Retail Opportunity: Shift from selling to empowering 

Q. My staff is afraid of “selling” to our customers. How do I get them over the stigma of selling HME products? 

A. The answer is simple, because we are not “selling” anything - we are empowering. As HME retailers, our mission is my “Golden Rule of HME Retail”: empower every customer with engagement and education. 

This rule is also what customers want. In fact, 97% of consumers say that great engagement, education and service is what earns their business and loyalty.  

This is especially essential to our customers, because unlike customers of other products, most of our customers, including health care providers, are not informed or educated on HME. People just are not proactive in learning about products they do not look forward to using.  

Knowing that the customer wants and needs to be engaged and educated, so they are empowered to make the best product decisions to improve the quality and safety of their lives and those of their loved ones, we can get rid of that fear of “selling” and shift to empowerment.  

To have an empowered staff, the investment needs to be made in providing your team with product and service training. Fear of selling will just shift to fear of engaging and educating if the commitment to training is not there. The good news is most HME vendors provide great videos and tools to train and educate your staff on their products. You can even create your own training sessions with role-playing exercises, presentations by senior staff and group-share sessions.   

By embracing the “Golden Rule of HME Retail,” you will shift the fear of selling to customer empowerment and grow your retail sales.   

Sue Chen is CEO, NOVA Medical Products. Reach her at suec@novajoy.com.