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WALMAN LAB OF THE YEAR WINNER 22 march 2015 opticallabproducts.com Walman's Three-Pronged Approach BY BRYAN SCHUELER A Walman executive explains how his lab won Transitions' Lab of the Year. I'M WRITING this as I return home from Transitions Academy, an event that my team and I have attended for many years. But this year heading back from Orlando feels a little different. While at the airport, I saw a ftness magazine cover that featured a story on triathlons. It connected with me for a moment. A thought crossed my mind: "I wonder what it feels like to accomplish a race like that?" My colleague who stood beside me, saw the magazine I was eyeing, and said: "Feels like we just fnished a triathlon of our own, doesn't it?" And he was right. We all felt excited, energized, proud (and a little exhausted) and for good reason—we had just been named the 2014 Transitions' Lab of the Year. Walman Optical won it once before in 1997 and was named a fnalist three times. AT THE FINISH LINE To make it to the Transitions Lab of the Year fnish line, a lab must demonstrate exceptional overall growth and show commitment to the Transitions ® lens brand. Similar to a triathlon, the award is based on a three-prong approach: education, marketing programs, and commu- nity service. To excel in each of these categories, it takes planning, hard work, and discipline. Our team stepped up in many ways to carry out our strategies and ideas to grow our business with the Transitions brand and I am so proud of what we accomplished. Building a business worthy of the Transitions Lab of the Year title isn't easy. But anyone can do it if they're committed. THE RIGHT GEAR Before you can start any type of training, you need the right equipment. You usually need to do a little extra research on which equipment is best for you. With 40 branch offces in 19 states, Walman Optical is celebrat- ing its 100th anniversary this year. We've learned which products and brands we can count on, and by staying committed to these brands, our business has seen great growth. Transitions is one of our core products. We continue to revolve a lot of our marketing and educa- tional programs around the Transitions family of products because they have proven patient satisfaction rates, and we know our customers will be happy with the end product. In order to effectively win Transitions' Lab of the Year title, the following are the three main strategies we used in our business model. EVENT 1: EDUCATION With preparation and training, anyone can accomplish their goals. Proper training and education are given the highest value at Walman Optical. Our "hub and spoke" network allows us to provide a feeling of local educational support to all of our customers, even though we serve customers nationwide. Our customers tell us that one of the ways we can add value to our partnership with them is through Walman's staff accept the award as Transitions' 2014 Lab of the Year. Our "hub and spoke" network provides a feeling of local educational support to all of our customers, even though we are nationwide.