Recognize that it takes significant time, energy, and planning to start (and run!) an audiology practice. Carefully considering your business plan is one of the most important things you must do to be successful.  

Experts say 80% of new businesses fail because the owners weren’t thoughtful and methodical about developing their business plan, goals, and strategy.  It’s wise to devote at least six months to planning before opening your clinic.  Additionally, it’s wise to ask for advice from other business owners to figure out what kind of challenges they ran into when starting their companies.  

Before you open your clinic, you’ll need to find a convenient, high-traffic location with plenty of parking, easy accessibility, and enough space to fit your team and equipment. You’ll also need to recruit and hire staff, market your new business, buy furniture and equipment, secure funding, etc.  

Many business owners try to do everything themselves, often because they have a difficult  time trusting anyone else to do things correctly. It’s important to realize that you simply can’t do it all yourself. Instead, determine what roles need to be filled.  

For instance, if you’re an audiologist, you might not need an audiology specialist, but you will likely need an assistant. You’ll also need someone to staff the front desk, and someone (or several people) to handle invoicing, reimbursements, company payroll, etc. Once you hire your amazing team, train them carefully, empower them to do great work, trust them in their roles, and provide support, as needed.  

When you delegate tasks (like scheduling, invoicing, marketing, ordering, etc.), it frees up your time to oversee the practice and fulfill a more strategic role. Give your employees the right tools – like audiology-specific, fully-functioned Practice Management Software – to do the necessary tasks properly and efficiently. Let your team know that you’re available for support if they need you.  

It absolutely matters what type of equipment you use in your practice. It’s essential to use an integrated, user-friendly tech stack to boost operations, streamline tasks, generate leads, increase efficiencies, and more. Auditdata’s integrated solutions were designed specifically for the audiology industry, and include Manage, Practice Management Software, Measure, a portfolio of audiological equipment run by advanced software, Engage, a portable screening tool, and Discover, an analytics and performance benchmarking tool. These solutions help audiology practices drive more business, perform more consistently high-quality exams, deliver exceptional care to customers, boost transparency, and improve all aspects of running their business.  

Clinical workflows can make sure that all audiologists follow a best practice standard decided from a central hold. They provide audiologists with step-by-step guidance for clinical tasks, such as hearing exams, treatments, and procedures. This supports audiologists in delivering high-quality, consistent care by providing clear, concise instructions. Clinicians should use this to improve efficiency, consistency, accuracy, and customer outcomes. Workflows also help reduce administrative workload and the risk of errors. This helps ensure best practices are always followed for exceptional customer care.  

Many clinics successfully use highlighted audiometric nudging, which guides audiologists during examinations, ensuring they follow best practice testing protocols and don’t forget any steps in the process. This helps boost clinical quality in every hearing exam. Nudging can be very helpful in audiology clinics, as audiologists must deliver efficient, accurate diagnoses and consistently excellent care. Nudging can help guide clinicians through complex decisions, so they can focus more on the client and less on the workflow and process. Since each audiology customer’s journey must be personalized based on their specific situation and diagnosis, audiologists should rely on nudging to ensure the highest-quality examination and deliver the most appropriate solution.   

In healthcare, no show rates can be as high as 80% due to transportation barriers, mobility issues, concerns around a possible diagnosis, and simply forgetting about the appointment.     

No-shows result in lost time and revenue, create more administrative work for your staff, and prevent other customers from taking that appointment slot. Over the long-term, repeated no-shows (and the resulting lost revenue) can prevent or delay clinic expansion, the hiring of new staff members, and buying new equipment.  

Inefficient scheduling can cause numerous problems, including long wait times for your customers, open gaps in your calendar, and/or overworked clinicians. Schedule optimization is critical to your clinic’s success. Use a centralized, user-friendly scheduling tool that all employees can access. It should allow staff to block appointments in 15-minute intervals, knowing that some appointments (e.g., wax removal) will be shorter than others (e.g., an initial appointment). Book the longer appointments first, and then schedule shorter appointments and administration time in a way that minimizes any “gaps” or downtime in the day.   

Rely on a cloud-based scheduler to provide central access, especially if you have multiple clinics or audiologists, so everyone can see real-time updates. Another benefit of the cloud-based scheduler is that employees can reschedule appointments from home (or anywhere) if you need to close your clinic due to bad weather, illness, or for any other reason. 

Portable self-screening solutions help clinics engage with potential customers and generate valuable leads with less staff effort and cost than other lead gen methods. A tablet screener extends your clinic’s reach to customers’ homes, nursing facilities, retirement homes, senior centers, pharmacies, pop-up clinics, and other locations. This is an easy, cost-effective way to reach potential customers, provide them with convenient hearing screenings, and encourage them to visit your clinic whenever the screenings indicate a hearing loss.  

Ideally, you’ll use an integrated system that allows you to track and follow each lead, with regular communications to convince potential customers to visit your clinic for a more comprehensive exam. For instance, get a portable iPad screener that integrates with your PMS, so you can instantly see who has a hearing loss, and promptly contact them to set up an appointment at your clinic. 

