By Daniel E. Quon, OD
Strong partnerships with vendors can improve service, efficiency and profitability. Tap the expertise of your vendor reps to help you manage and build your practice.
The relationships you establish with vendors who supply your practice with products such as frames, contact lenses, medication and instrumentation are essential to your success. It is the ability of these vendors to deliver quality products on time that determines whether you will be able to provide for the needs of your patients. The efficiency of vendors also impacts practice success as patient satisfaction often depends on a pair of eyeglasses or an annual supply of contact lenses arriving just when they need it. Similarly, you want to be able to reach for a medication in your office without having to worry about needing to place an order for it to be delivered days later.
>>CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD PDF of DR. QUON’s VENDOR LOG WORKSHEET which facilitates evaluation of vendors>>
Optometric Alliances:
Your Vendor Management Partner
With the current trend toward medical optometry increasing as a profit center in independent optometry, I would strongly advise private practice practitioners to consider optometric alliances such as Primary Eyecare Network (PEN) where fees are based on your wholesale purchases and PEN’s incentive program returns a percentage of your administrative fees to you (see below).
The best thing about PEN is that you have confidence that the organization is dedicated to preserving the profession of independent optometry!
PEN Members enjoy rebate programs through Vistakon, VSP in conjunction with Marchon Eyewear and Altair Eyewear, Luxottica Group, Hoya Vision Care, Essilor Laboratories and Carl Zeiss Vision, and PEN is working every day to add to that list in order to become your “Rebate Headquarters.”
PEN’s incentive programs can help you earn an annual live check equal to:
1 percent of your total yearly purchases when you average $6,000 or more in monthly purchases.
0.5 percent of yearly purchases when you average $4,000-$5,999 in monthly purchases.
You can easily set up an appointment with a PEN account representative who will analyze your current purchases and make recommendations to help you reach your goal by calling 800-444-9230.
Any residual funds left over from the administrative fees are used to fund PEN’s annual event–PIO (Preserving Independent Optometry), PEN’s Regional Small Group Meetings, Educational Services for Doctors and Staff, Insurance Credentialing & Medical Billing Services and PEN Publications (guidebooks and forms).
My definition of a key vendor is a supplier who is willing to commit to providing the best service and pricing that supports my business. In turn, I provide them with the best opportunity for our office to maximize their services and products. In optometry it is critical for your financial success that you have vendors you can count on to develop this two-way relationship. Here is how my practice forges and maintains these relationships.
Optometric Alliance Can Help You Evaluate Vendors
My optometric alliance, Primary Eyecare Network (PEN) evaluates all their listed vendors, and if there are questionable business relationships, they do not approve having the vendor’s name listed. I have confidence that PEN vendors have proven records of great service and reliability.
If they are on the PEN Vendor List, then I know they have already gone through evaluations by fellow PEN members before they have been admitted to PEN’s vendor list.
Plus, Do Your Own Homework Prior to Signing On with Vendor
I have the vendor fill out my Optical Vendor Registration Log if they are a frame vendor and ask for a list of references from fellow optometrists in the local area. If the reference is an optometrist I know, I make a quick call to see how they do business.
The Optical Vendor Registration Log states upfront the vendor’s business policies and commitment to us. If they are not willing to be our “partner” in business, then it may not be a good fit for a long-term business relationship.
Introduce Vendor (and Their Products) to Staff
Our vendors are invited to introduce their products to our entire staff during one of our weekly staff meetings to describe the features and benefits of their product. This allows the entire staff to understand everything about their product and how to best explain the features and benefits of a vendor’s particular product, whether it be an ophthalmic frame line, ophthalmic lens product, contact lens, or medical supply. If my staff embraces the medical and optical information provided, my prescribed treatment recommendations to my patients are easily reinforced to obtain compliance. With ophthalmic frames, the more my staff is familiar with a vendor’s entire merchandise and service line, the easier it is to promote and sell that product line.
No OD Is An Island: Lean On Your Vendors
I believe an “old school” writer by the name of Ernest Hemingway correctly stated in the novel, For Whom The Bell Tolls: “No man is an island himself; every man is a piece of the continent.” For independent optometry to survive, we must develop a relationship with our vendors for a mutually synergistic relationship. Unlike some of the larger retail chains, independent optometrists place the ocular welfare of the patient above the need for multi-million dollar revenue gain. With many smaller quality vendors also trying to promote a great product against larger corporations, it seems natural to form a partnership to gain together.
