Growing Your Business

“Said Simple Simon to the pieman, let me [see] your wares.” We all recited this line when we were children. Today, this one sentence is still the cornerstone of all marketing. This is what every marketer does, or at least should do, whether it is a giant like Wal-Mart or Target, or your store's location in your hometown.

Since the turn of the year, I have received many calls from providers and associates about marketing ideas. The following are some of the interesting ways in which HomeCare magazine readers have developed new sales programs.

• From Upstate New York: “There are several rehab clinics in my market as well as many hospitals. We have been working together with several of our preferred vendors to put together a ‘traveling’ demonstration team.

  “When we make calls on these locations, we offer to do a demo for the [physical therapists] during their lunch hour. We bring sandwiches, chips and soda pop. The average number of techs we see is usually between 12 and 15, so the cost is not excessive. The expense is usually borne by the manufacturer's reps who travel with us.

  “We show the latest in wheelchairs and all the basic equipment we handle, both new and familiar. We bring with us only top-of-the-line merchandise, and the sales reps from these companies do the demonstrations. This has paid off tremendously. We now get many new referrals from the PTs at the hospitals and the clinics we have visited.”

  To augment this successful idea and carry it through in your showroom, I recommend that you display wheelchairs on a platform about six inches high. It is not necessary to make a mass display; simply show six or seven chairs, all loaded with every type of comfort item you have — safety belts, wallet and book holders, cup holders, cushions, oxygen tank brackets, etc.

  Be sure that each item is clearly price-marked. Experience has shown that when these items are shown on the chairs, at least 90 percent of wheelchair sales are accompanied by an add-on.

• From Texas: “One of my customers taught me a valuable lesson. A couple came to my showroom to buy a walker for her father. I had a nice display showing several different units. When they asked about a cane, I took them to a rack I had near the cash register. When they asked to see a wheelchair, I took them to the display I had in the front of my showroom.

  “After the sale was consummated, the husband asked me why these items were not all displayed together in the same area.”