My Christmas Gift to You: An Ever-Expanding Customer Base

Happy Holidays

An expanding, stable customer or client base is the foundation for any business’ long-term success. Without these repeat buyers and consumers, the small, hearing aid dispenser must constantly market and mine for new business.

Remember the old adage: it’s much easier to keep a client than it is to find a new one. So, how do you keep your existing customers coming back? Here’s how I’ve done it and, after 35 years in hearing technology, these marketing and promotion strategies work.

They build businesses. Your business. Merry Christmas.

1. Reminder cards. Most small professional service providers send out reminder cards. I get one from the vet telling me it’s time for annual inoculations. Now, don’t get me wrong, my vet’s great, but I also know these reminder cards are sent out to drive business. (That reminds me, I have to make an appointment.)

But here’s the thing: I look at this reminder from my vet but all it tells me is that it’s time for an annual update for pets. Missed opportunity. These cards should not only serve as reminders that it’s time for the annual hearing evaluation, these same cards can be used to announce a special “Friends” sale, offer a discount, free services. In other words, don’t just tell your clients it’s time for a tuning.

Use these reminder cards as an opportunity to sell your services and introduce new products, lines and solutions to hearing problems. It won’t cost you any more in postage, but it will motivate more people to call for an appointment.

2. Offer free after-care and plenty of it. Things that have worked for me:

- free maintenance and cleaning for life

- free battery swaps for life

- free hearing evaluations for life

- reduced costs of tuning (save 20% on your next hearing aid tune-up)

- send out a newsletter every couple of months to keep the company’s name in front of existing customers. This shouldn’t be a sell sheet. Instead, keep it informational, educate your client base on the need for on-going exams, tunings and updates in technology.

3. Conduct free, in-store seminars. First time hearing aid buyers don’t have a clue what questions to ask of a hearing professional. They don’t know about the various options available to them, they don’t know the cost of a mid- and top-tier device.

A simple, one-hour chat in the store (with light refreshments) delivers prospects to the retail outlet and educates a group all at once instead of having to instruct each consumer individually.

4. Contact customers by telephone. I use MS Outlook to create an automated reminder system to call certain customers on certain days.

The client will have questions. New hearing aid wearers also want to know you care and that you provide them with reassurance during the transition phase of adapting to hearing devices compared to impaired, organic hearing.

So, during week one, I call a new buyer twice to answer questions, explain the need for patience and that, in time, hearing with an aid will be the norm.

Week two? One call. If the customer still has problems at this point, I ask them to come to the store. Some minor tuning often solves big problems.

After two or three weeks go by, I make one final call to make sure the customer has adapted well to his or her hearing instruments and whether additional attention is required. This series of calls assures my customers but also provides solid gold marketing input. I can adjust my services to better accommodate my client base using the input I gain from these personal calls.

5. Keep your web site current. In fact, expand the services offered on your web site. Be sure to provide a printable map of your location, written directions, announce upcoming events, new products, sales.

If you freshen up that stale, old website you built five years ago, and print your website’s URL on all of your hard-copy marketing, you can provide a number of on-line services including interactive email from customers with questions (live chat), the ability to make an appointment for a hearing eval or tune-up, post general, hearing health questions on your blog and so on.

True, you aren’t looking for business 10 time zones away from your store, but localized search has changed the way people find the service providers they need. With this in mind, ask your website designer to optimize the site for local search. This’ll deliver more qualified leads to your store front.

6. ‘Tis the season. Always send out holiday cards. You have the names and addresses in your database so it’s simply a matter of printing up the labels and adding a stamp.

Point to ponder: I’m not sure about this. I send Christmas cards to my clients. There are holiday-neutral cards available from any small, local printing company that can print your company name and contact information, making it even more cost effective to say Happy Holidays to your best customers. A personal choice.

7. Reach out. Some of your clients may not be able to get to your store easily. They may be home-bound, in a nursing home or simply without transportation. Okay, pack up your gear and go to the customer. Not only is this a compassionate, humane thing to do, it also serves your business reputation well.

The idea is a simple one: stay in touch with your existing customer base in as many ways as you can. Yes, it may take more time. It may even reduce your margins by a small amount (though that will be more than offset by increased foot traffic and volume).

You’re a community professional with a reputation to manage and a client base to maintain. These seven tips will get you there.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of my readers. And a special thanks to those who have e-mailed me with their questions and their support. I read every e-mail and respond to all.

So, let this holiday season be the one where we become partners in customer care, quality service and business development.

Warmest regards,

John M. Adams III
jma3@hearingtutor.com

Staying In the Game: Work Longer, Hear Better

Let’s face it, hearing aids are expensive. A consumer can easily drop $3,000 on a pair of mid-tier instruments, and how many times have you had prospects come to your store, see the price tags and leave before a screen is even done. To these people, quality hearing is a discretionary purchase.

