Breaking Into Safety
What every independent ECP
should know about setting up an SRx business
RETAIL DISPENSARY--SAFETY
EYEWEARBreaking Into
SafetyWhat every
independent ECP should know about setting up an SRx
businessBy Seth
BookeyContributing
EditorNEW YORK --Starting up a
safety prescription eyewear segment in your dispensary might sound like a
daunting task, but a variety of current conditions have made this niche business
a growth opportunity for any optometrist or ECP who is thinking of how to
increase value-added services to potential new
clients.Currently,
manufacturers of safety eyewear have broken the mold and are providing frame
styles that mesh with everyday dress eyewear, and more fashionable frames can
bring in higher margins. Fashionability helps maintain compliance. Emphasizing
style, service, and price, rather than price, helps when it comes to selling
safety Rx eyewear.. The advent of detachable sideshields has been a benefit in
this regard, market observers tell
VM.Stronger
and lighter lens materials are also making safety prescription eyewear (SRx)
more fashionable, and increase government regulations, via OSHA, have brought
increased pressure on companies to protect their employees’
vision.A local ECP is just as
capable of covering their needs as a large, national conglomerate. Gary Keen,
district sales manager for Essilor Industrial Sales/East, notes that “any
ECP, new or established, can look to safety Rx as a growth opportunity. The goal
of all programs or promotions at the ECP level is to increase foot
traffic.”Mark Platter,
president of Safety Rx Services in Crete, Ill., notes that for many
dispensaries, the industrial worker coming in for mandatory safety eyewear is
often someone who has never sought out visioncare
whatsoever.Charles Arensberg,
of Dispensers Optical Services, notes that ECPs are often reluctant about
getting into safety, “until we can prove we are generating traffic through
the store,” he said. “When they say, ‘this isn’t bad,
how can I do more?’ and they are in an area where we don’t have
coverage, we give them a booklet. Until they start seeing referrals from labs,
it can be daunting.” Dispensing Optical Services works with about 4000
ECPs nationwide in providing
SRx.Local eyecare providers are
also in a position to counter the problems safety managers encounter with large,
price-oriented programs by guaranteeing more personalized service and faster
turnaroundHere’s a look
at several ECPs who have successfully pursued building an SRx niche business,
and some tips from experts in safety eyewear outlining what you need to know
about adding this service to your product
mix. Safety
from ScratchFor Frank Salazar,
general manager of Price-Mart Optical, with two locations in Albuquerque and
Farmington, N.M., got into SRx “wholesale.” Safety prescription
eyewear represents about 20-30 percent of his business, he told
VM.“I
went out and did it all from scratch. I went to the oil companies here and put
packages together. Instead of them coming in with retail prices, they get
wholesale prices from
us.”Salazar provides SRx
for companies with anywhere from 20 to 200
employees.Salazar has been in
the optical business for 12 years, and got into SRx about three years ago.
“I got most major companies in the area to do safety eyewear with me. I
have my own lab and can provide fast turnaround--about a day or two from when
they come
in.” Ray
Guy (l) and Frank Salazar of Price-MartOptical pose in front of one of the
dispensaries’ safety eyewear
displays.Salazar used to work
for another optical retailer in Albequerque, and while there, noted that there
was a lot of business “after spending years of being the middleman.”
