Optician Success 68
Weekly nuggets of random goodness, hand-picked to complement the OpticianWorks Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Rock Star Optician; tips, stories, and science helping you focus on getting the most from your optician business/career.
Life Sucks But You Make It Worse
Something may happen today that will make you upset. A customer might be rude and demanding, your boss might yell at you, your kids may get into trouble at school. And your instinct will probably be to get angry.
It’s natural.
But, just because it’s natural doesn’t mean it’s good.
“You shouldn’t give circumstances the power to
—Marcus Aurelius
For some reason, we (humans) feel entitled to our anger. When we feel wronged or afflicted by unfortunate circumstance, it often seems our right, even our responsibility to become angry.
There’s no doubt that anger is an instinctive emotional response that can—in most cases should—be controlled. Unfortunately, we don’t often see it that way.
Perhaps a combination of our genetics and culture makes us feel like lesser beings if we don’t show our outrage.
Of course, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Anger rarely gets us what we need. In fact, it clouds our judgment, strains our relationships and misguides our priorities. What’s more, by choosing anger, you give power to that which upset you in the first place. You grant it the power to the elevate your stress level, control your emotions, and consume your time.
It turns out that life (and people in it) take stuff from us. It may take our time, energy, property, or even people we care about. It leaves only very small bits in our control.
But for some reason when we ourselves squander what remains....
that’s okay?
Perhaps, our anger or complaints, if we have them, would be more useful, if directed at ourselves for not extracting maximum value, from the precious little we have within our control.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
—Reinhold Niebuhr
“Keep this thought handy when you feel a fit of rage coming on—it isn’t manly to be enraged. Rather, gentleness and civility are more human, and therefore manlier. A real (hu)man doesn’t give way to anger and discontent, and such a person has strength, courage, and endurance—unlike the angry and complaining. The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.”
—Marcus Aurelius
Come to think of it, life is actually pretty great and so are you.
All Apologies
When companies addressed customer complaints,
In other words, we should see mistakes as powerful opportunities to win over haters. We just need to be brave and smart enough to take the heat and seek forgiveness.
Loss Aversion
Are you punishing all your customers for the behavior of a few? Think about your loss prevention measures. Does the cost of what you have in place, both in dollars and customer goodwill, outweigh the benefits? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. Either way, it’s worth considering.
What about restrictive customer policies, like refusing to write a PD on an Rx or give an Rx to another store over the phone without a release?
You want your customers to trust you enough to buy from you. So, be careful about creating too much friction with policies and barriers that make them feel like you don’t trust them. It may raise a red flag, make them feel uncomfortable, or even insulted.
Better Every Day (Or Not)?
When you want to achieve something important, you have two choices: the easy way or the hard way. A wise person once told me, “If [insert hard thing here] were easy, everyone would do it.”
Bottom Of The News
Essilor Confident Despite Probe
The merger has been approved by competition authorities in several countries including India,
A key regulatory concern is the possibility that the merged company might persuade opticians to buy eyewear and lenses as a package... To win clearance, the two companies may have to offer commitments that the markets for lenses and frames will remain open to their rivals. <snicker>
Amazon Tightens Death Grip on Retail
New research shows that Amazon will control 44 percent of all online sales in the US this year.
It’s
Wow.
Launching Today: The Warby Parker For Kids?
Pair Eyewear uses five frame styles, which kids can customize with magnetic “top frames.” Cardboard cutouts are sent in place of actual frames for in-home try-on. The best part? You get to keep the cutouts, even if you don’t buy the frames.
Video Of The Week - The Best of OpticianWork
AR Testing: How It’s Done
Have you ever wondered how the lab knows our AR (anti-reflective) coatings are going to stand up to years of abuse? Go behind the scenes at the lab to discover the test that tells us! Known as the salt water boil test, we cram 2+ years of wear-and-tear into just a few minutes.
Or if you are interested in touring Laramy-K circa 1991, C-SPAN and Sen. Tom Harkin were there.
Don’t forget, our goal is to provide a more accessible and higher level of education for opticians everywhere. If you like Optician Success and our free weekly videos—and haven’t done so yet—please consider showing your support by becoming a member of OpticianWorks.com which includes access to even more high-quality optician training. Or, better yet, open a
I hope you enjoyed this issue of Optician Success.
Until next time,
Thanks for reading and sharing!
-Keith