However, that’s not always the case. More of us are seeing customers in their 30s, 40s and 50s – people with long careers ahead of them. I see people in their 80s still going to work. Retirement is for old people.

The Workplace Benefits of a Hearing Device (Or Two)
If the employee can’t hear the supervisor, following directions is going to be…ahhh, tough. How about impossible? Productivity declines, the individual with hearing loss becomes less useful to the company and, in some cases, these valued employees become isolated in the work place. This isn’t good for business; it’s not good for morale.

Employers want older workers. They’re more reliable, less likely to quit, take fewer sick days and really throw themselves into the job. Older workers bring experience and solutions to the business and should be viewed as a valuable resource, whether we’re talking a C-Level executive or a floor manager. These employees want to work and they can work – if they can only pick up a little gain in noisy factory or quiet office environments.

As my readers know, I do NOT advocate the hard sell. Our job, as professionals, is to assess and advise and, ultimately, hope the buyer recognizes our good advice. However, part of my job as a hearing aid dispenser is to educate the people who walk into my stores and part of that education includes Lesson 1: How To Stay On The Job Longer With Improved Hearing 101.

Perceptions in the Workplace
Numerous studies have been published showing the general population view hearing aid wears as old and “broken.” Let me tell you, some of my clients could kick your butt in a game of one-on-one so broken they are NOT.

SELL Quality Like Unitron.

However, in the upper offices, where the managers perform their daily functions, the stigma of a hearing aid remains, and this prospect is a put-off for today’s busy executive looking for a hearing solution.

For those worried about co-worker perceptions and chances for advancement, you can recommend a virtually invisible CIC for those with mild to moderate hearing loss and a discreet, low profile BTE for those with more severe hearing loss.

Or, you can go a completely different route. Cast of the shackles of hearing aid stigma and go glam with a fire engine red BTE, a branded device (how about the Steinway model?) or hearing devices that look like the dimples of a gold ball for your links lounger who always manages to discover the 19th hole.

You’ll find some customers want discretion. Others want to show the world some attitude. (How long before we see hearing devices emblazoned with the Harley-Davidson logo? How about the Versace line of fashion elegance for the ear. It’s either in the pipeline, or soon will be.)

Sell the Lifestyle, Not the Device
I don’t want to quit my job. Do you? I also don’t want to be laid off because all I hear are pops and clicks.

When the hearing professional first sits down with a new customer, one of the first things to ask is if that client works, will continue working and under what conditions. Then, start explaining the advantages of CIC, ITC and BTE devices, wireless connectivity, automated convenience, wearing comfort and the ability to be a productive, fully-engaged employee for many more years.

Yes, when presented with a pair of high end, high quality devices, expect the consumer to gasp, turn blue and maybe faint dead-away. Once revived, the client needs to be shown the advantages of investing in a higher end unit that is highly customizable, multi-channel, discrete or a neon sign hanging behind the ear cup, durable, even water proof for river guides who experience hearing loss.

The case is a simple one and irrefutable. If your consumer can’t hear, misses key voice mails and says “What?” 12 times in a 10 minute conference, get that person hooked up based on his or her preferences and perceptions of self-image.

Work longer; stay happy and healthy
That’s what most of us want. Retirement isn’t an option, either because of family finances or because the word “retirement” isn’t in the customer’s vocabulary.

Keep those experienced, productive, problem-solvers on the job longer. They’re an invaluable resource to any business.

And the hearing aid technologist – the professional who knows quality and understands the needs of his or her customers – is going to find the right device to suit the business needs regardless of the customer’s age.

Retirement? Not just yet.

Hearing Amps: Danger to Hearing, Danger to Business

SELL QUALITY

You can’t turn on the TV without seeing one of these commercials for hearing amplifiers – the ones that allow you to watch TV while your spouse sleeps quietly. You’ve seen them, and as a professional hearing aid technologist, you understand the dangers this junk poses to your prospects and your business.

Why are hearing amps dangerous to hearing?
Let’s start with the obvious. These devices retail for $14.95 so you know the manufacturer cut every corner possible. The devices are simply poorly made. The quality of sound delivered to the user is compressed and noisy.

However, the real danger is in the user’s ability to control the hearing amp’s volume. These devices are NOT tunable. One size fits all and the only control is a volume control. After all, these are hearing amps, not hearing aids. They make all sounds louder – equally.

The danger to the user’s hearing comes from the fact that the wearer controls the volume. Naturally, users increase gain so they can hear. Problem is, they’re doing even more damage to already weakened hearing. If the wearer has to increase the volume to 10 just to hear the bingo caller, that person is doing damage to his or her delicate hearing mechanism, making a bad problem even worse.

