delays improves efficiency and overall team satisfaction.
- Build relationships with vendors who act like partners: Working with companies that prioritize your success fosters trust, consistency, and long-term growth.
Sponsor for this episode
This episode is brought to you by E-Dr. E-Dr. is a smarter choice in contact lens distributors. They have earned the trust of generations of eyecare professionals by keeping prices fair and competitive, and orders delivered complete and on time. Check them out e-dr.com.
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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 Michele and Dennis from E-Dr. on this episode of the Cleinman Connect Podcast. Past guests of the show include Nancy Dewald and Amanda Van Voris, the fabulous business consultants here at Cleinman.
You can listen to those episodes and more at Cleinman.com. This episode is brought to you by E-Dr. E-Dr. is a smarter choice in contact lens distributors. They have earned the trust of generations of eyecare professionals by keeping prices fair and competitive and orders delivered complete and on time.
Check them out e-dr.com. And I’m joined today by Dennis Holloway and Michele Shenley from E-Dr. Dennis Holloway is the Managing Director of E-Dr. and an accomplished information technology executive. Say that ten times fast, with extensive experience in strategic planning, operations and systems development. He played an instrumental role in building the infrastructure that supported the company’s launch and growth, helping establish E-Dr. as a leading online marketplace in the vision care industry.
Known for aligning technology strategy with business goals, he brings a strong combination of executive leadership, operational insight, and industry experience. Welcome, Dennis. Thank you for joining today. Hi. And also joining is Michele Shenley.
She is a professional in the contact lens distribution industry with extensive experience connecting eye care providers with the products and solutions they need to serve patients effectively. With a strong understanding of the optical supply chain and industry trends, Michele is passionate about supporting innovation and collaboration across the Vision Care community. She enjoys sharing insights on the evolving landscape of contact lenses, distribution and the partnerships that help move the industry forward. Thank you both so much. Welcome, Michele.
Michele Schenley: 02:12
Hi. Thanks for having me. Yeah.
Kim Carson: 02:15
Of course. So you know, me, me saying a little blurb about your E-Dr. is nice and lovely, but I think that the only people that can do it justice are the people that have their hearts fully in it. So, Dennis, maybe we’ll go to you first for someone who may not be familiar with it. Doctor, could you give us a little bit of background? What is E-Dr. and why should doctors know about it?
Dennis Holloway: 02:39
New ERA Optical has been serving eyecare professionals since 1912. Herb napkin purchased the company in 1973. E-Dr. launched at Vision Expo West in 1998, E-Dr. pioneered internet based ordering in the optical industry. Today, we continue that legacy by making contact lenses easier, more efficient, and better suited for the needs of today’s practices.
Kim Carson: 03:15
Wow. So if you don’t mind, like what led to E-Dr. starting, like there was just a demand for something like this.
Michele Schenley: 03:27
Or.
Kim Carson: 03:28
What is your thoughts on that?
Dennis Holloway: 03:29
Yeah. So, so before E-Dr., you had to pick up the phone and call each distributor every day. And, and just so you know, when I started, there were 32 distributors. As we know today, there’s only four distributors. So yeah, so it was difficult.
You spent all day on the phone trying to get your orders placed. And so that’s what that’s what we, we tried to put all that into one place on the internet. On the technical side of the thing. The internet was not very, very popular. I mean, AOL, which had was it was owned by somebody else at the very beginning, but AOL was the only way to get on the internet.
That was it. That was the only service provider. And it was dial up. You didn’t even have a. You know, you didn’t even have a web based.
It was a dial up connection. So we literally was in the very beginning of the whole thing. Right.
Kim Carson: 04:39
Yeah, yeah. Very early adopters.
Dennis Holloway: 04:42
Yeah. So I can, I can tell you that the, the first day that E-Dr. launch, you would hit the enter button and it would blink because the response was so slow. And when you load a contact lens that has millions of parameters, that blink lasted forever. So, so that, that drove us to try to figure out how to push the data out as quickly as we can. Yeah.
