I had a great time in South Germany with Michi. I arrived at the airport, Michi had driven 400 miles to pick me up and arrived at exactly the same time as me, it was a good start!

We had three events planned (one for each day) and I also asked that I visit a few accounts which were not doing a great business for us, so I could find out why. It was very interesting to hear the same argument I have heard in other non-performing opticians. 

Unnamed Optician - "It’s not that I need to come to Design School, it is just that customers here don’t want a Bespoke frame”.

To which I answered - “Are you telling me that you have customers, who come into this shop, and do not want you to design them a frame which fits perfectly, is a perfect colour for them, is designed for their face shape, by YOU, just for them personally? They don’t want that? At design school, we also teach you how to sell a Bespoke frame”.

Unnamed Optician - “I need to come to design school!”.

Then on to opticians who are doing a fantastic Bespoke service. Christian from Bartels Optik. He really put on a great event and had a fantastic turn out. I was asked to give a speech which scared the life out of me, however, it seemed to go ok and, following this, we went to work. 

I can’t remember how many bespoke frames we did (it was a lot) but I do know that I didn’t get to bed till around 2am.

We did another event the next day at Hunke. The “inventor” of our forthcoming “collaboration” service we are launching at Silmo. Hunke was the first optician to create a complete collection with his own take on the TD range. Here you can see me with a couple of happy customers. I’m afraid I didn’t take any other photos during the event, I was too busy enjoying myself.

On to Stuttgart and our German second home. This optician got behind us in a big way from day one and I have a soft spot for the owner, Joachim Weisser, who not only knows how to sell Tom Davies Bespoke better than anyone I’ve met, but is also one of the best opticians I’ve met at presenting his business.

Of course I love the current TD Window he has in place (the banner has been there for a year!). I can tell you that the combination of the screen and the two banners was the most effective “stop and stare” I’ve seen ever. All day during our event, there were people literally standing there for what seemed like an age.

This is Joachim himself, with one of his happy customers. Magic!

 

 All in all a great trip to Germany.  Three more stops to go...