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  CONSUMER CORNER

ARE YOU READY FOR 2016?

WHEN IT COMES TO PLANNING YOUR FUTURE, THERE’S NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT

THE YEAR will be here before you know it. And although many of you are still working hard to achieve your 2015 goals, it’s time to start preparing for 2016.

STEP 1: IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES

Identify with your team the opportunities that you want to address. These should pertain to all areas of your business operations and customer service initiatives, such as increasing the optical capture rate, becoming more active on social media, organizing the lab to create a more efficient work space, increasing AR sales, etc.

STEP 2: PICK FOUR

Once you’ve completed Step 1, narrow your list to four initiatives. The four you choose should be your top priorities, or those that are most important to your practice’s success.

Tackling too many initiatives at once can leave you and your team feeling overwhelmed and unfocused — and set your practice up for failure. Remember, it’s better to succeed at four than to fail at 10!

STEP 3: SET A DEADLINE

Establish how long it should take to accomplish each initiative. Again, you want to pace yourself to ensure that you stick with your plan. A good rule of thumb is to complete one initiative per quarter.

STEP 4: APPOINT A LEADER

Assign a team member to lead each initiative. The ideal candidate is someone who can be accountable for the task and oversee its day-to-day progress while keeping tabs on the big picture. For example, if your aim is to increase your online presence, the team member who enjoys Facebook on his or her personal time might be the perfect choice to take over the company page.

Also, make sure the leader has the resources and support to get the job done. To accomplish this, sit together and assess what is needed, whether it be money, dedicated time by one person, education, training or support from other staff. Remember, the more you involve members of staff, the more empowered they are to make a positive change.

STEP 5: OFFER REWARDS

Create a reward/acknowledgement program to support the practice’s goal and to prompt action. Rewards can vary from extra vacation days to gift cards to local restaurants.

When possible, turn attaining your goals into a contest and make it fun! But don’t make your staff members feel bad if they don’t hit the mark. Instead, encourage them to take a step back, assess what went wrong with the initial approach and then go after the goal again with a better game plan. Remember, change takes time.

STEP 6: PLAN AHEAD

Plan at least six months ahead of time. For example, if you want to roll out a new initiative in the first quarter of 2016, then you need to design and plan for it now.

A WINNING CULTURE

Create an open, supportive environment in which you and your team can work together to achieve your goals. Celebrate the base hits as much as the home runs and you will build a winning culture. OM

JAY BINKOWITZ is the president of GPN, an optometric consulting company based in Huntington, N.Y. He has had extensive experience in retail operations, merchandising and marketing. Email him at jay.gpn@gmail.com, or to comment on this article, visit tinyurl.com/OMcomment.