Opticians For Your Eyes Only

Opticianry is defined by how well the eyewear makes contact with the patient.
All Opticianry is local. Eyeglass consumers need and deserve the following:
a) Optician-assisted, in-depth lifestyle interview;
b) Optician-assisted, design and selection;
c) Handcrafted, form-fitting eyewear;
d) Free lifetime adjustments and
minor repair services, none of
which are available online.

Opticians must assume responsibility for loss of market share.
Our gradual drift from hands-on services over several decades is
what has contributed directly to our loss of market share, today. We
can't be any more disconnected from hands-on service than the Internet.
The consumer didn't demand or cause this outcome. Opticians abdicated
their direct connection, vis-a-vis insufficient form-fitting eyewear training.
Opticians traded away direct, personal contact as providers of health care
services to PATIENTS for marketing merchandise to CUSTOMERS. Our focus is
now more on Selling than it is on Serving. Opticians must regain the lost balance.
The future of Opticianry is quite literally and figuratively in the hands of Opticians.
It's incumbent on those skilled Opticians who know to teach those who do not know.
And it is just as equally incumbent on those who do not know to surrender their ego.

There's a big disparity today in the quality of
eyeglass dispensing services whether online or offline.

An optical dispensary is a health and wellness facility where Opticians
practice 3-D Dispensing, conscientious Discovery, Design, and Delivery
of prescription eyewear, and where the Patient's needs always comes first.

Many optical outlets are 'ready-to-wear' stores where
eyewear merchants sell 'one-size-fits-all' merchandise.
This environment has prostituted the practice of Opticianry.

POINTS TO PONDER

All Opticianry is local.

"What do Dentists, Manicurists, Hairstylists and Opticians
all have in common? They have to make personal, direct,
tactile contact with consumers while dispensing services.
When Opticians do not touch the consumer at the time
they dispense their eyewear, they're acting more as
unskilled eyeglass merchants than as Opticians."

"When Opticians relate to consumers as Customers,
it often has an adverse impact on the relationship.
When Consumers order their prescription eyewear, they
should invariably be served as Patients, never Customers.
Patients receive healthcare. Customers receive merchandise."

"The real challenge for any Optician is to handcraft a symmetrically
4-point squared device to fit an asymmetrically shaped surface."

"Opticianry is ultimately defined by how well the eyewear makes
contact with the Patient, not by the number of customers served.
Therefore, a conscious, precise, and personalized process of frame
selection, lens design, and in-place, hands-on fitting is required. In too
many cases unrealistically excessive sales goals override the Optician's
mission of providing professional healthcare, whereby the personalized,
custom fitting of eyewear is given only the most minor consideration, if any."

"Dentists, Manicurists and Hairstylists make direct, tactile contact with the
consumer. Likewise, Opticians must make direct contact with the Patient.
Hands-on-the-Patient Opticians, can determine by sense of touch how a
frame feels even in lieu of asking the Patient. Only an eyeglass merchant
routinely hands over prescription glasses with no hands-on assessment,
nor the appropriate ‘touch and feel’ required to custom fit the eyewear."

"The closer providers are to the Patient, i.e., laying hands directly on
the Patient, the more professionally they tend to act in the interest
of the Patient. The further providers are located from point of
service, the less likely they are to act in the Patient's interest."

"Today's Retail Optical paradigm needs a long overdue shift to the point
of serving Healthcare Patients, as opposed to serving Retail Customers.
Only then can Opticians be seen as Healthcare Professionals, instead
of mere merchants. When we relate to consumers as Customers it has
an adverse impact on our relationship. When consumers get prescription
eyewear, they should invariably be served as Patients, never as Customers.
Patients receive Healthcare. Customers receive Merchandise. Just making
this simple, basic change in our mindset will have a very positive impact on
the way we deliver our Healthcare services. See ServingVersusSelling.com."

"Man's purpose is to serve. Service is an intrinsic value, not a
value to be added. Those institutions that are of the Piscean Age
persuasion whereby success is measured by money must now adopt
the Aquarian Age paradigm, 'To serve is to succeed,' or soon disappear."

Factoid

Patients deserve a pleasant experience.
Patients deserve as much time as they need.
Patients deserve custom fitted prescription eyewear.

