2/25/09

Reach Out: Help Your Community. Help Your Business.


The independent hearing aid practitioner is faced with numerous business problems in an economy that’s frozen like a deer in the headlights. People aren’t spending. Banks aren’t lending and the small hearing aid business owner must compete with assisted listening devices that sell for $14.95 on TV.

Tough times. But not desperate times – especially if the hearing aid practitioner takes a pro-active stance toward business development. The small business owners who take a passive approach aren’t going to survive these difficult, unprecedented economic times. Those business owners who reach out to their communities will not only survive, they’ll grow through recognition as a good business citizen.

In the case of hearing aid technologists, this means reaching out in to the community to offer services designed to help others and help grow the business.

There are numerous opportunities for those entrepreneurs willing to put in the time and effort – to give to the community.

 

Health Fairs

Many communities offer health fairs, often in the fall after the slow summer season is over. These health fairs include various medical service providers who conduct basic blood pressure, eye exams and, yes, hearing evaluations.

For many, the convenience of all of these health care and service providers in one place makes it easy to move from station to station and leave with a pretty good idea of the attendees’ general health. And, as a hearing health practitioner, you can be certain that many of those who undergo a hearing evaluation will do so for the first time in their lives! It’s just not #1 on most people’s “to-do” list.

As a result, many health fair visitors will discover that they, do, indeed, have some hearing loss – hearing loss that can be corrected, or at least mitigated. So, by participating in these community events you help members of the community and you generate potential prospects. Everybody wins.

 

Assisted Living Facilities

It’s difficult for the owners of these assisted living facilities to get many of their clients and residents in for regular hearing exams and so, in too many cases, hearing loss is neglected in institutional settings. It’s simply too difficult in many cases.

Contact the administrators of these facilities and offer in-house hearing evaluations as a service. In many cases, the ability  to simplify the hearing evaluation process will be welcomed by the administrator. These services should be donated, and evaluation results provided to both administrator and patient.

Schools

Elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and institutions of higher learning need free evaluation services for their students. The earlier a hearing loss is detected the better the long-term prognosis for the child.

Once again, these services should be offered at no charge to the school or the individual students tested.

On a practical note, contact your business insurance agent to discuss your outreach plans. Additional liability coverage may be required to protect against increased risk exposure – a part of any outreach program.

In-Store Out-Reach

Schedule regular events in your store. Many hearing aid manufacturers have speakers who can be scheduled to make a presentation. Offer simple refreshments and advertise well in advance of the event itself.

Finally, always offer free in-store evaluations. Yes, it may be time-consuming but that store visitor will be back in the years ahead, remembering the free, professional service you offered in the past.

The best way to stay afloat in tough economic times is to go pro-active. If your regular print marketing isn’t driving traffic to your store, it’s time to reach out to prospects and help your community and your business simultaneously.

John M. Adams, III

jma@hearingtutor.com

2/24/09

Don’t Sell Your Customers. Educate Them!


Hearing aid practitioners form the interface between manufacturer and consumer. You won’t find a Phonak salesperson working with a customer. You won’t find an Oticon technician administering hearing evaluations at the local hearing aid outlet. Instead, it’s the hearing aid practitioner – the hearing aid dispenser – who interacts between manufacturer and end user – the consumer.

 

And that puts us in a unique position to actually educate prospects, not just sell them a hearing aid or two. I’ve found, over the years, that an informed consumer is (1) grateful for the advice and guidance and (2) becomes a part of my client base. These buyers come back when they need after-sale items or another hearing evaluation. Why? Because I didn’t try to sell them a hearing aid. I taught them about the hearing process and hearing technology.

 

So, what should today’s hearing aid retailer be prepared to discuss? Well, I assume the buyer knows little or nothing about hearing or hearing aids. This way, I start at the beginning and walk the consumer through the process of selecting, fitting and living with a hearing device.

 

How do we hear?

It happens so automatically that most people simply take it for granted. I use a cut-away diagram to explain the delicate intricacies of the hearing mechanism. If the customer has the results of an audiograph I explain how the ear drum picks up and vibrates to different frequencies and how that individual’s hearing loss came about, if I know the reason. (Of course, sometimes we don’t know the underlying cause in which case, it’s best to be straightforward with the buyer.)

