How Not To Sell Me Something Expensive
This list brought to you by the optical industry:
- Be opaque. Nothing makes me uncomfortable about spending hundreds of dollars like not having any idea what I’m actually getting for my money.
- Treat “specialty” as “luxury.” Everybody who needs personal service for medical reasons also needs to pay a couple hundred bucks extra just for status, right? Who wants to be seen in a Toyota when they can be seen in a BMW for only twice the money?
- Be so convinced of your own awesomeness you don’t even bother to explain why your prices are so much higher than everybody else’s. Get huffy or pompous when asked. Also, see item 1 about being opaque.
- Sell only the “best” products, like a 20-year-old lens design that isn’t even the MIDDLE tier from your vendor. It’s the “most popular,” so it must be the best, right? And never mind the insane markup! That’s just your little secret!
- Have a buying agreement with a single big vendor (like, say, Essilor) without being honest about it. It helps if you also “take insurance” by knocking off a bit of your markup in exchange for the kickback from the “insurance” company (which is, of course, tied into that big vendor in one way or another).
- Charge a premium for something simply because I need it, not because it still costs that much to manufacture or is the product of ongoing development (again, I’m looking at you, Essilor). High index lenses I’ve been wearing for 25 years now? Gosh, those are still new and luxurious, right?
- Sell snake oil like anti-reflective coatings at an obscene markup, because again, just because something is necessary doesn’t mean it’s not also a luxury! Ignore the fact that it’s all crap and pay twice as much because you deserve it! It’s scratch-resistant! And if it’s not, just blame the lab!
- Mark your prices up just so you can mark them down again, for “insurance” or because you’re having a “sale.”
P.S. I can’t buy glasses online. The requirement of progressive lenses means I have to go to an optician and be propery fitted for them, and have them be gatekeepers for what will and won’t be possible in a frame that looks good on me. While it is “possible” to buy glasses with progressive lenses online, there’s too much room for error with the fitting, and the super-cheap places don’t even offer progressive lenses except in a very small subset of their frames, none of which would look good on me (believe me, I looked at them all). I don’t mind paying for service I actually get, but the prices aren’t consistent with the level of service I feel I’m receiving.
Anybody have anything to add to this list?