Why are hearing amps dangerous to business?
These devices lower consumers’ expectations of quality hearing aids. If they can buy this piece of electronic junk on TV for $14.95 (plus shipping and handling) why would these folks spend even $1,000 per ear on a tunable device. And you can be darned sure they won’t be looking at the upper tier products – wireless, automated, highest sound quality, wearing comfort, after care – when prospects walk in to your store they are NOT prepared for sticker shock and these TV ads don’t help.

How to sell your professional services?
This most be explained to the consumer. A hearing aid that can’t be custom-tuned to the specific hearing needs of the wearer poses danger of even greater hearing loss and fewer hearing options down the road thanks to that $14.95 gizmo.

Yes, the consumer may pay $1,000 per ear for an entry level hearing aid. But even that low-cost device can be configured, attuned to the needs of the wearer without doing even more damage.

You get what you pay for, and this is especially true with hearing aids. Okay, most consumers will look for the lowest cost solution without considering the impact a hearing aid has on improved quality of life.

Sell quality and improved hearing 24/7, hearing health and customization. Finally, discuss the dangers of these low-cost products seen on TV.

You’ll be educating consumers, helping them make the best selection for their budgets and hearing needs and, most importantly, you’ll prevent further hearing loss caused by the use of low-cost, user controlled hearing amps.

Win-win.

Cut Costs, Not Services: Surviving Tough Economic Times

Unfortunately, during difficult economic times like those we’re now experiencing, hearing aid retailers have to find ways to stay afloat sailing on choppy revenue waters.

The first place most hearing business owners turn is staff. Layoffs. Fewer hearing specialists. And that translates into slower delivery of services to your customers. Appointments for hearing evaluations may be scheduled weeks in advance because you had to let two hearing aid dispensers go to keep expenses under control.

• 
  Another place retailers look for cost cutting is marketing. They cut back on their daily ads in the local paper and radio spots are just too pricey. These steps may offer what appear to be easy ways to lower operating costs but laying off staff and cutting back on advertising to save money is, plain and simple, shooting yourself in the foot.
  
  Yours is a service business in a competitive marketplace. Only 2% of Americans employ hearing aids so we’re all competing in a tight market in a tighter economy. Hey, that means you have a problem.
  
  Here’s how to fix it.
  
  Expand Service Offerings
  If you’re seeing fewer feet walking through your store front, the last thing you want to do is cut services. This has a direct impact on customers and, while it may save on overhead, long term your well-earned local reputation will begin to erode and word of mouth marketing – the best marketing tool in your kit bag – dries up with the delivery of fewer services of lower quality.
  
  Instead of cutting services, expand service offerings to maintain current levels of store revenues. Some suggestions?
  
  Extend your stores hours by opening earlier and staying open later to accommodate customer schedules.
  
  Offer in-home hearing evaluations. Go to the consumer and simplify the process.
  
  Engage in community outreach programs. Visit schools, nursing homes, and other community institutions to conduct free hearing evaluations. In other words, take your show on the road.
  
  Offer free aftercare services. Free battery replacement. Free cleaning and tune up. Free annual hearing evaluations. These free services more than pay for themselves with increased regular customers and community goodwill.
  
  Organize community health fairs. Contact other health service providers in the community and create a blood bank, a BP and hearing screen, free eye exams and so on. Not only are you performing a valuable service to the community, you’re also maintaining the number of customers you see each week.
  
  Build your store’s website to allow customers to schedule appointments on line.
  
  Add a toll-free help line.
  
  Expand your marketing.
  This is not the time or place to cut your promotion budget. Even if it hurts. Look, potential customers have to know your store is there so you have no choice. You have to advertise in the telephone books (very, very pricey), you have to advertise in local newspapers and run spots on local radio and cable TV channels – even if that outgo hurts.
  
  Cutting back on advertising during difficult economic times only hastens the demise of your client base.
  
  Solutions?
  
  Use your store’s website as the center of all your advertising. All adverts point prospects to your website where you can tell your story – the high standards of quality that you represent. While websites aren’t cheap, you can build one for a few thousand – a small price to pay for the centerpiece of all of your marketing.
  
  Make sure your URL appears on every piece of paper associated with your shop – ads, brochures and product literature, invoices, business cards – integrate all of your marketing around your website to create greater local impact.
  
  Newspapers are hurting. Call the advertising managers of the local town papers and negotiate a better rate for a longer term commitment for more ad space. Rates are very negotiable in tough times.
  
  Again, reach out. Create a name for your company as a good corporate citizen. Give it away to create word of mouth advertising – especially in smaller markets where good news spreads fast. Bad news spreads even faster.
  
  Highlight benefits of products, not tech specs. In your print and video advertising, talk about quality of life issues, NOT signal-to-noise ratios. Specs don’t sell. Benefits do.
  
  Maintain contact with your existing client base. These are the customers paying the rent so mail them or email them with special offers – “JUST FOR OUR VALUED FAMILY OF CUSTOMERS.”
  
