No Lab is an Island - Getting the Most from Your Lab Association
Feature in LabTalk April/May
2006
Lab Operations - April / May
2006
No Lab is an Island - Getting
the Most from Your Lab
Association
By
Seth J.
Bookey
With
the threat of industry consolidation and corporate ownership, independent
wholesale optical labs are facing more pressure than ever before. But, no lab is
an island, and being a member of a lab association or buying group can often
make all the difference when independents compete for their share of the market.
Many labs benefit from belonging to more than one of these groups.
Corinne Hood, president of optical lab
Katz & Klein, said that today, “There is an extreme disadvantage to
not having involvement with others in your industry if you do not participate in
one or both types of these groups.”
Katz
& Klein has belonged to the California Optical Laboratories Association
(COLA) since its inception, and Hood noted that COLA membership has allowed her
lab to get insights into what’s happening in its region, and colleagues to
call with questions or observations. She also said that, “We develop
friendships and learn the most sitting around talking during the non-lecture
times. Another aspect is that since COLA meets at a different time of the year
than OLA, we frequently are privy to new items or policies earlier from our
suppliers who also attend COLA. That information may be delayed if we wait for
someone to call on us with information or wait until our annual
meeting.”
Katz & Klein is also
a member of Global Optics, a buying group that also has its own warehouse, which
“affords us many shipping and supply advantages. Also, we are able to
discover if our suppliers treat us all in the same fashion.” J&J
Optical is a member of both COLA and of Lightbenders. J&J’s president,
John Haigh, observed that as a member of Lightbenders, “we share much
information–financial, technical, and marketing–as a group. I have
far more ability to compete in my market because of Lightbenders. Just being
able to discuss issues and problems openly among your peers is a great way to
solve them. Together, independent lab groups can be a formidable force. I don't
understand why any independent lab would not want to join and support
organizations like COLA, and groups like
Lightbenders.”
J&J
Optical’s membership in COLA has also educated the lab about general
issues, in addition to optical-specific aspects like lenses, equipment
processes, and business planning. “Just to start, technical training,
legal training in things like OSHA and HIPPA, access to expert optical legal
council, employee and human resource training, and ANSI standards updates. I
have saved money on workman’s compensation insurance through COLA,”
Haigh observed. Southwest Lens of Dallas is a member of the Optical Services
buying group as well as the Midwest Optical Laboratories Association (MOLA).
Co-owner Tom Mitchell noted that Optical Services gives the lab “good bang
for the buck,” since prices are negotiated. He also appreciates the
group’s marketing programs and has increased business with OSI’s
$2000 Minute program.
As a member of
MOLA, Southwest Lens has a chance to engage in networking about the technical
side of the business. “With MOLA, it’s a regional meeting. I can
bring my lab manager along. Satisloh, consumables companies, and some lens
companies, and software providers like Vision Star also attend it. We have a
nice mix of people–about 50 exhibitors,” Mitchell said. MOLA also
holds seminars. “This year, it’s about freeform
technology.”
According to
MOLA’s Carol Michael, the group is an outgrowth of an informal group of
lab owners who came together to “talk shop away from the shop,” and
is now a organization with an annual meeting in Blue Springs, Mo., which is
mutually convenient to its members, and more cost-effective to lab members than
going to New York, Las Vegas, or
Chicago.
Alternate
Routes
Lab association meetings help
present unexpected business opportunities for labs as well. Keith Heckenkemper,
president and owner of Rx Optical in Broken Arrow, Okla., said his lab became a
Transitions Star Lab as a direct result of going to a one-on-one vendor
30-minute vendor meeting during an annual Optical Synergies conference.
“I am sometimes meeting someone
from a vendor I don’t usually speak with. If there’s interest there
are ways to follow that up. We do about five or six of these each day,” he
said. “At my first Optical Synergies meeting, I met with a Transitions
rep. In Oklahoma, we were passed over by Transitions. She talked about the Star
Lab Program, and how through participating and reporting, we can get co-op funds
and seminars set up. They reallocated my lab to someone who represented Texas.
We became a platinum lab and now get somewhere between $6,000 to $10,000 a year
to support the product via marketing material and representation. By going to
that meeting, we had completely new exposure to vendors we hadn’t had
before.” Rx Optical had been doing an eight-percent business in
Transitions before that meeting; Heckenkemper said the lab is now doing 17
percent, three percent higher than the national
average.
Rx Optical is also a member of
MOLA, where “information sharing is based on relationships,”
Heckenkemper noted. “While we are competitors, we can be friendly
competitors.”
Solving
Problems Online
Informal networking between
meetings is also a big part of belonging to a lab association. Optical Services
International provides information sharing via its online forum for its members.
“If anyone has a question, they can e-mail it to OSI and it goes out to
the entire group. Or if someone has a new source for supplies or lenses,
messages are posted there,” said Caroline Decker, owner of Opti-Matrix in
Huntsville, Ala. She sees OSI as more than just a buying group.
