Palmer N. Lee, OD
SYNOPSIS
Trunk shows create excitement, draw in new patients and generate optical sales. Plan, promote and market well–and boost practice revenues in a single day.
ACTION POINTS
CALCULATE ROI. Trunk show can bring in up to $15,000 revenues in one day. By comparison, the average practice with the office open 250 days/year generates $2,000-$2,700/day.
CREATE DEEP BRAND EXCITEMENT. Set up tables for different frame vendors to showcase merchandise–and have frames rep help present.
MARKET EVENT. Have opticians call patients they have sold eyewear to in the past.
Trunk shows allow you to show off new merchandise, the latest styles and exclusive offerings, so patients stop and pay closer attention–and make a purchase. Planned well, a trunk show can be a revenue-generator, and even bring new patients into your practice.
The advertisement Dr. Palmer’s practice used to promote a trunk show last December, as seen on the practice’s Facebook page.
Gauge Potential ROI
We typically average around $15,000 in revenues for each of our quarterly trunk shows, and we usually spend about $100 in fliers and another $100-$150 in refreshments.
Some 30-60 patients usually stop by our office during trunk shows.
Enable Patients to Go In-Depth on Brands
In our trunk shows, patients visit different vendor tables to preview frames. Our opticians work with the vendors to personalize style for individual patients, pointing out what might look good on each patient. We have refreshments such as fruit, cheese and crackers, brownies/cookies, coffee and water. We have raffle prizes that are donated by vendors, and offer a discount on all promoted products
Plan Early
We start planning our quarterly trunk shows in January. It usually takes three to six months to secure desired vendors and dates. Our marketing director works with me and the office managers for each of our three locations to plan the events.
Decide Which Days and Times Work Best
We have found that Saturday 10 am-2 pm works best for most locations, as people are out of work and school during those days and times. However, we have a location close to corporate buildings that does well with week-night events.
Market the Event
We promote our trunk shows by creating a flier (in-house design) and distribute it to patients coming into the office within one month of the event. We task our opticians with calling their key patients and personally inviting them to the trunk show. Our Facebook pages and web site promote the event. We also send e-blasts and reminders to all of the patients in our e-mail database. For some of our locations we post fliers in nearby businesses.
Highest-Spending Patients Targeted
We target all patients with e-mails for most of our trunk shows, but call and personally invite our “best,” or highest-spending patients. If there is a special focus for a show, we target specific customers. For example, for “Diva Night,” we targeted our female customers. Other trunk show themes include Red Carpet, Fall Fashion, Winter Spectacular and Spring.
Organize Staff for Event
Staff really helps to generate excitement for our trunk shows. We try to modify staff schedules throughout the week to help offset overtime hours whenever possible. We have optician staff from our other two locations come in to help staff the trunk show. Two or three additional opticians are usually sufficient. Since we are usually open and seeing patients during our trunk shows, we already have two front desk staff working to greet and queue patients. The marketing director helps to maintain the overall flow of the event and coordinates the raffle and refreshments. The office manager is on hand to help with staffing and keeping the opticians on task. The doctors attend the event and assist with frame styling. It is absolutely all hands on deck.
Related ROB Articles & Videos
How to Succeed with a Trunk Show
Elements of a Successful Trunk Show
Trunk Show : Plan Well and Reap the Benefits
Palmer N. Lee, OD, is the owner of EYEcenter Optometric in Citrus Heights, Calif. To contact: drpalmerlee@gmail.com
