Oct. 31-Nov. 6
PLANNING November and December are key planning months for many ECPs. Draft an agenda and start thinking of targets: Could you increase awareness among local pharmacies about the urgent eyecare services you offer? Keep the final list short and give yourself plenty of time to achieve your goals.
Nov. 7-13
INVENTORY Investigate vendor spiffs. Your suppliers want their lines to succeed in the upcoming holiday season, so take advantage of the incentives they offer.
OPERATIONS Fine-tune your schedules. HSA and FSA spending brings in a lot of revenue at this time of year and you want your doctors in for those extra hours, or at least squeezing in extra exams.
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Nov. 14-20
MANAGEMENT Schedule some breaks from your business. Even during the busy holiday season, you’ve got to have time to relax. Include “me time” in your daily schedule. And don’t forgo holiday celebrations. Find a way to make it work.
OPERATIONS Update your local pages on Google, Facebook, etc. to ensure they reflect any longer store hours or other special services over the holidays. Add terms such as “holiday hours” and “holiday sales” to your meta descriptions to give your web pages a better chance of ranking above those of the competition.
Nov. 21-27
OPERATIONS Your parking lot is often the first impression your business makes. Is it clean? Does your staff take the best spots?
SALES One month until Christmas. It’s time to roll out this year’s spiffs for your salespeople. It doesn’t have to be a cash bonus, says sales trainer Harry Friedman. Sometimes a “get out of” card for an unpleasant duty is enough.
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Nov. 28-Dec. 4
SELF CARE Get your nails done (that goes for the guys, too). The perception of hygiene is paramount in vision care, right down to the tips of your fingers.
SECURITY Holiday season means a busier store. Alert staff to be on the lookout for pickpockets, distraction gangs and thieves. Check security cameras.