Do you want to make more money in your current practice? It will take some work and mean doing some new things you may have never done before and documenting the results. Documentation will allow you to recognize, dispassionately, whether these new actions have brought in new money and/or new patients to your practice. If they are working for you, you will know it. If they do not work for you, discard them, since they take your time from doing other things and are not worth the trouble.

Let's look at the "junk" frames you have under your counter. Remove the ones you can use in a two-for-one sale, count the rest – preferably in categories such a children's, men's, ladies, and unisex and within those categories, metal and non-metal. Since they are not making money for you under the counter, and you have already picked out the ones you feel you can use in your practice, sell them or get a tax deductible donation to Lion's Club, Essilor or Luxottica foundations, or some other charity that can put them to use effectively.

You probably have salesmen who sell inexpensive frames from their car who call on you weekly or monthly; ask each of them what they would pay you for the "junk" frames they might like to buy. If you like their offer, sell some. Before they leave, ask them who else might want to buy these frames. Follow up on their recommendation.

You probably know practices that specialize in selling low priced frames, contact them. One practice I call on has earned hundreds of dollars each time they allow another practice to pay $1-$10 a frame for the privilege of "cherry picking" their "junk" frames. Once you find out what cash you can get for these frames, only your accountant can tell you if it would be more advantageous to give them away, how to structure an inventory mark-down for tax savings, and how to structure any charitable gift you decide to make. Is it worth your time to turn non profitable assets into cash or tax savings while removing the clutter from your practice? What do you think?

These "junk" frames have not finished their job of adding to your profits yet. Look carefully at each category you have organized. Is there a pattern of color, shape, or size in each category that your patients have voted with their pocketbook as undesirable? Anything you discover from this exercise, write down legibly in a format you can have beside you next time you buy frames. Use this information to keep you ordering only frames in price ranges your customers buy.

Now let's take a close look at your frame boards. If any frame on your boards is not designed to say "buy me" to your current customer base, get it off your boards whether you bought it yesterday or last year. Now you have more frames to analyze and categorize to keep for an in-house 2 for 1 sale, to sell or to donate as described above.

If you don't have a clear picture of each type of frame that has said "buy me" to your current customer base, it is time to analyze the sales you have made over the past year. This job will be easier next year if you make a chart to record men's, ladies, and children's purchases daily as they happen. On each chart have a row for each frame type. Then choose numbers to designate insurance, low, middle, high, and expensive priced frames. Place the number in each appropriate row on the appropriate chart for each sale made daily. Use such a chart to document last year's sales. Now you know what priced frames and what styles your customers have voted to buy. The analysis will either confirm what you already "know" or it may introduce you to an unrecognized reality.

Since you now have a stock of frames for a 2 for 1 sale on which you can make money on the second pair of lenses inserted in the "junk" frame, start running such sales. See if they bring in more traffic and profits. If they do, keep your boards lean and mean that way. If they don't, consider working with a local charity in cooperation with an Optical Doctor and get some free publicity by notifying the media when and where you will have a clinic for the local poor. Remember to give TV, radio, and print media 2 weeks to a month notice so they can schedule the proper personnel to cover your charitable work. Free publicity and a possible tax deduction to boot: not bad.

Finally, let's do some inexpensive market research. When you pull the chart for each returning patient, look at when you saw them last: if it is probable that they have shopped other outlets, ask them about their experience and why they chose to return to give you a chance to supply their optical needs. Don't forget to thank them for returning to purchase glasses from you. Also thank them for the information about your strong or weak business characteristics, and tell them you will use this information in future business restructuring plans.