Page 30 - HME Business, March 2017

RETAIL SOLUTIONS
Tom Musone, marketing director for Juzo
Category: Compression
Products: compression socks, stockings and sleeves
Strategy: Dealers should cater to the retail-side and medical aspect of
their business. The medical side is primarily driven by physician referrals/ prescriptions, but as a strategic sales driver, dealers can offer products for more than one condition that impacts circulation. If they are carrying prod- ucts to help manage lymphedema, why not also cater to vascular condi- tions? If you carry an inventory of compression garments that are beneficial for both categories, you’ll increase sales overall.
With the unpredictable healthcare landscape and insurance reduc-
tion or elimination, dealers have to focus on the retail side, as well. This means showcasing products that benefit customers beyond patients with a medical need. For example, a breast cancer survivor may want a compres- sion sleeve as a preventative measure against developing lymphedema. Healthcare workers who are on their feet all day are likely interested in compression socks or leggings, though they don’t have a medical condition. Both are likely familiar with the HME business, but may not have considered becoming a customer until they get familiar with such products.
To capitalize on retail/cash sales, dealers need to merchandise properly to highlight these products. By allocating ample space to display the right product mix of compression socks, stockings and sleeves in various colors and prints to highlight the fashionable aspect, as well as an adequate size variety, customers will be drawn to at least browse through the selection.
Dealers’ product knowledge is equally important to drive cash sales. By understanding customers’ needs or anticipating their interest based on life- style or browsing behavior, a salesperson can point customers to multiple products that can benefit them. Also, if dealers are knowledgeable of a customer’s condition and recommends products that aid in treatment or management, the customer will view the dealers as authorities and develop a trust in their suggestions. Customers are more likely to repeat when they know they’ll receive great products, service and counsel.
Community engagement is another tactic. When customers know that a dealer gives back to the community via event sponsorships, charitable give- aways or partnerships with non-profit organizations, they feel better about giving them their business over a competitor.
Lisa Wells, vice president of marketing for Cure Medical
Category: Incontinence
Products: Catheters and adult diapers
Category: If you want to beat Amazon at its own game in the cash sales
market, become an expert in the following product categories. When you do, you’ll run circles around impersonal, off-shored support teams who don’t understand your customers: Aids to daily living, support surfaces, mobility products, nutritional supplements, disposable supplies, including Incontinence, personal care and sleep comfort aids.
Strategy: At Cure Medical, we have found that insurance may not pay for the entire month’s usage of catheters for those who rely on them. Some end users surpass the 200 per month allowable cap on intermittent catheters, so they fill in the gap by paying cash for extras. Also, they may prefer specialty products, like closed systems when traveling or pocket catheters when playing sports. If these items fall outside of their approved items, they’ll be willing to pay cash for the convenience.
Adult diapers are generally cash pay, too, so if you aren’t offering these to your existing catheter users, you are missing an opportunity to generate a new line of recurring monthly cash flow for your business.
Brandon Noble, director of medical sales and marketing for Vionic Group LLC
Category: Orthotic footwear Products: Slippers and Sandals
Strategy: The idea behind the slipper category is it’s your customer’s first morning step out of bed to alleviate heal pain and to keep their feet, shins and knees from hurting. To successfully sell through the product, we recommend that providers use what we call the hang sell type environ- ment. Basically the product is hanging out on a hook with front and center placement under a category of pain relief. It’s key for the store associate
to be educated on the how, what the product does, and what it can do
for their customers. The majority of people walking into your store are
not there because they feel good — it’s because something’s wrong. So understanding the pain relief category, which is probably the biggest retail category out there, and that there’s profit to be made off of it is key.
The second product is sandals. In the sandal category, there is the typical flip-flop tong-type and then there’s the slide and backstrap type. The sandal category as a whole in the consumer footwear world is actually the fastest growing category in the industry. So with that mindset — and going back
to the natural pain relief category— you can provide the patient something in a sandal that’s actually supported. When do you actually go out to any other store and find a healthy sandal that is going to help relieve pain? From ages 20 to 80, people are still wearing sandals and a lot longer than they have historically. So that’s the opportunity. It’s growing and people want to be in them. They want to free their feet, especially in the summer.
Also, whenever you implement retail, don’t set out going 100 miles per hour. Retail is a slow to crescendo business model. So Month 1, shoot for $500, Month 2, $1,000, etc. Don’t get anxious if you’re not at $10,000 a month, even within your first year. Retail takes time to establish but it’s a reliable business that brings in new customers even for other products. So that’s the biggest thing that we find is sometimes providers get antsy and they expect to be millionaires overnight and it doesn’t work that way.
Finally, a good retail operation will have inventory costs. You can’t order one or two products at a time and run a good retail operation on a set route. We have seen that consistent message over and over again. If you want to be a part-time retailer, don’t do it. If you are committed to full time retail, that’s where the success comes from.
Kamal Haddad, founder and CEO of
Health Mobius LLC
Picking the right product category is easy: It’s what you know your customer is already buying elsewhere. When they get a wheelchair, walker or bed from you, you know they are buying bath safety, aids for daily living, incon- tinence, pain relief and other items to keep them more active and make their life more comfortable. To build a successful retail business you must offer products that complement your current funded products and services. Focus on accessories and cash sale items that complement the products and services you already offer and your patients will benefit from.
Much more important than the category may be the supplier you chose to work with that offers these products. Think service over product. What do your customers need? If you can’t stock everything they need, can you get it fast? Are inventory levels and product availability accurate on your point of sale system or website? Can the item be drop shipped direct to the patient’s home via an easy interface? Can it be ordered online on your website? If you think about merchandising and providing information on your website in the same way as in-store, you will be able to capture more sales opportunities.
There are many tools available today that will manage your online catalog and can link up the ordering of drop shipped items on the back end. Use those tools in addition to your in-store marketing to gain maximum results. Tools to consider include ARI, VGM Forbin and Health Mobius. n
28 HMEBusiness | March 2017 | hme-business.com
Management Solutions | Technology | Products
Joseph Duffy is a freelance writer and marketing consultant, and he is a regular contributor to HME Business and its supplements. He can be reached via e-mail at joe@prooferati.com.