Value in the Solution
I am a fan of the philosophy of not selling but providing value to your client. His adage that “people don’t like to be sold but they love to shop” is all too true in this modern world where you are bombarded daily with offers, incentives and new products often making it impossible to make that shopping decision.
Brand awareness is a key element to the shopping consumer but in the emerging marketplace of home healthcare and accessibility often times the brand name may not mean anything. Innovative product designers and companies are often never heard of until the need arises. It is not surprising considering there are very few who think to save or investigate a product or piece of specialty equipment until the need is upon them. How do you then determine value?
Value when it comes to a lifestyle determining product should certainly contain the base elements of reliability, safety, ease of use and longevity. A sense of pride of ownership can also be included as the exposure to products expand. Ownership of any premium consumer good is oftentimes the sole reason to purchase. Identifying this in a lifestyle product means that the client will not only be physically benefitted but they are emotionally at ease with their purchase.
I was recently at a home health care show where the first question out of the visiting healthcare professionals was “ So, how much are these?”, apart from the impossible task of defining a situation of a particular individual it shouldn’t be the first question asked. How about:
“How do these work?”
“How will these assist my client?”
“Would my mother be able to understand and use these”
“How easy is the process to get these installed?”
“Will my client be happy with their purchase?”
These are more telling questions from which value is established. There is no doubt that budgets and money play into a major purchase and lifestyle purchase. But price also comes into play when warranty and service issues arise down the road or when it is discovered the specifications that were developed do not meet the need of the user. Not only do these cost money but they certainly causes stress. In most cases once an accessible device is installed it becomes more essential then ever imaged and downtime cannot be calculated in terms of money.
Value has to come from experience, design, thoughtful process and a fulfilled need. Looking at renovating for safety and the coveted aging in place scenario cannot be solely based on dollars spent but on value received.
Jim Closs has been helping people up and down stairs for 25 years