Talking heads

Making an impact

New products and services are the lifeblood of every independent business and since 2008, Positive Impact (PI) has introduced new products and services to independent practices on behalf of some of the biggest names in the optical industry.

Founded by two optical stalwarts, Nick Atkins and Maxine Green, PI subsequently started distributing its own products and is now a multi award-winning optical supplier. PI boasts a unique portfolio, including contact lenses and dry eye diagnostics and treatments, all focused on supporting independent practices with most of the range not available through other retailers or online.

Vision Now editor Nicky Collinson talks to Maxine and Nick about the company's evolution, and the benefits PI can offer NEG members.

NC: PI's focus is on independent practice: why is this so important for you? M&N: PI is an independently-owned supplier committed to its partnership with independent opticians: not surprising really when you consider the first thing Nick did after he left Bausch + Lomb was to set-up Proven Track Record, the company behind Independents Day since 2005.

When setting up a business later in life,

Maxine and Nick (standing second and third right) with the Positive Impact team

you have a different perspective. It means you can do business the way you want to, consider the customers you want to serve and how you want to serve them. We have enjoyed working with customers in all sectors over the years, but find there is a greater sense of achievement when you can directly see the product/s you sell making an impact on both our customers' patients and their small business. Business is about relationships, and we believe being nice in business is a strength not a weakness. Having a 'commercial conscience' drives everything we do.

NC: Originally, PI worked as a contract sales company providing consultants to support other suppliers’ products, but you have moved more towards distributing products. Can you explain this move and what you offer NEG members? M&N: This business redevelopment has been an organic process that started with Glasklar back in 2013. We’d been looking for innovative products that we could sell alongside our clients' products, and that meant finding something with no conflict of interest. The Glasklar customer loyalty concept, delivered via its refillable spectacle lens cleaning system, presented that opportunity. What we didn’t realise at the time was that it marked the beginning of what has become a move away from contract work to becoming a fully-fledged distributor.

It was a couple of years before the next significant step in the metamorphosis took place. In 2015, we took our first foray into the dry eye arena with Parasol, a patented punctal plug design. Within weeks we landed the exclusive UK distribution rights to InflammaDry, the only diagnostic test for ocular surface inflammation.

Since then, we have continued to expand our dry eye range by carefully selecting innovative and differentiated products to curate what we believe is a best-in-class dry eye portfolio, which takes the patient from diagnosis (osmolarity, inflammatory biomarkers, meibomian gland imaging) to a holistic management of their symptoms (heat, hydration, cleansing, hygiene, diet/ supplements). We market this under the Dry Eye Zone.

In 2017, when it was looking to sell directly in the UK, SynergEyes signed an agreement for us to provide sales, marketing and back office support for its unique range of hybrid contact lenses. SynergEyes marked the beginning of our journey into the contact lens market, an area where we have a proven track record of success.

In 2019, we introduced NaturalVue 1-Day

Some of the Dry Eye Zone treatment range

Multifocal from Visioneering Technologies. This daily disposable contact lens for presbyopia and myopia management – two categories of significant growth opportunity – has brought us into the mainstream contact lens business. This year has also seen us partner with Scotlens to grow its Nocturnal ortho-k lens, further expanding our contact lens offering.

NC: Many of your team have years of experience in the optical industry: was this a conscious decision? M&N: As an independent business, we believe in supporting the independent sector and our sales approach is built upon good relationships and mutual respect. Consequently, our USP is using optical professionals, or experienced sales professionals, with extensive knowledge of the ‘eye business’ to deliver training, technical support and sales calls.

We’ve worked with companies that believe you need to employ a good salesperson from outside optics and then train them to understand the products they must sell. Over the years, we’ve seen this lead to what we call the ‘corporate sales clone’, a sales person with a sales presentation that must deliver the company message without deviation – at any cost.