So in the, in the contact lens world, there’s like 16 million parameters. So when you click on a contact lens, you have to dig to find all the, all the parameters. It’s quite intensive. Even today, it’s more complicated today.
Kim Carson: 05:29
Oh for sure. And I mean new technologies every day, right. So and new innovations on contact lenses every day. So, Michele, could you maybe let us know how easy it is for E-Dr. or practice to work with a doctor?
Michele Schenley: 05:46
Oh, absolutely. We are so user friendly. Dennis talked about there’s only four distributors left in the United States. Super exciting because there’s four. Super challenging because there’s still choices.
However, we’re still family owned, so we talk about how easy it is to work with us and get started. It’s very easy to get started. We basically have an online form that a practice who’s interested would fill out, give us the pertinent information about the practice, who’s placing the orders, who’s doing the billing, where are we shipping? And then, you know, once we have your address, you’re aligned to a representative who covers that state or region. And as long as the account is in good standing, we can get it open normally within a few days.
We know that offices are really busy, so we don’t want to put them through a long, complicated onboarding application process. You’re not you know, we’re not mortgaging your building. We’re just trying to get some contact lenses to your practice and your patients. So easy. We’re friendly.
A family owned company that really goes above and beyond for our customers.
Kim Carson: 07:16
Amazing. And this I’ll ask you a follow up question here, Michele. This could just be my newness to the eye care industry, but our our doctors placing orders with you on a I need this now basis or is this an inventory kind of order kind of set up for them?
Michele Schenley: 07:35
That’s a great question. We can handle any type of order that they push to us. It could be an individual patient order that needs to be shipped to New York. It could be a stop order that perhaps they need to hold stock in the practice, or it could be their office daily orders that they accrue and then have shipped directly to the office. That then gets sorted and patients get recalled.
So really, I mean, the answer is any type of order. And Dennis talked about the trillions of parameters out there and etc., you know, you put it in if it’s available from the manufacturer and it’s a major manufacturer, we carry it. And you can put that into your cart and hit ship.
Kim Carson: 08:27
Stunning. Sounds easy.
Michele Schenley: 08:30
Very easy.
Kim Carson: 08:32
So why? And maybe this is a bit of a blunt way to say this, but why should doctors choose you? What are some of the benefits to partnering with doctor? And I can stick with Michele for this. Or if if Dennis you want to chime in.
Michele Schenley: 08:48
I can definitely kind of keep going. So when I go to a meeting or I have an introduction to an account, I’m, I always ask how familiar they are first with distributors. As Dennis mentioned, distributors have been around for a while. There were upwards of 30 plus at one point, and between absorption and purchases, we have four left who all do a really good job for their customers. I mean, we all are here to serve eye care practices to optimally get contact lenses to their patients and office.
But setting up is super easy. But the reason why is because we have a variety of programs that are unique to each doctor. And because I have been in eye care distribution and been doing this for over ten years, I’m able to make that apple to orange connection and, and really tell the account how we are, what I like to say better. One of the euphemisms, euphemisms I use is some of the other distributors and they are out there. I would say most accounts are a little fish in the Atlantic Ocean.
I like to tell my accounts, when you work over here at E-Dr. with us, you’re a whale in a bathtub. And then I tell them it’s like having first row seats to Taylor Swift every week. And people understand, wow, that’s a really special ask, right? So there are things that we have that are truly fantastic. One thing, and I know there’s going to be more we’ll talk about is our shipping program.
For instance, we don’t take a one size fits everyone approach. We don’t require an account to hit a minimum to earn free shipping for their office orders. This is huge because in my experience, a lot of accounts, maybe they just have a couple of boxes, a couple of trials. It’s Friday, doctors cutting out he’s going to play golf or fish or, you know, whatever. It might even be a snow day, right?
Because you’re up in in the north. So you have a dilemma. If you have to wait for your cart to hit a certain dollar value, because who wants to pay for shipping? I know in today’s age of Amazon Prime and Walmart plus I don’t pay for shipping. So with that, we have tailored programs for shipping.
