Pamela Kreps is passionate about helping people hear better, although she didn’t always know it. When she entered the industry working in the front office of a hearing clinic, she saw the impact hearing care providers had on people’s lives, and knew she had to be a part of it. She “jumped in full force,” and made the decision to become a board-certified hearing aid specialist and start work with patients.
Now, as the owner of Pinnacle Hearing Aid Center, Pam knows that developing a good reputation is key to growing your business. This is especially true in sunny Grand Junction, CO, where competition is fierce.
Pam saw an opportunity to differentiate herself by offering the FLEXTM experience, which allows her clients to try hearing aids at home for free without any pressure to buy, while giving Pam the data she needs to make an accurate technology recommendation once the trial period is over.
Pam has more than doubled her previous year’s sales and has sold more upper level technology than she ever did before. She’s developed a strong reputation in the community, and is looking to expand Pinnacle in the near future.
Pam is a board-certified hearing instrument specialist, owning and operating her own practice and managing all aspects of the business herself. But, with a rapidly growing client base doubled sales over the past year, she expects to be expanding Pinnacle soon. “It's more than I ever thought it would be. It is so rewarding,” she says of her new practice, which she opened in 2017.
Grand Junction is the largest city in Western Colorado. Serving as a transportation and shipping hub between Denver and Salt Lake City, the area is also one of Colorado's largest food and wine producers. Surrounded by unique mountains, canyons, and mesas, the city offers a variety of activities year-round, including skiing, hiking, fishing and biking. It has been listed by Forbes as one of the top 100 Best Small Places for Business and Careers, which considers key metrics including job and income growth, business and living costs, and education levels.
Quick stats:
- Population: 63,000
- Median household income: $49,448
- Population: 21.2% under 18, 11.9% from 18-24, 26.3% from 25-44, 22.8% from 45-64, and 17.9% 65 and over
- Median age: 39
Since Pam first opened her doors, she’s been using FLEX. She remembers having “a fantastic relationship with Unitron's customer service before” so she reached out again when she started her own practice.
She quickly learned that to establish herself in the area and grow her clientele, standing out from the competition would be critical. In Grand Junction, this is no small feat: for a population of only 63,000, there are over a dozen clinics vying for business. To develop her reputation, Pam knew she needed to differentiate by providing data-driven recommendations her clients could trust. This would also help ease conversations about price, which have become a part of her every day. “It was difficult in the beginning to talk about the numbers,” she admits, “because hearing aids, let's face it, they're not inexpensive”.
She saw an immense opportunity with FLEX:TRIAL, which would allow her clients to take a pair of hearing aids home, free of charge, for a week long ‘real-world assessment’. Clients get to experience what it’s like to wear the devices where they live, work, and play, while Log It All collects data about where they spend time listening to help Pam with her recommendation.
Allowing her clients to take such an expensive item home for free established a huge bond of trust with her clients, and immediately set her apart from her competitors: “Many of the people that come to see me have been shopping around. They've tried some other devices at other offices and it's been really high pressure” she explains. “Sometimes they just walk around the office. They step outside the door. And that’s it.” With FLEX:TRIAL, Pam offers a refreshingly different experience, one that comes without any added pressure or anxiety: “They’re a little confused by the fact that they're not being pressured to give money upfront, but it's a great relief at the same time because it just makes it easy.”
When her clients come back for a second appointment, Pam is not only able to make a recommendation that is grounded in real-world, personalized data, but she’s able to show that data to her clients: “The visual that they're seeing on the screen backs up what they've experienced during their trial.” She finds that clients are able to really understand why she’s making a particular technology recommendation, “it sells itself to the patient. I don't have to do the work.”
Pam also differentiates from the competition by providing her clients the option to upgrade the technology level of their hearing aids without having to buy a whole new set. Her clients know that even if she encourages them to pursue a certain level of technology, “their feet aren't to the fire”. With FLEX:UPGRADE, they can always upgrade later – “they like that and they tell their friends and their family about that.”
“FLEX definitely gives me the opportunity to be a better clinician,” she says, explaining that FLEX not only provides her clients access to great sounding hearing aids, but gives her invaluable knowledge and insights she can share with her patients about what those hearing aids do. “I have a product that I'm confident in, I feel confident in what it brings to the table, and I can show my patients that. It makes that element of being a ‘salesperson’ go away.”
With FLEX by her side, Pam has more than doubled her previous year's sales, and has sold more upper level techonlogy than she ever did before. “Because I give folks the opportunity to wear the hearing aids in the real world, I don't have returns. They've worn hearing aids, they've gone through the trial period, they’re already sold – they’re convinced.
With rock solid sales and an excellent reputation in the community, Pam is planning to expand Pinnacle in the near future, bringing on someone to help out around the office, and potentially hiring another hearing aid specialist as well. As Pam continues plans to expand her practice, including hiring new staff, she attributes her success to the tools FLEX has provided her: “FLEX is great for the patient, it’s great for you as the provider, and it’s great for your business. You couldn't ask for anything better.”
- More than doubled her sales since last year
- Selling more top-level technology than before FLEX
- Rock solid sales - few to no returns
- Getting ready to expand her business