(PRESS RELEASE) Safilo Group, a worldwide leader in the design, manufacturing and distribution of eyewear, kicks off a new virtual education platform this week, offering a series of educational webinars for its customers on various topics to enrich their optical practices while offices are closed or operating on limited schedules due to COVID-19.
Running the full weeks of March 23 and March 30, one new course topic will be taught daily between two and four times each day – with four sessions daily this week and repeated two times daily next week – to accommodate participants in different time zones. The lectures are led by Robin Brush, a Safilo Key Accounts Manager and an ABOC-certified optician with 25 years of optical industry experience. The courses, taught live, are being offered in English and will soon be translated to other languages in the coming weeks to make available to international customers. The courses are also being recorded to make available later for those who missed them. ABO credits are not being issued for any of the online lectures.
To attend these virtual classes, North American customers can either contact their sales representatives or sign up directly by visiting the home pages of Safilo’s b2b websites: www.mysafilo.com (USA) or www.mysafilocanada.com (Canada). Internationally, Safilo customers can contact their sales rep for sign-up details. The WebEx course topics include: Advanced Eyewear Technology; A Visual Guide to Merchandising, J.O.B.S. Program: Joint Opportunity to Believe in Staying; Multiples Mindset and Optical 411 (full course descriptions can be found on the next page).
To promote the courses, a customer eblast was sent out last Friday to Safilo North America customers which contained the WebEx links needed for course sign-up. Members of Safilo’s North American sales force are also informing customers directly. The courses are additionally being promoted daily on Safilo Group’s global Facebook page.
“During these trying times, we wanted to continue showing our gratitude and support to our customers’ practices by offering courses to enrich their education portfolio. We’ve worked diligently to create a free virtual education platform that will allow anyone within one of our customer’s practices to access the courses, even if their offices are closed temporarily,” said Steve Wright, Safilo North America’s president and chief commercial officer. “The classes were developed initially, with Safilo North America customers in mind, while many are at home this week and practicing social distancing. However, we decided to make the courses available internationally as believe this program can be beneficial to all Safilo customers around the globe,” added Wright.
Course descriptions:
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1. Advanced Eyewear Technology:
Learn the anatomy and proper names for eyewear. Details and fitting examples of why different nose pads, bridges, temples and frame fronts are used to make eyewear. Learn about the different materials that eyewear is made from and why different materials are used and benefits to the patients.
2. A Visual Guide to Merchandising:
Define visual merchandising as related to optical; learn how to apply visual merchandising to your optical for brand story telling; learn how the Pantone color of the year influences our world of retail and understanding merchandising secrets and customer behaviors.
3. J.O.B.S. Program: Joint Opportunity to Believe in Staying:
In this course, you will learn how to involve the entire office staff in the process of making the sale. Each department will have defined responsibilities that educate and layer the selling process for the patient. You will also learn the art of seamless transition from patient to retail customer. Interpreting the prescription for lens and frame sales. Multiple pair sales will be your new normal and understanding and defusing sales objections will not be a problem.
4. Multiples Mindset:
Selling multiple pairs is a mindset! How can you expect an optician to sell multiple pairs or sell luxury if they’ve never experienced that personally? In this course, we will dive into the mindset of the optician getting to the bottom of why they don’t sell multiples. Also, we’ll be learning techniques to use as their managers to promote a multiples environment and culture.
5. Optical 411:
In this course, you will understand the importance of being a good steward of the numbers in your optical. Frame return rate and frame turn ratio, why are they critical to the profitability of your business? Inventory management and how to analyze the data. Discover the two best methods for ordering frames to achieve the profitable numbers. Six easy steps to efficient sales rep appointments and tracking your orders and returns.