The ECP he worked for would get a $20 dispensing fee, and he thought, “Why
not make that all our profit
myself?”Staring up his
SRx business was quicker than he had anticipated. “With OSHA coming down
hard lately, once companies get my flyer, they really go about implementing a
safety eyewear program. A lot of companies were giving universal side shields
rather than providing true safety
eyewear.”Price-Mart has
its safety frames in a separate area of the dispensary, clearly marked for those
clients to find. The SRx part of the practice is fulfilled in two ways. Either
clients come in with their company’s authorization form, or Salazar also
goes to companies to perform onsite
dispensing.When it comes to
lens materials, Salazar is pushing polycarbonate “because of the safety
factors.” About 90 percent of his SRx jobs are in polycarbonate. New
options have made dispensing SRx in polycarbonate as well. “VisionEase
came out with a new polycarbonate FT 28 in Transitions. In the past, no one had
made that.” The rest is CR-39 or glass “for old timers who like the
scratch resistance. To get them out of glass lenses, I will give a one-time,
one-year scratch warrantee for polycarbonate. That works pretty well, but there
are still some stubborn customers who want glass
lenses." Salazar
also builds business off of SRx by extending savings to the customer’s
family. “We give immediately family 10-percent off for their other eyewear
needs. We increased sales big time. A lot of employees also come in for their
regular eyewear at 10-percent off.” Authorization forms are kept on file
so “we know they and their families are
entitled.”Salazar also
makes pricing affordable by packaging it. “We have 150 frames to choose
from. People off the street cannot get it wholesale. Lenses for safety run $99
versus $169. If they want to upgrade, it’s more. A lot of companies pay
for Transitions.” He noted that about 60 to 70 pecent of SRx jobs he does
are in Transitions lenses. While most employers have a total limit of anywhere
from $150 to $250 for eyewear, customers tend to be willing to pay out of pocket
for photochromic lenses. Salazar also offers a polarized Fantom clip as an
add-on sale, and throws in a clip-on case for their car visor so they have the
clip ready when they get behind the
wheel.Price-Mart Optical also
offers LifeStyle Choices card for purchases. “Only 10 percent get
approved, but those who do like using it for additional pairs. They tend to max
out their card. I’ve seen approvals from $200 to
$3000.”Salazar notes that
customers try to match their safety eyewear to their current dress eyewear, so
80 percent of his presbyopic SRx patients will go with a progressive lens in SRx
as well.Understanding
the NicheIn Ohio, where there is
less manufacturing than in other parts of the country, there is not a lot of
competition for safety eyewear business. For Mike Galliland, who owns Northstar
Vision Center with four locations in the Columbus area, safety represents 10
percent of his business, but sees it as an important springboard to other
business, and has for the past 25 years. This is why he is willing to do 70
percent of his SRx business by dispensing onsite. The companies with whom he
works have anywhere from 100 to 2000 employees. “We will go as far as 45
miles to dispense to
them.”“You have to
make sure to get a dispensing fee for your time when they come into your office.
The point is to generate new business. Make sure to have a brochure to hand off
to them, and encourage families,” he advised. “At the plants, get an
hourly rate, and have an optician on
site.”“We go to the
plants anywhere from once a week to three times a week,” he told VM.
“We try to encourage them to bring the family in to the office, to build
trust. A lot of them have insurance that help pay for street glasses. If not, we
offer a savings of 10 to20
percent.”“We are
the middle man, filling out the forms, verifying the glasses, and dispensing
them to the employees. We charge a $15 fee typically. It’s a small fee,
but many get second pairs or family prescription eyewear business,” he
said. “You have to be willing to understand the safety frames and how the
companies work. Most people don’t understand the concept of providing a
service with a limited fee that leads to other, more lucrative,
business.”Providing
Southern ComfortFor Jack Holbert,
owner of Decatur Optical in Decatur, Ala., the biggest impact on his general
practice has been referrals gained through the SRx patient base he has
pursued for the past 12 years. He also noted that the biggest change to SRx in
he’s noticed in the past three decades is “the styling and the lens
materials. Overall, a much more comfortable pair and better looking
pair.”For Holbert, SRx
accounts for about 20 percent of his business. “We really pursue it for
the peripheral spin-off business. We hope to expose them to our services and
have them come back for other business,” he said. Typically, these are
second-pair sales, or contact
lenses.But safety eyewear
continues to be a steady business, with most companies he services replacing SRx
eyewear annually. “There’s a lot of corrosive and scratching
problems. We have a broad base of industries we deal with. Some high-tech, some
chemical industries. We have a wide base of manufacturing in the area,” he
said.Word of mouth is also a
helpful when service is good. “If you get into one company and do a good
job, the safety directors talk. There’s a lot of competition here [in
Alabama] and we’re all in the same
mindset.”Holbert
simplifies SRx for the companies he services by putting together package
pricing. “We go in with wholesale pricing on the safety account and put
together a packing price for the customers. We reach an agreement with the
companies,” Holbert said. “For personal glasses we will do a package
discount for second pairs. We get flyers out to all employees so they know the
discount.” Decatur Optical also has package pricing for professional fees,
sunwear, and contact lenses. “We try to lock a company in so that they
cannot afford to go anywhere
else.”Companies differ in
terms of what is included in safety glasses. Some allow photochromic lenses and
AR, and some are very exclusive on what they want the employee to have.
