You know by now that we’ve long advocated our Test Drive process as THE way to approach patients in your clinic.

We’ve touted both the business and patient benefits of this strategy, and we’ve seen it do wonders in our own practice, as well as those of many of our colleagues across the country.

But if you’ve had your doubts, check out the findings from a recent study out of University Hospitals Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. You can watch a presentation of the study here, but in short, researchers found that a 6-week hearing aid trial delivered statistically significant changes in technology level selection by patients, including a decrease in the selection of entry level hearing aids and an increase in the selection of mid-level and advanced devices.

We’ve seen similar results in our own clinic. In fact, we’ve experienced a >$450 increase in private-pay ASP since 2011 when we began implementing the Test Drive process in our practice. This was fueled primarily by use of the Unitron Flex:trial technology, but we do it with all of the manufacturers now through demo devices. It’s our belief that this dramatic increase in ASP is what we call the “Flex effect” – patients self-selecting into higher levels of technology without us having to “up-sell” in any way. Imagine what this does to your bottom line without any additional work or marketing spend? Talk about a great way to improve your practice profitability.

The UHMC study also found the following:

• Over 90% of patients said that having the option to trial hearing aids prior to purchasing them influenced their ultimate decision to purchase them
• Almost 80% of patients said that having the option to trial hearing aids influenced their decision on which technology level to purchase
• Over 65% of patients said that they would not have purchased hearing aids had they not had the opportunity to trial them first
• 100% of patients would recommend this hearing aid trial to family and friends

We’ve seen the fruits of that last statistic as well – check out just one of our Yelp pages, which has all 5-star reviews. Patients who undergo this Test Drive process are more likely to purchase, purchase higher technology levels, and tell their family and friends great things about our practice, our process, and their outcome.

Do you want these results for your practice? Get in touch with us, we can help you make it happen.