What Do Hearing Aid Buyers WANT To Know?

For many of my customers, the purchase of a pair of hearing aids is a complex, even stressful experience. Most have never been to a hearing aid dispenser before. Few have ever undergone a hearing evaluation. And most don’t even know what questions to ask.

They find themselves in a strange new world with a new vocabulary: frequency, nerve deafness, binaural hearing. And, these same people are looking at a high-priced purchase – often an expense they weren’t expecting.

So, when a customer enters one of my stores I immediately take steps to put them at ease. For example, I keep jars of penny candy on my shelves. Instant ice breakers, though it hasn’t done much for my waist line.

How Can I Help You?

I don’t jump right in and start selling. I want to learn more about the customer. Why are they in my store? What do they need and how can I help them?

Once I have an inkling of the client’s needs I walk them through the process of buying a hearing aid and show them a wide range of prices at different price break points. The usual reaction is shock, as in sticker shock. This is where the hearing aid dispenser becomes teacher. There’s no selling going on. Your customers want straight information.

I’ve also noticed that, even after I’ve explained the purchase cycle, I still get telephone calls with questions. Why? Well, some customers are chewing on gummi bears. But most are distracted by the environment, the new terms, the numerous options – and once they get home and have had the opportunity to think about all that I’ve said, they develop a long list of questions.

If I can provide the information in written form, it saves me time on the telephone. More importantly, it creates an educated consumer – one who knows the right questions and is looking for the right answers from you.

There’s lots of information about hearing loss and hearing aids on the world wide web but much of it is product literature, which usually contains confusing charts and graphs, or it’s thinly disguised sales copy passing as informational content.

So, I wrote up my own educational information and it’s available to you at no charge.

To learn more about these free educational materials, please visit Hearing Tutor  - the one web site devoted to improving the business of hearing aid dispensers

Use Marketing Materials To Cut Costs

EDUCATE AND PRE-QUALIFY BUYERS USING SALES AND MARKETING MATERIALS.

SHORTEN THE SALES ARC BY 25%

Marketing costs always end up on the expense side of the ledger – and in many cases, marketing is a BIG expense. And in this contracting economy, you might be tempted to cut back on your marketing to save a little money.

Don’t.

Instead, use marketing materials to actually cut the cost of operating a hearing aid retail outlet.

Education

Use sell sheets and other marketing collaterals as hand-outs. Keep a stack in your store and, of course, bring plenty for every out-of-store event – from teaching an adult ed class on hearing loss to the annual community health fair.

And how should prospects be educated? Well, it’s important that consumers understand the considerations that should be made before a hearing aid purchase. Most buyers place money at the top of the priority list until they discover the advancements in hearing aid technology and what a little extra expense will get them in everything from sound quality to wireless connectivity.

A sell sheet the describes the different TYPES of hearing aids (BTE, CIC, etc.) helps the consumer take a more active role in the selection of the right device to suit his or her hearing needs and preferences. I’ve used several of these selling tools and, frankly, it cuts the amount of time I need to spend with consumers. They’ve educated themselves using my marketing collaterals.

And that’s a money saver. The fact is, by educating the consumer using hand-outs, consumer buying guides and other unbiased information, you create a more pro-active stakeholder in the hearing improvement process.

By using sell sheets that explain everything from how to read hearing aid specs to a simple, do-it-yourself hearing test, you prepare prospects for the process of hearing evaluation and the introduction of technological hearing solutions.

This saves time throughout the sales arc. An educated buyer is quick to decide on hearing aid type, features and cost because your take-aways have provided valuable, cost saving information.

I estimate that a well-educated buyer is easier to service by approximately 25% based on personal experience. Oh, and by preparing buyers for the cost of quality hearing aids today BEFORE they come to your store, you eliminate sticker shock syndrome.

Pre-Qualify Buyers

Not everyone who walks through the door of your store will buy a hearing aid. Some are just “window shopping” and gathering information. Some just come in for the FREE HEARING EVALUATION you advertise. Some are thinking about upgrading while some are simply looking for a low-cost solution to hearing the TV better.   

A prequalified buyer is one who knows s/he needs hearing technology to solve a hearing loss problem. These pre-qualified buyers may have had a FREE hearing eval at a local health fair. Or some may have taken a simple, DIY hearing test that indicates the need for hearing aids.

Using these simple tests at seminars, health fairs and other events is a great tool to cut down on the qualification process. An individual who takes the hearing test ( a set of yes and no questions) already knows he needs hearing aids. This cuts down on the time you need to determine whether this customer is best served by a pair of quality hearing aids or a simple assisted listening device.

