How to Effectively Market and Retail ADLs
Cash sales opportunities represent an increasinglyattractive important revenue option for providers who need to bring more cashinto their businesses. As the 9.5 percent funding cut made to delay competitivebidding and CMS’s moves to start re-bidding round one continue to lower theceiling on providers’ profit margins, retail products offer to ensure a steadycash flow coming into a provider’s coffers. Moreover, with retail sales,providers don’t have to wait on reimbursement, and don’t have to expend thetime and staff energy needed simply to ensure billing goes through, either.
The question is which cash sales categories provide theeasier point of entry for providers that are new to the retail game? One cashsales category that just about any HME provider can add to its lineup withlittle specialized expertise is aids to daily living. Most ADLs are relativelysimple devices that don’t require the same level of expertise as some of themore complex types of DME. Also, they are the sort of items that can solve realproblems for just about any kind of patient, which increases their retailappeal all the more. If ever there was an easy entry point into cash sales,ADLs are it. So how should a provider get started?
It pays to advertise. You must implement a consistent andregular advertising strategy. Since ADLs appeal to such a broad spectrum ofpatients, advertising will bring in much larger numbers than word of mouth evercould. Key parts of your advertising campaign should be listings in yellowpages, mailers, door hangers, inserts or ads in local newspapers, and evencoupons. Offering 10 percent off on a bath rail could unlock the door toincreased volumes of patients coming in the door looking for not only ADLs, butother solutions.
Target your advertising. Reach out to special communities. For instance if you have a nearby retirement community, investigate whether ornot that community publishes a circular of some kind or provides advertisingbulletin boards, and see if they offer space you can rent for advertising.Centers of worship also provide excellent opportunities for attracting patientsand their families, especially if a church specializes in ministry to seniors,for instance.
Have a consistent message. Maintain a consistent messageacross all your advertisements, and don’t just list features — list benefits.Patients want to know what your ADLs can do for them. Moreover, nest youradvertising in your branding of your business. Essentially, your brand shouldconvey a promise to serve patient needs, and your advertising must reflectthat.
Speak at events. In the same you might target advertising tospecific patient groups, consider speaking at local gatherings of thosepatients. Present yourself as an expert who can offer them some innovativesolutions to common daily living challenges they might be facing. Also, starthosting events sponsored by your business and invite local healthcare, diet andother experts to speak. You will provide a valuable service that patients willassociate with your business.
Network. Another way to attract new patients to your ADLservices is to meet with local, like-minded professionals. Contact the referralpartners and physicians you work with and find out if they belong to any localhealthcare provider networking groups that include HME providers. This is anexcellent way to let them know about your expanded product range on aface-to-face basis.
Prepare for the baby boom. The Baby Boom generation, whichcounts as many as 76 million people to its ranks, is already having to care forolder parents, and represents a marvelous market opportunity for providers.Baby Boomers have the cash to get their parents what they need, especially whenit comes to ADLs. Better yet, as those Boomers enter retirement, they will keepin mind the providers they worked with to help their parents when the timecomes for them to acquire those very same ADLs for themselves. If they havealready been patronizing your store to help their parents, it stands to reasonthey will come to you when they need their own medical equipment.
Plan your retail space. Providing cash sales products meansdevoting some floor space to them. Determine if you can make adequate room tolet patients try out products. If you simply don’t have the room, you mightneed to consider expanding. You have to get the product in front of clients sothat they can touch it and hopefully try it out. Moreover, have the items wellorganized and attractively showcased on the floor. Presentation is key inretailing and you need to make sure that clients are compelled to go check outwhat you have on display. If your wares are just stacked on a shelf, you’relosing valuable businesses.
Likewise, place your goods in places that make sense for theitems. Sometimes this means a particular item might be well suited to more thanjust one location on the show floor. And don’t forget that these are cash salesitems, which means that you should try and capitalize on “impulse buy”placement near the cash registers. If the pricing and size is right for anitem, a patient that might not have otherwise considered it will grab it ontheir way to check out. That’s when you know you’ve hit your retail stride.
Points to take away:
- Aids to daily living provide an easy entry point into retailsales.
- If you want to succeed, you must engage in regularadvertising that combines both broad and targeted campaigns.
- A key segment to target are Baby Boomers. They are willingto buy cash items for their parents, and could likely become future clients.
- Ensure your advertising messages are consistent, sell thebenefits of your products, and reinforce your store’s branding.
- Develop a retail floor space strategy that ensures optimalplacement and presents your ADLs in such a way that patients are compelled toinspect them.
This article originally appeared in the July 2009 issue of HME Business.