Going for the ‘A’

On a pleasant spring Saturday in the port city of Nanaimo, located on the east shore of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, something is going on in the parking lot of MEDIchair Nanaimo.

Colorful balloons wave in the breeze and the aroma of grilled hotdogs spices the air. The place is a hive of activity as folks on scooters and power wheelchairs inspect lifts on various vans positioned around the lot, get a first-hand look at how to travel on a BC Transit bus with their equipment and stop at a checkup station to have their scooters inspected for tire inflation and battery condition. Some even try their hands at navigating a safety track set up in the parking lot.

It is MEDIchair Nanaimo’s first Mobility Scooter Safety Course — and one more attempt by owner Mickey Jahelka to bring awareness to the home medical equipment industry, its products and services.

Building Awareness

Lack of awareness. It’s what Jahelka, co-owner with his wife Lynn of MEDIchair Nanaimo, calls his biggest challenge.

“For those of us in the industry, we’re all very much aware that there is no interest [in HME] if you don’t need it — and if you do need it, the need is right there,” says Jahelka.

He feels that lack of awareness even though his business, one of more than 60 franchise MEDIchair stores across Canada, is located in a prime British Columbia retirement center. Unlike his peers to the south, Jahelka doesn’t have to deal with such things as Medicare, competitive bidding and accreditation (although the Canadian health care system has its own peculiarities). But there are definitely areas of concern common to all HME providers, he says, and one of them is simply making people aware of the industry.

It’s been his biggest challenge since Jahelka got into the business almost a decade ago. Drawn by demographics that pointed to a growing need for HME and bolstered by his wife’s background as a registered nurse, the former forest industry manager knew he’d found his niche. As he was setting up his new franchise in 1999, however, he was particularly struck by the response.

“It seems no matter who was involved — the banker, the accountant, the lawyers — everyone said ‘I wish I would have known’ because they all had someone that could have used the services,” Jahelka says.

It was all he needed to hear. He started studying the industry, trying to figure out how he could build recognition.

Bigger and Better

One of the first things he noticed was that providers, at least in his area, often were hidden away in industrial parks and non-retail settings. They didn’t reach out to the community; instead, they waited for clients to come to them.

Jahelka thought there was a better way. While he had a small store, he also started taking his shop on the road, showing up at mall and home shows with a sampling of HME. The response wasn’t always positive.

“If people don’t need you, they turn away when they get to your booth,” he says ruefully. “But if they know someone who needs it or can use it themselves, they can’t get over to you fast enough.”

He outfitted his delivery trucks with large readable signs. “We’re not looking for people to see us and follow us back to the store,” he says, “but it’s when they do have a need and they go into the phone book, they can say, ‘I’ve seen those guys before.’”

He and Lynn also got involved in community events. “My wife and I feel very strongly about being part of the community,” Jahelka says, adding that they frequently participate in charity fundraisers.

While the Jahelkas have a “pretty diverse” product line, they specialize in mobility. MEDIchair Nanaimo is one of the largest scooter suppliers on Vancouver Island, Jahelka says, and he is building his business in elevation — stair glides, stair lifts, residential elevators, porch lifts, van lifts, etc.

“More than anything, that’s where I’ve tried to bring awareness,” he says.

The Jahelkas’ early efforts paid off, and by 2005, the business had outgrown their small store.

“If there was one person in a wheelchair, we’d have to say, ‘Excuse me, excuse me’ if we wanted to get by them with another client,” says Jahelka. ‘So, when we looked into going into a new building, we wanted to have a good representation of product and accessibility for people in chairs and preach what we were trying to sell out there.”

It wasn’t just opening up aisles that was important in the new design, Jahelka says. In the company’s first showroom, “we tried to put in what we sold most of,” he says. The only problem with that, he adds, is that there were a lot of items MEDIchair Nanaimo sold, but since they didn’t fit in the showroom, no one knew it.

“It’s hard to sell products off of brochures,” Jahelka says, noting that customers wanted to touch and try out equipment before purchasing it.

So, within the 10,000-square-foot new building, the showroom size tripled, swelling to about 5,000 square feet. “We were able to bring in products we weren’t able to before,” Jahelka says.

Among other things, the showroom now boasts a “scooter lot” with 40 scooter models ready to go for a test drive. There are full bathroom setups, and enough space to bring in vans outfitted with lifts and other accessories during the winter months.

In addition, the single door at the old store gave way to double sliding doors in the new location. The former six-space parking lot expanded to 200 spaces.

The idea, though, wasn’t just to make the showroom more spacious. “We’re trying to bring it more into a retail, non-sterile, comfortable environment instead of what we have seen in the past,” Jahelka says.

