Category Archives: Strategy

Re(4): Recharge, Reinvent, Reinvigorate, Revive

May 1, 2013 By in Strategy Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

So I started a new post last night about my 2013 YPO retreat (from which I just returned).  I called the post Re(4) which stands for Recharge, Reinvent, Reinvigorate, Revive.  I started to write and had a funny feeling I had done a similar post about a year ago when I returned from my 2012 YPO retreat.  DUH!  I had written basically everything I wanted to write this year, last year!  If you read just one thing I write, please read this post from last year.  It really is so important not only for people running a business, but also for anyone looking to improve his/her life skill sets.

In addition to the below post, I would also like to add a new twist.  Last year I talked about “retreat and recharge” which is all still VERY relevant.  This year I want to add “REINVENT”.  The business world is moving at such a fast pace it is hard for all of us to keep up.  We also see forces changing our business models almost daily.  Tom Friedman, in today’s New York Times, talked about how 10 years ago Facebook, Twitter, 4G, the iPhone, and the Ipad did not even exist!  Can you imagine a world without all of these “things”??  Pretty impossible.  But with all of this new technology comes the need to harness it for our specific needs… and that is where REINVENTION comes in.  It is no longer enough to just have a forum of advisers where you can share ideas. It is no longer enough to just “take a business time out” to recharge.  It is no longer enough to have a renewed sense of energy.  We also now need to constantly REINVENT our business so we stay relevant for today’s ever changing business world.

So please reread last year’s post and keep in mind the idea of REINVENTION along with everything I wrote.  And as always, ENJOY.

BLOG POST

Oh, and remember the Rolling Stones are back on tour!!! Don’t miss it!!!

 

Dispatch from Milan: MIDO 2013

March 4, 2013 By in Selling, Strategy Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Hello from Milan. It is the third and last day of the Mido show and I have had plenty of time to reflect on my thoughts.  Last year I wrote about the importance of trend/boutique/luxe product.  I still stand by this important message and I can report again that the ONLY busy pavilion here at Mido is the trend section.

This year, what I noticed (in addition to the need to have a boutique/luxe strategy) is the incredible CHOICE that is now available to all ECPs.  There must be more than a hundred booths showcasing luxe or boutique product and half of them seem to be new this year.  This fact alone should convince all ECPs of the need to look at this segment of the market and to begin to develop a strategy for this kind of product.  While most pavilions and booths seem to be less exciting and losing energy, the trend pavilion is busy.

languages 2And that’s my second observation. In year’s past I heard English, Italian, French, and German in the trend pavilion.  Now I am hearing Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, Portuguese, Hindi, and many other languages.  Every good retailer and distributor around the world is beginning to seek out new product they want to support for 2013 and beyond.

This year I personally met new people from Jordan, Libya, Turkey, Morocco, Peru, India, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chile. EVERY market around the world is catching on to this trend of boutique and luxe product.  Everyone is looking to stand out from the crowded market place of popular price brands that can be found everywhere.

I urge any ECP looking to build an optical practice to think about this phenomenon and begin to develop your own point of view and your own boutique/luxe strategy.

Vision Expo East is around the corner - a perfect time to begin your strategy!

 

Study: Luxury Projected to Grow 13%

October 17, 2012 By in Luxury, Strategy Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Today’s post is all about milestones!  First, for all of you Stones fans out there —mark down December 13th and 15th in Newark NJ to celebrate the band’s 50th anniversary.  I know I will be there.  Will you?

For a business milestone, it was great to see that the luxury sector continues to grow at 10+% per year. As a big proponent of incorporating a luxury strategy into one’s store or practice, I was pleased to see a WWD article this morning that validates a lot of what I have been speaking about in my continuing education series – The Luxury Market: How to Stand Out From the Crowd.

The study, conducted by Bain & Company in cooperation with Fondazione Altagamma, Italy’s luxury goods association, found that the global luxury market is up 10 percent compared to last year with projected future growth of 13%.  It is also expected to continue to grow and is on track to easily outpace the rest of the market.  Admittedly, this is related in part to China’s continuing consumption of luxury goods.  [Side note: one of our newest brand partners, Ivanka Trump, recently launched a fine jewelry store in China and clearly understands the country’s importance, as she noted in her interview with the Wall Street Journal.]

However, not to be dismissed is the insatiable domestic demand for luxury accessories. According to the study, accessories, including eyewear, have become the core category in personal luxury goods.

