Empowering Employees

What are the seven most powerful words in retail sales? "I'll be taking care of you today." The statement just has a nice, comforting ring to it, doesn't it? Think about it—we are in the home and durable medical equipment industry. The services and products we provide can literally impact a person for the rest of his life. We are an industry that manufactures and sells products that enable people to stay at home longer, to fight a debilitating disease and to simply have a better quality of life. So when a customer service associate in a DME store tells the customer, "I'll be taking care of you today," it sends a very clear message—tell me your problem or condition, and I will show you the products we have that best meet your needs. That's what it all boils down to, isn't it? You are here to serve your clients, customers or patients. You are here to improve the quality of their lives, today and every day. Service is just one of the five keys to retail success, and it is the most important. The remaining keys are location, marketing, store layout and assortment of product—but service is the area where DME retailers tend to struggle most. "The vast majority of DME stores are not truly retail, no matter how much advertising they do and how nicely the product is displayed in their stores. Ninety percent don't greet the customer properly. It's the simplest thing to do, and it costs nothing. Every other key in retail has a cost figure associated with it, but good service doesn't cost a dime," says John Smid, midwest regional vice president of sales for Golden Technologies. "It just takes a little extra time and effort." Let's face it: DME stores are a destination, just like a paint store. People are coming there because they need a specific product that typically can only be purchased through a DME provider. High-traffic areas may not be that important to the success of a DME retail store, but you also can't be in the back of an industrial park either. Good DME retailers find a location with the basics—ease of parking near the front door; ease of access; automatic doors; a well-lit parking lot. All of these factors set up the consumer for a good shopping experience. In retail, it takes seven feet and seven seconds for you to make a first impression on a customer. Think about the last time you entered Best Buy, the retail electronics giant, or your local furniture store. You were greeted immediately by the store manager or a sales associate within a few steps of entering the store. The same should be true of your DME shop. Smid recommends that his dealers place a strip of black tape on the showroom floor seven feet from the door. "Make it your mission to greet that customer properly before they walk past that strip of tape. Greet them with more enthusiasm than you do the person who calls your store on the phone," he says. "Good retailing takes practice and confidence. A good quality of life specialist will never make the consumer feel that they are a bother to them or are interrupting their day by walking in the store. A good quality of life specialist will make the consumer feel as though they are the most important person in the store all day." The greeting is more than just a wave, or even a simple hello. What you say in your greeting is key. "Good morning (afternoon, evening). Welcome to ABC Medical. My name is John. I'll be taking care of you today." That greeting sets the tone for the start of a friendly relationship with the consumer. Regardless of how nice and accessible your store entrance is, and regardless of how well-designed your showroom is, the financial transaction won't take place until the consumer is comfortable enough to make a purchasing decision. That's where the greeting, and the subsequent service provided, come into play. Greeting a customer as soon as they walk in the door is the first step in making them comfortable. Creating a dialogue by asking the right, open-ended questions is critical to the process. Establishing that dialogue shows you care about the customer\'92s welfare, making them more comfortable with you. Thanks to the bureaucratic process, cash really is king. In 2013, 56 percent of all DME purchases were made with cash, totaling nearly $24 billion. The frustration consumers are experiencing with the reimbursement process drives them to pay cash. Therefore, good DME quality of life specialists don't need to understand the reimbursement process or the required paperwork to make a sale. They need to understand the product, and how the product improves the client's life. Consumers, particularly those who are elderly and live alone, crave personal interaction. They want someone to talk to and someone to listen to them. In the retail business model, understanding how to sell something is the crucial to success. "People in medical equipment hate to say 'closing percentage' or 'closing the sale,'" says Darrell Bradshaw, southeast regional vice president of sales for Golden Technologies. "This is supposed to be all about the patients and their care and that's the process they have in their mind. It goes back to the days of giving stuff away or having the government pay for it. There are still people who feel the work we do shouldn't be about the sale and almighty dollar; it should be about the patient. But that's the outdated way of thinking. Marrying those two concepts is very essential to your success." The first step in the sales process is to define in your customer's mind the reason for the product need and how that product will help them. "Every day dealers ask me the same question: 'How do I train my people so they can go face to face with a patient and help them understand the products they need, not just the products they want?'" says Bradshaw. To help the customer understand the products that they need, the quality of life specialist should have a broad knowledge of medical conditions and how a particular product's features may help ease certain conditions. "A big part of what I do every day focuses on lift chairs. Does a person with congestive heart failure know that a power lift/recliner that goes into the Trendelenburg position can help them? It's your job as the quality of life specialist to know it, and to demonstrate how and why it can help," explains Bradshaw. The necessary change is more related to the mindset of the parties involved more than the techniques used to sell the product. Sales is just part of the process. You aren't manipulating or pressuring someone into buying a product, you are giving them options. "It's like a giant buffet. Nobody in the restaurant forces you to eat certain foods or eat everything on the buffet. The client gets to choose what he wants to purchase based on the choices he is given. It's still ultimately the consumer's decision what they do or don't purchase," says Bradshaw. Bundle selling, or presenting that "buffet of products," is part of the sales process that helps people decide ultimately what the best product is for them, based on the recommendation of the quality of life specialist. Consider fall prevention products, which may offer the biggest "buffet" of product choices. One out of three older adults (those aged 65 or older) falls each year, but less than half talk to their health care provider about it. Among older adults, falls are the leading cause of both fatal and nonfatal injuries. In 2013, 2.5 million nonfatal falls among older adults were treated in emergency departments and more than 734,000 of those patients were hospitalized. Direct medical costs for falls totaled $30 billion. Fall prevention items are a big business in DME and should be a major focus of your showroom. The vast majority of products classified as fall prevention items can be tied to other products that you would never imagine. Ask customers about their bathing habits. If they say they are only bathing once or twice a week, it may be because they are afraid to fall while in in the tub. A bath transfer bench will virtually eliminate the chance of falling while bathing. If they need a bath transfer bench, they probably need a raised toilet seat. If they need a raised toilet seat, then most likely they need, or will soon need, a lift chair. To provide products to a wide variety of clients, you must have hundreds, if not thousands, of products in your showroom. How do you determine how effective your marketing and customer service functions are? How do you know which products are performing and which are not? Retail success can be measured through a variety of different retail metrics. Ultimately, any retail organization is about selling more products and retaining more customers. To stay competitive, you need to know everything you can about your business, your customers and your competition. "Metrics are a way of bringing everything together so you can measure the success of your overall retail organization and judge the effectiveness of these different areas. There are dozens upon dozens of metrics you can measure, but it doesn't have to be complicated," says Mike Scarsella, Golden's northeast regional vice president of sales. "The more you sell to each customer who walks through your door, the lower your cost per transaction will be and the lower your cost per customer will be," he says. These days, using specially designed retail software products, you can run reports on a weekly basis and get an excellent understanding of exactly what is going on with your business. The information you get enables you to analyze your operation, identify problem areas and take immediate corrective action before it costs you more than you realize. "If your close rates are not near 100 percent, you have a problem. Call it a fulfillment rate, a happy customer rate, whatever you want. If someone walks into your store and doesn't leave with the product or service they are looking for, then you have a problem," says Scarsella. "They didn't come in to say hello. They have a specific need, and they have needs they don't even know about. Retail metrics allow you to identify what those problems are and make educated decisions about how to fix them." Read the six-part Retail Education Series from Patricia O'Brien at homecaremag.com/retail-merch