Retailing is defined as when a business sells a product or service to an individual consumer for his or her own use. I often hear “we are not a retailer” but, let’s agree, Optometry is in the retail business. Once the patient leaves the lane and are transitioned to the frame gallery, they become a customer. We need to run our business accordingly and think in terms of a retailer.

As back-to-school approaches, optical businesses need to plan now if they want to benefit from the additional traffic. This is a prime time for parents to get their children’s eyes checked, and they will be on the lookout for fashionable and durable eyewear.

Sunglasses are a huge opportunity and should be at least 20% of your sales. Are you making the most out of this opportunity?

It is our role to treat eye health, but also to educate. Most of the public really do not understand optometry’s scope.

Sustainability is defined as the ability to maintain or support a process over time. This could relate to preventing the depletion of natural resources to maintain an ecological balance, or it can relate to economics, such as a sustainable business model.

There are ways to think - and act - outside the box while also having fun and engaging your employees, customer and community.

We spend a lot of time with a business partner, our values need to be aligned, and we need to trust that person.

We all know that a new year is a great time to reflect back and plan forward. We also know that human nature drives us both to set and forget goals.

These are exciting times as the scope of our industry increases and we can resolve many patient struggles. That said, in my travelsI see treatment rooms, equipment and resources that are not being used to capacity.

What is performance coaching? According to Nancy-pedia, it is the art of elevating others to be successful with a specific skill or task.

Difficult customers. We all encounter them, and it can ber very disheartening. It is true that we can’t control the behaviours of our patients, but we can influence how they respond by our own actions.

The easiest and most cost-effective way to sell 5% more of your patients: improve the patient transition in your office.

Change is inevitable. That’s certainly true when it comes to business, and in particular, staffing of our businesses.

Do you find yourself asking why everything you try to implement never sticks, or why it requires being harsh to get things done?

It’s hard to believe it is June already, midway through the year and time to dig into our results and determine where our focus needs to be for the remainder of the year.

A value proposition is the unique experience that the business promises to deliver to its customers or clients.

Retailing defined: when a business sells a product or service to a consumer for his or her own use.

Why the focus on employee satisfaction and loyalty? It should come as no surprise that there is a direct correlation between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction.

Humans respond best to visual stimuli - consumers’ decisions are subconsciously influenced by a store’s aesthetic and how that makes us feel.

In the last couple of years, many have spent their time constantly putting out fires and reacting to business challenges, not only is this exhausting it certainly takes the fun out of being a business owner.