It is important to recognize this fact when building an assortment for your store/practice.   To reiterate a previous post, aside from its proven growth in the marketplace, luxury product also offers a variety of benefits including higher margins, higher price points for greater sales volume and the opportunity to stand out from the competition.

It is refreshing in today’s world to see any good economic news come out so I hope you will take a moment to be optimistic and also consider the importance of a luxury strategy and why it is an essential component of any assortment.

Do you agree?  Have you recently implemented a new product assortment and seen positive results (or negative)?

Motivation – Going that Extra Mile

September 20, 2012 By in Strategy Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Recently I talked about EDUCATION as a vital part of the sales process.  Today, I want to talk about MOTIVATION!

In the quest to make that perfect connection with your patient/consumer, you have to remember that not everyone will have the same desire as you to go the extra mile. Your desire may be to sell luxury product, but a staff member may be more comfortable taking the “easy way out” and selling the first item a patient sees.   The unfortunate reality is that not everyone is as motivated as an owner to create a long-lasting connection or to raise the average retail selling price in the store/practice. Thus, we sometimes have to incentivize the team to represent the practice/store in the manner you want, and to achieve the goals you want to achieve.

Strategies to consider when motivating a staff to sell luxury products:

• Offer incentives – contests (rewards for selling a certain number of frames over a certain price-point), spiffs (compensation for reaching certain sales goals), etc.  I hate to admit it, but nothing works better than this.  We have years of experience working with retailers and whenever we offer a contest or spiff, our sales increase.  We would all like to think our product sells itself, but incentives do help.

• Ask your sales representative if the brand (if it is branded product) offers discounts for other categories within the brand – a watch, a handbag, apparel, shoes, etc. People love “stuff” and will be more motivated to sell a brand they wear themselves.

• Work with companies so the employees can wear the luxury product you want to sell.  Again, people love to wear expensive frames AND this will help sell the product if the staff “supports it”.

• Celebrate the success – there is no greater motivator than celebrations.  People, by nature, want to do well and want to be rewarded… Have an impromptu party at the end of the day.  Bring lunch in for the team.  Announce to the office when a special frame has been sold.  Do something to celebrate the goals you want to achieve…  Drive people to the behavior you want to encourage.

MAKE IT FUN.  BE CREATIVE.  If you keep things fun and creative, the team will thrive and you will reach your ultimate goal of selling more luxury product AND creating a great connection with your patients.

LOOK FORWARD!

September 7, 2012 By in Strategy Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

So in addition to optical trade show season, we have 60 days to go in the Presidential election and hopefully everyone has watched the two conventions that ended last night.  All the political talk revolves around how great America is and will continue to be if you choose the “right” candidate.  As I was on the treadmill at 5:30 this morning all this talk of OPTIMISM had me thinking……

In our day-to-day business, most of what I hear from customers is “caution” or “I am concerned” or “I am not sure what the future will bring”. These are all very real and powerful feelings. However, in talking to other business leaders and friends in my YPO organization, I hear a very different sentiment.  First – remember that there is well documented evidence that many of the best companies have famously been started during difficult economic times. It is precisely when times feel tough that people can, and should, take risks. All around Vision West business leaders are sharing with me that business is GOOD. They are working on new ideas. They are trying to figure out where our industry will be in the future. I see companies developing new ways to deliver health care, new ways to communicate with and service patients, and new products that will drive sales. And to me, the most telling sign of optimism is all the COLOR I see in traditional eyewear frame products.

The message is simple – be optimistic! As our President reminded us – LOOK FORWARD.  Don’t retreat to the corner and wait out the economic uncertainty. Develop your strategy. Think out of the box. Get your team on board.  And then go execute!

Have a great weekend.

Education IS a Selling Strategy

August 22, 2012 By in Selling, Strategy Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

I have posed some questions and shared some important research and articles. Now it is time to dive in and talk about actual tips to enhance the selling experience and make sure you have the tools to sell luxury eyewear.  Every tool and tip I discuss will have one ultimate goal – to make a connection with your patient and thus give you the ability to sell higher priced, luxury eyewear.

 Tip #1:  Educate, Educate, Educate

Education is a big theme throughout my writings and speeches (and of course with my own internal team).  We all have new things to learn and we should be learning something new almost every day.  Education does not end when we leave school or graduate. It continues forever and if we are not learning or educating at retail, we will be left behind by the stores/practices that focus on this every day.