  Of course, send out reminders that it’s time for the customer’s annual hearing evaluation. This may be top priority on your list but it’s the kind of thing most people forget unless you remind them.
  
  Don’t follow the conventional wisdom of cutting services and marketing. This is precisely the wrong thing to do in difficult economies. Be more visible, make it easier for customers to get screened and fitted, offer incentives and keep prices down by cutting margins whenever you can.
  
  Listen up, hearing aid retailers. It’s time to change tactics.
  
  
  

Reputation Management: Protecting Your Business' Good Name

As a hearing aid retailer, you have a special place within your community. Your outlet should present an attractive, well-maintained appearance and you and your staff should look professional at all times.

The Artis Product Line From Siemens

First impressions are lasting impressions so as people drive by your shop, you want them to know, each time they see your sign, that you’re a reputable business with the focus on client service and satisfaction.

Small Town Gossip
Word spreads fast in a small town where everyone knows everybody so a bad experience with your dispensary won’t stay a secret for long. In a small town, where you depend on the local population to support and grow your business, bad news travels fast. And this is NOT the kind of word of mouth advertising you want floating across your community.

Instead, a satisfied consumer is a non-paid, non-commissioned salesperson for your high standards of professionalism. So, how do you keep your reputation as a reliable source for hearing solutions? Here are some suggestions.

1. Business ethics. This involves virtually all aspects of interaction with clients. For example, you might be able to sell a couple of $3,500 units even though you know two $1,000 units would suit the needs of the client just fine.

The ethical hearing technologist offers the right solution to the patient’s hearing loss. All interactions are transparent and the consumer is educated as you move through the purchase cycle.

I believe that the hearing aid technologist is a resource and guide for the first-time hearing aid buyer. Explain options, pros and cons to various devices and, in the end, let the client make the decision based on your impartial recommendations. Ethical business practices builds a retailer’s reputation – small town or big city, it doesn’t matter.

2. Clearly explained policies. This is a no brainer and saves time on returns and services. Explain your store’s policies with regard to trial periods, returns, product maintenance costs, services – lay it all out, hide nothing. Your client base will grow with happy, satisfied consumers who are telling their friends and neighbors about the great service and cost savings you deliver.

You are the professional.

3. Stay current. Read the industry journals, product literature and other information like that found here at this blog. This will equip you to offer the most and latest features at the lowest cost.

Also, attend seminars, tele-conferences and other information gathering events to keep up with the latest from the best names in hearing aid technology. Remember, you’re the expert. Your consumers turn to you for the best advice and that requires you know what’s happening in the fast-paced world of hearing technology. It changes daily in a highly- competitive market.

4. Join local civic groups. This is great for a couple of reasons. Groups like the Chamber of Commerce, the Better Business Bureau and other local business and service groups are a great way to network with other businesses in your region. You may be able to hook up with a couple of other hearing professionals to develop business and professional synergies.

Membership in these organizations also builds consumer trust – critical to long-term, retail success.

5. Help your community. Free hearing evaluations are just one way you can help your community. Sponsor community events. Sponsor a sports team. Donate time to various charities in the community.

It’s not only good for your business and for your community, it’s good for your heart. Helping others and building good community relations isn’t about advertising. It’s about being a good corporate neighbor.

6. The customer is always right – except when she’s wrong. You know hearing evaluations, you know causes and sources of hearing loss, you know what technological solutions are available. In other words, you know the problem and you provide the solutions.

When working with a new client, that individual might want a CIC, even though she experiences severe hearing loss and you, the professional, know that a CIC won’t deliver the gain the customer needs.

Look, the customer is always right, but you’re the professional. You have the information and the facts. So, by explaining the limitations of CICs, you direct that customer to a low profile BTE.

Of course, there’s a wide range of products to suit the needs and preferences of every consumer. The key? Let the consumer make the decision based on your expert advice. If you believe that the unit the customer selects will do the job, fine. Conversely, if you can not in good conscience, support the client’s purchase of a particular device, you have an obligation to steer that buyer to a more suitable choice.

Your business reputation is the foundation for long-term success. Guard it like gold.

It is.

Assessing Your Customers’ Needs

Hearing aid technologists are in a unique position within the hearing aid industry. We’re the highly-trained, certified face of the industry. We’re the professionals who interact with customers.

And that’s a big responsibility – one that should not be taken lightly. It’s often up to the hearing aid dispenser to fit customer and device for the least obtrusive, most satisfying hearing experience.

Naturally, after the completion of a full hearing evaluation, you have the metrics needed to make a good fit. But the astute retailer doesn’t stop with the eval results. There are a number of considerations to take into account before fitting device and consumer – considerations that must be evaluated before making any recommendations. Of course, the final choice must offer the best opportunity to improve consumer hearing and quality of life. But within those results a number of options are available based on the needs of the wearer.

