How We Are Wowing Patients with Fast, Convenient Eyewear

Original Article Published in Review of Optometric Business

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Osvaldo Cabrera, OD

Sept. 21, 2022

I always strive to give my patients the best experience in my office while, at the same time, maximizing my efficiency and profitability. Adding in-office finishing to my practice allowed me to accomplish both of those goals.

Meeting the Expectations of Today’s Consumer
In the age of same-day shipping, consumers want their products faster than ever. The ability to provide eyewear faster than our competitors is a significant practice differentiator. In my area of south Florida, very few practices offer in-office finishing, so this was a great niche for us to explore to differentiate ourselves.

By purchasing the LEXCE Trend Lens Edger and ICE-1500 Blocker from Santinelli, we can now provide same-day turnaround time for new eyewear. Our patients are in disbelief when they receive their glasses so fast. With an edger in-house, we can help patients who are in a bind with broken glasses and in need of a new pair quickly. Patients rave to their friends and family, increasing referrals and customer retention.

The convenience factor provided with in-office finishing can make the difference between patients getting multiple quotes and shopping around versus buying on the spot at your office.

The Financial Incentive for In-Office Finishing
There are many factors to consider when deciding to add in-office finishing to your practice. Before purchasing an edging system, one must consider the financial implications. Adding in-office finishing will have an impact on both your revenue and expenses in various ways.Will this new technology pay off and increase my overall profitability? It’s an easy thing to calculate, and the experts at Santinelli even analyze your monthly lab bills and provide a free ROI analysis before purchase.

We’ve seen an increase in eyewear sales since adding our edger, and we attribute this to the increased speed and convenience for our patients. Additionally, we’ve been able to save significantly on our lab costs. We no longer have to pay lab finishing fees, and buying stock lenses in bulk provides us with great savings.

How to Optimize Your New Technology
Once you decide to add in-office finishing to your practice, it is important to get as much out of it as possible. I took great care in how I set up our system. I wanted to ensure our new approach to completing eyewear orders would run smoothly and not just meet, but exceed, our patients’ expectations.

Your staff is the greatest determinant of whether the new technology will deliver an ROI for your office. When you invest in in-office finishing technology, it’s important to set expectations with your team and ensure they are properly trained to provide the best quality results.

Different jobs will require different levels of expertise. Eyewear jobs with Zyl and metal frames tend to be easier than jobs with other frame types, and single-vision jobs are usually easier than progressive lenses. Luckily, the edging system we chose from Santinelli was simple to learn and easy to use.

Learning is a constant process and creating a systematic approach is the best way to reduce errors. The learning curve for using new in-office finishing technology is roughly 1-2 weeks, or about 10 jobs, for simple eyewear orders. More detailed jobs like rimless, semi-rimless, etc, may take a little more time to feel confident about fulfilling.

My best advice is to continuously learn about all job types and seek out information from others. Your edging manufacturer can also be a great resource. Our Santinelli rep did an initial training session with us, and they also provided access to a large selection of training videos on their website. Their customer service team is readily available and is very helpful if we have questions.

Thanks to our in-office lens edging system, our practice has increased our volume of eyewear jobs that can be completed in-house.  Moreover, it allows us to provide faster, more convenient service for our patients. If you put meaningful thought into how you will use this kind of technology, it will return dividends to your practice in boosted patient satisfaction and profitability.

Osvaldo Cabrera, OD, is the owner of Jade Optical in Doral Fla. To contact him: [email protected]