A great example of this was my need to help my aging patient base with a solution for dry eyes. Oasis Medical came to my aid providing a solution for my patients whom I normally would direct to a drugstore to buy a bottle of over-the-counter artificial tears or prescribe an ophthalmic prescription containing cyclosporine. Now I can provide a product that is arguably superior to the OTC artificial tears, complement the cyclosporine prescription, provide noticeably symptomatic relief for the patient, and as a side benefit, I gain revenue from a great product that would not have happened if the patient purchased it from the drugstore. Additionally, I was able to negotiate with my Oasis rep 30- to 60-day terms for several cases of solutions–i.e. Oasis Tears, Oasis Tears Plus, and Oasis Tears Multi-dose–which I could not keep in stock but was not able to pay for all of the cases within the usual 30 days.
Daniel E. Quon, OD
Costa Mesa, Calif.
Southern California College of Optometry
Class of 1974
Practice History
Founded in 1979 in the prestigious South Coast Plaza Shopping Center of Orange County and relocated to my current non-retail location in March of 2005. I went from a large office of about 3,000 sq. ft. of retail space and a staff of 12, to about 1,500 sq. ft. of office space and a support staff of five.
Doctors
1 full-time; one part-time
Comprehensive Examinations
1,500 annually
Annual Revenues
$1 million
Respect is Reciprocated
If you treat vendors with respect and generosity it is almost always reciprocated. I cannot count the number of times a vendor’s rep would go out of their way to bring a frame from their own frame sample collection to resolve a back-order situation. The same goes for the ophthalmic surfacing laboratories, where a rep would deliver a rush job. These instances of good-will and reciprocity are remembered especially at the end of the year when I host my annual holiday celebration party. I host a dinner at an elegant restaurant and invite my top vendor’s representatives of that year as my guests. This is my way of thanking them for their help and support in making my year successful. The last two years I have proudly hosted our holiday party at the Newport Beach Tennis Club Restaurant and provided a fun-filled evening with Casino Night entertainment that included prizes and gifts.
Establish Protocol For When There’s A Problem
When we have difficulties with a vendor’s product, my initial discussion is with the rep. If the initial discussions do not result in a satisfactory resolution, then I initiate discussions with the rep’s immediate supervisor. If the vendor is part of a buying group, I report the unsatisfactory service issues to the buying group to see if it improves the vendor’s performance. If the vendor’s performance remains unsatisfactory, we just minimize business with that vendor and utilize an alternative vendor.
Don’t Burn Bridges
Burning bridges is not recommended because you never know what products that vendor may have in the future that could be an outstanding performer. Or, the current vendor you use goes through a period of poor service, necessitating you to go back to a previously underperforming vendor who has resolved their service issues.
Unfortunately, when dealing with frame vendors, a key component in the relationship is the vendor’s representative and your buyer (typically the office manager or optical manager). If the vendor’s representative follows through on all the promises made (especially on the Optical Vendor Log) and accurately fulfills orders as agreed with our buyer, there are fewer problems. However, cognizant of the fact that vendor’s representatives are heavily commissioned by the amount of sales, some representatives will add a few frames to an order to “pad” their commission. When frame orders are placed, the filled orders are scrutinized against the original order. If discrepancies are found, then these are pointed out to the vendor’s representatives immediately to correct. Future re-occurrences of “padding” orders destroy the goodwill and trust to a point that re-orders becomes difficult. The optical industry is small and these vendor’s representatives tend to get “recycled” by leaving one vendor and going to another vendor. Unfortunately, these same individuals tend to re-visit the same behavior pattern of “padding “orders with their new vendor. In our office, these individuals are avoided for future transactions.
Another undesirable scenario is when a vendor’s frame representative refuses to take back merchandise that they initially sold to us. These representatives would give us excuses and rationalizations that could have been resolved with proper merchandise education to inform and regularly re-educate/motivate my staff on their frame line’s features, benefits and marketing uniqueness. If a frame representative truly wants to have their merchandise sell through our office, we have the patient clientele and sale savvy to promote most ophthalmic frame products. The individual vendor’s frame representatives that refuse to take back merchandise fall into our un-official avoidance list.
Related ROB Articles
Optometric Alliances: A Primary OD and Staff Education Tool
Frame Inventory ROI: Track and Measure Proven Worth
Ramp Up Staff Education by Inviting Reps to Staff Meetings
Daniel E. Quon, OD, is the owner of South Coast Optometry in Costa Mesa, Calif. To contact him: drquon@gmail.com
