It's a New Year and that means it's time to start setting your 2025 sales goals. Now with the hustle and bustle of the holidays behind us, what are you focusing on to ensure you have the best sales possible in your optical shop? We've created this blog to cover 6 key drivers that will help you accomplish this in the months ahead.
Gain Control Over Your Whole Business
Where have you lost control in your business? Is it inventory, managed care billing, your storage room, or the whole optical?
Your business is big no matter how small it might seem. Even a one person, optician-owned office can be broken down into segments. Not having control of a part of your business, at the very least, brings unnecessary stress and, at the worst, lost sales and/or profits. .png?width=366&height=244&name=Gain%20control%20of%20you%20optical%20(1).png)
Take some time at the beginning of the new year and take control back. Rid yourself of those sleepless nights and resolve to do what needs to be done. Most importantly, follow through and do it.
You will feel better, your business will run better and you might just might make more money in 2025.
Get The Most Out of Every Sale
Resolve to slow down during the sales process. Take your time with each and every patient. Ask the right questions that will enable you to understand what your patient's visual needs are.
Take some time to offer them a solution based upon these needs. This often leads to more add-ons and or second pair sales. It's a true win-win when you patient receives customized solutions and your sales go up.
Don't be afraid to make money in 2025.
Create Loyal Patients
Dependent upon who you ask, it costs you between 5 and 25 times more to acquire a new customer than to sell an existing one. Are you investing in repeat visits. Do you have a reward program that encourages loyalty?
Businesses often overlook existing customers while offering deals to new ones. Build loyalty by offering specials 
to your customer base. Run special sales that are exclusive to your base. Drive multiple pair sales by utilizing trunk shows or email sales offers to your customer base.
You might also want to offer a discount on exams for return customers on your recall mailer, emails, or calls. Make them feel special and lock them in for life.
Not only will you create loyal customers who come year and year, they might just start telling their friends about how special it is to be your patient.
Utilize Google To The Fullest Extent
What does your business look like when Googled?
While this might seem difficult to some, creating a great Google experience for those seeking your business is very easy. Google walks you right through each step and even prompts you with suggestions to create better content.
Push for more reviews. When you have a patient that had a great experience don't be afraid to ask them to take a minute to complete a Google review. Fill it up with positive ones because a negative one will come at some point. There is always that one who loves to trash each and every business they go to for the slightest inconvenience they experience. You can even setup a QR code that they can scan to go directly to leaving your business a review.
The more you ask and the easier you make it to review your business then the more you will get.
Make Social Media Be More Than Just Fun
Love it or hate it, social media is here to stay. You can't fight it and win, so you might as well embrace it. This doesn't mean you necessarily have to hire a social media manager, but are you posting a few times per week to make sure your page is active?
You don't even need to be a graphic designer thanks to easy-to-use tools like Canva that can help you make designs in a wide range of styles in as little as 5 minutes for basic posts. You should also be following the big brands that your office sells on a regular basis. Brands like Transitions are constantly posting informative things you can simply share to your page so your followers also see the posts.
Don't forget to post any sales or package deals your office is currently offering. On top of this, you can share educational posts to help your patients understand all of the benefits of annual checkups and other medical services you can assist them with. You never know what can spark the next person to walk through your doors, so keeping your posts varied and fun will go a long way.
Make Your Staff Fully Invested
One of the most overlooked aspects of a failing is business is the employees. Not having happy and invested employees leads to failure. When you see a successful small business, you most often find a team of workers who are invested and engaged not only in the business but also their success.
Focus on giving each and every team member "ownership" in your business. Make them feel like it's also theirs by equipping them for success through:
- Proper training - offer them opportunities to cross-train, to learn new skills, and to improve on existing
ones. - Foster a culture of learning - There are many free training resources out there through your vendors. Don't pass up on those opportunities for both you and your team.
- Be goal driven - What does a win look like, what does losing look like? Have score cards for each segment of your business. Post the results and celebrate the wins and coach through the losses.
- Create a team - Plan team building activities both in and out of the office. A team of good players playing as a team will most often win over an all-star team playing as individuals.
Your staff are the lifeblood of your office, investing a little more in them will payoff for you in so many ways. Your sales will go up and your problems will come down. A big piece of keeping your staff happy is having a lab that can deliver the quality and turn time they are looking for.
Here at IcareLabs, we give your team the tools they need with our myIcareLabs customer portal and an on-site customer service team with over 100 years of experience at their fingertips. If you already have a great lab, then you're one step closer to that goal. If you need one, use the button below to request our price list today.
