Rodenstock Australia has taken on two senior members of the ophthalmic industry with an aim to deepen its knowledge of customer needs and strengthen relationships.
Following Optometry Australia’s (OA) restructure, Andrew McKinnon has moved across from the OA NSW/ACT division where he was Chief Executive Officer. Chris Hanley has moved from the Italian eyewear distributor De Rigo, where he was National Sales Manager. Both Mr McKinnon and Mr Hanley worked with their respective companies for over 30 years, acquiring substantial market knowledge and strong industry relationships.
Tim McCann, General Manager of Rodenstock, said the senior appointments, made in July, acknowledge the significance of Australia to Rodenstock’s global market. More than that, he said they acknowledge the opportunity Rodenstock sees in deepening its relationships with the market to better “understand how our offer matches what the practitioners need”.
“People are using their eyes far differently than they ever did before. Every year we’re multiplying the number and size of screens we use for work, for driving, for leisure.
“And these changes have sort of crept into our lives and changed the demands on people’s eyes. And, therefore, the product that we sell has also changed.”
While it’s tempting to “measure the past” to help predict the future, he said this would be “missing the mark”.
“What we’ve got to ask is what are the demands of the current wearer and how do people value their vision? What will they invest in order to make their vision the best that it possibly can be. And when we start to answer that question, we start to realise that practitioners can make a lot of money by spending time with the patients, and rather than giving them a generic eyewear solution, they can actually give them a medical solution that they’re going to be really happy with.”
Tim McCann, General Manager of Rodenstock, said the senior appointments… acknowledge the significance of Australia to Rodenstock’s global market.
ProVision Part of the Equation
Mr McKinnon’s role is to work closely with ProVision and the Australasian College of Behavioural Optometrists (ACBO) practices, “to really understand what’s making these practices tick”.
“We know the one thing that sets most independent businesses apart is that people go to an independent business for the practitioner themselves. It’s much more of a medical clinical destination, in most instances,” Mr McCann said.
“But I really need to know what are the things that the patients are asking for? What are the common threads? Where is the value to be created? We need to find out what is it that is going to make a difference, especially because technology is changing so fast.
“I believe that with Andrew (McKinnon) sitting with the practitioners, understanding what is coming through their doors, we’re going to find more and more common threads, and we’re going to unlock the value for the independents.”
Frame Lens Fit
As Relationship Manager, Mr Hanley will work closely with his former employer, De Rigo, to ensure Rodenstock lenses are the optimum fit for the company’s frames. This, Mr McCann said, means when practices send a frame for lenses, they’re “sending it to a fitter that has the training and has the understanding as to what the end user is wanting from the product”.
The decision to work more closely with De Rigo is a bit of a ‘back to the future’ moment for Rodenstock, which only a few years ago had its own frame collections.
And Mr McCann said that although the company chose to shift away from selling frames, “there are some aspects of having both that were pretty special”.
“We did not want to lose that important aspect of understanding how the lenses fit the frame and how the frame fits the lenses… by bringing Chris (Hanley) on board, that’s helping us do that.”
With a constant flow of communication now happening between Rodenstock, practices and frame suppliers, Mr McCann said, “That’s information that keeps us relevant and keeps us moving forward.”