Jan. 29-Feb. 4
STAFF The beginning of the year is a great time to do cross training as staff are more receptive to new concepts. Draw up a schedule for training on sales, customer service, managed plans, new equipment … whatever needs attention (and is allowed by state law). And never worry again that a critical employee will suddenly leave or fall sick.
CUSTOMER SERVICE Show your eyecare expertise by adding a monthly tip for better eye health to your website.
Feb. 5-11
STRATEGY Embark on a strategic review. Look at what your competitors are doing and learn from them, both the good and the bad. Visit their stores and websites, subscribe to their newsletters, and assign someone to clip or screenshot their ads and create a scrapbook. This will keep you up to date on trends and, at a glance, what everyone else is advertising, discounting, and featuring. With this knowledge you’ll be able identify what areas to compete in and how to differentiate your store in your ads.
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DISPLAY Starting with your V-Day displays, keep a record of your cases from now on. Take a photo of each case the first of every month. With a history of it, you’ll know what Valentine’s Day 2022 looked like when it comes around to doing the display in 2023.
Feb. 12-18
IN-STORE Winter drags on … but you can get a jump on spring with fresh flowers in your store.
DATA Do a manual backup of all your patient, customer and financial records and store it offsite. Your system should be doing this automatically but if there’s a catastrophe you’ll need some sort of record to start rebuilding.
STAFF Do you have guidelines for handling complaints? If not, get busy. As much as possible, empower your team to make decisions without you.
Feb. 19-25
CUSTOMER SERVICE Fill up that appointment book! Find out when local schools have spring break and call families. Encourage them to take advantage of the time off school to get their kids in for eye exams.
OPERATIONS As great as it is to offer a wide range of products, dealing with too many labs is inefficient and expensive. Re-evaluate lab costs and lens choices; there may be new wholesale options that have entered the market since your last review.
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