Roc'N Top 16 for September

Well, it took a while, but here are the results for the month of September for the Roc'N Top 16. Great job to all of the associates who are on the lists!!

Click on the image for a full-size version.

Olympic Champions in Eastchester!!

After a grueling competition, our team in Store 710 in Eastchester, NY has climbed onto the podium with silver medals around their necks in the Lab Olympics competition that is held each year.

The team of Larry Stevens, Matt Seidner and James Bell (pictured, with Lenscrafters Quality Team Representatives Mark Donahue and Joy Bowling) represented Region 16 admirably in the Hi-Tech category of the competition and really excelled. The opportunity to compete in the Lab Olympics came about because of the store's overall results as they related to key quality drivers over the course of the past year.

So take a moment and call our Olympic heroes and congratulate them all on a job well done!!

Region 16 - MVPs of the AVPs!!!

Wow!! Region 16 sold an eye-popping 51.35% AVP Lenes for Week 40!! Amazing!!
That was #2 in the Northeast Region! This marks the first time that we have been over 50% in any week since the rollout of this fantastic lens.
There were several stores that did just an outstanding job selling this lens. some of the top stores last week were:

1. Store 5395 in Mount Kisco at 88.89%
2. Store 764 in the Palisades Mall at 78.57%
3. Store 1015 in Old Saybrook at 65.71%
4. Store 761 in Warwick at 64.0%
5. Store 170 in Poughkeepsie at 63.16%

These stores and all of us have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to consultative behavios when it comes to selling our best lens and we have once again proven that Region 16 Rocs!!

Looking For Life Lessons on TV

I debated with myself for a long time as to whether or not to post my thoughts on today's subject. I'd like to give you a little background.

First of all, one of my favorite things to do is watch TV. I like getting lost in the stories that other people make up. I also like to look for things in these stories that may contain life lessons or inspiration that pertain to my everyday life. Now this doesn't happen all that often, but when it does it sticks with me. This past week my wife and I were watching one of our favorite shows - Grey's Anatomy. At the end of the first show of the season one of the characters gave a bit of a speech that really stuck with me - it had to do with responsibility and accountability. I'm going to let you watch that speech and see if it has an impact on you, too.

To set up the scene: Dr. Webber, the Chief of Surgery at Seattle Grace Hospital has called his surgical staff together. Earlier in the day they had received the rankings of the best teaching hospitals in the country, of which they are one. The previous year Seattle Grace had been ranked #3 in the country, which was a pretty standard position for them year after year, behind only Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic. When this year's rankings came out, however, they found that they had fallen all the way to #12 - behind hospitals they felt were far inferior to theirs. Dr. Webber is now charged with uncovering why this has happened, what the cause is, and what they can do to fix it. Here is what he told his staff:

Think about this in your work life here at LensCrafters. Think about how our results have suffered and how we have allowed it to happen. Now, I am not saying that we are not working hard - we are! Is the speech a little on the harsh side to apply to us? Maybe - but I think you get the picture. I think it is just an excellent example of how we may have gotten complacent, "rested on our laurels", as Dr. Webber says.

Put yourself in his shoes, as a leader. Put yourself in his staffs' shoes, as associates. Put yourself in their patients' shoes. Understand that by getting caught up in the day-to-day "stuff" around us can allow us to settle for less than the best - from associates and from ourselves.
I encourage you to go back and watch the clip again. Put yourself in the different perspectives. Listen to the words and apply them to yourself, to your associates and to all of us here at LensCrafters and in Region 16.

Ever since I saw this scene I have thought about what I have done to allow us to get to this point. What have I allowed from my associates? How am I going to "raise the bar" for my associates? My doctors? My region? Myself?

Am I being a little dramatic? Maybe. But my point is that there can be inspiration and thought-provoking things everywhere in life and it's up to us to pick up on them, use them and pass them on to others when we can. Think about these things as we begin to close out the year and think about how you - right now, today - can begin to have the courage to "ask the tough questions", find the answers and get the ship righted. I know we can do it - as Tony says - "We are the CAN DO region" and I really believe that.

September - The Month in Review

Well, September has mercifully ended and we are now on to bigger and better things here in Region 16. But before we turn the page, I would like to recognize a few stores who, despite all the obstacles in their way, decided to do everything they could with what they have and still posted some extrememly respectable results in what was a tough overall month.

- Store 5395 - Came in at 108.0% to their sales plan! An amazing feat!
- Stores 144, 510, 557, 764, 784 and 1015 all came in over 90% to their sales plan.
- Stores 144, 510 and 784 all exceeded their units from last year - a great accomplishment!
- Stores 761 and 1015 both finished the month over 11% in Customer Conversion!
- As a region we came in at 104.5% to LY in Customer Conversion!
- Stores 784 and 144 both had an increase in DONL% over last year - awesome!!
- Stores 764, 710 and 510 all came in under 14% Remakes for the month - WOW!!!

So, as you can see, despite all of the tough stuff that surrounds us, we are still accomplishing many things that we can be proud of. Great Job!