WEEK 1 MAY 12-16
FINANCES Maybe your fixed costs aren’t as fixed as you think. Analyze every contract — from the water cooler company to your neighborhood banker — and look for places to curb costs. Lease coming up? Keep an eye on traffic. It’s a good figure to wield in negotiations with your landlord.
STAFF Set a summer work schedule. If you’re busiest during the fall and winter, make summer prime time for staff vacations.
WEEK 2 MAY 19-23
MERCHANDISING Have you made space for impulse purchases? Put some low-priced, appealing “splurchandise” — think cases, chains and cleaning cloths — by your cash register and rack up some additional income.
ADVERTISING Graduation season is here. Place “Congratulations Class of 2014” signs in your windows. See if local high schools or colleges have advertising options in their graduation programs or final editions of school newspapers. Eyewear gift certificates help job-hunting grads see their future more clearly!
WEEK 3 MAY 26-30
STAFF INCENTIVES Motivate staff with a contest to win an extra paid day off during the summer months.
WEBSITE Make sunwear and summer eyewear colors the focus of your home page now.
WEEK 4 JUNE 2-6
EDUCATION Grab the notes you took during educational sessions at Vision Expo East and start implementing some of the great ideas you learned.
MARKETING Father’s Day is June 15. Start website promos for stylish readers; gift certificates for progressive lenses; and performance eyewear for golf, boating, hunting, etc.
WEEK 5 JUNE 9-13
NETWORKING Try networking with other eyecare professionals. Join online groups such as ODs on Facebook and Optiboard.com to see how your peers are faring elsewhere in the country.
PREPAREDNESS Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1 and ends on Nov. 30. If recent years have taught us anything, it’s that a generator is a wise investment.
WEEK 6 JUNE 16-20
STORE Check your air-conditioning.Turn it on full-blast and stand in front of it for one minute. If icicles form in your nose, that means your coolant is in good shape and your customers will find your business a comfortable refuge during the sweltering months ahead. If not, call to have your air conditioner serviced.
FURNISHINGS Need any new office furniture? Now’s a good time to pick some up — showrooms are making room for new lines that come out in August.
WEEK 7 JUNE 23-27
SERVICES Print new business cards with a special introductory discount offer on them.
STORE Update your in-store DVD loop. For a change, forget the promotional videos and run something that’s got nothing to do with selling at all — Finding Nemo, maybe, or some surfing clips. Get people in the summer mood.
WEEK 8 JUNE 30-JULY 4
INTERNET Check your website. Is your telephone number easy to find?
INVENTORY School’s out! And ironically, that’s the signal for you to start preparing for the time when school’s back in. Begin searching for your back-to-school specials — the must-have optical frames that all the high-school and college types will need.