Arizona Group Shares Its Success By Managing Other Optical Locations Throughout the State

By John Sailer

Barnet Dulaney Perkins' optical managers Michael Gatti (l) and Thomas Zeller with director of optical services, Debbie Bacon.

PHOENIX, Ariz.—Starting in October, Barnet Dulaney Perkins (BDP), a successful regional optical group with 14 locations throughout Arizona, branched out into managing the optical dispensaries of other eyecare professionals throughout the state. Operated under the auspices of BDP's management group, MMRG, "We're basically running the day-to-day operations for them, so that all they're doing is just focusing on their patients, and taking care of their needs," said Debbie Bacon, BDP's director of optical services.

"We manage their entire practice," she explained. "We do their payroll, we do their accounts receivable, we do their accounts payables, we do all their HR needs, the hiring, the unfortunate firing of employees, the training of the employees, helping them continue with their CEs. They keep their own name; they keep their own profits. We're just facilitating all the other stuff that they either don't want to do anymore, or maybe they weren't doing as good a job as they thought they could do."

The MMRG project managing other locations was launched Oct. 1, 2013 under the direction of Thomas Zeller, one of BDP's optical managers, who started with the company last July and previously worked for Optical Shop of Aspen. He's currently managing two locations in Tucson with three additional offices in northern Arizona coming on line later in the year.

The Barnet Dulaney Perkins team gathered for one last fling before being named the 2013 Transitions Optical Regional Retailer the Year.

At the same time, Barnet Dulaney Perkins itself is increasing its number of locations as well. Growing through acquisition, the group will purchase three more offices in the short term, all of which will have optical dispensaries. This will bring BDP's total number of locations to 17, 15 of which will have optical dispensaries run by optical manager Michael Gatti. BDP's other two existing locations are strictly surgical centers.

All of this has taken place since dba's first profile of BDP in its Sept. 4, 2013 edition.

With its growing number of locations, the company is in a position to take advantage of economies of scale. For example, "We are totally reorganizing our inventory department and instituting centralized buying," Zeller told dba. This means that there will be fewer frame vendors. "We're going to be a lot more specific about what we're putting in the stores. We're interviewing our reps again and figuring out who's going to continue their relationships with us. So far it's been a very good process," said Zeller, who's responsible for this initiative. "Our reps know we're taking it more seriously, that we're getting very specific about what we're ordering, so it's all part of this relationship that we're building. I don't think we've treated them like partners in the past, and I think that we're doing that now," he said.

"We thought we were going to hit more resistance," added Gatti. "We actually have a little over half of our stores completed, and it was only just about a month ago that Thomas took that on."

Bacon explained the benefits of centralizing frame buying: "We want to be more profitable, to lower spending costs on our frames but obviously get the stores exactly what they need and can sell." This takes the inventory management out of the hands of the opticians at the various stores yet still enables them to have input on the frames that they are selling. "It's not like the opticians at the locations don't have any say. They have a lot of say in what they carry, because they need to be passionate about it too. We're just trying to take all the steps away so they can make sure that they're getting the right product to the patients. You get a box, you open it up, and it's all ready to put on your boards and you're good to go. We're trying to keep it as streamlined as possible as we move on. We're upping the optician training and education, so they know about everything we're sending them," added Bacon.

With its substantial growth over the past few years, BDP's model has proven successful. Among its recent accomplishments, for example, the company was named Transitions Regional Retailer of the Year for 2013. In the following article, Debbie Bacon explains how BDP achieved this honor.

How Barnet Dulaney Perkins Became Transitions Regional Retailer of the Year

By Debbie Bacon, director of optical services, Barnet Dulaney Perkins

As a two-time finalist for the Transitions Regional Retailer of the Year award, we at Barnet Dulaney Perkins made it a goal at the beginning of the year to take home the 2013 title. Throughout the year, we focused on Transitions lenses and ensured that our entire staff was educated and knowledgeable on the Transitions family of products.

We offer ongoing education for all staff—from training on new products and programs, to refreshers on existing products—and we encourage all staff members to "experience" Transitions lenses for themselves. We believe that "seeing is believing" and want our team members to not only know how it works, but why they should recommend each product. So when a new Transitions lens product becomes available, we ask all of our opticians to complete a training module on that specific product. Upon completion they are eligible to receive it, free of charge.

These training modules get our optical staff energized and ready to talk about the products with patients. Many of our staff members have and wear all of the products within the Transitions lens family. We've found that when they can experience the product first-hand, they are better able to explain the benefits with patients because they are true believers and can provide real-life experiences.

In addition to the training modules, we hold a yearly staff meeting focused on product education. At the end of the meeting, everyone graduates, and we throw a party to celebrate. Last year's meeting theme was B.O.O.T. (Basic Optical and Optician Training) camp. We gave everyone camouflage T-shirts when they arrived and started them off as private ranks. After taking the classes they graduated to secret service men. The yearly meetings provide a fun way to encourage staff education.

After a year of hard work, Barnet Dulaney Perkins received its 2013 Regional Retailer of the Year Award at Transitions Academy 2014.

Focus on the Patient
It's important that we know the patient on a personal level first so that we can offer the best product for their lifestyle needs. We don't immediately start bombarding them with questions, but rather we get to know them throughout the appointment by asking them about their lifestyles and preferences as part of our conversation. Providing personal care to all of our patients, and being able to recommend eyewear that is tailored to their needs, is something that we take pride in, and it is something that keeps our patients coming back year after year.

We also use Transitions-branded brochures, dispensing mats and Transitions UV demonstration units in every office, and we work with our lab to create special eyeglasses so that our patients can experience Transitions lenses in a unique way. These glasses are designed so that each lens features a different product. For example, a patient may experience Transitions Vantage lenses through one eye, and regular, clear lenses through the other. It's something our patients love, and it helps make the decision easy in most cases.

We are challenging our team members to raise the bar this year so that we can become a two-time Transitions Regional Retailer of the Year. Between our upcoming yearly meeting and the launch of Transitions Signature VII lenses we believe we are already on pace to do so.

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