courtesy of FlickRiver
The Who are famous for singing “There aint No Cure for the Summertime Blues”. And I feel optical sales suffers from this same “disease”. Every year around June 1 or June 15, we start hearing the same things from our sales team, our friends, and even our retail partners:
“Business really slows down for the summer”
“I don’t need any new product until the fall – I just want to sell down what’s in stock”
“Call me closer to the show”
We hear every variation on the above from June through August. I think it’s time we change this mindset and offer some cures for the Summertime Blues.
While summer may be slower as people think about the beach or vacations or just taking some downtime, business does not have to slow down. People still need glasses and people are still shopping. The government never announces a huge drop-off in the overall economy or retail sales during the summer months. And many of the larger retail chains don’t report big sales declines in the summer months. So what can we in the optical industry do to give a boost to those Summertime Blues? A few tips:
- Run a summer sale and promote it to your patient/consumer base. Nothing brings people out to shop like an old-fashioned “deal”.
- Focus on Rx sunwear offerings. I know our business in sunwear rises this time of year and there is no reason our optical partners should give this away to other retailers. And optical stores and practices can offer such better service (not to mention Rx options) which retail stores can’t.
- Have a summer themed trunk show. In addition to a “deal”, people LOVE to come out for a party that also involves fashion.
- Lastly – and I think most importantly – BRING IN SOME NEW PRODUCT. Everyone by now knows my feelings – nothing drives sales better than new product (especially luxury offerings). If the summer assortment on your shelves is the same as it was in spring and you are just hoping to sell down inventory, that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. No new product usually means no new sales. You don’t need to bring in a lot. Just something new to create some buzz. Something that gives you an excuse to contact your patient/customer base. Something that gives you a reason for some local promotion. Product drives sales.
Here you go. A few quick tips to drive some business and create some excitement and avoid those Summertime Blues.