'Professional Egotism'

There are a number of conflicted forces at work within the ophthalmic dispensing industry, which keep us from making progress. The two biggest are:

.) We have not yet effectively dealt with the reality that the majority of current dispensers are woefully under trained and extremely challenged when it comes to handcrafting prescription eyewear. For instance, I know senior Opticians who attend Optical Workshops who are unable to adequately customize eyewear directly on a Patient. (The number one complaint by prescription eyewear consumers is they are unable to acquire well-fitting eyewear.)

.) There's also a lot of what I call professional egotism and shaktipad (see NOTES* below), whereby many 'Opticians' are unable to admit, either through ignorance or antipathy, that they really do not know how to adjust eyewear, i.e., handcraft eyewear directly on a patient. Many only think they know and take umbrage when challenged. They have convinced themselves that they need no more training because they've been adjusting frames for years, and they see no need to change.

Regarding this 'professional egoism' issue, we suggest that we ask this question of those dispensers who claim they already know how to fit eyewear, and those who claim that they have been working as an Optician for several years. "Have you had any formal training in handcrafting eyewear directly on the consumer?"

The problem is that many folks are self-taught, and most of those who came up as apprentices were taught by dispensers who have had no formalized hands-on the consumer, frame-adjustment training.

This decades-old history is the main reason, not price, that Opticianry as a profession has lost, and continues to lose market share.

Therefore it is incumbent on those who know to teach those who do not know. And it is incumbent on those who do not know to surrender their ego. OpticalGuidelines.com

*NOTES:

EGOTISM is the feeling or belief that one is better, more important, more talented, etc., than other people.

SHAKTIPAD is a state of egotism in which an optical dispenser is far less experienced, knows far less than they think they know, and who fails to acknowledge it. The worst case scenario is the optician who falls into the trap of convincing themselves and others that only they know the best way, and that the old ways need to change. Beware of the 'tiger's bite'! Shaktipad is a consequence of 'riding the tiger' of pride. One must ever be alert to the signs of shaktipad in order to take appropriate action. In the case of an optical dispenser in the state of shaktipad, the remedy is to seek out practical training with the attitude of a perpetual student, i.e., one who surrenders their ego, realizes that learning never stops, and that one can always improve their skills. See Ego Eradicator.

PREFACE

"The eyecare industry needs to strike a better
balance between sales goals and healthcare delivery."

OpticiansForThePeople.com is devoted to the principle that the prescription eyewear Consumer is best served only when they receive competent, 3-Dimesional Dispensing services, i.e., in-depth Discovery, bias-free Design, and hands-on Delivery of eyewear from a skilled Dispenser. In other words, Consumers deserve a) a full discovery in-depth lifestyle interview, b) comprehensive design of lenses and frame, and c) hands-on, in place, on-the-face delivery of service including multi-dimensional, handcrafted, form-fitted eyewear. Anything less is unacceptable. See Letter to Eye Care Professionals.

Independent Opticians Do It Better

Corporate retailers refuse to repair eyewear.
Their policy: Replace. Do not repair.

Too many retail optical stores owe their allegiance to stockholders, not Consumers. Ophthalmic consumers are better served in most cases by Independent Optical Dispensaries, whose Opticians tend to be more caring and experienced, more flexible with their policies, and more inclined to put service ahead of sales, and prudence ahead of profit since they serve the consumer directly with more accountability for their actions. See GlassesOnlineWarning.com. See Common Complaints and Causes. See 50 Things On Line Sellers Simply Cannot Do. See Find a skilled Optician in your area.

As senior, independent Ophthalmic Healthcare Providers, we are interested in sharing our experience as dispensers of prescription eyewear. If you are a Consumer who recognizes the decades-old decline in dispensing skills and you need any assistance, please contact us here.

The Open Letter to the American consumer, which follows, presents a 'Bird's eye' view of a) the business model in use today by many Retail Optical Dispensaries; b) the conflicted relationship between experienced Opticians and many Retail Managers and Executives; c) the retailing practices, which have led to a steep and steady decline in the practical design and up-close-and-personal, and on-the-face delivery of custom-fitted, prescription eyewear; d) practical remedies.

The opinions and conclusions are based first, on our direct observation and experience, and second, on the first hand testimonials of Patients with whom we have had the opportunity of serving. And they are presented with the hope that consumers will resonate and be inspired and motivated to demand improvements in the training of Opticians. Note: An abbreviated version of the Open Letter appears in the November 2009 edition of Eye Care Professional Magazine.