Budget
Let’s cut right to the chase. Most first-time hearing aid buyers are stunned with sticker shock, unaware of the gigantic strides that have occurred with the advent of digital hearing aid technology. Expect it.

Usually, consumers have a number in mind. It’s important to explain the options and performance features a higher-priced model affords, but hey, there’s no room for up sell in the hearing aid retail community. The final choice of devices should take into account the buyer’s budget, delivering the most useful features at the lowest cost.

Assume the cost will be the client’s number one concern.

Life Style
Hearing technologists are seeing hearing aid buyers who are younger than in the past. Chalk it up to a noisy world, MP3 players and monster truck rallies. And even the older consumer continues a healthy, active life for many years.

During discussions with the client, it’s important to learn about life style. Active, out-there people will require more durability and maybe even water-proofing for the 80-year-old whitewater kayaker (oh yeah, they’re out there).

Because we have so many options today, it’s simple to determine the right device for active wearers and couch spuds.

Self-Image
This is often overlooked, even by experienced technologists. A customer may have concerns about appearance, perceptions of others and even self-image concerns. I’ve had buyers tell me they feel “broken.”

A couple of different ways to go here. First, today’s manufacturers offer devices in a bright array of colors, removing the stigma of wearing a hearing device or two. Or second, there are CIC options for some consumers and even BTE units are low-profile.

It’s funny. Some customers come right out and tell you, “I don’t want some big clunky thing that everybody can see.” Message received. Others may be embarrassed to discuss their emotions regarding this purchase but with some gentle questioning, you see what that individual wants/needs to maintain the highest levels of self-esteem.

Consumer Concerns
It’s essential that the hearing aid technologist answer all consumer questions in terms the consumer can understand. If the client doesn’t know what signal-to-noise ratio is, explain it.

Also, I always tell my clients to expect a transition period. Even the best devices won’t replace normal hearing so wearing a hearing aid does take some getting used to. My advice is wear the hearing aid for a couple of weeks and track problems. Then, come in for an adjustment.

The hearing aid technologist, more than any other figure within the entire hearing industry, is in the best position to assure that each consumer is fitted with the best-suited device based on cost, level of activity and a host of other factors.

In this case, you can’t just “go by the numbers.”

Health Fairs and Community Events

If you’re sitting in your store waiting for customers to walk through the front door, you aren’t making the most of your knowledge, experience and assets. Get out there and show them what you got.

Health Fairs and Community Events
Every community has its own special events. Fall fairs, in-store health checks, free holiday health programs and so on. These are ideal opportunities to get out into your sales region and (1) start branding your business’ name, (2) develop a list of new clients and (3) help the members of the community.

In many cases, the organizers of health fairs and other events are looking for people just like you – companies and local businesses that can set up a booth, draw in visitors and create a sense of community belonging while providing a valuable service.

Making Contact
You can’t just show up. You have to either be invited or get yourself invited by talking to the event organizer. Health fairs and these types of events are advertised heavily in the local media. Track down the individual in charge of participants, wrangle an invitation and find out whether to bring your own table or not.

Follow your local newspaper and local TV for upcoming events and volunteer to participate.

Health Fair Signage
You want a completely professional, sharp, clean look so don’t write your store’s name on a piece of paper and attach it to your table. Pay to have professional signage made. And here’s a tip – have the signs created on vinyl to they roll up for easy movement, set-up and take down.

Be sure to have one sign to indicate that you’re performing free hearing evaluations.

Product Literature
Don’t expect too many sign ups when you participate in a health fair. A hearing aid purchase is not an impulse buy. So, be sure to provide marketing materials for all of the brands you carry in your store. If you don’t have any of these brochures and other marketing “collaterals,” contact the marketing department of the brand. They’ll provide the sell sheets, brochures and other collaterals.

Be sure to “personalize” these company promotional products either by taking them to your local print shop or just get a rubber stamp that includes all contact information. Most collaterals include a blank area for this kind of personalization.

Business Cards and URL Cards
Keep a stack of business cards on the table. If you maintain a website print up some URL cards – a business card-sized promotional tool that simply displays your store’s web address, i.e. http://www.hearingtutor.com/. That’ll drive site traffic where you can provide all the positives and benefits to purchasing a hearing aid from you.

Props
Some hearing aid technologists use a large replica of the human ear to explain to prospects how the hearing process works. It’s very useful in pointing out the numerous and complex components that comprise the hearing mechanism.

I also find a display of units always attracts attention – especially with the brightly colored hearing aids that many companies now manufacture. People are truly amazed at today’s hearing aid tech and when they see something smaller than a postage stamp that can improve life’s quality, interest is piqued.

Finally, one more tip. Fill a large glass bowl with mixed candies. It draws in visitors like nothing you’ve ever seen. Stop by for the Snickers, stay for the hearing evaluation. It’s a great draw.

