Dr. Cargo (right as you look at photo) with his Bausch + Lomb sales representative, Aaron Zack. Dr. Cargo says his relationships with reps have helped him find ways to better serve patients while cutting costs and boosting profitability.
How one practice worked with reps to cut costs, increase sales & add a new product.
By Jonathan Cargo, OD
Jan. 17, 2024
It’s easy to think of vendor sales representatives solely as people who visit your office trying to sell you things. While it’s true that these individuals want to sell to you, it’s also true that they can be invaluable resources as business development consultants.
Here is how we work with our vendor reps to better serve patients, reduce costs and increase profitability.
Why to Think of Vendor Reps as Business Development Consultants
Vendors such as frame representatives, equipment representatives and contact representatives can serve as business development consultant (BDC), in addition to their sales roles.
BDCs can bring added value to our practice by collaborating with our office’s decision-makers to create success strategies. They can help us set goals and track metrics on our progress working toward those goals.
Let Your Reps Know that You Value their Guidance
It’s important that instead of a sales-centric approach, the BDC adopt a consultative stance, and that the practice owner be open to listening to their input on how their products are presented and sold. Both the optometrist and BDC should cultivate a relationship based on trust and professionalism.
The BDC should demonstrate a genuine interest in the success of the practice and maintain open communication channels to follow-up regularly to make sure our needs our met. It is important that the BDC tailor their solutions to meet the specific requirements of each individual practice.
When I meet with a new vendor I let them know that I expect more than just sales information, and challenge them to bring more to the table. I ask them to bring insights and ideas that they’ve seen bring success to other practices. We want our reps to challenge us to be better everyday.
Communicate Frequently
We interact with our BDC similarly to how we connect with the rest of our team. Generally, face-to-face works best when discussing detailed and in-depth concepts, however as the relationship continues, our interactions sometimes become less formal with e-mails and or text messages.
Just like in our personal lives, if we need a quick response, or just a notification, text messages work best. Sometimes, though, more information needs to be delivered and e-mails work best for attaching sales trends, forecasts and goals.
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Find Opportunities to Cut Costs
Early in my practice, when I didn’t have a strong focus on my contact-lens prescribing, one of my contact-lens vendors told me that if I would be radically different, I could have radical success! This intrigued me, and I listened.
At the time, I used all four major manufactures and I didn’t have a prescribing strategy. She showed me the value of consolidating my prescribing to one or two manufacturers and the added profit that I would achieve in the process through reduced costs of goods.
I selected her manufacturer and we worked together to create a strategy and monitored it for success. The result was exceptional. We had costs of goods savings of over $50,000 in the first year alone! When we meet now, I constantly ask what I could do better. I challenge her because it’s my expectation that she continues to bring new ideas to our meetings. Our reps are constantly in other practices seeing great ideas implemented. We as optometrists rarely get this opportunity.
Click HERE to read more about how Dr. Cargo reduced costs in the contact-lens area of his practice.
Get Customized Solutions Created for Your Team
Two years ago, we purchased the Neurolens Measuring Device so that we could better address our patients’ symptoms and complaints related to misaligned eyes. We had a lot of excitement and enthusiasm when we first got the device, but due to staffing changes, our capture rate began to decline. At about the same time, we got a new Neurolens representative assigned to our office. Neurolens is different than most other products because it’s a piece of equipment that allows to you to prescribe an optical lens. So, there is a technical component to using the device and an optical and sales component to providing the prescribed product.
Our new rep spent half the day with our team learning about the challenges and problems we had, and shadowed several team members to uncover any blind spots in our delivery of care. She then created a customized solution for our team and presented it at a team meeting. Since the meeting, she continues to follow-up with us making sure we’re on target to exceed the goals we set during the training process. As a result, our sales of Neurolens doubled from before our training!
Find Out When Your Approach Is NOT a Good Idea
Prior to starting my private practice, I had a sublease next to a Lenscrafters location. We tried to differentiate ourselves by excluding Luxottica products from our optical gallery. One of my frame vendors provided me with sound council, educating me that Ray-Ban is the number one frame brand by volume that patients are seeking. By excluding it from our offering we were not only losing the sale of that specific frame, but an entire optical sale. We changed our strategy with this information, our capture rate increased and Ray-Ban was, and still is, our best seller.
Jonathan Cargo, OD, is the owner of Cargo Eye Care, a Vision Source practice in Irving, Texas. To contact him: drcargo@cargoeyecare.com