Open Letter To Consumers

First, a brief personal history about Hari Singh Bird, Optician, the author of this narrative. Mr. Bird's career as an Optician began following active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps and his subsequent employment with an American Optical Company Branch Laboratory in 1958. He spent more than 2 years in all phases of Laboratory operations as a Lab Technician, which included hand surfacing, power generation, hand stone and automatic edging, bench work, finishing, final inspection and hands-on-the-Patient custom fitting.** (At that time AO and B&L, Bausch and Lomb, laboratories dispensed eyewear to the public at the request of eye care practitioners, i.e., MD's and OD's. See OpticianryToday.com for additional background.) Mr. Bird then became the Manager of an AO Branch Laboratory, and later a Sales Rep for American Optical lenses, frames, and ophthalmic instruments. He subsequently returned to Ophthalmic Dispensing with a joint MD-OD practice. He holds active Dispensing Optician licenses in Florida and Arizona. He is also ABO, American Board of Opticianry, and NCLE, National Contact Lens Examiners, certified. He is a current member of POF, Professional Opticians of Florida, and he has several years experience as the owner of an independent, privately operated Ophthalmic Dispensary, and more recently as a Licensed Optician for a retail optical chain. See DispensingGuidelines.com.

MAIN ISSUES

.) Many Optical Retailers are well positioned in the marketplace, but few are ready to be America's 'Premier' Vision Care Provider. Many of them employ a business model that works well for marketing general merchandise. But an Optical Dispensary is different. Like a Pharmacy or Health Clinic, an Optical Dispensary is a Healthcare Facility where prescription eyewear is designed, fitted and serviced. It is not a strictly mercantile sales facility. The comparison can be likened to the difference between a retail outlet where only stuff is sold to Customers versus a Health and Wellness Eye Care Dispensary where prescription visual devices are designed and custom-fitted on Patients. (The concept lost in today's retail optical market is that an Optician's mission is more for the purpose of Serving than for Selling. See ServingVersusSelling.com. See To serve is to succeed.)

"Once today's Retail Optical paradigm is upgraded to that of serving
Vision Care Patients, as opposed to just serving retail customers, the
Optician becomes Health Care Provider as opposed to mere merchant."

An aspiring 'Premier' Vision Care Provider must focus on a) ongoing practical training of Staff, b) highest standards of care for Patients, c) inclusion of qualified Opticians in upper management positions, d) sensitivity to Patients' eye care needs, and e) realistic sales goals.

Consumers expect Opticians to be more Health Care Professionals than merchants.
What professional health care delivery would you expect to find at this online store?

"When's the last time you saw or heard a retail optical
store promote the custom fitting of eyewear? Could this
be because they don't know how to custom-fit eyewear?
Could it be that the staff only knows how to sell glasses?"

.) There is an acute need for many Optical Dispensaries, including those associated with US government agencies, to acquire 1) adequate workspace and staffing, and 2) the expanded and ongoing training of staff that includes practical, i.e., Hands on the Patient training, which includes a) the Full Discovery Lifestyle Interview; b) Customized Frame Fitting and Adjustment Techniques; c) familiarity with both the lensometer and a wider range of dispensing hand tools; d) working knowledge of optical laboratory operations, e.g., Layout, Surfacing, Finishing and Final Inspection practices; e) working knowledge of the Ophthalmic Refraction, and f) adequate training in contact lens care and Patient compliance.

"Many Retail Optical Executives and Managers have no
experience in Opticianry or Ophthalmic Dispensing. In one
organization, only 1 of 43 Regional Managers is an Optician.
In contrast, the CEO of Walgreens Drugs is a Pharmacist."

.) Some corporate Executives and Managers within the retail optical industry, some with MBA's as their only prior experience, tend to make decisions that adversely impact an acceptable standard of vision care. Some are focused too exclusively on their career advancement as Managers, while promoting unrealistically excessive sales goals and requiring interminable amounts of paperwork and reports from subordinates. This in turn interferes with the practice of Opticianry, and the delivery of quality healthcare. See 1Plus1Equals11.com.

"The conflicted relationship between Professional Opticians and
Retail Management can be likened to the current relationship
between Medical Practitioners and Insurance Industry HMO's."

Retail Managers who are absent Opticianry skills need sufficient training, possibly even in-house certification, in subjects such as the Lifestyle Interview, Optics and Lens Design, and Custom Fitting and Delivery of prescription eyewear, including contact lenses, BEFORE they assume any policy-making or supervisory roles. Currently, most get on-the-job training only, and their actions and decisions reflect their inexperience to the detriment of acceptable service. Again, providing professional vision care, i.e., designing, measuring, and custom-fitting prescription eyewear ON PATIENTS requires much more technical expertise and people skills than what is required to service mercantile CUSTOMERS.