Whilst there are always exceptions to the rule, we’ve usually found a commercially astute eyecare practitioner to have the edge, especially for more technical and clinical product detailing. From the start, we adopted more of a ‘peer-to-peer’ sales model for our clients and it was a natural progression when it came to selling our own portfolio. Our sales visits are consultative; we want to find out what our products can do to help the practice.

NC: With PI offering many different products from different sources, practitioners might see you as a wholesaler. What makes you different and how do you decide which products you will work with? M&N: We are definitely not a wholesaler. We’re a distributor and there is a significant difference. We have a focused portfolio of products that we support with full sales, marketing and professional services resources, just like any other mainstream supplier. The difference is we don’t make the products we sell, like most contact lens companies for example.

We have the expertise to evaluate products ourselves, and with customers, before agreeing to supply them. We also listen to requests for products our customers need to give the best experience to their patients. This partnership approach is particularly notable in our dry eye portfolio.

We sell our dry eye products through the optical wholesalers and that brings us to an important point in this interview: our current focus on working with NEG. We know many members are buying elements of our dry eye range at full trade price through the wholesalers when they can get our NEG discount and the management fee paid, if they just switch to buying direct through their NEG account.

NC: You were named Optical Supplier of the Year at this year's Optician Awards. Why is this so important and what difference do you think it makes? M&N: One of the balancing acts for a business working for different companies, and distributing different products, is the need to focus on someone else’s brand whilst trying to maintain your own brand identity. We actually won an Optician Award in 2019, but it was for a product we sell – SynergEyes Duette Multifocal – so it probably went under the radar for many.

Our focus now is to better raise awareness of it as a supplier in its own right, so the award couldn’t have come at a better time. The publicity it has given us may have made some people aware of us for the first time – and that is invaluable.

It’s also great recognition for what we did as a business during the pandemic to support our customers. We not only did the simple stuff, like extending credit terms, but some innovative stuff such as launching dryeyezone.co.uk from scratch in just four weeks. This website’s USP comes from allowing patients to buy online without cutting the practice out of the sale. Many companies have a direct-to-consumer website, but cut out the practitioner/ prescriber, whereas we give a rebate – actively cutting them in.

NC: Finally can you sum up why NEG members should work with PI? M&N: In short, PI offers excellent products that it doesn’t sell to major retailers or online, that offer practice differentiation and great business development opportunities. But we recognise that whilst all these aspects of our business are fantastic, it isn’t always enough. It’s often the less visible things, like service and making it easy to do business, that can make the difference between using a product or not – no matter how good it is.

By ordering through their NEG account, PI offers members many advantages including: NEG discount and management fee paid; smaller minimum order quantities; free delivery (Dry Eye Zone); and in the future bespoke NEG promotions.

By buying direct, members get their agreed discount on the trade price and don’t pay a management fee. We actively encourage this because not only is the member getting lower prices, but PI also makes a better margin than through the wholesalers – the perfect example of a ‘win-win’.

One of the benefits often cited for using a wholesaler is the ability to order smaller quantities of an item. Well PI has reduced its minimum order quantities to just six on its Dry Eye Zone range of treatments – with free delivery too.

Recently introduced new Enhanced NaturalVue

From the original business concept to bring the flexibility of contract sales to the ophthalmic industry, PI is now a fullyfledged ophthalmic distributor. When you meet its founders, their passion for the independent sector is undeniable. ■

“Positive Impact has certainly raised the bar on the whole what-toexpect-from-a-supplier vibe. Their innovative approach in helping us to grow our business during the bleak times of lockdown, via a direct mail campaign to help our patients to buy lubricants on dryeyezone.co.uk, was very much appreciated,” Lucy Henning, Henning & Henning

“What a great idea it was to set up the Dry Eye Zone website. I can now trust my patients to buy the correct drops from a trusted source. The patients seem very happy with the arrangement, and they are less confused by the choices, which they find on other websites. HydraMed is well liked by patients and the HydraMed Night Sensitive ointment is particularly well tolerated. The website has definitely boosted my practice and patient loyalty,” Elaine Lucas, Elalucas Lenses