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Products and Services
As a member, The Vision Council offers you a mixture of products and services to streamline your operations, cut your expenses and increase your market share.
Optical Industry Research
The Vision Council offers a comprehensive body of research to arm members with everything they need to make well-informed business decisions. Through in-house resources and industry partnerships, our research programs cover everything from consumer sentiment to product imports/exports. Some of our most popular paid research programs include:
- Detailed VisionWatch consumer reports
- Member-customized consumer surveys
- Industry sales and shipments reports
Sales Training
Sales Staff
To enhance your national or regional sales meetings, The Vision Council offers customized sales training programs. Our training experts can create a program by combining current topics in the industry with the specific needs of your sales force. Browse a detailed listing of our recent topics and contact Rene Soltis Shepherd, senior director of meetings and education, at rsoltis@thevisioncouncil.org for more information.
Eye Care Professional Accounts
The Vision Council recently launched an online continuing education (CE) platform to extend the reach of its divisional CE courses. Now members of The Vision Council have the opportunity to purchase online CE vouchers to reward accounts or to attract new business. Custom vouchers with your company name and special code for tracking can be purchased for $5.00 each in packs of 250. The vouchers are good for one year and provide the recipient with one hour of free web-based ABO approved continuing education for each voucher, a $15 value to your account. The current online offerings consist of high quality, product generic content and are designed to engage the learner and get results. Each course is delivered in an interactive manner and supported by audio, video, and print to address a variety of adult learning styles. Courses include:
- Prescribing and Selling AR Lenses
- The Dollars and Sense of In-Office Processing
- Troubleshooting Eyewear Complaints
- Increasing Capture Rate
- Lenses and LifestylesTM
Enhance the skills and knowledge of your accounts and increase the sell through of products, reduce returns and waste and expand revenue opportunities for both of you. For information on the voucher program, please contact Rene Soltis Shepherd, senior director of meetings and education, at rsoltis@thevisioncouncil.org.
Optical Product Codes
In August 2010, The Vision Council released a new Online Optical Product Code Manager, which sells and distributes optical product codes to allow for simpler and more accurate product identification. The new tool greatly streamlines the process and allows manufacturers to request and obtain Optical Product Codes online, as well as process payment directly through the site.
Optical Product Codes are unique, optical-specific codes and machine-readable symbols that are assigned to every product. They identify both product and manufacturer, and can be used to produce bar codes for use with scanner-equipped data entry devices. To purchase optical product codes, please visit the Online Optical Product Code Manager or contact Lisa Wright at lwright@thevisioncouncil.org if you have questions.
FDA Agent Program
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that all medical devices, including eyeglass frames, lenses and sunglasses, imported into the U.S. have a designated U.S. Agent listed with the FDA. As a service to our members, The Vision Council acts as a U.S. Agent for more than 125 companies. We make sure you are up to date with current regulations and will immediately inform you of changes that could impact your company. Because we specialize in the optical industry, we charge a fraction of what many companies charge for this program. To learn more about The Vision Council's FDA Agency program visit our website or contact Swea Nightingale at sweanight@earthlink.net or at (863) 612-0085.
