My junior year of college I had a summer job where I sold home security systems door to door. This was my first exposure to hard core selling. We were basically instructed to fabricate any sort of story that would create urgency. Urgency is a salesmen’s best friend. If you can get the customer to think that they have to act now they are more likely to buy without thinking it through.
Needless to say, hearing aid marketing uses some of the same techniques. If you read The Review Journal on any given day or look in your mailbox you are sure to see some sort of hearing aid marketing BAIT. Half off MSRP, people needed for a clinical trial and buy one get one free are all phrases I have seen.
Let’s talk. What is MSRP on hearing aids? The Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price for hearing aids is an inflated number to make prices look better. For example, a hearing aid that generally sales for 2000.00 dollars will generally have the MSRP of 5000.00 dollars. To my knowledge no one charges MSRP, consequently the regular price now looks like it is more than 50 percent of MSRP. I wish it were not the case but if you are getting 50 percent off MSRP you are actually paying the regular everyday price.
The other one that you will see is the clinical trial. Hearing aid manufacturers do have clinical trials, but candidates for the trial are usually selected from previous patients and not from the general public. This supposed clinical trial can often just be a fabrication to get bodies in the door. One nice thing about the clinical trial however is that you often get to wear hearing aids on a demonstration period. This can be a good opportunity to see what hearing aids are all about.
The last one is buy one get one free. If a company is able to afford to give a free hearing aid when you purchase one they either have to mark up the first one to cover cost, or they are severely overcharging you in the first place. Either way you are generally not getting as good a deal as you think you are.
All of the above marketing techniques are in general and I am not referring to any company in particular. Just remember the adage “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”