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The above title is taken from an old Beatles song which ends,
"we can work it out.”
If each of us would try to walk in the other’s shoes for a mile or so, we – the Optician store owner or manager, the Optometrist doctor and sometimes owner, and the Ophthalmologist doctor and often a referring physician to other optical outlets to fill his/her prescriptions – might respect each other’s focus and skills more.
The reps for the frame importer/manufacturer, the Optical Lab, and the Coating, Lens, and Contact Lens brands, also have their particular needs and pressures. By bringing knowledge and expertise to you, the “3 O’s”, they hope you will bring their products to the attention of your patients. The easier they can make your job of professionally, caringly, and expeditiously bringing better sight to the patients you serve, the better your business will grow – and so will the success of the reps who serve you best.
For frame reps and frame buyers, the bane of their existence is back orders. A rep is thrilled to sell a 20-30-50 frame order to an account, and counts his/her commission on the drive home or to the next appointment, only to find that the commission is only half of what he/she dreamed because of back orders. The Optical manager was pleased to give his/her valued rep that 50 piece order, because that manager knew what frame types the practice’s patients were favoring now, and knew what frame types, colors and size ranges were needed now to fill the ready to sell inventory. This manager is dismayed when a
broken stock of frames arrives. There is not the color range available he/she had hoped for – and similarly for size and style availability to the patients.
Worse, as the balance of the order trickles in, the cash flow of the practice may be adversely affected. The large order may have been placed at the beginning or middle of “The Season” when the manager could count on patient payments coming in to cover the expense he has committed to pay the vendor. The back orders, arriving months later, may come when cash is scarce. This can lead to a good account becoming a slow pay or delinquent account. Some savvy accounts insist that there be only one shipment per order: what’s not shipped is cancelled. This does not solve the broken stock syndrome. Some want only complete orders of a style shipped together, but that too has a pitfall: the order may be delayed until too late in the
season because of the lack of one size or color.
Finally when the frame rep or manufacturer allows back orders to pile up, three things become probable: The manufacturer will commit to an import order to supply this pent-up demand. That demand may evaporate as back-orders are
cancelled, deliveries refused, or the frames that were a late delivery of last season’s “hot item” are returned in exchange for this season’s new merchandise. None of these outcomes the manufacturer desires.
The Optical retailer, reacting to the missing items that were not delivered to the boards where they were needed, may contact another manufacturer to fill those needs, or buy lesser quality frames from the reps who travel with close-out or lower priced stock to fill those immediate inventory needs. This retailer’s actions will probably lead to one or more of the manufacturer’s undesired outcomes.
Finally there is the man or woman in the middle, the rep. Income is down, pressure for more delivered sales is up, and the rep feels that the system is against him/her.
What to do?
Many good representatives of quality frames keep informed about the status of what is in-stock and when “hot items” are scheduled to arrive. This allows the rep to direct the buyer to choose in-stock’s, and to write a back-up order to be shipped on a date in season “or sooner.” This back-up order is now first in line to get the “hot items,” and the “3 O” buyer keeps control of the business cash flow by calendaring this future delivery.
Some manufacturers and importers believe that “salespeople should just go out there and sell” and not worry about other facets of the business. They may feel that knowledge of inventory and delivery positions by salespeople may skew sales and hide trends, and may be a distraction from their primary
purpose of “bringing in the business.” But when management trains salespeople to write orders that capitalize on existing inventory, and to write back-up orders that fit the planned delivery cycle, all three parts of this vertically integrated system should win.
So that’s my story. That’s my premise, predilection, and
proposal for you in the industry to consider. I encourage your comments.
Until next time, try to see it my way. I plan to, and am committed to, learn to see it your way as well. Let the dialogue begin.
Email any comments to: editor@ECPmag.com |
