According to dispensing expert Leona Meditz, there are two traditional ways of awarding commissions:

• The retail method.
This method pays a salary and "spiffs" the optician for selling add-ons such as anti-reflective coating or progressive lenses, or for selling multiple pairs. These items usually have high profit margins, because of volume purchasing. The danger in using this system is that products may be sold because of the spiff � not because they'll benefit the patient. This can lead to less-than-ideal matches between patients and products, causing excess remakes and non-adapts. These eat up the extra profits generated by the extra sales. Meanwhile, your optician will still expect to be spiffed.
• The professional method.
This method gives the optician a percent of gross sales. This model is also flawed. It gives opticians full rein to fit any product, even if the product's profit margins don't support commission costs. Also, because commissions are paid on gross sales, you can lose money if remakes escalate for any reason.

The best alternative

The best way around these pitfalls is to base commissions on gross profits rather than gross sales. (Gross profits are computed by subtracting cost of goods from gross sales.) This will make your optician accountable for what he spends, and motivate him to keep costs in line while increasing sales.