We can ship anywhere from 2 to 5 days a week, depending on the office’s volume for free. That’s tremendous. So if you only have two boxes at $52 each and ten trials because you want them there early next week, Monday or Tuesday to fit your patients. We’ll handle it for you. No holding and sitting on carts anymore.
But that’s just one thing is our shipping program. There are a lot of fabulous programs that we offer that are extremely appealing, and are reasons why our accounts stay with us and stay very happy and loyal with us.
Kim Carson: 12:18
I feel like we can all agree that we’ve had that experience where you are online shopping and you fill your cart up and you’re like, yes, I’m so excited. And then you get to the shipping page and it’s like $25 for shipping. And you’re like, now all of a sudden this $300 order doesn’t feel worth it.
Michele Schenley: 12:35
Right?
Kim Carson: 12:35
Or are they abandon it?
Michele Schenley: 12:38
There’s a lot of cart abandons or they tell you, you know, two more items to earn free shipping and you’re like, you know, you might be at your budget, your threshold. It’s just, you know, that’s just not where you needed to go that day. So I, I shipping is a big one. And the other thing that I’m seeing and hearing a lot about is just plain handling charges. I know shipping is shipping and you know, whether it’s USPS, UPS or Fedex, everyone can agree here that it’s a very expensive part of the industry.
Someone’s getting hit. Free is not ever free. Trust us. Your doctor probably has a exorbitant UPS bill annually, and we negotiate every year. But handling charges.
I’m hearing from other offices that are, you know, investigating us. They’re being charged like 12 to 14 to 1895. And I always use that word 95 or 99 handling, basic handling. So as we go through our discussion today and we talk about y e doctor, we have free shipping programs. We also don’t have any fees.
So we don’t have fees such as handling. Shipping is one thing because we know that UPS has to show up and pick up your parcels and put them on a truck with tracking and deliver them handling to me is the handling at the warehouse where my local employees actually get to hands on pick pack and ship your product?
Kim Carson: 14:20
And then and so sorry, just so we’re clear, because you mentioned I’m I’m up north E-Dr. is shipping to all the states or are you out of the US as well?
Michele Schenley: 14:31
We are strictly in the United States.
Kim Carson: 14:34
Perfect. Just great for anyone listening so that they know. So then what about returns on that? It’s it’s maybe not, you know, the, the most sexy topic, but No, but it.
Michele Schenley: 14:44
Obviously.
Kim Carson: 14:44
Is important.
Michele Schenley: 14:47
Dennis, do you want to chime in a little bit about the return program and why it’s so unique in the industry as well?
Dennis Holloway: 14:54
Yeah. So we we have a really easy return program. First of all, we send you a label to send the product back. So, so that makes it really simple. You just box it up and send it back to us.
So it’s really easy. We open the box, go through the merchandise and issue a credit. We do that once a month. It’s, it’s really, really a big thing for our doctors is that, you know, they don’t have to find invoice numbers. They don’t have to do anything.
All they do is pack the product up, put it in a box and send it back to us. It’s really, really simple.
Kim Carson: 15:33
I’m interested to know, Dennis, just because you have, you know, so much history with the company. When did some of these things kind of come around? You know, having the free shipping is is something that kind of other locations and other, I guess just as a consumer of things in general, other online places where I can buy stuff. They’re adopting that kind of now, but it sounds like your doctors had this for a while. Same with the returns.
Like how did some of this stuff come around? How did you guys stay ahead of the curve on that?
Dennis Holloway: 16:07
Yeah. So in the very beginning, we offered free shipping the day we launched, and the only reason we did that was we were trying to change a habit, right? We’re trying to get them off the phone and on to the internet. So we, we offered free shipping. There was a minimum, of course, there was a minimum, right.
But we were offering free shipping in an attempt to get them to change a routine, their daily habits. And that’s really, really hard to do.
Kim Carson: 16:38
Yeah, you got to give them an offer.
Dennis Holloway: 16:41
You got to give them something, right?