"The customized fitting of eyewear involves far more than just adjusting
a nose piece or bending a temple. It has to include reshaping, bending
stretching, twisting, aligning and sculpting of the frame components
in order to personalize the eyewear. Anything less will most likely
compromise the Patient's visual comfort and long term wearability.
The difference between simply adjusting and customizing is what's
different between today's Dispensers and yesterday's Opticians."

"Patients deserve custom fitted prescription eyewear."

Contact lens fitting and Patient compliance requires attention to details.

"The most perfect prescription can be compromised if the
eyewear does not provide comfort and long term wearability."

Example: Newly purchased eyewear, including contact lenses, is routinely and casually handed over to Patients without any custom fitting of the frame directly ON the Patient, or without sufficient instructions regarding contact lens wear and Patient compliance.

Number-one Patient complaint

"Nobody adjusted my glasses. They just handed them to me."

TESTIMONIAL

Having you fit my glasses to my face, ears, and nose with exquisite care and attention to detail, making minute but essential adjustments was the best experience I have ever had of having glasses fitted to my face, during my lifetime of wearing glasses. The first time you did my glasses and your wife suggested to me that I also have my lenses tinted to gently soften the lines around my eyes was a very memorable experience. I have shared the story of the day in your Optician Shop very often whenever I try to get ‘new’ glasses. Most opticians are surprised to hear the story and also amazed that having that care and attention to detail as a part of having glasses fit properly made such a difference in my life. Having my glasses not hurt and having them fit properly was an incredible blessing. Having my glasses fit gracefully and painlessly under my turban was nothing short of a Godsend. I can honestly say that no other optician ever did such an impeccable job as you did.

I once tried to get new lenses in the glasses that you had adjusted for me. I came back to pick up the glasses and someone said to me that the optician had straightened out the bent side pieces! I was so upset! I made the optician come out and I explained what you had done for me, why you had done it and what a terrible disservice he had done by ‘straightening’ my side pieces and that he had to re-bend the side pieces back to where they had been. Needless to say, those glasses never fit the same again! After that I never changed lenses without speaking directly to the person making the lenses and making sure they knew not to change or adjust the side pieces. If you lived where I could get my glasses adjusted properly that is where I would go...

Every Patient deserves a fully personalized design and fitting of their eyewear. The fact that the frame lies on a flat surface squarely should never preclude fitting the frame directly on the Patient. This becomes obvious when after fitting a Patient with facial anomalies, the frame no longer fits squarely on a flat surface. Facial structure, the positioning of each eye and ear, the mastoid area behind each ear (see photo), all of these differ with each person. See Common Complaints and Causes. See GlassesOnlineWarning.com. See also The Final Fitting.

"For many Consumers, the personalized fitting of eyewear
by a skilled, hands-on Optician is an unfamiliar experience."

Example: Experienced Opticians are required by inexperienced Managers to reduce or even by-pass the time necessary to conduct life-style interviews, design appropriate lenses, and custom-fit prescription eyewear directly on the Patient. See How To Manage An Optical Dispensary.

"Just as a Dentist cannot practice dentistry without direct Patient contact, the
Optician cannot effectively dispense without tactile contact with the Patient.
An unskilled eyewear merchant routinely hands over prescription glasses
with no hands-on assessment, nor the appropriate ‘touch and feel’ required
to custom fit the eyewear. Hands-on-the-Patient Opticians however, determine
for themselves by sense of touch how the frame feels in lieu of asking the Patient."

Again, fitting a vision appliance on a Patient involves a different level of technical knowledge and people skills. Dispensing prescription eyewear includes many elements of craftsmanship, artistry, and Patient-Dispenser interaction along with significant technical skill and finesse in their application. All of these are key to the success of any Vision Healthcare Facility.

A well-known optical chain's list of expectations for
the purpose of recruiting dispensing staff members.

1) Greet Customers in a friendly manner and
  ensure high quality Customer service.
2) Maintain a continuous effort to obtain
      company objectives.
3) Create and maintain a retail environment
    that is fun, educational, and professional.
4) Ensure all visual merchandising is
implemented and maintained.
5) Ensure all Customer service complaints
are handled effectively and efficiently.
6) Show and recommend frames and explain
         product features and benefits to Customers.
                  7) Take optical measurements for Customer eyewear.
             8) Meet and-or exceed pre-established sales goals.

