Protecting Your Business

When you have a business, you need to be able to protect the assets you have and this is where your insurance comes into play. If you were to have a fire or other hazard that destroyed this business, would you still be able to recover? The main thing that most people worry about in the event of a catastrophe that totally wipes out their business is how long it will take to get them up and running again. Because with their loss, they will not have the market for their business, they need to get everything back together as quickly as possible.

Provide Personalized Services

One sure way to market your business and have repeat customers is to ensure that you make your customers feel they are important to you. This can be done in a number of ways. One of the best ways is to keep in touch with your regular customers so they will continue to be customers.

Build an Email List
How can you keep in touch and let them know they are important to you? One of the ways is from the beginning when they come into your office and the forms are filled out with addresses, telephone numbers and insurance information. Asking for their email address at this time is one way you will have of keeping in touch other than writing or calling. 

The Importance of a Website

When considering the outlets available for advertising, briefly mentioned was the website. This can be one of the best types of advertising you will have at your disposal. There are many people who no longer look elsewhere for whatever they are trying to find. The Internet has become such an informational outlet that this is the first stop to find whatever is being searched.

Mailing Lists are Often an Option

Everyone has received mail from a local business that has decided to run a mail campaign in an effort to generate more business. This sometimes is a good approach especially if you are mailing something of value. Many companies use this method to offer something free to the consumer which will help to get them into their store. Choose a Mailing List House that is TrustworthyHearing aid outlets are no different. They can offer a free cleaning or any other service they feel would be beneficial to get the customer to consider their store. The key to this type of advertising is getting a good list of potential customers.

Advertising is Another Key Element

What is your budget for advertising? This is another extremely important aspect of marketing your hearing aid outlet. The consumer will not know you exist if you do not let them know where you are, your business hours and what services you provide. The money you spend on advertising will be well worth it when the customers start doubling or tripling.

Using Advertising to Your Advantage

The newspaper is a great place to advertise. Circulars that go out at whatever frequency - weekly, bi-weekly or monthly - are great for allowing people to know what may be on sale. Advertisements on the radio or television are still another way of letting people know you exist.

Your Hearing Aid Outlet

No matter where your outlet is located, whether it is in a mall or an office building in a professional area of your city, your hearing aid outlet is going to project your business. There are a few things you can do to help market your business to the best of your ability. It is often the little things you do that make people much more comfortable shopping in your store.

Look through the Customer's Eyes

Take a good look at your store from the perspective of your clients and prospective clients. What do you see? Is the store clean? Are the floors free of litter and dirt that may be tracked in especially in the rainy or snowy season? Does the furniture or wall hangings need dusted? If you are using lamps for a cozier atmosphere, are all of the bulbs working?

Is Your Hearing Center GREEN?

Hearing aid specialists may not realize it but they’re in a great position to help the planet stay green. Not only is it good public relations, it’s good for the environment – good for all of us today and in the future.

So what can you do? Here are some suggestions.

1. Use mercury-free batteries. Mercury is a heavy metal that is highly toxic to humans. And many hearing aid batteries contain mercury as part of the power-generation process, converting chemical energy into electrical energy. That’s how all batteries work.

Now, a hearing aid battery is small and so, it contains a small amount of mercury. No big deal, right? But imagine millions of these tiny batteries being tossed in the trash and hauled off to the compactor.

Over time, the battery casing will erode, releasing that tiny drop of mercury. Gravity does the rest, drawing the liquid metal downward until it eventually seeps into the aquifer below the landfill, and the source of drinking water for millions of people. It may take decades. Even longer. But eventually, that mercury will work its way into the water supply.

Many battery manufacturers are now making mercury free batteries. Since you, the hearing aid professional, go through dozens of batteries, go mercury free and help save the planet for future generations.

Use Email to Build Your Hearing Aid Business

Stay in touch, now, okay?

The basis of any successful business venture is repeat business – business that comes back to you on its own. NO marketing required. Without repeat business, your on-line web site must be constantly marketed. As the old saying goes, “It’s much easier to keep a client than to find a new one.”

In building a successful hearing aid business, nothing is more true. But keeping in touch with your client base is expensive and time consuming, right? Well, it used to be but today, when most households have web access, staying in touch with your regulars is easy – even automated – leaving you more time to provide higher quality services to the new folks who come through the door.

