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.
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.
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1 comment:
Hi, John,
Just discovered your blog. I have a friend own two outlets in the mid-west and I've seen her business fall off a lot.
She's tried free hearing tests but only got eight people to show up and made one sale which barely covered the cost of advertising.
Anybody got suggestions for getting traffic through the hearing aid retailer's door while the economy is such a mess?
Thanks,
nutmeglad@aol,com
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