It's nearly the financial year end so everyone is having stock-take sales - not as many as in the past as everyone seems to be doing deals all the time. Value-for-money has always been our practice belief - and we do special off older frames, still warranteed but we know that there are unlikely to be parts available. Lenses are ordered for a specific patient, so are not "floor stock" so are unlikely to be on "special" unless the wholesaler is trying to promote a particular product or service (for example, Optifog has been added free to some progressive lenses in February and March as a launch benefit).

The other thing about "year end" is that people "forget" about booking eye appointments. Christmas, tax time, "after we get back from our trip", "once the visitors leave" are all reasons that I've heard for people delaying their routine eye exams. I suppose the same thing happens to dentists, and maybe doctors too. But I suppose that people are more motivated to see their GP regularly as the medicines run out! Bit of a hint when there are no more pilss left!

We encourgae patients to return for regular eye exams - and discuss at the time when we would like to see them again. The recall appointment can be anywhere from 6 months to three years - there is no "standard" as it is to benefit each individual. We believe that each person is unique and although many people are happy with generic products, generic service is never the best (even when it strives to be really good). So we can offer packages, but prefer to offer these only to people who would benefit. Ans not everyone wants to be seen in town with the same frame as six others!

The races went well!

Well, the weather was lovely, the horses ran well, out 1400m race was excting (and a well-deserved win). The connections said he'd been unlucky before, so it mushr have been his day.

We have had some feedback from having a presence at Otaki. A couple of patients saw our ad, and commented that they didn't see me there (we were in the marquee village) so we had a good chat about the day.

We have had a quieter year with the free-sunglasses-for-new-entrants than ever before. Maybe it's because we had a lot of cloud and parents didn't think of taking up the offer. But the frames on offer were really nice and about 25 local boys and girls are looking sharp in their new shades.

There are always new and excting frames on offer from the reps, and the newest lens techology is Optifog, and we are getting some really poistive comments about that. At your next lens change, be sure to ask about it, as it is a really useful feature to add to the lesn coating. Definitely not a "solution looking for a problem"...mind you, I said that texting was a "solution looking for a problem" and I was wrong.