Off-Site Lead Generation For Audiology

Optimising chair time with no effort lead generation

In the last post I spoke about how prequalifying can make a difference to our business. I touched upon a piece of kit that will help us to pre-qualify and I speculated that it may well help us with lead generation in Audiology. I have updated that post with the answers I received from Shoebox. But just in case you haven’t seen it, the Kiosk system does not capture the data yet, but their software engineers are working now to bring a new update to the system which will allow the capture of data and leads. When they do so, it will be a powerful piece of kit.

It’s a funny old world you know!

The UHear Kiosk

It really is a funny old world you know, coincidentally I was invited to the Unitron Unite University event in the UK. Great event, if you ever get an invite, go. One of the things that they spoke about was a new offering from them called the UHear Kiosk system. In essence, an iPad system which offers some pretty good hearing screening and captures data that is fed back to the professional who purchases the system. In other words, a lead generation tool for their customers, like I said, it’s a funny old world.

It has struck me for a long time that Unitron is in a class of its own when it comes to providing support for professionals. I don’t want to detract from the other manufacturers here, they all offer decent support. However, Unitron has focused on introducing technology that allows Independent hearing healthcare businesses really differentiate themselves.

Differentiating yourself using technology

The Flextrial, Log it all and the new Patient Insights app allow you to change your process of providing amplification. It makes you very different in your offering, it allows you to talk about analysing data from real time experience within their daily life. It allows you to speak about a collaborative process and allows the customer some control over the process. I will investigate my ideas around this and discuss a strategy for deploying this in another post soon. I think it is worth us having a conversation about how this should work and how we can maximise the potential. That is for another time, back to UHear.

Delivering tangible support

The UHear Kiosk is another example of Unitron delivering tangible support through a technology offering. The Kiosk can be deployed remotely, perhaps in an outside clinic which you attend or even in an associated partner business. It will allow people to test their hearing in an easy and clear manner. Although, their results are displayed onscreen, to get a full report of the results they need to enter their name and email address. In this way, they are encouraged to leave their details. If they do leave their details and tick a box, the professional will get an email detailing the report and the contact details.

Nearly there, but not quite

I think the device is really interesting, however, it has some issues which I brought up. The first was that the details screen was at the end of the process, it should be at the beginning. The second was that the contact a professional is an opt-in system. It should be an opt-out system. Data protection rules call for permission marketing, therefore, to contact someone you need permission. Those rules don’t specify whether the permission needs to be an opt-in or an opt-out system once it is clear.

My view would be to make it an opt out, it is a better option. We know from experience with contact forms that the more we give people to do, the less chance there is that the form will be submitted. The guys at Unitron said that they are aware of the issues and a software upgrade is due to actually deal with it.

The strategy

Your strategy with this device is simple, site it remotely in places that make sense. Whether that be part time clinics or associated partner businesses. The positioning of the kiosk needs to be taken with care. It is best positioned in a place where people are waiting. It is in that type of place that the system will do very well.

It will also need to be prominent in that area, the kiosk itself is eye catching. So once it is positioned suitably it should work well. These types of systems make a lot of sense for us. When placed correctly they should deliver leads on automatic. I think we need to be realistic though, they won’t deliver a huge amount of leads and those leads will have to worked differently and intelligently.

However, if one of these devices delivered one set of hearing aids a month to your business, you would be happy wouldn’t you? I think that the potential is there for more than one set if deployed properly.