Have you ever known Hearing Healthcare professionals who never seem to make it, no matter how hard they try? It’s possible they don’t understand the 10 principles that guarantee failure. In a hearing clinic, creating the right culture is the responsibility of the Hearing Healthcare Professional. Understanding why some of them fail may help you avoid these major mistakes.

Here are 10 tips that will save you or team members from becoming the worst Hearing Healthcare Practitioner (HCP) in your city:

1. Not being punctual: Being on time is very important to a patient. Take into consideration that many of your seasonal holiday patients will be new. The HCP will represent the primary contact these patients will have with the company. First impressions are lasting ones and HCPs need to make that first contact a positive one. Being on time will give a good impression to the patient and increase their confidence in the clinic.

2. Poor presentation: Some HCPs do not present the patient care plan well. It is important to remember a patient will use your presentation to justify purchasing the recommended treatment plan. It’s unlikely a patient will buy if the treatment options are presented poorly.

3. Bad attitude: Rudeness and unprofessional behavior are not acceptable under any circumstances if you want your clinic to succeed. It is quite surprising that you will meet some HCPs who are just plain rude and short with patients. This gives the potential patient the wrong impression about your company. They do not get a proper picture of the benefits and how recommended treatment will change their life. They will probably not even wait for the presentation to end before leaving. You will lose many opportunities with a bad attitude.

4. Not being articulate: HCPs must know how to express themselves with confidence and fluency. They need to greet the prospect and introduce themselves with assurance. This will set the whole experience up with a good start. Presenting a solution for the patient’s hearing loss should be done in a confident manner.

The confidence and conciseness the practitioner projects will determine the patient’s belief in their recommended hearing solution. If the HCP cannot confidently communicate with the patient, they may initially buy, but will not follow through with the treatment plan.

5. Not listening to a patient: An HCP should not only be able to present treatment options but listen to the prospective buyer. There is nothing more irritating to the patient than having an HCP go on about hearing aids and not let them ask a few simple questions.

After all, whose money is on the line here? It’s frustrating for a patient when they do get to ask a question and they do not get a straight answer, they get to hear the specialist go off on a tangent. This demonstrates to the patient the specialist has not been listening. This will make a patient angry and they will probably never agree to a treatment plan.

6. Devaluing the solution, company, or self: It is extremely risky for an HCP to depend on the price of the hearing aids to gain agreement for a treatment plan and close the sale. The prospective patient will be quick to take advantage when they see that the deal depends on the price of hearing aids. They will negotiate the price as low as they can and you will take a heavy cut in profits for the sake of a commitment. The patient may hold off and then not buy or worse return the hearing aids because they don’t believe in the solution, company, and/or you as their provider.

7. Not knowing when to stop presenting and ask for treatment and solution agreement: This is a common fault but a lethal one. Many hearing aid sales have been lost because the HCP did not know when to stop presenting and close the sale. A good HCP is in tune with their patient and knows when to move to recommend a solution and ask the patient to agree to the treatment plan and investment.

8. Hard selling: Hard selling is when Hearing Healthcare professionals try to push the treatment on the patient. This will make the patient aggressive and they will try to get rid of the HCP as soon as possible. It’s a proven fact that nobody likes to be pressured. There is a fine line between pressure and urgency. Hard Selling is when the patient feels the specialist will benefit more from the agreement than they will from purchasing the hearing aids and your service.

9. Inflexibility: An HCP should be aware of different personality types and various treatment options. They must be flexible and able to adapt to different circumstances. The hearing test and presentation may be similar every time but the patients are rarely the same. Each patient wants to feel special and expects the HCP to understand their unique case. Inflexibility will cost your clinic revenue.

10. Not following up with patients: Follow-up is very important. It is actually good manners and business to follow-up with patients. HCPs that do not know how to follow-up will end up losing valuable patients and revenue.

– Nathan Bush, MBA