Vision Benefits: Part of the Wellness Story
Communicating the Value of Vision
Are you effectively communicating the value of vision benefits to your HR customers? Brush up on some key selling strategies featured in the broker white paper, to help demonstrate the true potential of a vision plan on an employer's bottom line.
Also be sure to check out the Vision Education Kit for educational materials that you can share directly with employers and employees, emphasizing the importance of protecting their eyes and making the most of their vision benefit.
When considering which vision plans to recommend to your customers, there are several key factors to look for.
- Cover an annual eye exam, which will not only allow employees to maintain their proper eyeglass prescription, but will also serve as a way to detect potential eye and systemic diseases before they become a health care burden.
- Offer advanced eyewear enhancements for optimal vision and protection at substantial discounts. These enhancements can help alleviate problems that lead to decreased performance at work.
VSP Vision Plans:
For example, photochromic lenses — like Transitions® lenses — with anti-reflective (AR) coatings can minimize glare and reflections, helping to reduce eyestrain and fatigue. In an office, these products can help eliminate reflections from office lighting, an important option considering that 70 to 75 percent of computer workers experience eye and vision problems.
Outdoors, photochromics also offer protection from damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays, which can lead to serious eye problems such as cataract, glaucoma and macular degeneration. UV protection is especially important for employees with or at-risk for diabetes, since UV can increase the likelihood of developing or worsening the common ocular side effects of the disease.
Additionally, progressive lenses can help employees age 40 and older counter the effects of presbyopia, which can make it difficult to focus on reading materials or computer screens. Finally, impact-resistant lens materials can help employees avoid eye trauma — both on and off the job.
Are you doing everything you can to make sure your employees are getting the very best in vision care and vision wear? Be sure to check out our Vision Education Kit for resources you can use to educate employees about the importance of protecting their eyes and making the most of their vision benefit.
Your Satisfaction Gauranteed
As part of a shared commitment to promote healthy sight, VSP and Transitions Optical are teaming up to provide VSP members guaranteed satisfaction on Transitions lenses. VSP members who select Transitions lenses from a VSP doctor have up to six months to experience their new lenses, risk free. If not completely satisfied, VSP will replace them with clear, prescription lenses free of charge.
Selling Strategies
Are you actively integrating vision benefits into your sales calls with benefits managers? Consider implementing some of the following sales strategies:
1. Anecdotal/Success Stories – Show your customers real-life examples of the value of a vision benefit. Personal stories can make an impact. You can also share examples of companies that have successfully integrated a vision plan into their employee benefits package, and have seen lower healthcare costs, increased productivity levels or greater employee satisfaction with their job and benefits overall.
2. Educational materials – Provide information and resources that can serve as further background for your client and can also be shared directly with employees. This Transitions Healthy Sight Working for You Web site and the Vision Education Kit are good examples. The kit is also available as a DVD, which can be given directly to benefits managers and can be shared with their employees to keep vision health top-of-mind any time of year.
3. Vision as part of the healthcare discussion – Seize opportunities during sales calls or in follow up to emphasize the connection between eye and overall health. This helps position a vision plan as an integral component of a benefits package that works in conjunction with major medical coverage, at a low cost to the employer. Remember that, similar to a medical plan, a vision plan offers coverage for conditions and treatment as they arise, and can also play a preventative role.
4. Factoids – Brokers can enhance the vision benefit story during a sales call by sharing factoids that correspond with specific interests of the benefits manager, such as cost control, disease management, or maintaining the health of older workers.
5. Partnership with a local eyecare professional or eye care organization – Add an extra element of credibility to your sales call by having an expert on hand (either in person or via phone) to offer current data and observations about vision care and vision wear.
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