Are Your Customers Welcomed?

WELCOME EACH PROSPECT PERSONALLY, AND MAKE THEM FEEL COMFORTABLE IN YOUR HEARING CENTER

How do you attract customers to your hearing aid center? Newspaper advertisements? The yellow pages? TV and radio spots? A website? The fact is, you should be using all of these marketing tools everyday. A day shouldn’t go by that you don’t advertise somewhere, using a variety of media.

It takes a lot of money to get a customer to walk through your front doors, so once you have a customer on site, how do you make them feel welcome at your hearing aid practice?

No One Likes a Cold Fish

If you’re working, stop what you’re doing and greet the prospect with a smile and handshake (unless you’re working with another client, in which case, you direct the new arrival to your comfortable seating area).

Give that new arrival a time estimate – five minutes, 10 minutes, an hour. This enables the store visitor to determine if this is a good time to stick around to talk with you.

Be proactive in your greeting and remember the prospect’s name. We all like to be recognized and remembering a name is a big part of that.

Product Literature

While your prospect is waiting, make sure you have product literature and informational content available. This starts the education process and gives the prospect information required to make an intelligent buying decision.

Same with consumer magazines. I subscribe to the popular magazines and keep them out on a coffee table for waiting customers, though I don’t like to keep them waiting long.

Light Snacking

There’s always fresh coffee in my store and an assortment of fresh pastries that I pick up at the bakery on my way to the office. (BTW, because I’m a regular, my baker gives me a 10% discount on all of my orders – a great way to keep me coming back).

Listen

Before you even begin the in-take process, ask how you can help. The visitor may just need a battery swap out, so save the sales pitch until you know how you can best serve the needs of the visitors.

Provide a Business Card

I’ve seen it hundreds of times. Some customers come back three or four times before finally making a purchase. A hearing aid – even an economy hearing aid – is expensive and big purchases require time to make. Lots of button pushing on the calculator.

I also provide a refrigerator magnet along with my card. Most prospects use these promotional tools and your outlet’s name is right in front of the prospect every time they go to make a sandwich.

Finally, extend your hours or have hours “By Special Appointment.” I find this helps in a couple of ways. First, it enables me to work with buyers who work the same hours my store is open, and second, it shows a prospect that I’ll go the extra mile to help them live a life of better hearing.

You spend a great deal of money advertising your hearing aid outlet. Once you get a prospect, make that person feel welcomed, comfortable and tended to.

Make prospects into buyers by making them feel comfortable as soon as the enter your hearing aid outlet. A comfortable visitor will stick around to learn about your service offerings and products.

And isn’t that what you want them to do?

To learn more about building a successful hearing aid outlet, visit hearingtutor.com and pick up some license-free marketing materials to drive prospects to your outlet. And don;t forget to keep that coffee fresh!

John M. Adams III

hearingtutor.com