Education tips to consider when developing your strategy:

  • Work with your staff and patients ONE on ONE as much as possible.  Individual attention is the best form of education.  For what it is worth, I always did better in school in the classes where the teacher paid individual attention and I did not feel like a “number/name” in a large room.
  • Keep on training the staff: Have weekly meetings, lunches, breakfasts.  Make it fun, have some contests. Write up silly quizzes and give out even sillier prizes.  The more the staff knows about ALL the product lines, the more you will sell.  And the more everyone knows about the luxury collections, the more you will increase your average retail selling price.
  • Invite your sales representatives as often as you can:  No matter how much you teach and study, you still have 10+ collections to think about and sell.  No one knows the details on products better than the company selling them.  See point 2 above and invite your sales representative to do as much training as you want.  Trust me – they will happily come in and do it (and if not, stop carrying the collection).
  • Pay attention to the details: Training is one thing.  The details are another.  When selling any luxury product, the consumer wants to know details.  They want to know why a specific product is special, why it costs more than the “popular price” frame on the board.  The devil is in the details!
  • Make learning easy:  Develop small bullet point reminders about collections.  Key in on features and benefits that make a collection or an item special.  If you do not have time or need help, ask your sales representatives to do this for you.  But do something.  And again, make it FUN.
  • Share: Last but not least — make sure to share all of this with your patients.  Remember – they want to be educated – not sold.


Education is the building block.  With the right focus on teaching and training, you will soon find it easier and easier to sell higher priced, luxury products. And you will develop a long-lasting connection with your patients.

Smarter Selling

July 11, 2012 By in Selling, Strategy Tags: , , , Leave a comment

We are back after a great July 4th!  I hope everyone was able to enjoy the holiday with family and friends.

Last week I received the most recent edition of the Harvard Business Review.  The cover article and the theme of the issue was “Smarter Selling”.  How timely for me as I have lately been focused on the strategy of selling.  I thought it would be nice to share my favorite articles and a brief analysis/intro with everyone.

The articles below cover a cross-section of all aspects of selling with a little marketing thrown in. While these articles are mainly focused on B2B, I think ALL the information can be applied to traditional B2C selling and traditional retail environments.

Enjoy the reading:

The End of Solution Sales – I love reading about disruptive ideas.  This article turns sales 101 on its side and focuses on how sales people need to provide VALUE, not selling a solution or service.

Tweet Me, Friend Me, Make Me Buy – I have talked A LOT about referrals being the best form of marketing/advertising.  Social Networking is making this even more of a reality.

Strategies for Answering Your Customers’ Toughest Questions – In closing that sale, it is sometimes how you handle the unexpected questions (as opposed to your prepared answers) that seal the deal.

Make the Most of Your Sales Call – One of my main themes when speaking or writing is “VALUE”.  I usually talk about this in terms of product.  This article focuses on how to add “value” whenever making a sales call.

Four Secrets to Selling More – Another article that turns sales 101 on its side.  Think “out of the box” to increase revenues.

How to Close a Sales Call – Our company has been selling eyewear for 85+ years and in this difficult economic period we know “closing” new business is harder than ever.  Here are some good tips for those on the road that apply to a traditional retail environment.

Let Your Customers Persuade Themselves – I have written recently that the best way to “sell” something is to educate the consumer as opposed to “selling them”.  Consumers do not want to be sold. They want to make educated decisions.  This article reinforces the belief that consumers or any “buyer” needs to sell themselves, not “be sold”.

Using Smell to Sell –  here is a great illustration of the importance of finding your competitive advantage and using it to stand out from the crowd.

Be sure to check out my new updates to the Culture Corner – I’ve added some new music and TV picks!

Selling – part II

June 19, 2012 By in Selling, Strategy Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Have you thought about your selling strategy at all?  Did you answer any of the questions posed in the last post?  In order to tackle the ins and outs of selling and apply the selling tips I will share in the coming posts, I want to share some research done by Agency Sacks and the Affluence Collaborative.  I recommend that everyone check out their sites and their background – they are great companies doing great research on the subject of luxury/affluence.  I use their data throughout my writings and speeches (and of course in our own strategy development) and have learned a ton from what they have been studying.

