Your Store is Ready…Are You?

During the past several months I’ve written about topics related to transforming the typical DME store into a retail medical equipment destination for your community. I’ve presented the five keys to successful retail sales: location, marketing, store layout, service and having the right assortment of products on your showroom floor. I’ve shared best practices of merchandising and how to drive traffic to create retail success. Finally, your store is ready. You have the right selection of products for your market. Your showroom is clean, well organized and well lit with effective signage. The products are properly tagged and your sales team has its own price list to make the buying experience a positive one for your customers. You’ve developed a marketing plan of action and are following the plan with an advertising campaign to drive traffic to your store. So everything is ready, right? You’re all done? Maybe. Maybe not. Are you and your staff truly ready to serve your customers? Expanded and improved product knowledge aside, has your staff also been trained on proper sales and customer service techniques?

First Impressions are Lasting

It takes only seven feet and seven seconds inside your store to make a significant and lasting impression on customers. Your showroom looks better than ever, and that’s important. But is your staff ready to greet them? The proper greeting from a member of your sales team sets the tone for the consumer. Do your customers feel as if they have just walked into a friendly business? Do they feel that the employees are ready and willing to help them? Are your customers being greeted with a pleasant, “Hello and welcome to ABC Medical Supply. My name is Pat, and your name is?” This type of greeting establishes an amiable relationship, because the customer has been properly recognized and now the customer and salesperson know each other’s names. The next question to ask is perhaps the most important…and it is not “can I help you?” That question almost always provokes the answer, “no thanks, I’m just looking.” By asking Mrs. Jones, “what can I help you find?” the salesperson shows they are trying to be helpful. It also removes the answer, “no thanks, I’m just looking,” because it no longer makes sense. Now Mrs. Jones has to tell you why she’s in your store!

Qualify Needs vs. Wants

Typically when we go shopping, it’s because we want something new, not necessarily because we need it. In the world of retail DME, people come into your store because they actually do need a product to help improve the quality of their lives. It’s important to understand the psychology behind why a person will or won’t buy a particular product. People won’t make a purchase for the following reasons.

• A lack of perceived value in the product or service
• A lack of perceived urgency in the need to purchase that particular item today
• Perceived inferiority to a competitive product
• The perception that “it’s safer to do nothing” or “we’ll just wait and see if it gets better on its own”
• Lack of funds

People will make a purchase for the following reasons.

• A high perceived value in the product
• They feel comfortable and trust the salesperson
• They have an urgency in what the product provides
• They can make the decision
• They are emotionally involved. People buy with emotions; they justify the purchase with facts

To help customers better understand how the product can help them, thus justifying the purchase, ask these qualifying questions: What condition(s) do you have that justifies the need for the product you want? How do you get up and move around in your home? Are you able to do this by yourself? Do you find yourself relying on others to help with more of life’s daily chores? How do you think this product will help you stay at home longer?

Do You Really Love Your Customers?

Of course you do. Your customers are the lifeblood of your business. But if you love your customers, why are you afraid to help them even more by bundle selling? One of the hallmarks of good retailing is the ability to bundle sell when the time is right. So many good DME dealers don’t bundle sell products to customers because they think about it the wrong way. Bundle selling helps your customers make sure they have all of the products they really need to keep them active, healthier and in their homes longer. Bundle selling enables you to solve their pain by giving them more solutions to their problems. Eight years ago when my father was ill, my mother insisted on keeping him at home as long as she could. She was a nurse with 35 years of experience, so from a medical perspective she knew how to take care of him. But she is a tiny woman, maybe 5 feet 2 inches tall and 110 pounds. My father had at least 125 pounds on her and was nearly a foot taller. She couldn’t safely take care of him without the right products in their home. I had a prescription for a walker from his doctor, and took it to the local DME to get filled. They were absolutely wonderful. I explained my father’s diagnosis to them, along with the situation. We walked around their well-designed store so they could show me all the products available and how these products would help both him and my mother. Although I’m sure I could have obtained a prescription for some of these items from my father’s doctor, I live two hours away from them, so it was easier for me to buy bath safety items, a bed tray and some other products to make his stay at home more comfortable. Because we had these items, combined with my mother’s training, my father was able to stay home for a few more months before transferring to a nursing home. My mother still thanks me for providing her with those products.

Maximize Features and Benefits to Grow Retail Sales

When bundle selling, it’s important to understand a product’s features and benefits. A feature is what a product does. It has a characteristic that is quantifiable and indisputable. A benefit is something of value or usefulness that you experience when using a particular product feature. In marketing, a benefit explains what the features mean and why they are important. Customers are looking for solutions. The benefit shows the customer how that particular product’s features will solve a problem, therefore easing pain. For example, some lift chairs move into the Trendelenburg position. This is a feature. The benefit of lying in this position for a period of time each day is that it improves circulation and reduces edema in the legs. That’s a benefit of that particular feature. During the product discussion, practice the habit of presenting a feature and following the feature with two words: “which means” or “so you” to describe the benefit of the particular feature. In reference to the lift chair, the discussion would go like this: “Mrs. Jones, this lift chair moves into the Trendelenburg position, which means you will be able to raise your feet above your head and heart, improving your circulation and reducing swelling in your legs, making you more comfortable.”

Let Them Take a Test Drive

In the car industry, the salesperson is not allowed to let a customer leave until they test drive at least one car. And why is that? Because customers are far more likely to make a purchase once they’ve driven a car, because they have developed an emotional connection to it. When you allow someone to “test drive” a product then explain a feature and its associated benefit, your customer will see how much easier and enjoyable life will be with that item. He or she will develop an emotional connection to the product, and will be more likely to buy it because people buy with emotions. They justify the purchase with facts.