 

Any way, once the customer understands the complex procedure that is hearing and interpretation of sound (localization, recognition, et al) they simultaneously recognize the need to address hearing loss to keep the problem from progressing.

 

What is a hearing aid?

I’m amazed at the misconceptions that laypeople have about hearing aids. Most believe that a hearing aid is simply a device that amplifies sound. Maybe that’s why so many buyers experience sticker shock in your showroom after seeing hearing devices for $14.95 advertised on the TV.

 

I always open the hearing aid case to show the buyer the complex digital circuitry and explain how a hearing aid can be tuned by the practitioner to not only boost hearing but prevent further hearing loss caused by adaptive listening devices (ALDs).

 

What should I look for in a hearing aid?

Most buyers don’t even know where to start or what questions to ask. This is the part of my job I love most – teaching the benefits of today’s hearing aids.

The four areas I cover with each customer are:

 

Wearing Comfort

I remind each buyer that s/he will be wearing these devices for 14 hours a day so they should be comfortable. A simple review of the pros and cons of various types of devices – CIC, BTE, etc. – helps the buyer make the right decision for his or her preferences and lifestyle.

 

Hearing Comfort.

I stress this during my initial consultation. Some customers want the discretion of a CIC unit from the moment they walk through my door. That is until I describe the problems of CICs – stuffy ear feeling, distorted voice image and so on.

 

I then introduce the concept of hearing openness provided by BTEs. I explain that BTEs deliver a more natural, less processed sound – an open, airier sound – than a CIC, for example. However, once I’ve laid out the pros and cons, i.e., educated the consumer on hearing comfort and options, I don’t debate. The consumer knows what s/he wants and what the priorities are.

 

Automated Convenience

As hearing aid practitioners, we know the value of automated convenience to quality of life. Automated feedback suppression, automated volume adjustments, data logging – all tools that enhance the hearing aid experience.

 

However, these automated features cost money and hearing aid costs are usually the number one priority for buyers. That’s why I take my time here to explain that the conveniences will be with the buyer every day for years to come while the extra money spent on these conveniences will be forgotten in just days. Now, this may sound like I’m selling but I also believe it’s the truth. I’ve seen too many unhappy buyers return a year or two after buying a low-cost device to buy up and get some of those conveniences that making wearing a hearing aid simpler.

 

Wireless Connectivity

This feature, available from many manufacturers, grows in importance every day as the wireless network expands. Cell phones, MP3 players, laptops – if you want to stay connected to the communications grid today you need wireless.

 

Of course, many consumers don’t own cell phones or MP3 players so they don’t need this convenience. This allows me to show the buyer less expensive units or units that offer features that particular buyer will actually use. For instance, I had a customer who was much more interested in being able to swim each day with his hearing aids in place. That was more important than wireless connectivity so we quickly switched over to water-resistant and water-proof models.

 

What about cost?

This is always a tough point. Who’s got $5,000 to spend on a pair of high-end hearing aids? I don’t and I retail them!

 

There are low-cost financing options available, either through government programs or local financing through your outlet. The point is this: hearing aid practitioners are tasked with fitting the right device to best suit the consumers’ needs, preferences and pocketbook and I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that my customers leave my store with the right device.

 

In other words. I’ll do everything I can to help finance a purchase (assuming a quick credit check delivers the news I’m looking for). Once again, by providing financing options, you’re educating the buyer.

 

Stop selling. Start teaching.

As professionals, our work is client-centered NOT profit-centered. Sure, we have to pay the bills – the rent, utilities, payroll, manufacturers – there has to be good cash flow to be able to offer the quality of service and the broadest array of options available.

 

So, what can you do to better help your customers? In-store demonstrations? How about an outreach program for those people who can’t get to the store? What can you do to be a better hearing aid practitioner?

 

Answer that question and your business grows automatically with good word of mouth – the best advertising there is.

 

Stop selling. Start teaching. Then, watch your business grow.

2/23/09

Hearing Aid Retailers: Selling In A Contracting Economy

No Toy Value?

With cutbacks, layoffs and consumer sentiment at all-time lows, the hearing aid practitioner faces two fundamental problems in maintaining, much less growing, store revenues.

