The contact lens market is one with tremendous potential. Jean Blanchard, president of Laboratories Blanchard, says it could easily be five times bigger than it is right now. And Paul Hemburrow of CIBA Vision Canada says their research shows that only eight per cent of vision-corrected Canadians over age 40 are wearing multifocal contact lenses.

As I discuss in my feature article, one of the reasons why people may not be enquiring about contact lenses is because they perceive them as being uncomfortable. While historically, not everyone could wear this kind of vision correction, the success rate today is over 85 per cent, according to Edmonton-based optician Drew Jeffries.

Your success as an ECP selling contacts depends to a large extent on simply letting your patients know that contact lenses are a viable option, and that they can meet their vision needs at least part of the time (while engaged in sports, for example). Jean Blanchard says that anyone who has been in business for more than 10 years will find a significant number of patients entering middle age, the time when the new multifocal designs become appropriate. And many products come with a fit guarantee, so patients can try them with no risk.

Speaking of patients and risk, Mary Field presents an interesting story about how easy it is to lose patients by not properly managing customer relations. One patient lost due to mismanagement is the equivalent of a lot of advertising dollars out the door. And not only that, but this particular patient didn’t hesitate to tell a bunch of strangers about her disappointment with the retailer in question!

This issue is chock-a-block with interesting news and information: you’ll learn about a Montreal-based optical family that has recently won a Governor General’s Award, you’ll read about dry eye – that potentially debilitating condition, you’ll learn about investing and get some great ideas about how to turn the convenience of the Internet to your advantage. As usual, the staff at Vision Magazine is working hard to ensure that our publication meets your information needs and remains the very best in the industry.

Thanks for sharing your valuable time with us.

Paddy Kamen