Photo courtesy of Barbra Dey (left as you look at photo). Dey is seen here with her client, Dr. Pete Babcock of Rocky Mountain Eye Center in Montana. Dey shares tips for making the most of relationships with vendor reps.
Making vendor representatives your practice’s best friends
By Barbra Dey,
Dey Ophthalmic Consulting
June 18, 2025
Strategic vendor partnerships are essential for optical businesses seeking to stay competitive.
Vendor representatives offer valuable insights, pricing advantages and training opportunities that enhance efficiency and service quality.
Here is what I have learned about how businesses can leverage vendor expertise, reports, rebates, discounts and training to unlock new opportunities and achieve long-term success.
The Value of Vendor Expertise
Vendors serve as industry specialists, offering deep knowledge that practices can leverage to improve operations, optimize offerings and stay ahead of emerging trends.
Key benefits of vendor expertise include:
- Market Awareness – Vendors monitor industry trends and developments, offering insights on product innovations, patient/consumer behavior and technological advancements.
- Product Enhancement – Vendor expertise can refine product offerings, ensuring optical businesses provide patients with high-quality and innovative solutions.
By viewing vendors as strategic partners rather than just suppliers, businesses can strengthen their market position and leverage expertise to improve overall performance.
The Importance of Vendor Reports
Vendor reports provide vital data for strategic planning, offering insights into patient trends, competition and financial performance. Regularly reviewing them alongside internal key performance indicators (KPIs) helps catch discrepancies early, ensuring accurate tracking and timely corrections.
For example, in a recent client meeting, a practice reported having 40 frames of a specific line on display, while the vendor’s report showed a different number of frames. Investigating further, we discovered that a new optician had been selling frames without properly pulling them from inventory. Once made aware of the error, the issue was quickly resolved.
Types of valuable vendor reports include:
- Market Analysis and Forecasts – Understanding shifts in industry demand, emerging technologies and patient preferences.
- Patient Behavior and Purchase Trends – Identifying patterns that help refine product selection and service strategies.
- Performance Metrics and Benchmarks – Evaluating business strengths and identifying improvement areas.
By integrating vendor reports into decision-making, practices can strengthen their market strategies, minimize risks and uncover new growth opportunities.
Understanding Rebates
Vendor rebates offer valuable financial incentives, but navigating them can be complex. Partnering with vendors who understand your business ensures clarity and alignment with your goals, making it easier to maximize their benefits.
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Key considerations for rebate programs include:
- Eligibility and Thresholds – Understanding the requirements to qualify for vendor rebates and structuring purchases accordingly.
- Documentation and Compliance – Ensuring proper record-keeping to claim rebates effectively.
- Profitability Impact – Analyzing how rebates affect overall margins and cost structures.
A well-planned rebate strategy enables practices to reduce costs and maximize returns on purchases, strengthening long-term financial stability.
Navigating Discounts
Vendor discount programs can provide significant savings, but thoughtful management is key to consistent long-term benefits. Practices should strategically negotiate terms and ensure agreements align with purchasing goals and business strategy.
Best practices for maximizing discount programs include:
• Negotiating Terms – Seek volume-based discounts, free shipping, extended payment periods and promotional pricing to optimize cash flow and reduce costs.
• Assessing Long-Term Impacts – Consider how discounts influence overall profitability, product pricing and purchasing behavior over time.
• Monitoring Compliance – Regularly ensure that discount agreements remain in effect and aligned with contract terms to avoid unexpected charges. Review these agreements at least annually—or whenever your account is reassigned due to a vendor representative change.
For instance, during a recent contact lens distributor business review, we discovered that the automatic purchase renewal of virtual banks of contact lenses, which began in January, had quietly ended in March, coinciding with the departure of the assigned rep. Regular reviews like this can help catch such changes early and protect your margins.
The Pitfall of Having Too Many Vendors
While diversifying vendor relationships can offer benefits, businesses must be mindful of the challenges that arise when working with too many suppliers.
Common pitfalls include:
- Management Complexity– Increased administrative burdens from coordinating multiple vendor contracts, deliveries and negotiations. This is the most common issue I witness in my work and it also has the largest negative outcome on practice profitability. Practice owners typically do not have bandwidth to ensure they are maintaining a true partnership and each vendor acts according to historic agreements set in place.
- Product Knowledge Limitations – Staff may struggle to develop deep expertise on a wide range of vendor products, affecting patient recommendations and service quality.
- Inconsistent Standards and Practices – Vendors may operate under different quality assurance methods, creating inconsistencies in product offerings.
- Reduced Purchasing Power – Fragmented spending across multiple vendors can dilute negotiating leverage, leading to weaker discount and rebate opportunities.
By focusing on a select number of strategic vendor relationships, practices can simplify operations, train staff effectively and secure better financial incentives.
The Importance of Vendor-Led Training
Vendor-led training ensures businesses and staff maximize strategic partnerships. It equips employees with the technical expertise to optimize practice products, improving efficiency, service delivery and patient care through informed recommendations and superior support.
Key benefits of vendor-led training include:
- Staying Up to Date on the Latest Technologies – Training ensures employees remain informed about industry advancements, allowing them to introduce cutting-edge solutions to patients.
- Higher-Quality Patient Care – Well-informed staff can better educate patients, offer tailored solutions and provide a superior customer experience.
- Stronger Vendor Relationships – Training fosters collaboration and trust between practice and vendors, leading to continuous improvements and support.
Where to Start? Defining Clear Expectations
As ROB Professional Editor Laurie Sorrenson, OD, FAAO, says, establishing clear expectations with vendors is the foundation of successful partnerships. Strong communication and mutual understanding can significantly improve efficiency and help both parties achieve their goals.
Key steps to setting expectations include:
- Defining Meeting Schedules – Establishing convenient meeting times to encourage regular communication.
- Clarifying Staff Involvement – Determining whether team members should participate in discussions with vendors.
- Assigning a Point of Contact – Designating a primary liaison to streamline vendor communication.
By proactively defining expectations, practices can ensure vendor meetings are productive, strategic and aligned with long-term growth objectives.
Conclusion: Be Intentional and Proactive in Your Relationships with Vendor Reps
Not all vendors are alike, and forming successful strategic partnerships requires careful evaluation. Practices must assess vendor expertise, utilize reports for data-driven decision-making, understand the financial impact of rebates and discounts and capitalize on vendor-led training opportunities.
At the same time, managing vendor relationships efficiently, including avoiding an excessive number of suppliers, is crucial for maintaining streamlined operations and cost-effectiveness.
By embracing vendor partnerships as key business strategies, practices can unlock new growth opportunities, refine their competitive positioning and achieve sustained success.
The key lies in thoughtful collaboration, structured vendor management and leveraging vendor expertise for long-term business benefits.
Read another article by Barbra Dey
Barbra Dey, President of Dey Ophthalmic Consulting, brings over three decades of experience to help eye care practices thrive in today’s competitive market. Barbra specializes in assessing practice operations, delivering actionable strategies, and working alongside leadership teams to implement transformative change. Her mission is to empower eyecare practices to unlock their full potential and achieve sustainable growth. Contact Barbra at barbradey@outlook.com