Another great way to get qualified leads through your doors is to reach out to existing clients who are up for needing a new hearing aid. These customers, trust you, know you, and they definitely have a hearing loss. If less than 30% of your buying customers are repurchasing, you have an opportunity to contact them proactively to encourage them to buy. Do yourself a favor and reach out to these for easy, inexpensive leads.  

Reviewing reports is one of the most important things you can do in your clinic. Reports allow you to identify problems, improve inefficiencies, and fix any noncompliance issues. This makes your clinic safer, as well as more intelligent, transparent, and productive. 

Reports help connect commercial and clinical performance data, helping you understand how clinical performance supports commercial outcomes. This information can help you determine areas of strength within your organization, such as high-performing staff members, effective marketing efforts, and best-selling products. 

Reports can also help you find (and solve) problems. For instance, if you have high no-show rates, you can amplify your efforts to confirm appointments via email and bilateral texts. If the reports show high return rates, perhaps your clinicians need to do more Real Ear Measurements (REM), widely considered to be the gold-standard for proper hearing aid fittings. You’ll be able to see which products aren’t selling well so you can avoid buying more – and focus on your top sellers instead. 

Looking at reports will significantly improve your decision-making. For instance, use Discover to see comprehensive, integrated data across the organization or drill down by clinic location and/or provider.   

As a new clinic owner, every dollar counts, and reports are instrumental in saving money. Look at reports to identify areas of money wastage, whether that’s inefficient scheduling, excessive no-show rates, high return rates, or underperforming clinicians.  

Some customers and prospects won’t be able to come to your clinic, especially if they have mobility issues, live in remote areas, are in poor health, and/or don’t have access to reliable transportation. Therefore, audiologists often need to take their equipment “on the road” to provide services to customers that can’t get to their clinic in person. 

Whether you’re visiting customers at their homes, retirement homes, or community, use the most sophisticated, accurate, integrated portable solutions in the marketplace. Auditdata’s Measure Audiometer & Fitting Unit is a portable solution and ideal for diagnostic audiometry on-the-go - and it also allows you to perform REM and speech mapping 

Auditdata’s portable solutions make clinical data available to other systems so your audiologists can work online or offline, access and input data while on the road, and then upload updates to the cloud once they return to the clinic. With seamless integration to NOAH and a modular architecture, Auditdata’s solutions make it possible to add the specific modules you need, wherever you go. Our solutions make it easy to provide best-in-class audiology care – no matter where your customers are located. 

It’s true that many vendors need to come onsite to calibrate your audiology equipment, resulting in equipment downtime and disruptions, which is inefficient for your business and inconvenient for your customers.  

However, Auditdata offers a unique SWAP service where we ship calibrated transducers to your  clinics well in advance of the calibration due date for the old ones. You plug in the new transducers, and you’re ready for your next customer with no downtime, interruption or disruption whatsoever. You pack up your old equipment and return the expired transducers through the mail to Auditdata. It’s truly that simple.  Equipment downtime doesn’t have to be inevitable if you use Auditdata’s solutions. 

Marketing is a necessary, ongoing need, so always invest in this important initiative to generate awareness about your clinic and drive more business. Create compelling messages about your clinic, outlining your personalized service, compassionate care, extensive experience, innovative technologies, and anything else that makes your clinic exceptional.  

Spotlight why prospects should visit your clinic vs. the competition, including your amazing clinicians, extended hours, the high-quality hearing aids you sell, central location, etc. Use clear, consistent, integrated messages throughout all your marketing efforts so audiences get the same information whether they see your social media posts, visit your website, or meet your staff at an event. And use a variety of different channels – events, social media, ads in local publications, etc. – to reach as many prospects as possible. 

Marketing can help you build a brand that’s known for providing personalized service, instilling trust, and genuinely caring about your customers. Demonstrate that your clinicians are smart, experienced, and compassionate. Provide important resources and educational materials about things that matter to your key audiences, such as care tips for hearing aids and information about new products that you offer. Marketing correctly will help increase customer retention and referrals, drive new business, boost sales, and set you apart from the competition.  

Properly training and supporting your staff is crucial for your clinic's success. Your staff members are the backbone of your clinic, and investing in their training can pay dividends in terms of improved customer care and employee satisfaction. Providing ongoing training and support can help employees stay current with industry developments, improve their skills and knowledge, and make them feel valued and appreciated. Neglecting staff training, on the other hand, can lead to increased turnover and burnout, as well as decreased effectiveness. 

Failing to maintain accurate records and comply with regulations can lead to negative consequences. Audiology clinics are subject to a wide range of regulations and record-keeping requirements. Failing to comply with these regulations can lead to fines, legal action, or loss of accreditation. It's important to maintain accurate and up-to-date records – including an audit trail – and comply with all relevant regulations.  

Building relationships with referral sources and other healthcare providers is important for growth and success. Referrals from other healthcare providers – as well as other sources such as insurers, pharmacists, retirement communities, etc. – can be a key source of new customers for your clinic. Neglecting to build relationships with these sources can harm your growth and success. It's important to invest in networking and building relationships with healthcare providers and other potential referral sources.

Additionally, start a friends and family referral program to encourage customers to send their loved ones to your clinic. This is especially important as you’re starting out, but will remain an effective way to generate new business for many years to come.