Apr. 30 – May 6
DISPLAYS Position your best Mother’s Day (May 14) specials in a showcase a little back from the front door. Offer a range of price points but simplify the selection process by highlighting a few classic women’s frames or current trends.
OPERATIONS The four-day week is becoming a key recruitment tool, especially in Europe. Academy Vision in Pine Beach, NJ, has been experimenting with something similar for a while. “We take off the majority of Fridays through the summer for 3-day weekends. We do extend our hours the other days. The staff appreciates it and our patients understand it,” says owner Dr. Marc Ullman. Could you do something similar?
May 7-13
MARKETING The school year is drawing to a close and graduation is rapidly approaching. Place “Congratulations Class of 2023” signs in your windows. See if your high school or local college has advertising options in their graduation bulletins or final editions of school newspapers.
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May 14-20
TRAINING Summer is a great time to send your staff (or yourself!) for additional training — e.g. seminars, camps, summer courses. Start reading up on some of your options. Could you, for example, take a frame-making course?
OPERATIONS What gets monitored gets managed. If you don’t already, set up a system to track your most important KPIs including remakes, lab bills, optical spending in general, lens stats, and capture rate on a daily, monthly and yearly basis. “Tracking has helped to show my boss how the day-to-day really works in optical and has helped me to illustrate the growth of the optical in a very easy to update and understand format,” says Tiffany Firer, operations manager at Lifetime Eyecare, Jenison, MI.
May 21-27
OPERATIONS Step outside your store. Through your windows assess the visuals, displays, but mostly watch some customer-associate interactions. It’s amazing how much more you can observe without sound.
May 28-June 3
DISPLAY Redo your frame boards and showcases to give them a fresh summery look. Replace tired florals and other décor pieces with new props that enhance new merchandise brought in for the hot season.