Build a Database

You need email addresses to send email. So, as part of the in-take process, capture that email address along with the usual telephone number, street address and other contact information. Getting an email address should be a routine part of every in-take.

Hearing Aid Specialists: Insuring Against Risk

Protect What You've Got

As a dispensing audiologist or hearing aid practitioner, you most likely have a standard commercial policy that covers the risks associated with running a health services business. But, have you considered all of your risk exposure? What about a catastrophic loss? Loss of business and income?

There are numerous commercial policies sold by a variety of insurers – some a better value than others. And the person who knows best what insurance lines are best-suited to your particular business? Your insurance agent.

Public Speaking: Short, Sweet and Funny

Introducing Our Speaker This Evening,

John M. Adams III

I’m often asked to speak to groups about hearing loss. Now, I know speakers who go in with slide shows, frequency charts and other visual aids that, frankly, confuse the audience.

I use a different approach. When asked to speak, I keep it short, sweet and, if I can add a little humor, so much the better. After all, hearing health is not the most compelling topic to a 16-year old.

I urge all owners of hearing aid retail outlets to get out in to the community, not to sell hearing aids, but to teach audiences of all ages, the basics of hearing health. Now, I know, the thought of speaking in front of a group of people is a little, well, terrifying, so to help you get started, here’s the basic speech I use for speaking events.

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

Hearing Aid Retailers and the World Wide Web

PROSEPCTS FIND YOU THROUGH

LOCALIZED WEB SITES

Most of my friends who sell hearing aids – either as a one or two store independent or the owner of 12 franchises across a large geographic service area – employ a web site as part of their overall marketing campaign.

Unfortunately, for many, these websites were built years ago and have the look and features of 2004. Ancient in search engine years. Today, more and more search engine users are entering geo-specific keywords into search engine query boxes. More than half of those who find my site organically employ local search to find me.

That’s why I keep an up-to-date web site optimized for local search. How about you?

Hearing Aid Marketing 101 Presents Success Coach, Larry Wilson

 Hearing Aid Marketing 101

Presents

World Renowned Success Coach Larry Wilson

Helping Leaders Learn to 

Coach Themselves and Others To

“Choose Well to Live Well”

Post-Sale Marketing: Building a Business Family

Stay In Touch With Customers AFTER The Sale

Many dispensing audiologists and hearing aid practitioners figure that once the patient has been connected to the right device, properly tuned to test specs, their jobs are finished. And, in a sense they are finished – they have a happy customer.

However, once that customer leaves the store, pruned and tuned, the smart hearing aid professional should use collected data to stay in touch with customers wearing their hearing aids.

Why? Well, for one thing, you can. An email to a client or customer is legitimate and NOT spam. A direct mailer piece is going to your “Golden List,” those buyers who are happy with the services you provided and the concern you showed – and continue to show.

More often than not, hearing aid wearers buy up once their first pair starts to lose its appeal and functionality. Through post sale advertising, those buyers will return to your retail outlet and require more of your professional services.

Staying in touch is an on-going part of building a stable client base, the foundation of any successful business. It is always easier to maintain a client than it is to find a new one, so once you’ve established a relationship with a satisfied customer, maintain a relationship.

But don’t be a pest.

Is Your Hearing Aid Outlet Comfortable?

"Please get comfortable."

You do it every day so entering your store is no big deal. It’s like walking in to your second home – the place you spend most of your time. And, because your office or retail store is the place you spend so much time, you might not even notice the things that would make a first-time visitor comfortable – or much worse, uncomfortable.

A comfortable visitor stays in the store longer, providing you and your salespeople more opportunity to educate the visitors on the latest in hearing technology. And, yes, when it comes to putting your office visitors at ease, little things do mean a lot.

Hot, Cold or Just Right

Something as obvious as air temperature can determine whether  a prospect stays around or leaves shivering. While you may prefer a cool environment – especially in summer with the doors opening and closing all day, most people are most comfortable in the 66-68 degree range, again, depending on season.

How to Build Positive Word of Mouth (WOM)

Educate Your Customers to Build Positive WOM

Each week you spend a great deal on advertising-at least you do if you own a successful hearing aid retail outlet.  There’s that half-page insert in the newspaper, there’s store signage, radio spots, marketing materials. Let’s face it; you spend a lot of money on notifying prospects about your business and the services you offer.

It’s all part of the sales process. How are prospects even going to know you exist if you don’t tell them?

