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He asked me two questions: “Normal filter or blue filter?" That was the consultation. 165 euros later, I walked out not knowing what I'd bought or why.. The optician was maybe 30, very sharp-looking working out of a busy commercial center in Belgium. His laptop sat between us the whole time, screen facing him as he typed. No idea what he was selecting and no pricing explained.. He took my existing prescription without suggesting we recheck it, skipped any questions about my work or my lifestyle, walked me through exactly two options and handed me half a handwritten note at the checkout that said 165 euros, lenses plus frames, though at no point during the conversation had I seen how we got there. At the end I showed him a tool that structures exactly this kind of process. In a store surrounded by people his age, he responded: "My customers are really old. They don't care about digital.” Ten years doing mystery visits in optical stores. This was one of the stranger ones.. Going back to pick up the glasses. We'll see how that part goes. Whatever their age, customers deserve to understand what they’re buying and why. If you manage an optical retail team, how do you make sure that happens in every store? I’d love to exchange experiences.

70.7% of patients who leave an optical store without buying mention price. So we call it a “price objection.” But the same study points to something more interesting: how price is presented matters more than we think. And look at how we present price. lists, tables, catalogues, technical terminology. Or even worse, prices hidden inside software the customer never sees. We recommend the best lens. “Too expensive?” We move to a cheaper one. The customer sees the price go down. But do they actually understand what changed? Why one lens costs €300 more? What they gain or what they give up? Often, they don’t. And this is what really caught my attention in the study: transparency was consistently mentioned by both groups, those who bought and those who walked away. That should make our industry think. Maybe customers aren’t rejecting the price. Maybe they’re rejecting a price they don’t understand. So do we really have a price problem? Or do we have a price transparency problem? If you’re reviewing how your teams explain lens options and prices, let’s talk. Send me a message.

The 58-year-old optician they warned me about finished first. I was doing a store visit in Belgium. Before I got my coat off, the Operations Manager pulled me aside. "Just so you know, Martin's been here 24 years. He's not going to use it." I've heard this from almost every ops team I've met. Always a name. Always a number of years. Always said like an apology in advance. Martin finished his first digital consultation well ahead of his 28-year-old colleague. Neither of us mentioned it afterward. Here's what I've seen across hundreds of stores: Martin isn't afraid of technology. He's exhausted by it. He's spent 24 years clicking through 14 screens to process a single order. Show him four steps on a tablet and he's the fastest person in the room. The stores with the most adoption friction aren't the ones with the oldest staff. They're the ones with the most complicated existing systems. The staff you're most worried about aren't your adoption problem. The system you built before this one is. That’s what we focus on at Optisuite: making the sales journey simpler for the team and clearer for the customer. Who’s the “Martin” in your team? I’d love to hear their story.

“Alexandra what are the best lenses ZEISS or Essilor?” My cousin called me yesterday to ask. It made me smile. As if there were only two lens manufacturers out there. So I asked an optician friend how he would answer. He said: “It is a bit like Renault and Audi. Both cars take you from A to B. The difference is in the comfort.” Simple, but it makes sense. A premium lens can represent years of innovation. But the customer does not see all that. They see a price table on a computer, complicated names and a price going up. And the optician has to explain why one lens is better for their prescription, lifestyle and budget. This is where it becomes difficult. Because if the customer does not understand the difference, they only see the difference in price. If this sounds familiar in your stores, let’s exchange ideas on how to make lens choices clearer for customers. Send me a message.

Today marks one month since my surgery. One month of recovery is a VERY long time when you’re an entrepreneur 😅 I never really stopped working. But I couldn’t work the way I normally do. And yes, I had that constant anxiety of not moving as fast as I wanted to. But looking back, something interesting happened. I know the theory. I’ve read all the books… build systems, create processes, delegate, don’t become the bottleneck. But this month made me actually understand why it matters. Because when your own speed suddenly drops, you realize how dangerous it is for the speed of the company to depend on yours. So while I was frustrated about slowing down personally, I started accelerating something else. Building better systems. Giving people more ownership. Thinking much more deliberately about the team we need for the next stage. I used to think a lot about how much I could push forward. Now I’m thinking much more about how much we can build that moves forward alongside me. Funny what slowing down can teach you about speed.

I'm honoured to have been nominated in the Founders category of the Most Influential Women in Optical (MIWO) Europe 2026 Awards. The ceremony will take place on 25 September at SILMO Paris, organised by 20/20 EUROPE and Jobson Optical Group and endorsed by Vision Monday Magazine. This year also marks 10 years since I entered the optical industry. Looking back, I realise it all started much earlier. One of my childhood friends is an optician. His father owned the practice, and I still remember spending afternoons in the workshop after closing time, assembling the day's orders. Years later, after working in optics, one question stayed with me: "Which glasses suit me better?" It sounds simple, but behind it lies everything that makes our industry unique: expertise, trust and the ability to help someone make a decision that will stay with them every day. That question eventually became the reason I founded Optisuite. Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey, our incredible team, the opticians who believed in us from day one, our partners, mentors, and everyone who keeps challenging us to build something that truly matters. See you in Paris. 💙