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Clinical Solutions Blog

How Can I Sell More Product At My Clinic?

Posted by Rick Lau on Jul 19, 2016 5:00:00 PM

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As a clinic owner, you no doubt recognize that competition is getting fierce. There are new clinics opening on every corner, and every clinic seems to be offering the same services.

Say for example a patient is suffering with back pain. They look around and the decision is difficult because everyone is claiming to fix their back pain, whether it’s a service or even a product. I mean, you even have Dr Ho claiming to fix back pain simply by selling tens machines and neck tractions on TV.

Patients do buy products. And, if they don't buy from you, they will buy from your competitor or from Dr Ho when they are watching late night TV. Along with the great services you provide, you recognize you need to offer COMPLETE CARE and provide product solutions to your patients.

But, how can you sell more therapy product at your clinic?

How can you get started the smart way so that you don’t have to fork out a ton of money on inventory?

How do you know which products to stock? And how do you plan a strategy that works for the entire team to upscale product sales?

Great questions. We’re going to answer all of them and more in this post, including:

  • How product can majorly boost revenue
  • How to make an extra 10% of revenue each month
  • 6 simple, practical techniques to sell more product starting today
  • How to sell product without holding inventory

Let's dig in!

Product Can Majorly Increase Your Revenue

I co-founded a national physiotherapy company network of over 100 clinics. When we started, the only product the clinics were selling was theraband and I think it was $2 per feet.

Now the clinics are selling a whole range of products from tens machines, to customer orthotics, to pain relief cream, to hot and cold packs, to wrist, back and knee braces.

I can tell you from experience that if you get your product sales right, you could make an extra 5% to 10% in revenue. So if your clinic is doing $500K in sales, that could be and additional $50K in product sales.

Would you be interested in extra $50,000 to $100,000 each year? Who wouldn’t!

 

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6 Smart Techniques to Sell More Product at your Clinic

1) Have a great product planogram and put it in your reception area. 

I like using T Gondolas (just like what they use at the pharmacies) and Mannequins. Here is a place you can buy store fixtures to suit any product. 

Display the selective products so they are organized by categories.

Here are the category of products I recommend:

Customers like to touch and feel the product before they buy. So, for the mannequins, I would put all the braces and supports on the mannequin - neck collar, elbow brace, knee brace, ankle brace - that way they can see what they look like and touch and feel if they want to.

One of the biggest competitive advantages you have for selling these types of products is to ensure that, 1) they fit correctly and, 2) they are buying a quality product, not one from the dollar store or pharmacy. Therefore, in addition to having the products available, you can also offer a fitting service as part of their treatment/ product purchase.

Make your display bright, easy to access, and self serve. Keep the products in good condition, dust free and tidy, the shelf full, and the pricing easy to understand and read.

2) Put a display at the reception counter. 

The reception counter is your highest traffic area, which makes it great for presenting products that patients might purchase as an impulse buy. It’s also a great place to promote different items every month. 

  • Try biofreeze or cyroblaze.
  • Have a selection of hot and cold packs.
  • Have some pain relief creams.

Select items that the majority of people can use for all types of conditions.

3) Talk to patients about products on day one.

On the day of their initial assessments, preframe and give all patients a heads up that you will be introducing selective products into their care plan, products that will help them with faster more effective recovery. 

There is something important to remember here: YOU ARE THE PROFESSIONAL.

Patients want to get better, and products can help them do that. So they not only want you to recommend things, they expect it. It’s all part of you offering complete care.

When you approach this from the very first assessment, then talk about and show them suitable products in the weeks to come, they already expect that and won't feel like you just are trying to 'sell them.'

Most patients won’t feel like you’re doing a hard sell anyway. It’s only practitioners who have this fear. Patients will buy the products anyway and they are much better off buying quality products from your clinic.

4) Demo the products to patients.

Most physiotherapists and massage therapists do resist selling products. I get it. You don’t want to seem like a cold hard sales person. Who would?!

The thing is, clinicians only need to identify and demonstrate products that would be beneficial to the patient. You’re certainly not going to be recommending products if they aren’t needed, that would be unethical. But, if the patient could benefit from loosening their quadriceps muscles with a foam roller, or have some additional back support from a back brace, then it makes sense to help them with product selection. Right?

Get your practitioners to DEMO and SHOW the products to the patient and tell them how it is going to benefit them, and that they can purchase it from the front desk. The clinicians don't need to sell it. They just need to identify which products you have in stock to demo and show these to the customer when they are conducting their treatments.

For example, during the treatment, the clinician explains that these muscles need loosening up and shows the patient how to use the foam roller to stretch and massage the muscles.

By simply demonstrating and showing the product to the patient, then suggesting they can purchase the foam roller, the front desk can do the rest and get them to purchase. It’s a fairly simple process.

Imagine what your product sales will look like if patients purchase 35% of what is demonstrated to them. All you need to do is train your clinicians to identify what product would be good and get them to do a demo and show. Don't sell.      

6) Stock best sellers and order on demand for the rest.

Stock the best sellers that don't have too many sizes - tens machines, hot packs, pain relief creams, neck pillows, resistance bands, foam rollers.

For the rest, just have a couple of samples and use a service like we have here at Clinic Supplies Canada, where you can just order on demand. Clinic Supplies Canada has the biggest selection of product brands in Canada. In fact, we are the only company that has the biggest selection of products that you can purchase with no minimum order requirements, which means you can order on demand.

This is really an incredible way to add as much product to your clinic as you need, without having the expense of holding inventory you’d never sell. Who wants to carry expensive Donjoy or Bauerfeind knee braces in multiple sizes that cost hundreds of dollars? No one.

It’s simply not a good business model. And using Clinic Supplies Canada, you can use an order on demand model instead. A lot of the forward thinking clinics are using this technique to push more product sales. No risks. No losses.

Here’s how simple this model and process is: After demonstrating the product, the patient wants to buy a knee brace, you measure their size, get them to pay and then front desk orders the knee brace on the Clinic Supplies Canada website. The product will arrive before the patient's next visit for fitting. 

Also, with Clinic Supplies Canada’s awesome exchange policy, if the product is the wrong fit, you can return it free of charge within 30 days. Shipping is free both ways.

It really is a no brainer way to sell more product at your clinic.

If you haven’t already, sign up for professional membership - it’s free to join and gives you discount rates on many products. 

You’ve got nothing to lose and we know you’ll love our service!

 

Related Articles 

How to Display Therapy Products at Your Clinic to Sell

10 Therapy Products Your Competitors are Selling - Why Aren't You?

How to Make Money Selling Therapy Products Without Inventory?

10 Smart Ways to be Your Patient's "Most Trusted Health Advisor" 

 

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