Michele Schenley: 16:42
You got to sweeten it. And the other thing that’s really fabulous about our returns, which I do believe we are superior because I speak to other offices interested in us and I think we’re superior, is that we allow a return for up to 12 months of unopened, unused product. So if you have patient orders, you know, sometimes I know there’s a secret cubby holes in optical practices where things just get stored. Eight months later, you do your, you know, your fall cleaning because now it’s spring, you do your fall cleaning and you’re like, oh, these boxes. Mary Jane hasn’t picked them up.
And, you know, now her prescription’s completely changed. Anyway, we’ll still accept them back. The same program that Dennis described. Happy returns. We send the label, you box them up and we scan them back in.
I am very well aware of other return programs out there. I can only explain to customers who want to be the whale in the bathtub. You have to be sick and tired of chasing invoices and jumping through hoops, because 90 days comes really quick on a lot of those programs. And on the 95th day, you have a diminishing return on that return value. And we do not we give you your money back as a return.
Kim Carson: 18:07
Amazing. One thing that I think in, in going over our notes and looking at this, that E-Dr. and Cleinman have in common is our love for data and analytics. And I would love to know what are some of the analytics that you’re seeing, Michele, in, in the distribution of all the contact lenses you guys do. That helps kind of inform what is next for E-Dr. or to better support the doctors that get contacts from you.
Michele Schenley: 18:40
Well, I mean, I can speak from the analytics of the reporting that we give a practice. Dennis can speak more about the analytics that the company is able to see trends and do additional forecasting on our analytics that we have. Here is what I call on demand. So we post the analytics to the accounts web page when they log in. That’s really important for our practice manager, concerned doctor, group manager, because they want to know what are the trends of the orders that are being placed in the office.
Which manufacturers are being most heavily used, the top 10 or 15 brands and their cost and what they’re retailing out the box for what we suggest. And I’m I’ve been a proponent of this since I started in the industry, is buy everything in one place. And I say this because the analytics are only as good as what you feed into it. So if you’re only part time cherry picking items that you’re using your doctor for, and you’re going to either another distributor or a direct manufacturer, those analytics are actually going to be completely skewed because your Pi is going to look like it’s all pepperoni and a really nice looking pie, at least would have in a pie chart, a little bit of all manufacturers that you’re supporting in the practice. I also feel like having on demand analytics for the practice is very important because you have these practice managers and these group people that are being, you know, they’re being wooed by the manufacturer reps.
Who are our partners? Do this program support me more? Perhaps buy an inventory or a virtual inventory. Well, if you have the analytics and you’re like, wow, we’ve done 100 boxes of this brand just since January 1st. Let’s roll with that program.
Let’s save $3 a box, $5 a box, because the amount of cost to go into the purchase and the residual return is going to benefit the practice. And part of our analytics, once you participate in programs, is showing your savings on those types of deals. If as long as everything is purchased through E doctor. So that’s me talking about the analytics for a practice to gain directly by using E doctor. I do think you wanted to also know about analytical trends that Dennis and the IT team can see to help with more business e-docs or business decisions?
Kim Carson: 21:44
Yeah. Are you able to speak on that, Dennis?
Dennis Holloway: 21:48
Yeah. No, I think she said it pretty well.
Kim Carson: 21:52
No that’s fine.
Dennis Holloway: 21:54
Yeah. So those analytics reports are amazing, right? I mean they give you year to year comparisons. The best part about it is Michele won’t like this. They’re their own demand.
You don’t have to ask your salesperson to give you the information. They’re online. They’re available. You just run them when you want to.
Kim Carson: 22:16
Online kind of a theme for E doctor. Hey.
Dennis Holloway: 22:18
Yeah.
Michele Schenley: 22:19
Yeah. And the other thing, the other thing I think I know because I’ve been up to the warehouse is when the company sees analytical ordering trends. That gives us as a corporation, more clout to go buy more of that product to stock. So we want to know where the eyes are in America, if that makes sense. And we can we can understand better where the eyes are in America by pulling these types of reports.
