Offering the Best: How Glacier™ PLUS improves patient comfort and AR sales

 Rob Szeliga, O.D., founded Spring Hill Eyecare in Spring Hill, TN, in 2005. His staff stresses AR when presenting lens options to patients, and it has paid off in sales and in patient satisfaction.

“My office has always had a high percentage of anti-reflective coating sales because my team and I believe it is a necessity,” he explains. 

“We believe that all of our patients who wear spectacle correction would benefit from a quality AR because it improves vision and comfort. That’s why we’re constantly striving to get our AR number to 100%,” he adds. “Because of this strong belief, an average of 93%-95% of our spectacle jobs currently have an anti-reflective coating. In fact, AR is just about a requirement if you want to purchase glasses from us.”

 Having a high-performing AR is important to make the products we provide standout against cheap glasses and coatings.

—ROB SZELIGA, O.D.

He looks at it this way: “Patients can get glasses with or without glare. When it’s offered to patients like this, most patients will choose without glare.” 

Here’s a more detailed look at how Dr. Szeliga positions AR, and specifically presents Shamir Glacier™ PLUS—his AR of choice.

Brand Matters

“We recommend to everyone,” he says. “Who doesn’t want their lenses to help you see the best and look the best, but at the same time resist scratches, be easy to clean, and provide backside UV protection?

“We make sure patients are getting a high-quality AR coating like Shamir Glacier™ PLUS. When we get any kickback about purchasing AR, it’s usually because the patient had a cheap or basic anti-reflective coating in the past that did not perform up to their expectations.”

Offering quality products, Dr. Szeliga notes, helps his practice stand out in the optical crowd. 

“Having a high-performing AR like Glacier™ PLUS is important to make the products we provide stand out against cheap glasses and coatings. Even the [low-end] internet and budget retailers may include AR on their lenses these days. As a result, some patients may say ‘I’ve had the non-glare in the past and hated it.’ It’s our job to educate them” about the better products. 

Presentation Pointers

“I don’t use fancy words (like birefringence, oleophobic, and hydrophobic) when speaking to patients, unless it’s to an engineer who may enjoy topics like this,” he explains. “We will, however, ask if they’ve ever had coatings smear or flake off. We then educate them that it was because inferior ARs are not created to match the material they are being put on, and that we’re offering only superior products.”

Like all good lens presentations, Dr. Szeliga begins talking about AR from the chair. “I discuss this and other lens options once my optician arrives in the exam room. We use the BlueNote messaging system for interoffice communication. We then go over lens treatments and options that best solve the patient’s visual needs. I wait before going over this because I want to transfer the authority to the optician. That way, the patient knows I trust my entire team and understands that my staff is well-educated and ready to take the baton to take care of my patient at that point.”

He adds: “Confidence in staff, as well as in products like Glacier, is critical.”