It’s a time saver and in any retail business, time translates into revenues. So, if you can use sales materials to educate and pre-qualify buyers, the sales arc is much shorter and your margins increase because of this increased per store productivity.

Of course, developing these sales materials to educate and pre-qualify customers can be expensive to develop. However, help is available, even for start-ups on the tightest of budgets.

Learn more about low-cost, license free marketing materials, customizable with your store’s name and contact information, and save marketing costs and the costs of operation at the same time. CLICK HERE

You can’t lose. 

Hearing Aid Practitioners: Six Tips to Lower Operating Expenses

Hearing aid practitioners, whether owners of a single outlet or a chain of stores across a geo-specific service area, are feeling the pinch, just like all small business owners.

So, where can you cut back? Well, cutting back on services creates backlogs of evaluations and unhappy customers. Cutting back on marketing, which may seem like a natural, is actually the worst thing any small business owner can do during difficult economic times. This misstep will actually bring even fewer customers through the front door.

IS THIS CALL NECESSARY?

So, where can the hearing aid practitioner, or any small service provider, turn to cut some costs while still delivering the highest quality services. Time to pull out the company books to scour your operating costs. Guaranteed, you’ll find places to cut corners that clients won’t even see.

HVAC Tune-Up

What’s it cost to heat and cool your store? Well, depending on square footage, I’ll bet it’s a few hundred bucks a month, 12 months a year. A store that’s too hot or too cold isn’t inviting so creating the right environment is critical to keeping clients on site and comfortable.

A simple heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) tune-up can save hundreds, even thousands, of dollars annually. Caution: hire a company with HVAC certified technicians to make sure you’re getting the job done correctly.

Depending on the technician’s analysis, it may actually pay to replace the wheezing air-conditioner on the roof or the clanky old furnace in the basement. However, before you write the big check, get a second opinion and a second estimate from another HVAC professional.

Update Signage

Your outlet signs, seen from the street, are a constant reminder of your store’s presence for all of those vehicles that pass by each day. And sure enough, some of those drivers will be looking for a hearing aid  - and soon.

The signs visible from the street are excellent tools for driving store traffic. Of course, your signs must be in compliance with local zoning regs so check them out. Also, your signage should announce special services like “Walk-Ins Welcome.”

Clean, professional, compliant with local zoning regulations and eye-catching – never under-estimate the importance of signs, visible from the road, to pull in foot traffic.

Renegotiate Your Lease If You Rent Your Store

If times are tough, call the owner of your store and explain the situation. Offer to renegotiate the lease to keep your business viable.

Here’s the thing: if your store is in a strip mall or professional office building, the landlord would rather have some rent coming in than having to face the expense of finding a new tenant. A FOR RENT sign on a retail outlet is also bad for other businesses that make up the complex.

Don’t expect the store owner to do back flips but at least see if there’s some wiggle room. For example, renegotiate the lease with increasing rents so in the first or second year you’re paying less but as each year goes by, the rent increases and the property owner breaks even after six or seven years.

It’s important to avoid painting yourself into a corner, and in fact, don’t expect much negotiation from the landlord. However, consider cost-cutting options – handling your own trash pick-ups or window cleaning, for example. If you can save a few bucks here and there, it adds up, and may enable you to keep a valued staff member on payroll.

Telecommute the Staff

The back office – your bookkeeper, administrative assistant, hearing aid tech and others who don’t work directly with customers can often work from home simply by adding software to your in-store system.

Repairs can be done at the tech’s home and paperwork – most of which is digital – can be done anywhere there’s a high-speed digital connection. Offer up this benefit instead of a cash raise. You won’t have any trouble convincing store workers that missing the morning traffic jam is an improvement in quality of life.

Rotate Practitioners’ Schedules

If it comes down to letting go a valued professional, offer the option of sharing a position with other practitioners. Most co-workers will accept a small cut in their hours to enable you to keep a friend and co-worker on staff.

Cut Communication Costs

If you’re paying for a bank of cell phones, unlimited long-distance and caller ID on a business telephone, you’re spending money you don’t have to. Why pay for caller ID on a business phone? You’re going to answer any way, right?

If you’re paying for unlimited long-distance, but your service area only covers 25 square miles, you’re paying more than you have to for telephone service – even if your wholesaler is  a couple of time zones to the west.

Today, with the use of email, you can conduct a lot of business digitally and cut the costs of your telephone bill. Oh, and get rid of the cell phone – especially if there’s always someone in the store! Why pay the extra $100 a month so you can call a tech when you can email her free?

Think and save.