From another well-known optical employer.

1) Drive profitable store Sales by fostering a retail selling culture
by practicing and role-playing effective retail sales skills.
2) Develop professional business relationship with other Staff.
3) Fill ophthalmic eyeglass prescriptions and fit and adapt
lenses and frames, utilizing optical prescription.

Notice that these Merchandisers rank Retail Sales over Skill whereby 'Customers' are the focus. In contrast, a Vision Healthcare Facility emphasizes Skill over Merchandising whereby 'Patients' are the focus, which produces higher levels of Patient satisfaction, fewer remakes and refunds, and subsequent profitability due to increased referrals.

And here's a personal profile submitted
online by a latter day Licensed Optician.

"Licensed Optician focused on converting patients
with malfunctioning (structural integrity) and outdated
eyeglasses (quality of vision) into a sales opportunity.
Specialties: Sales, sales reports, sales goals, quality
control, insurance filing, insurance analysis, training, word
processing, building professional relationships with clients."

Again, the focus here is on a selling opportunity not a serving opportunity. Of course, merchandising is an important and necessary service, but all too often the healthcare delivery component of the Optician-Patient equation becomes secondary to the act of selling, i.e., in too many cases unrealistically excessive sales goals override the mission of providing professional healthcare, whereby personalized, custom fitting of eyewear is given only minor consideration, if any. The reality of this issue is clearly demonstrated by a steady albeit unfortunate number of unhappy Patients and the subsequent loss of revenue by way of return visits, remakes, refunds and fewer Patient referrals. See Testimonials. See Common Complaints and Causes. See ServingVersusSelling.com.

"Serve people well, and more will follow."

Well trained, hands-on Healthcare Professionals
make for satisfied and happy Patients.

Closing Words

"Of the over 67,000 Opticians designing, manufacturing and
dispensing eyewear - less than half have any formal
certification or licensure." -- U.S. Department of Labor

Several well-known Retailers have a history of financially supporting all kinds of community activities and philanthropic gifts. Their investment in the ongoing training and advancement of their Opticians is a gift that will keep on giving.

"Due to their market share, the largest Optical Retailers are
in a unique position to lead the industry in the direction
of re-humanizing the delivery of prescription eyewear."

Legacy

Much of the optical industry, as reflected in the media, is obsessed with commentary on things like frames, lenses, and sales promotions; how to pump up sales; how to sell extra pairs, etc. Very little of the mainstream media has much to do with issues like service; how we put People first; how we put Serving before Selling.

In other words the industry's emphasis is too much on THINGS, NOT PEOPLE. Because Opticianry is a very People-centered art and science, Opticians and Managers have to be devoted to giving People conscientious and caring service. See Shift Happens.

"Hands on the Patient dispensing is a soon-to-be lost art. If the trend
to the narrow and strictly retail approach to ophthalmic services continues,
a) the marketing of ready-to-wear, over-the-counter and Web-source eyewear
will continue to flourish; b) hands-on-the-Patient dispensing skills and services
will disappear; c) Patients will continue to suffer from substandard quality of
service; and d) Prescription Eyewear will continue to be delivered by an ever
increasing number of unskilled Dispensers. The fact is that many of today's
eyewear Dispensing and Delivery outlets require major upgrades in services."

For a free consultation on ways to acquire the hands-on delivery of prescription eyewear, click or call OpticiansForThePeople.com here or at 855-410-2700. We welcome consumer feedback. See our Privacy Statement.

See well.

Hari Singh Bird, Optician

NOTES

"Not all doctors are healers.
Not all healers are doctors."

A) A special note re Hands-on Custom Fitting: It seems the term 'hands-on' has different meanings among members of the optical community. Click here for our definition. For an example of what we call hands-on-the-Patient, old-fashioned design and custom fitting of prescription eyewear, click here. And for those consumers who are looking to acquire a higher standard in hands-on delivery of their prescription eyewear, please contact us here.

B) Too many retailers have a 'bottom-line-is-all-that-matters' mind set along with an attitude in which they exist only to serve company goals, not the needs of the consumer. They're not alone. Corporate America, in general, must soon deal with some heavy karma due to the public's current anger, and the public's demand for the return of more qualitative and thoughtful service with less emphasis on profits. The hope is that Optical Retailers can upgrade their thinking and focus on becoming genuine Healthcare Providers. Find a skilled Optician in your area. Check out the Eye Library With Videos.