Your Future is at Stake!
As I have communicated to my audiences over the past couple of years, it is my strong belief that Private Optometry is at a crossroads. It’s no longer business as usual. Those who take bold action to build their respective brands and effectively communicate directly with their patients will be imminently successful. Those that sit back […]
The Dealer and the Junkie
Back in the day, Vision Plan was developed as a methodology for selling the services of its owner, the profession of optometry. Vision Plan acted as optometry’s agent; effectively owned and controlled by the profession itself. Vision Plan represented an efficient institutional marketing effort; a sophisticated marketing tool utilized by otherwise unsophisticated marketers. Reimbursements were reasonable and […]
Success in 2012 – Yours for the Action
Over the past few years, I’ve traveled throughout North America presenting a workshop entitled “Secrets of High Performing Practices” at our Business of Eyecare Forum programs. At the beginning of this workshop that explores the strategies behind success, I pull out a $100 bill and ask my audience; “who wants this?” Invariably, I get a […]
You Can Judge a Book by its Cover
In a recent study conducted by our firm of the members of Cleinman Performance Network, we identified that those practices that invest in marketing dramatically outperform those that do not. While the detailed results of this survey are exclusively available to members of the Network, the bottom line is that the diference between the two groups, […]
A Thanksgiving Message: Optometry…Take Back Your Brand!
Over the past week, VSP and the AOA have taken their differences over inclusion in Obamacare out of the conference room and into to the boxing ring. The public action appears to have started when former VSP Chairman, Daniel Mannen, wrote in VSP’s newsletter describing how VSP is optometry’s salvation…to paraphrase, “without VSP and Vision Plans…you’d be […]
Expanding Our Industry’s Horizons
It’s clear that patients have many alternatives today for vision care and eyewear. Today, many ECPs feel threatened by the internet; and some members of the industry feel that it’s critical to rush to join the movement by providing an internet solution to the purchase of eyewear. I think otherwise. The internet will serve to expand […]
What Words Should You Use?
In English, as with many other languages, the same word can mean many different things. As just one example, the word "set" has over 450 meanings in the Oxford dictionary. Words like run (396), go (368) and take (343) also have many, many meanings. Likewise, subtle changes in our languaging of marketing messages can have a […]
Milk for Twice the Price
During my lectures around the country, I often discuss the importance of branding and delivering value. My audiences are often surprised when I describe that every consumer seeks luxury and that even to a homeless person, luxury is important…and might be defined as a clean pair of socks. I talk about $40 a bottle water […]
Study Supports VSP Increasing Reimbursements to Providers
The following was recently announced by VSP. In addition to promoting the importance, and value, of a comprehensive eye health exam, one would hope that VSP would use this information to support an increase in reimbursements for the very providers who have delivered these incredible results. After all, it’s not VSP that delivers the service, it’s […]
Optometry – An Amazing Profession
Forty years ago, at the ripe age of fourteen, I took the step that was to open the door to my career. As the yard-boy for an entrepreneurial optometrist, I was exposed to the profession at an early age. My first job in the industry was at age sixteen, as a telephone sales person for a start-up […]