“For presbyopes, customers seem willing to pay for premium
progressives.” Holbert uses Varilux as a premium PAL but also offers the
Natural as a standard PAL for someone who wants to economize. “We try to
maintain the PAL they are working with in street eyewear,” he
added.Holbert, who has owned
the 37-year-old business for the past 17 years, told VM that the 2003 ANSI
standard for SRx “minimalized the situation for us. We just moved over to
the high-impact status, mostly working with polycarbonate. We have some
manufacturers whose environments scratch polycarbonate, so we use CR-39. We see
very little glass safety eyewear. Some people also prefer glass and like that
they can clean them with a shirt
tail.”Quadrupling
an OpportunityWhile SRx only
accounts for five percent of his business, Phil Gillette, owner of Eyeworld in
Saraland, Ala., feels that his safety work is significant, since that five
percent “might spin off into 20 percent by the time referrals and such
happen,” he said. “We’re very, very
busy.”“We’ve
been in practice 21 years this and we’ve been doing safety from the
beginning,” Gillette said. “We have our own lab on the premises. We
do our own grinding. We made our first safety contact during our first three
months in business. I would hate to lose any safety business, and over the years
we have lost business--due to plant closings.We have 25 safety accounts --15 are
active, and out of those 15, three are very active,” he told
VM.
At
Eye World in Saraland, Ala. a prominent statement for safety eyewear keeps
awareness high.Eyeworld is
located right outside Mobile Ala., along a river where quite a few chemical
companies are located. “We do a lot of work for them. There are also paper
mills and local utility companies that we work with,” he
said.Most of the employees for
the companies Eyeworld serves also get a pair of dress glasses. “We also
market to their family members with a discount program,” he said. SRx
glasses tend to get replaced annually, although some companies also have an
additional lens allowance. “The majority of employees also get their eye
exams here, too.”Gillette
also only dispenses in polycarbonate or CR-39. “We are not doing any glass
safety eyewear. I refuse to. For all practical purposes, when ANSI 2003 went
into effect, we stopped. We were the only folks in South Alabama still working
with glass. I made a decision that we just weren’t going to do glass
anymore,” he noted. Eliminating glass lenses also free up a lot of room
for
inventory.
Phil
Gillette“It used to be
that companies would only pay for the very basic safety frames, but in the last
five years, the companies are coming around to paying for something that looks a
little better and are more serviceable in the long run,” he said. This
acceptance of fashion-forward styling helps Eyeworld to price the frame to them
with a price that will be comfortable to the
companies.Along with the trend
of more fashion-friendly frame styles for SRx, Gillette also sees an an upswing
in progressive lenses. “Several of the companies cover them, but employees
are not hesitating to pay the difference. With out pricing structure, it would
be about $85 for a premium
progressive.”Volume
Number: 20:05 Issue: 4/24/2006
© 2006 VisionMonday.
All Rights Reserved
Posted: Mon - April 24, 2006 at 09:43 PM
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Published On: Jun 20, 2009 07:04 PM
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