It’s important that you move your skills and knowledge outside the confines of the four walls of your retail outlet. In future posts I’ll introduce several opportunities to help others while you help your business.

Remember, You Sell a Service

Let’s say there are 20 or 30 competing hearing aid retailers in your sales region. Many of these outlets sell the same, well-known brand names – Phonak, Starky, GNResound, Oticon and other quality brands.

Now this store might not carry Oticon and this one over here may not sell Phonak, but the point is this: most hearing aid retail outlets are selling out of the same book. There are only some many quality products that a reputable hearing technologist would sell.

So, if these 20, 30 or even 50 outlets are all selling basically the same exact same products, how do you differentiate your outlet from the competition. There are lots of good ways.

Let’s look at a few.

Reputation Management
One unhappy customer can be toxic, spreading the bad word about your business to friends, neighbors, family, co-workers. It doesn’t take too many of these toxic chatterboxes to damage your business reputation.

Reputation management is critical to any business in which people place their trust – from certified financial planner to hearing aid technologist.

If there’s a problem with a single unhappy customer, you simply have no way of knowing
how bad your reputation is hurt. In small communities, these things spread like wildfire.

So, even if you have to take a loss, keep every single one of your customers 100% happy 100% of the time. Build up that kind of reputation in town and you’ll enjoy the free benefits of WOM – word of mouth marketing – the best marketing any retailer has.

Scheduling, Appointments and Walk-Ins
If you have a 1:00 appointment, be there, be ready to do what needs to be done, be courteous, professional and on time.

I like to schedule 15-30 minutes between appointments. This enables me to do two things: (1) prepare for my next customer and (2) to at least introduce myself and pass on some literature to any walk-ins. It’s important that all your customers feel cared for.

Special Features
Some outlets sell and fit hearing aids. Period.

They can do so much more. Hold classes and hand out the free materials available on my site hearingtutor.com.

Hold free evaluations. Schools, service organizations (Lions, Elks, etc.), a community open house, set up a hearing evaluation station at the local town fair. That belly-to-belly contact is so much more effective than an impersonal phone call.

Offer special discounts to seniors, special needs populations, pediatrics. Your prestige will grow, especially if you notify the local newspaper of your special efforts.

Drop prices on overstocks and offer refurbs for those looking for a bargain.

Offer a money back guarantee (assuming the unit is in saleable condition).

Offer post-fitting classes and even one-on-ones to help the customer through the transition process – usually about 30 days.

Sponsor community events and “donate” free hearing screens as raffle prizes, door prizes, etc.

Sponsor a local sports team.

Notify local media when you’re holding a special event.

Buy bulk TV ads on local cable. When you buy a bundle, you can often pick up 100 spots for $500 – and the cable company will even create a nice looking ad for you.

You get the idea. Sitting behind the counter and placing the weekly advert in the local press just doesn’t cut it. Too much wasted time.

Go proactive, tell the community you’re here, you want to be a part of the neighborhood and you’re going to prove it – every day.

I’ve used these marketing strategies in a variety of situations and every one generated immediate store traffic and lots of smiles and handshakes on Main Street.

Oh, and hey, isn’t that what you want for your local or regional outlets. Just remember, all outlets sell the same basic catalog of hearing devices.

So market your outlets for the service, quality of products, convenience and good corporate citizenship.

In the short- and long-run, you’ll build business success and as a bonus, you’ll make a lot of happy friends in town.

Your Retail Outlet. Looking Good?

You only have one chance to make a good first impression. So, when new clients walk into your store, what do they see? Professionals hard at work? Neat displays of hearing device options? Informational literature on how to buy a hearing aid?

Or do they see something starkly different – dusty counter tops, disheveled staff, faded product posters slowly falling from the wall. The look, the feel of your hearing aid retail outlet will make you or break you – no matter how good you are as a hearing technologists.

The Exterior
First impression, once again.

If you’re looking for a location to open an independent dispensary, look for a central location even if the cost per square foot is a bit higher. You’ll make it up every time a motorist drives by your shop and sees the signage.

Yep, your business sign speaks volumes about your business. First, it should fit in with the rest of the commercial neighborhood and not stick out like a sore thumb. If you own a shop in a small, rural town, a glowing neon sign is probably not the way to go.

You can’t go wrong with a professionally, hand-painted sign that’s large enough to see from the road. If you move into a strip mall, your exterior is determined for you by lease agreement. Before you sign a five-year lease on a mall outlet, discuss what is and is not acceptable for signage.

If you’re already established as a business, take a look at the outside of your building. Does it need a coat of paint? How about a power wash to get rid of grimy build up. These aren’t big things but the do make an impression – even at the subliminal level.

From the moment a new client pulls into your store’s parking lot, s/he should feel confident in the decision to choose you as their hearing specialist.

