A customer came into the Ellesmere Port branch the other day. He'd had an eye test in October last year and been told that although his prescription hadn't changed much he could benefit from new varifocal glasses and sunglasses. He decided not to buy them at the time but after seeing our advert in the paper he thought he'd try us out After around 15 minutes discussion he left having only ordered his sunglasses.

Did we disappoint him in some way? Not at all. We had a long talk about his glasses, how he uses them and what he needs them for - and what his priorities were.

He was quite happy with his existing pair of varifocals and he thought they could last him the 6 months until his next eye test. But he needed the sunglasses for his holiday in June (and was also finding driving difficult now that the sun has finally made an appearance).

Other opticians may have been pushy with him - insisting on having both pairs there and then. But we try to do things differently. By spending more time discussing the customer's needs we can better assess how best to look after them.

So we're making his sunglasses now - and he's coming back in October to sort out his varifocals. He told us that he found our 'non-pushy' approach quite refreshing and would also recommend us as a result.

So while we may have (temporarily) missed out on one sale, what we have hopefully gained is a happy customer for life.

So not being pushy is - for Specs2U - the best policy.