So we can purchase. Right? Again, you know, there’s going to always be extreme contact lens prescriptions that either they need to be made to order or there’s only, you know, six eyes in, in Illinois is ever going to be in that prescription. We probably wouldn’t go out and get, you know, 10,000 units of that on our shelf. But when you’re talking about common everyday and up and coming new launch products, once they start to really flood prescriptions and we see those orders coming in, then as a corporation, we can be amply prepared as well, which is very important.
And that goes back to our speed of pick pack, ship, taking care of the customers as quickly and efficiently as we can because all optical offices are our customers.
Kim Carson: 23:45
It sounds like there is probably a lot of different platforms, different softwares, different, just like streamlining processes that E-Dr. uses. What kind of softwares do you offer to your the people that decide to purchase through you? And why is software integration like a big advantage in your eyes? And maybe should we go to Dennis for this one?
Michele Schenley: 24:17
Sure. He’s the IT expert. Yeah.
Dennis Holloway: 24:21
Yeah. So we have our website is totally self-sufficient, right? I mean, you come, you can order your products, everything you want to do, But there has become an industry that’s that’s out there where people are building their own practice management software, right? They can’t get the product, so they have to come to us to deliver it. And so we are linked to the majority of the major players in that field.
And so we link. So you go to that software, you enter your orders and they send it to us and we ship the product to to either your office or to your patient.
Kim Carson: 25:09
You know, the I think it was 1973. You said the company was bought.
Dennis Holloway: 25:14
Yes. Herb purchased a new era optical in new optical. Yeah.
Kim Carson: 25:20
So, I mean, the company’s been around for, you know, a few minutes, a little while. It kind of sounds like experience in this industry is a big advantage and a big part of your message. Could you kind of explain why, like, you know, I, I, for instance, know that there’s so many tech startups, there’s so many things popping up every day. Why do you think that, you know, the company starting in 1912, being purchased in 1973 by New ERA, like why do you think that that is an advantage?
Dennis Holloway: 25:57
Yeah. So I think it shows that we have sticking power, right? We’re going to be around. I think that’s very important. Again the current owners have owned it since 1973.
And we in the early in this discussion we talked about there being 30 distributors or every how many it was back in the day. And then it’s down to four. So we have some ability to stick to hang around, whatever. So yeah, so we have, we have a, a warehouse in downtown Chicago, that that’s what they do all day long is ship product. And they’re really, really good at it.
It’s a lot of boxes that go in and out every day. You don’t think about the ones coming in. We always talk about the ones going out. Right? But there’s just as many coming in the office every day or in the warehouse every day as they are the ones going out.
And that’s really important to keep the shop. The I’m sorry, the shelves stocked. That was a little bit of a tongue twister. And anyway, so it’s it’s quite an operation to go there. It’s, it’s, it’s very impressive to see it in action every day.
Kim Carson: 27:14
Michele, I’ll come back to you for this one. What would you say to a doctor who has not explored E-Dr. yet? To someone who is just hearing your name for the very first time?
Michele Schenley: 27:28
Oh, you know, again, I ask a lot of questions. You know, what have they been doing? You know, where is their pain points? I think that’s very important in contact lens. Movement is is what your pain points are.
During Covid, which, you know, basically started six years ago almost to this timeline, things just stopped and people really had a very, very hard time getting product. And we need to look forward into the big wide windshield and stop looking in the rear view mirror and talk about what the future is. The future is, as Dennis just talked about, these integrated systems that allow for true optimal speed and efficiency for our practice, partnering with the right distributor that treats you as a customer as really, you know, the golden golden office. Getting you your product that you need as quick as possible. Servicing your patients.
If they do place integrated software. Online reorders. Giving you those quick analytics for your business decisions. Making your workflow in the practice as easy as possible. The reason people love platforms like Walmart Plus and Amazon is because I can get a bag of avocados and I can get new bed sheets.
Think about E-Dr. distribution as a plus plus when it comes to distribution. There are four main manufacturers and there’s a few additional manufacturers we support that have some niche products, but how fabulous it is to put one cart together. Check it out. Be able to track that order down to the UPS or USPS shipping schedule. Track it.