Of course, lawns should be mowed and landscaping landscaped. Police the grounds each morning for debris that might blow in from the street. The point? Spotless on arrival. Your buyers are feeling better before they even walk into the store.

Inside the Hearing Aid Store
Once again, spotless. Everything. And if you don’t have the time to do it, hire a cleaning service so glass cases shine, the rug is spotless and the wastebaskets emptied.

Set your display cases up to draw the visitor deeper into the store. Place them toward the back, though they must be visible from the front door. If the prospect is a walk-in, often they’re out to gather information so make sure you have plenty of product and other marketing literature for take-aways. If you provide the information these window shoppers are looking for, when they finally decide to come in for an evaluation and a fitting, they’ll come to you.

Lighting is also important according to numerous marketing studies. The store should be well lit but not aglow in fluorescence if you can avoid it. Product cases should be well lit to provide the potential buyer with the best looking product – especially with all of the new, brightly-colored products on the market.

Create a private space for evaluations so your clients aren’t distracted by ambient sound. A separate enclosure is best for conducting screens.

Display plaques and awards near the products. Gold Club Member or RETAILER OF THE YEAR instills confidence.

Keep business cards on display counters throughout the store and make sure each prospect has a contact card when they leave the store.

Finally, staff should look professional and act professionally. Suit or lab coat is a must. Hair combed. No colognes or perfumes. Clean, manicured hands. All of these project an image of professionalism.

And professionalism is exactly what your prospects are looking for.

Selling a Better Quality of Life With Hearing Aids

Today's hearing aids are virtually invisible...or not.

If your eyes start to go, you get them checked, you get a pair of glasses and life goes on. Not so with hearing loss. Oh, brother. Studies have been conducted that indicate that people who wear hearing aids are viewed as old, feeble and (I love this) broken!

People with hearing loss are no more “broken” than people who wear glasses or other adaptive devices – an artificial limb, for example. And as a hearing aid technologist I take umbrage at my clients being called broken. They aren’t broken, the just don’t hear as well as they used to.

Industry Trends The ReSound Dot. HOT!
For those of us who have been fitting and selling hearing aids for three or four decades, we’ve had the opportunity to see a fundamental change in, not only hearing aid tech, but also in the way hearing aid wearers perceive themselves. For decades, hearing aids were big, clunky things that gramps complained about. They spewed out feedback like a Jimi Hendrix guitar solo and they were beige and blah.

Hello new millennium. Now, hearing aids are almost all digital meaning that manufacturers can fit more and more features into smaller and smaller casings. The result?

Hearing aids that:

provide comfortable, natural sound.

are lightweight yet loaded with features and plenty of juice to boost your hearing.

comfortable to wear either completely in the canal (CIC), in the canal (ITC) or behind the ear (BTE) configurations – something to please all of your clients.

are totally, 100% automated so your clients don’t have to sweat the small stuff.

are available in a discrete profile or in kandy-apple red if you want to make a statement to the world.

are available with higher standards of quality, longer battery wear and – get this – a lower price. The unit that cost $3,000 just a few years ago now costs half that as the R & D expenses are recouped. Works that way with all electronics. Remember when laptops were $2,000 minimum? Today, you can buy a good one for less than $500. Same with hearing aids.

You Aren’t Selling Hearing Aids, You’re Selling Quality of Life
This one fact may make the difference between the success of your store or practice and the “crash and burn” effect. If you view your job as selling ear gear, you’re only telling half the story.
The ability to hear is a quality of life issue. If a client can’t hear, you may discover a sense of isolation. Even anger. That’s why I always tell my clients, “You aren’t buying a couple of hearing aids. You’re buying a higher standard of living.”

Imagine hearing the grandkids giggle or the wind rustling the leaves after a decade of almost total silence. Can you put a price on that?

Further, individuals who compensate for hearing loss are more productive in the workplace, they can work longer (if they want to) and they can become part of the community and family once again. You don’t sell hardware, even if it is top-of-the-line. You market a better quality of life for all of your clients and those who live and work and play with these men, women and children.

Explain the Benefits
Ear Bling. Make YOUR Statement

Chances are the client that just walked into your shop doesn’t want to be there but has finally recognized that it can’t be put off any longer. I can usually recognize these folks by their scowls and the spouse dragging the client through my front door.

Before I conduct a hearing evaluation, before I discuss options, prices and guarantees, the very first thing I do is explain how much better life will be when the client can hear again and get back in the game. Just a few minutes of going over benefits rather than tech specs seems to do the trick.

In short, sure promote the product but more importantly, promote the improvement in quality of life. The money spent on a pair of hearing aids will only sting a little and for a short time.

The ability to enjoy the sounds long-absent in the client’s life is something that will be enjoyed every minute of everyday.