Three BIG crucial data points I have learned from their research and want to share with everyone selling luxury or looking to upgrade to luxury:

  1. Consumers want to be educated, not sold – they know pricing, they know value, they know brands, but they do NOT know eyewear and people like to buy from people they trust. Education creates trust.
  2. People want value – people will pay for something if they feel it has value. We hear this all the time in our business.  Our partners and their patients will spend money on luxury goods that they feel bring them value – and that value can be product quality, happiness, etc.
  3. MOST importantly: friends tell friends – if you give the right product and service to a consumer – they WILL tell their friends. Case in point:  we have a “referral program” at our company which rewards our partners when they refer us to other potential partners. Our partners tell us all the time: “We refer you because of the product and service you provide, not for any free gifts…. We want our industry colleagues to benefit from working with good partners.”

Once we understand and appreciate these three truths, we need to use them to our advantage when selling, and use them to help achieve our ultimate goal — selling higher priced product and offering a point of difference from our competitors.

Remember the closing question from the last post: When you see a patient, do they leave having had a WOW experience? Or a doctor’s visit? Or a sales pitch?

Selling – an Overview

May 22, 2012 By in Selling, Strategy Tags: , , Leave a comment

As we enter the spring/summer selling season, it is a perfect time to change course and start a new theme.  In the past months our overriding theme was “buying”.  Now that buying season is over, it is time to focus on “selling”.  To get us in the mood to sell and help us develop a comprehensive selling strategy, I want to pose some questions we should all consider and try to answer:

  • How do you display product?
  • Are you proud of how you display product?
  • If you could start from scratch today, how would you display product?
  • Is selling an afterthought to the medical appointment or an integrated, vital part of the patient visit?
  • Is the staff trained to explain and romance the product you own in inventory?
  • Do you motivate the staff – both financially and emotionally? If so, how can you improve upon this?  If not, why not?
  • How do you communicate your product story to the patient (which opens up an entire marketing discussion which I will cover in the coming months)
  • Do you have an online strategy?  (again, this opens up a VERY large topic for the future)
  • Most importantly: When you see a patient, do they leave having had a WOW experience? Or a doctor’s visit? Or a sales pitch?

Think about the questions and in the coming weeks we will dive DEEP and offer suggestions and insights to develop a great “selling” strategy.

SHARE, RETREAT, RECHARGE

May 10, 2012 By in Miscellaneous, Strategy Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Many of you that read this blog and have heard me speak know I am a member of a wonderful business organization called YPO – the Young Presidents Organization (even if I do not feel that young anymore :) ).

A main feature of YPO is the “forum experience” in which we meet monthly with a group of 8 – 10 of our peers from different industries. The meetings can focus on any type of personal or business issue that the group finds relevant.  As part of the forum experience, we also take an annual retreat where we have the chance to get away, unplug, and recharge.

I just returned from my annual retreat and thought it would be great to share this experience since I think it is relevant for anyone in a leadership role in our industry (or any industry).

I think that all of us who run a business, or are involved in important day-to-day decisions, need an outlet where we can SHARE and discuss sensitive issues with people whom we trust and respect.  And this outlet should be in a forum where you can feel 100% open and honest.  I find I can make much better decisions when I have the insights and support of a group of people (NOT in my company or my group of friends) who care about me and my business and want me to have total success.  And I think the same goes for non-business decisions. It is vital to have a group of people with whom you can share ideas and issues.

I would also suggest a second network within your industry.  By nature it may not be as open or honest as a YPO- type forum but it is important to have an industry network where you can share ideas and stay ahead of trends, etc.

The main point to this is that it is important to have a diversity of opinion before making big decisions and that diversity should come both within the industry and from a group outside your industry.

The second part of this is what I call “RETREAT and RECHARGE”. In addition to a regular forum where you can share and discuss ideas, I think it is great to take an annual business “timeout” with this same group to recharge your batteries.  This is VERY different from a vacation.  It should be a “working” retreat where you discuss issues, plan future strategy, address industry and world forces affecting your business, etc.  There is nothing better than “getting away to clear your head” and tackling these important issues/questions.  It is a chance to think with an open mind, forget about the stress of your day-to-day job, and then recharge to come back to work fresh and with a renewed sense of energy.

For example, in my recent retreat we did an exercise where we focused on developing our company strategy from a 1, 5, 10 year perspective.  We discussed the need for having meaningful mentors in our lives, and we discussed the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

I could write volumes on my YPO experience so if anyone is interested to discuss further, I am happy to share.  For now, please take to heart this summary message — I cannot stress enough the importance of having a network where you can SHARE, RETREAT, and RECHARGE.

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