Well, one way prospects find out about your hearing aid business is through word of mouth. And word of mouth, or WOM in the marketing industry, is, bar none, the best advertising you can ever get. Even better than a Superbowl Ad!

"The Art of War" by Sun Tzu: Ancient Lessons in Modern Marketing

Sun Tze was a Chinese military general who wrote the definitive text on military conflict in 600 BC. The book is still required reading at West Point and all other military academies.

The principles set forth by Sun Tzu can be seen in practice in military conflicts throughout history. Dwight Eisenhower employed Sun Tze’s use of deception to make D-Day a success.  

Robert E. Lee, perhaps the most skilled military tactician in American history, lost the Battle of Gettysburg because he failed to follow one of Sun Tzu’s basic principles. So what does all of this ancient history have to do with marketing?

Marketing and Warfare

There are many similarities between marketing and warfare, though marketing eliminates the guns, grapeshot and lethal war axes, thankfully.

Both marketing and warfare involve competition between two groups or entities that seek the same objective.

Both marketing and warfare involve control of space. In warfare, the space is usually land. In marketing, it’s the retailers’ service areas – areas to conquer and dominate, beating the competition and holding your position in the marketplace when a competitor moves in one town over.

That’s why I recommend every hearing aid retailer read The Art of War by Sun Tze. Just change the word “war” for “marketing” to learn to employ effective tactics that you can apply in growing your business.

Here are just a few examples of what I’ve learned reading and re-reading this tome. And by applying these tactics to marketing to marketing my hearing aid stores, I’ve built numerous successful businesses over the years using advice from a Chinese general written 2600 years ago.

The winning general knows what’s required for victory, then attacks. The losing general attacks, then seeks victory. 

The Art of War, Sun Tze

Translation? In marketing, you must know what’s required for success before launching any type of marketing strategy or campaign. You must gather information and develop a plan based on your understanding of what’s required for success within your marketing arena.

Those retail outlet owners who launch a campaign and then seek victory have no plan in place. They market without understanding what’s required for success. And so, their marketing and promotion dollars are frittered away as the business owner looks for signs of success (victory).

Learn this lesson and apply it in all of your marketing efforts. Know what it will take to succeed before you launch (attack).

Use the resources of others to your advantage.

The Art of War, Sun Tze

This is the basis of guerrilla warfare, so successful in numerous battles and conflicts during the 20^th century.

There are numerous resources available to you. These resources “belong” to someone else but you can use them to benefit your hearing aid business and, of course, more people within your community.

For example, when a local community group sponsors a health fair for seniors in your community, participation will improve your business and, at the same time, the quality of life for those individuals you identify as having hearing loss. You use the health fair as a forum to present your store’s contribution to the health and welfare of the neighborhood.

If you employ on-line marketing, and you most certainly should, you employ the assets of numerous websites – Linkedin, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, social bookmarking sites like Digg, Reddit and Stumbleupon. You can create numerous blogs. All of these on-line strategies are (1) free advertising and (2) employ the assets of others to your advantage – legally!

The fact is, these networking websites want you to take advantage of them so get on board and launch a guerrilla marketing campaign using the assets of others.

The winning general must think like a cobra.

The Art of War, Sun Tze 

When attacked, cobras are quick, nimble and agile. When the head is attacked, the tail twists around and joins in the attack. One part of the cobra protects another.

Translated into marketing terms? Your marketing must be flexible, like a cobra. It must be adaptable. You must move quickly and with agility with your marketing, changing it all the time to suit current market conditions.

Like the cobra, all of your marketing efforts should work in synch, creating a more powerful impact.

And you must never take your eyes off the competition. Follow their every move. How are they advertising? What marketing tactics do they employ? Learn from the tactics of the competition. React to it quickly.

For example, if the new hearing aid retailer in town starts running local spots on cable, call the cable company and counter those ads with a campaign of your own. Learn from the competition by staying focused on the competition.

“The Art of War” by Sun Tze should be required reading for every small hearing aid practitioner – the one making the marketing decisions. The book is made up of 13 chapters, each focusing on a particular aspect of warfare.

Read it. Then apply the principles this military genius puts forth in your marketing.

These are time-tested strategies that work whether you’re fighting a major military battle or fighting to maintain market share within your sales territory.

 

Learn from the master. Learn to achieve victory…er, I mean success at hearingtutor.com.