Page 23 - HME Business, August 2017

With the changing of the generational guard, HME providers need to adjust the way they sell. That extends from stocking and promoting their businesses to the showroom environment to building relationships with customers who may be shopping for someone else now, and themselves in the near future (see “Making a Splash with Bath Aids”).
“The generation we are finishing up with now, price and buying locally meant a lot. That is gone away with the Baby Boomers,” says Jim Greatorex, vice president of VGM’s Accessible Home Improvement of America division. “I would bring in unique, high-end products that maybe have dual purposes.”
Different Strokes for Different Folks
For bath aids, the main patient groups are the aging, post-op patients and the mobility impaired, and those groups often overlap. Some are temporary conditions. Sales approaches will vary with the customer’s needs, so that’s where a salesperson needs to start.
“We need to ask the customer lots of qualifying questions. This is a means of really getting to know the customer and their diagnosis, making it much easier to present them with the different options of products that will improve their condition or increase a sense of normalcy,” says Rob Baumhover, of VGM Retail Services.
Bath aids often are an unexpected out-of-pocket expense. In an industry that has been accustomed to providing many products by prescription, bath aids are a niche that is seldom covered by insurance. Nobody is telling this customer what to buy.
That’s an opportunity for you, but it may also take a little practice if your business model has been more about filling orders than selling. It means you have to get to know the customer a little and be ready with design or invisibility, product knowledge and helpful advice.
“Boomers are more educated consumers. They are not going to see what they can get locally and be satisfied with that. They look for something that gives them warm fuzzies with the transaction,” Greatorex says. “One of the things that I would do, as a bath safety provider, is start looking for higher- end, more aesthetically pleasing bath safety lines. That’s going to grow in popularity in leaps and bounds in the next few years.”
“The Boomer generation is much more tech savvy than their parents were. They are living their lives to the fullest later in their lives,” McEvoy adds. “They also like products to keep them mobile as long as possible. They are more active and they are going to remain more active than the generation before them.”
One manifestation of Boomers’ resistance to going quietly into the night is having surgeries like hip replacements at an earlier age, which limits their abilities temporarily. Hip surgery, McEvoy notes, is one of the highest factors driving bath-related purchase behavior. Surgical patients often get pre-op education, but it may not tell them all they need to know. That’s your job.
When that patient comes in with instructions to get a transfer bench, bath seat or elevated toilet seat — the most common needs in bath safety, experts says — it’s just a start. Have they given any thought to what needs to be in easy reach where they are sitting? Do they have a handheld shower, and a holder that keeps it low enough to reach? Do they need a caddy for soap and shaving gear? Is the toilet paper easily accessible? Can they get up from the bath or toilet without help? All of these can be acces- sory selling points.
“I’d include knee/hip/back surgery patients to the group as potential patients, and with that look at the category more as wellness then sickness even call it ‘slip safety’ or ‘Bathe,’” Baumhover says.
Whatever you call it, bath safety is a competitive category. But growth opportunities are there, for retailers who are prepared to meet customers with selection, style and service. n
Holly Wagner is a freelancer writer covering a variety of industries, including healthcare. She can be reached at documentarydvdiva@yahoo.com
Management Solutions | Technology | Products
hme-business.com | August 2017 | HMEBusiness 23
Celebrate the Temporary
Suction bath aids are showing up in some
unexpected places
Suction bath aids have been around for years, and have been a great solution for unexpected problems like a close call in the bath that warns of danger ahead, or extra stability for post-op patients.
But they have some new applications as well. For one thing, aging Baby Boomers value the stealth approach: they want to hide the safety features in their homes like James Bond hid weaponry in a ballpoint pen. These are well-heeled customers who want comfort as they age, with no environmental signs that they will ever age at all. Suction to the rescue.
“We call our line ‘Changing Lifestyles’ because at all different ages there are different challenges,” says Rich Lowenstein, vice president of sales at MHI Safe-Er-Grip. “Grab bars have been on the shelves for 12 years. They outsell the permanent bar. The consumer is familiar with this bar.”
Copycats selling through TV pitches helped popularize suction bars years ago, before disappearing from the marketplace, Lowenstein says. Then “the major [manufacturers] all followed us and went into the bars. We went beyond the bars and into all these accessories.”
So these days the variety of suction items is greater, and accessories offer a great opportunity to reach new customers and to upsell clients who come in for standard aids like bath and transfer benches and elevated toilet seats.
One example is “sandwich generation” customers who come in to outfit their parents’ homes or living spaces.
“A lot of people are buying for their parents or spouse, they want to get everything done in one stop,” says Jim Greatorex, vice president of VGM’s Accessible Home Improvement of America division.
While they’re outfitting their parents’ houses for maximum indepen- dence, suggest some suction products for the buyer’s home for when mom and dad visit.
“It’s not just in your own home that you need this item. It’s also when your parents are visiting,” says Brendan McEvoy, director of product management at Compass Health. “You need the same set of supplies that can accommodate parents when they are in the house.”
A suction grab bar can also help with deciding the proper location for a permanent bar at the parents’ home, then stow in the caregiver’s linen closet for visits.
Another group is post-op patients, who may need temporary stability aids, but expect to heal their way out of the immediate need.
A customer buying a bath seat or transfer bench probably needs not only a hand-held shower, but may need a suction shower holder to
keep the spray at a lower height. Aids that keep their bath essentials handy, like Safe-er-Grip’s suction caddies, pivoting shower mirror, brush rack, drip-dry rack and soap dish solve problems for seated bathers
and patients with range-of-motion issues who need everything in easy reach. There’s a footrest for foot and leg care. There’s even a suction toilet paper holder, in case the permanent roll in a bathroom isn’t convenient for the patient.
Suction aids are also a good option for temporary lodgings. Active seniors can travel with suction aids for RVs and hotel use. More seden- tary customers may need them in rentals and convalescent homes,
where permanent installations aren’t an option.
Lowenstein even noted his son asking for a grab bar for his frat
house shower, so members with hangovers could shower safely the day after a rager.
Finally, suction aids can appeal to some customers’ vanity. They can remain in place when the customer is home alone or with close family, then detach and disappear while guests are around.