The store features a lot of wood accented with colors of soft beige and green with a touch of burgundy, Jahelka says. “We wanted to create a warm and relaxing, customer-friendly, one-stop-shopping experience where people could navigate throughout our retail space, see products in their natural setting, such as bathroom, stairs and bedroom, and then ‘test-drive’ them prior to purchase,” he says.

The redesign was impressive enough for the Jahelkas to win MEDIchair’s 2006 corporate “Best Dressed Store” award, presented annually to the franchisee whose overall store layout, design and presentation best exemplifies care, knowledge, value and customer service excellence.

Jahelka kept his old store, however.

The savvy provider recognized there was a market for used HME products, particularly for those customers who didn’t have funding beyond their own pockets. And, he notes, “there’s a huge amount of practically new product out there that’s used for a few months and then sits in storage and deteriorates.”

So the Jahelkas reopened their old location as a used equipment and consignment store. “We only bring in products that are good quality and in good working order,” Jahelka says.

And there was another bonus, too: It heightened awareness. “It’s allowed [staff] to direct people over to the new store and also provide a service,” Jahelka says.

Scooter Rally

The new store was only the beginning.

“One of the areas I think we needed to show support in was the safety aspect of scooters and power chairs,” Jahelka says. He and Lynn felt a responsibility to make sure users were taught how to use their equipment safely, both for their own benefit and that of those around them.

“People on mobility scooters are not to be on the roads, but they are on the sidewalks,” Jahelka notes.

So, he decided to hold a rally day in the new parking lot, complete with safety presentations, food, prizes, free vehicle inspections and a safety course for users. But, typical of Jahelka, he didn’t do it on his own. “We really tried to make it a community thing,” he says of the May 2007 event.

The Jahelkas brought in police officers, manufacturers, occupational therapists and even some area officials. “They came in and set the [safety track] up and we had people from the city council come out, and they were scorekeeping for people going through the course,” Jahelka says.

A local grocery store provided hot dogs, cookies and beverages, and BC Transit brought in a city bus. “People could see how a scooter could be loaded up,” Jahelka says.

In addition, more than 50 models of scooters and power wheelchairs were available for a try-out. Automotive dealers who do van conversions were on hand with specially equipped vehicles, and there was an abundance of literature available for attendees on how to maintain scooters.

Jahelka did aggressive advertising, opening the event up not only to his clients but also to the public. Some long-term care facilities brought in residents.

“For the most part, we found that it was a positive thing,” Jahelka says, adding that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police representative who spoke on mobility safety issues in the community drew a very attentive audience — and the local television station covered the event.

“When you involve the public, that’s pretty good free advertising,” Jahelka says, “You can’t buy that.”

The Jahelkas learned from that first event. “What we [found] out was that the event ran too long. We’re talking for the most part about seniors in their 70s and 80s. It’s a lot to take in in an afternoon.”

As a result, this year’s version has been pared down a bit, and Jahelka is also taking it on the road to other communities.

“The whole idea of this, and what we are really trying to focus on, is the safety aspect,” Jahelka stresses. “It’s not all about the sale. Sales will come if you do it right. It’s dealing with safety issues. We are not here just to sell products. We’re here hopefully as a resource to provide information because a lot of people aren’t aware.”

There’s that “A” word again. Bringing awareness to the industry is what is driving Jahelka into marketing in areas others might not think of. For example, because he is keen on building his elevation business, he advertises in real estate publications. He does PowerPoint presentations on the benefits of stair glides and stair lifts for homebuilders and offers to install demo models in model homes.

“You can equip your house to be fully accessible,” he says. “We’re seeing a huge interest in people who are planning to build. There are some communities where they are putting stair lifts in every home.

“We’re just on the edge [of this giant market],” continues Jahelka, noting that aging baby boomers are already demanding more than their parents and the majority want to remain in their homes. “If you can provide the product, we’re coming to a market where they’re wiling to pay.”

They just have to be aware.

5 Top Tips For the Trade

In his near-decade in the HME business, Mickey Jahelka has found some tried-and-true methods for success. Here are his top five tips:

1. Look outside the box. Finding new ways of doing business can help expand not only your scope but also your clientele.
2. Look at what your competitors are not doing in the industry and ascertain if it is an area you can do well. If so, take it on.
3. Hire good staff.
4. Provide proper training. This goes for staff and for clients.
5. Have enough room to display the products you are trying to sell. Pointing someone in the direction of a catalog because you don’t have room to carry a certain item in your showroom won’t sell the product, Jahelka says. People have to see it, touch it and try it out.