Know when it arrives. Have a customer service line that answers the phone with pure delight and have a sales team that replies to you. Email or text or phone. I mean, these things are important. So when I meet a new account, I get to their pain points.
First. I explain how we’re different because I have experience at another distributor and I’m allowed to do apples to oranges because I have that experience. And then I give the the merits and benefits of working with doctor. At the end of the day, it’s always their decision. If they do want to make a switch, give us a try for 90 days.
But again, I mean, we’ve had testimonials come in about how tickled accounts are when they do get a chance to experience the level of service and efficiency that we’re able to provide their office.
Kim Carson: 30:37
I have one last question, and before I ask it, I would like to point people to your website again. That was e-dr.com. e-dr.com. Yeah. And is there any other places that you want to point people to? Michele.
I know we’ll see you in Austin very soon.
Michele Schenley: 30:56
Yeah, I’m going to be attending the meeting in Austin and definitely look forward to interacting and seeing a lot of new faces at that meeting. In addition, anybody can hit me up on LinkedIn if optometry offices are on LinkedIn. Hit me up. You could also see additional history that I’ve posted there. So again, just gaining my experiences for you.
And then they can reach me directly. You know, michele@e-dr.com. And then my office direct line is (904) 647-8348. If I really like you, then I’ll give you my cell.
Kim Carson: 31:44
We’ll start with the office line first.
Michele Schenley: 31:49
Yeah. Because I’ve had, I’ve had a couple of Saturdays where it’s like, can you help me track this order? I’m like, It’s Saturday. Nothing’s moving today. Monday we will be able to do all full tracking.
Kim Carson: 32:01
Oh, no. Okay. My my final question and we can start with Dennis for this one. And then Michele, if you if you have things to add, I would love to hear what makes your approach different from a basic order taking platform. We’ve talked about the shipping, the returns, the, the partnerships you have with manufacturers.
What sets E-Dr. apart?
Dennis Holloway: 32:29
So listen, I’m going to tell you something and I may not answer the question, but I’m going to tell you in my way.
Kim Carson: 32:35
Yeah.
Dennis Holloway: 32:37
Newer optical is a family owned and operated business. I like that. If you were to visit our warehouse right. And you would go see our pictures, you’ll see a mom, her children, all working at the same place. That’s amazing to me.
Right? It is literally a family owned and operated business. Our employees are treated like family, and it’s just a great place. We recently had an employee who retired this week or last week. 43 years.
43 years. We had another gentleman who just retired two weeks ago with 40 years. That says a lot about how a company treats their people, right. And we try to treat our customers just like we treat our employees, right. We treat them like family.
And I think that’s really, really important in today’s world when a lot of people don’t care about that. We certainly do.
Kim Carson: 33:59
Yeah. Amazing. Michele.
Michele Schenley: 34:01
I can mimic that. And thank you, Dennis, because I feel at home. So I, you know, I know you read my bio when we first started. I have had a lot of experience in sales organizations, not only in optical but in other varied fields. Super interesting.
You know, companies that I’ve worked for, I can really transparently be honest and say, this company is a family owned company and I feel part of the family. So I say that because not that I’m trying to entice people to come work over here, but but if I feel good about my place in this organization, I’m going to make your practice feel good about choosing E-Dr. as your contact lens distributor. And trust us to be able to provide your patients with the best level of service possible.
Kim Carson: 35:09
I would really love to. After answers like that, I would really love to know. The people that are running your HR department and all of the Internal culture initiatives that you guys have. But maybe that’s for another episode. So thank you both for your insight and your time today.
And thank you for thank you for coming on.
Dennis Holloway: 35:32
Thank you for having us.
Michele Schenley: 35:33
Thank you so much, Kim. We appreciate it. Look forward to doing a lot of business together.
Kim Carson: 35:38
Yeah, I can’t wait. I can’t wait to meet you in Austin. That’s coming up really soon. So that is our show for today. If you want to hear more, you certainly can at cleinman.com and wherever you like to listen.
Outro: 35:59
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