Not another marketing campaign.

Not more exams.

Not another expensive technology investment.

Just better decisions about what you stock, what you reorder, how you price it, where you put it, and what your team says when the patient hesitates.

This week’s Power Hour was recorded live on stage at Eyecare B.O.S.S. Live, where the entire event was built around one idea: turning good ideas into a 90-day action plan practice owners could actually execute.

And one of the biggest conversations happening in the room was optical performance.

In this week’s episode of Power Hour, Eugene Shatsman sits down with Kayla Ashlee, CEO & Founder of SPEXY, to dig into the data behind hundreds of independent opticals and uncover some surprisingly practical ways practices can improve frame turns, reduce walkouts, and generate more revenue from the patients they already have.

Kayla’s FrameTurn platform now includes data from more than 700 independent opticals, giving her a unique view into what is actually selling, and where practices may be quietly getting in their own way.

Your Best Frames May Be Disappearing From the Board

One of Kayla’s first recommendations sounds almost too simple:

Stop waiting for the frame rep to reorder your best sellers.

Practices sell through their strongest-performing styles, wait for the representative to return, and then fill those empty spaces with newer options.

The problem?

The frames patients already proved they wanted may never make it back onto the board.

Over time, Kayla says this can create an erosion effect where a brand that once performed extremely well gradually becomes filled with more average-performing styles.

Her recommendation is to identify what SPEXY calls “A styles,” and make sure they remain consistently available.

More Frames Doesn’t Necessarily Mean More Sales

Then the conversation moves to inventory.

How many frames should an optical carry?

Kayla reluctantly gives Eugene a rough number of 700 as a starting point, but immediately makes the bigger point:

There is no universal “right” inventory number.

The better question is, how quickly is that inventory turning? And more importantly, which brands are actually turning?

Kayla explains that SPEXY looks at performance at the brand and style level rather than relying only on total inventory. Backstock, in her view, should be reserved primarily for the styles proven to move fastest, not for frames that are simply sitting in drawers tying up cash.

That distinction can become financially significant.

Kayla reports that FrameTurn members who complete the program and advisory process have produced an average improvement of approximately 0.6 in frame turn within six to twelve months, which she says can equate to roughly $117,000 in additional sales for the average participating office.

Same exams — more frames sold.

The “12-Frame” Problem

Here is one of the more interesting pieces of data from the episode.

Kayla says SPEXY repeatedly sees brands lose momentum when their representation drops below roughly 12 frames.

She calls it being under-showcased. That does not mean every brand should have exactly 12 frames. Some may perform best with 20. Others at 24, 32, or even 50.

But when a brand dwindles to only a handful of options, patients may simply not have enough selection to engage with it properly.

So practice owners have a decision to make:

Showcase it properly, or get it off the board.

Leaving a brand sitting there with six forgotten frames may be accomplishing neither.

Your Pricing May Be Creating Its Own Sales Problem

Then Kayla shows Eugene another pattern hiding in the data.

When SPEXY breaks an optical’s inventory into $50 pricing increments, its strongest-performing practices tend to show a more natural progression in pricing.

Think of it like a bell curve. The problem appears when the experience looks something like:

$150, $200, $250, and then suddenly $600.

To the consumer, that premium frame can feel completely disconnected from everything else they have just seen.

Kayla argues that premium eyewear sells better when the practice creates a more complete consumer pricing journey between entry-level and luxury price points.

“That’s Too Expensive.”

Eugene brings up one of the conversations practice owners were having throughout Eyecare B.O.S.S. Live:

What should your optician say when the patient looks at the price and says:

“Wow. That’s expensive.”

Kayla’s answer is counterintuitive. Don’t immediately disagree. Agree.

Instead of defending the price or telling the patient, “You get what you pay for,” acknowledge what they said and continue the conversation.

The goal is to remove the confrontation, explain the value, and then guide the patient toward options that fit both their needs and budget.

The same principle applies when patients say: “I just want what my insurance covers.”

Kayla and Eugene make an important language distinction:

Contribution, not coverage.

Rather than repeatedly explaining what the plan “covers,” explain what the plan contributes toward the purchase.

That subtle change can move the conversation away from “What can I get for free?” and toward “How can I maximize the benefit I already have?”

Put The Eyecare B.O.S.S. to Work in Your Practice

Are you reading The Eyecare B.O.S.S. yet?

Thousands of copies of the growth manual have already been sold, but the book is only the beginning. If you’re ready to start implementing the systems inside your own practice, visit EyecareBoss.com.

There are more than 40 free tools available to download, including the same tools used with practices to help turn the concepts in the book into execution.

And the results are worth paying attention to.

Across a year-long study involving approximately 25 practice locations, participating practices saw average:

Refractions increase 19.4%. Revenue increase 23.9%.

In a market where much of the industry is flat, those results stand out.

You can use the book and tools independently, work alongside other practice owners in a group, or get one-on-one coaching support. Your call.

Your dream practice is waiting for you. Visit EyecareBoss.com

• Stop Letting Your Best Sellers Disappear | Learn why waiting for frame reps to replenish inventory can slowly remove your strongest-performing styles, and how identifying your A styles can help keep proven sellers in front of patients.
• Turn Rate Matters More Than Inventory Size | See why simply counting frames tells you very little about optical performance and how analyzing turns by brand can reveal where your inventory dollars are really working.
• Find the Brands You’re Under Showcasing | Discover why a brand with too little representation may be almost impossible to sell, and how the data can help you decide whether to properly showcase it or remove it altogether.
• Build a Better Pricing Journey | Understand why jumping from mid-priced eyewear directly into luxury can create resistance, and how a more intentional assortment can make premium products feel more natural to the consumer.
• Change the Price Conversation | Learn how intentional language around objections, budgets, and insurance can help your team keep patients engaged instead of immediately losing the sale.
• Merchandise What You Actually Want to Sell | See how strategic placement and SPEXY’s “sunglass eyeline” approach has helped participating practices increase the sales rate of already strong-performing styles by another 20–30%.

Connect with Kayla Ashlee

Kayla Ashlee, CEO and Founder of Spexy, IS an international optometric speaker and certified optician known for helping independent practices improve optical performance through training, merchandising, inventory strategy, and patient communication. She was named one of Vision Monday’s Most Influential Women in Optical in 2024 and received the Optical Women’s Association Emerging Leader Award for 2025.

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaylaashlee/ 
• Website: https://www.spexy.co/

Connect with Eugene Shatsman

Eugene Shatsman is Host of Power Hour, Managing Partner of National Strategic Group, and Co-Creator of The Eyecare B.O.S.S. A growth strategist and consultant to hundreds of optometric practices nationwide, Eugene specializes in scaling independent eye care businesses through structured strategy, data, marketing science, and operational clarity.

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugeneshatsman/
• Website: https://eyecareboss.com