Once clients understand that (1) they aren’t old, feeble and broken, (2) today’s hearing aids are cool or discrete and (3) there’s been a huge leap forward from the unit gramps wore in his shirt pocket, the client becomes your ally in improving hearing and improving life.

And you’ve made a new client and a new friend.

Free Hearing Screens: Helping the Community; Helping Your Business

People don’t usually think about their hearing – until it’s gone! Then, we have a crisis on our hands – a crisis that could have been avoided if the client had sought help from a hearing professional earlier. That’s why free hearing screens are a win-win situation for small business owners dispensing hearing aids and prospective consumers.

A complete hearing evaluation can take as long as 60 minutes to isolate the source and extent of hearing loss. That may be too much time to spend on a possible prospect. But, remember a couple of critical points: (1) you’re building a reputation in the community and (2) those walk-ins will come back to you when it’s time for another evaluation and a sale.

Hearing aid technologists can streamline the process by having clients fill out a simple questionnaire about perceptions of their own hearing loss. This can cut the evaluation time in half.

I’ve seen self-testing frequency generators in some outlets, though keep the kids away and set the machine’s sound generating volume to below 80dB max so no damage can occur as the result of a burst of sound.

Make Hearing Screens a Family Affair
First, hearing evaluations are just good business and, well, a nice neighborly thing to offer so I provide free screens year ‘round with an appointment. Other hearing aid retailers sponsor special events with balloons and such to encourage new customers to stop in for a hearing check.

I like this approach, too, because I see more families taking advantage of free hearing screens and that, of course, means earlier evaluations for our kids. Absolutely critical.

Newborns are routinely tested for hearing loss at birth and fitted with hearing aids as early as eight weeks when loss is detected. This is essential to “normal” development and a “mainstream” life. To learn to speak, children mimic the sounds we make. If they can’t hear these sounds, or they can’t hear them clearly, language problems develop which lead to learning and cognition developmental delays.

Hearing specialists can identify hearing loss in youngsters as young as two months, provide these patients with pediatric devices and educate the parents on how to mitigate hearing loss in their child so the child is able to mainstream throughout life without problems of integration within the society as a whole, i.e. no need to learn to sign if the child hears clearly enough to learn to speak.

Free hearing screens work for everyone – families, seniors, workers exposed to noisy environments, individuals affected with hearing loss caused by trauma or disease. All benefit.

You and your business benefit, as well. First, you’re helping members of your region. FREE. This identifies your hearing aid dispensary as an upstanding community citizen. Second, you build an unpaid sales force of happy clients who spread some positive word of mouth around town. Finally, you build your business with quality care, impeccable service and engaging prospects one-on-one.

So, offer free hearing evaluations as part of your business’ service offerings. It may take a little extra time out of your day, but long term, this is how you build a business.

Why Would a Hearing Aid Dispenser Sell One Hearing Aid?

I see it all the time.

The client comes in for an evaluation and shows hearing loss in both ears. However, the cost of two hearing aids doubles the price and the client objects. It hurts enough to pay $1,000 for a basic unit. It hurts twice as much when you have to buy two units so clients will tell the hearing specialist that s/he doesn’t want to pay for the second device. One will due.

Localization
The problem, here, is localization – something about which the client is probably unaware. It takes two working ears to locate the source of a sound. As the sound waves move through the air, they’re picked up by the two ears at slightly different times because of the positioning of the ears on each side of the head. This is called binaural hearing.

Clients who try to save a few bucks by purchasing a single device should be counseled against this practice. Sure, the client may be able to hear the TV but the listening experience is never going to be natural. Or comfortable.

Buy Down
Look, as a hearing aid technician and salesperson, you know the high cost of these digital marvels and you understand the quality of life issues associated with hearing well – and that includes the ability to locate the source of sounds.

When faced with a client who insists on the single device, I always recommend buying a lower priced model – but buy two of them. This improves the ability to locate sounds and to create a more natural listening experience.

The extra money spent on a second hearing instrument will be forgotten in a few days. The ability to hear naturally…well, can you – the hearing aid professional – put a price on that? I can’t, though the buyer will certainly try.

Never make the client feel silly or “cheap” for trying to save on better hearing. However, point out that if the client suffered vision loss, s/he would do whatever was necessary to reverse that loss. Same applies to hearing. When it’s broke, fix it. Fix both ears with two devices.

Hearing aid professionals who sell a single device to their clients may think they’re doing these folks a favor. They aren’t.

Your clients want to hear out of both ears and that means two devices – even if they don’t know it when they walk into your store. Part of your job is educating the consumer so push back gently when a client insists on the purchase of a single hearing aid.

After all, you’re a professional and you want what’s best for your customers. That’s how you grow a successful hearing technology retail outlet – by doing the right thing for your clients – even if they don’t know it.

John M. Adams III
jma@hearingtutor.com
http://www.hearingtutor.com