Cash Flow

The first, and most significant problem, independent retailers face is the slowing of cash flow. First, fewer consumers are buying, consumers that do purchase a pair of hearing aids opt for lower-priced models and, with entry-level hearing aids starting at $1,000 per ear, most prospects are smacked with sticker shock.

“But I see them on TV for $14.95!” Thus begins the lecture on tunable devices and the dangers ALDs present to already damaged hearing. The user-controlled device is tuned to higher and higher volume levels, causing further damage and loss of hearing.

However, even after explaining the importance of tunable hearing aids, many consumers opt for a lower priced ALD. In fact, some retailers don’t carry these ALDs, though some are useful and of decent quality. However, the hearing aid practitioner must explain the proper use of an ALD and point out their potential dangers.

Hearing Aids Are Discretionary

Unfortunately, as the economy contracts and people fear for the security of their jobs and even their homes, hearing aids quickly fall into the “discretionary purchase” category – most certainly after a big-screen, HD flat-screen TV with surround sound. Now that’s got “toy value!”

A hearing aid has no toy value. In fact, most consumers think of them as beige and blah. So, potential consumers learn to “live” with hearing loss. They learn to position themselves to receive visual cues from the speaker and they ask “What?” a lot. Seems like a small price to pay for that HD TV with surround sound.

The point, here, is that the hearing aid practitioner’s marketing shouldn’t target prices and features but quality of life issues. This is what the consumer fails to recognize: loss of hearing is a quality of life issue, but because nerve damage often happens gradually, the individual is able to compensate with adaptive behaviors.

 

But the sound of the birds, or a grand child’s whisper – these are the quality of life issues that individuals with hearing loss fail to consider when weighing a hearing aid purchase.

 

Free Demonstrations

Organize and strongly promote a night of free demonstrations with refreshments, hearing aid practitioners available to answer questions and, of course, free hearing evaluations.

 

 

 

 

Create a celebratory atmosphere and hold these events monthly, using print media and your localized website to keep the events before the prospect.

 

Be sure to ask visitors to sign the guest book and encourage an appointment for a complete hearing evaluation.

 

These Ear Parties (avoid calling them seminars – too boring) are terrific opportunities to create interest in the consumer by demonstrating the advancements in hearing technology. As an additional benefit, you’re able to instruct numerous prospects at once – a cost-saver.

 

Outreach Programs

In these difficult economic times, hearing aid practitioners must find ways to expand services, even in a contracting economy. Often, this can be as simple as creating an outreach program – a service visiting elder care facilities to perform hearing tests, for example.

 

Or, setting up a table at the local community health fair. It’s important to expand your stores’ presence in a contracting economy. For many hearing aid practitioners, this challenge is actually an opportunity to expand both product and service offerings.

 

Marketing In Tough Times

The worst thing a small hearing aid practitioner can do in difficult times is cut back on marketing and services. The key to success is to keep the marketing free and services can expand without adding significantly to the operations accounting line in the annual budget.

 

Contact local service organizations like the Lions Club or Jaycees. These organizations meet monthly and are always eager to find speakers – like you. And you even get a lunch out of the presentation. Not bad.

 

Teach a short adult education class on hearing, hearing aid technology and the hearing purchase cycle. The course should be offered at no cost and product samples should be a part each class.

 

Organize a community health fair and solicit other health care providers to offer free evaluations for the good of the community. Any local newspaper would provide free advertising for such an event and the community should offer the use of town facilities. It’s good for the community and good for the medical community in your service area.

 

 

 

 

 

Offer financing options. This can be done through the local bank or through a credit line held by the business. It offers the option of providing hearing aids when needed while earning interest on your borrowers – another win-win.

 

Join the local Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau. These are worthy organizations that also serve to create consumer trust and establish your business as a good member of the local business neighborhood.

 

Expand after-purchase care service, i.e. free battery swaps. This keeps your client base in tact.

 

As you expand both your store’s service offerings, products and outreach, you’ll see almost immediate results from these no-cost marketing steps, ideal for a contracting economy and a “discretionary” product.

 

Change perceptions, help the community and grow your business. Sounds like the perfect blend for small business success in an uncertain economy. 

John M Adams III
www.hearingtutor.com