Spoiler alert!
Audiology marketing forecasts bear a lot of similarities to weather forecasting.
This past 4th of July weekend the weather forecast for Saturday was for a chance of severe thunderstorms here in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut area.
So what did lots of people do?
Many people read the headline and with the prospect of getting drenched, they canceled their plans for barbecues, going to the beach, and family outings. But…
If they had only looked more closely at the forecast they might have noted that the chance of a storm was only between 5-7 pm on Saturday and if they’d looked at the radar, only in a few towns in the tri-state region. Which meant the actual chance of a severe thunderstorm was next to zero. Yes, as you guessed, after people gave up on Saturday, it turned out to be a sunny perfect day for summer outings.
What’s the audiology market forecast for 2022?
Here’s what we know about 2022 and the audiology and hearing aid market:
- Some practices are reporting slowing sales
- Some providers tell us they experience a summer slowdown every year
- The stock market is going through a massive correction
- There is a highly disruptive war happening in Ukraine
- Oh, yes, then there is inflation, which is hitting everyone
- In the U.S. we may be headed for a recession or not
What’s our prediction for the rest of 2022 and the audiology and hearing aid market?
Given the high number of variables, anyone who says that hearing aid sales will be up or down has less of a clue than your typically unreliable weather service. That being said, we do know with certainty that if you assume the worst, and talk yourself into a slump in sales, your self-prophecy will stand a good chance of being self-fulfilling.
Should you follow the chicken little pundits, assume the sky is falling, and dial back your marketing?
You could, but that’s the best way to guarantee your sales will go down. Remember, when times get tough, people still want to be able to communicate with their friends and family. And people still buy hearing aids. For most of our practices, the month following the COVID lockdowns was one of their top sales month in history. Here’s what happened the last time we all thought the sky was falling:
3 ways to optimize your hearing aid sales in 2022
1. Have a growth plan (not a plan to shrink sales)
When there is a threat of rain some people cancel their plans. Others, adapt, pull out their umbrella or raincoat and make the most of the day. The same is true in a tough economy. With a clear audiology marketing plan you can maintain or increase your hearing aid sales. Just this past May and June we’ve had practices have their best months ever, just by using a few simple strategies, we’ll detail below.
2. Keep your marketing going (or even increase your marketing budget)
All too many audiology practices and hearing instrument specialists make the mistake of cutting back on marketing just when they need it most. 2020 was a prime example of this, where some practices shut down their marketing and took a vacation. When they came back, in many cases, their patients had moved on.
In contrast, we had other practices who kept their marketing going, during COVID shutdowns and even increased ad spends. And made solid profits for 2020.
One of our practice owners followed this simple formula to make June 2022 her best month ever.
- Each month set goals for new patients, hearing aid unit sales and receivables – with summer goals being equally high.
- Use MedPB’s Marketing platform and increase ad spend.
- Meet with staff each week to review goals and identify what’s working and what’s not.
- Provide staff with a percentage of profits when they hit their goals.
- Increase staff commissions when they exceed annual goals by 3% or more.
Are you doing the same, sticking to a proven audiology marketing plan?
Or do you need one? Talk to us!
3. Try something new (Talk to us if you need an idea to try)
At MedPB we talk to our practices monthly and hear wildly different stories. Some practices tell us summer is slow and others share stories of they just had the best May or June or July ever. Here’s one of the ideas we heard from one provider at a practice.
Ignoring the conventional wisdom that sales would slow headed into summer, this one provider asked every patient for a referral, and generated $210,000 in sales just in May alone. Just by asking for a referral and handing out a card for the patient to share. Amazing? Yes!
Could you do the same? Yes!
To help you we’ve mapped out the exact referral script to use with patients and have a template of the patient referral card for you to print and use. To get it, just schedule a short call and we’ll gladly share it with you.
Want to keep growing in 2022? Talk to us! We’re here to help.