Are You Biased?
I have visited literally dozens of opticals in the last several years. One of the biggest issues I find in the dispensary is what I have termed “optician bias”. This encompasses two different realms of concern: The act of buying frames, and the pre-judgment of potential customers. This article will focus on the first, and the second side of this will be addressed in a forthcoming post.
When I walk into a dispensary for the first time, I immediately begin assessing the inventory. A quick estimated count of frames, as well as manufacturers and collections. Inevitably, I find many lines that look alike on the frame boards, in some cases exactly the same, simply with a different name on the demo lenses. We have all been guilty of this, at one time or another. So how does it happen, and how do we fix it?
The Cause:
The reason this duplicate buying happens can be many reasons. We, as individuals, have our own tastes, and those tastes are reflected in our purchasing habits. We tend to lean toward what we like, and we end up with a dispensary filled with frames that appeal to us, but are not necessarily what our customers want.
Another mistake many frame buyers make is to become too “safe” in their buying habits. This results in a dispensary full of brown and black plastic frames, and similarly basic colors in the metal frames being shown.
The Solution:
The good news is that the solutions for ‘optician bias’ in frame buying are simple, and easy to implement.
1. Have more than one person order frames. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need […]