“It’s a user’s group since we share information about
equipment, personnel, and vendors.”
Another online benefit for members of
Global Optics is real-time inventory checking. Geff Heidbrink, owner of Harbor
Optical in Traverse City, Mich., said that his customers use a core of 10 to 20
progressive lenses, but when an unusual one is needed, he can check for it
online to see if it’s in the warehouse. “We don't have
backorders,” he added. “Anything we need we will have by nine a.m.
the next day.”
“The warehouse
is why we switched to Global Optics. It's a very strong network now also. We
help each other out in our businesses. I didn't realize that until I was part of
it for a while,” Heidbrink said. Harbor Optical has also benefited from
Global Optics’ marketing programs, like the new JumpStart series of DVDs
and Your Eyes training. The latter, he noted, “has been a tremendous
success. “The offices that do it have found tremendous product growth. Our
job average because of the program has grown
dramatically.”
Global Optics also
gives its members opportunities for online discussion. Dan Torgersen, vice
president of information services and special projects for Walman Optical, said
that one member of the group just got in-house coating capabilities and wanted
to know where to buy envelopes. “E-mail goes out announcing new questions
on the forum. There is good member exchange discussing difficulties or
problems.”
In addition to the
mutual benefits of lower pricing and inventory control via its warehouse, Global
Optics also gives it members the benefit of contained shipping costs. Torgersen
observed that before joining Global Optics, “Walman had 20 branches at the
time and we would get lenses from six vendors, paying inbound freight. With
Global, we got one box with lenses from all the different vendors. It’s
made our branches more efficient since we get one box with predictable delivery.
Fewer purchase orders have improved our efficiency. It has made my accounting
people happy, too. Now there is one Global invoice and one check to go
out.”
Success through
Training
Getting training for a lab’s
sales staff is also another benefit of belonging to a lab association. Dana
Weeks, president of Optical Services International (OSI) , noted that her
group’s main objective “has been education and information. There
are 60 million prescriptions leaving the independent ECP. Our goal is to help
develop the ECP and keep those prescriptions.” Weeks added,
“We’re in constant communication at every level. We keep a library
of information from one lab to another. Lab policies can be compared and drawn
upon. Our goal is to help members grow their business and differentiate their
lab from the corporate owned
labs.”
OSI’s $2000 Minute
program, which debuted in 2004, helps labs train optical dispensaries
“from the receptionist on up.” OSI also publishes the loose leaf
Ophthalmic Dispensing Guide, with updated information on new products and
materials. “A lot of our labs use it at the accounts’ office,”
Weeks said. “They do training for new dispensers in house at the lab and
use this as a textbook. It covers absolutely everything from PDs and adjustments
to materials, designs and coatings to how to write an
Rx.”
In addition to an annual meeting,
each year after Vision Expo West, the group has meetings for sales managers and
production personnel, as well as a third meeting, which is a sales meeting or a
hand-on production meeting at a
lab.
Finding success by offering training
to ECPs is also a goal at Lightbenders, which recently introduced
“Strata,” a DVD product that labs can use to train clients. Vicki
Kathe, executive director for Lightbenders said, “It’s a scary time
for independents since the pool is shrinking. For labs that are remaining
independent, groups like ours gives them a peer support group. Our labs really
benefit from that.”
Dan
O’Brien, president of Precision Optical in East Hartford, Conn., has been
using the tool with his client. Using Strata, “we help to get our ECPs to
get the most out of their practices with this tool,” he said.
Consequently, the lab gets more business from those practices as
well.
Lightbenders also helps labs by
looking at their numbers, comparing a lab’s production output to the
number of staff. Kathe said, “Members say our advantage is the information
we share at meetings and in between by e-mail and conference calls. When new
products come out, we share information. They’re not trying to figure it
out on their own. We also help labs grow their business. Some members have grown
by watching what the larger labs do. With customer service training, and
information on cross training and hiring, we bring them up to the next level. We
also help ease growing pains when labs move to the next level. Lightbenders also
helps its members by creating pricelists for them, and by creating newsletters
for lab members.”
Adding
Value
Other associations help members with
specialized products. In addition to keeping its membership fees low, Optical
Synergies has brought its members two value-added products in recent years.
TravelFlow helps wholesale labs collect bills on time, and part of the payment
goes into a travel fund that is held in escrow for the member. TransFirst, added
last year, gives lab members substantially reduced Visa and Mastercard rates.
Another benefit for members of Optical Synergies is a direct link to Quantum
Learning, discounted continuing education for ABO credit on the group’s
Web site. According to Bruce Brady, president of Optical Synergies, the site,
which launched last year, has had “quite a few hits.” Lab members
can share log ins with their ECP accounts. “Anyone can take the
courses,” Brady said, adding that doing the courses online costs about
half of what it might have if the individuals sought out CE on their own.
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Posted: Sat
- April 1, 2006 at 09:31 PM