Training employees how to work with hearing impaired consumers can boost profits

By Mark Finn, Founder, Hearing Loss Resource and Guidance Center of Nevada.

I don't know many business owners who will argue that their regular customers, the ones who keep coming back, are essential for a steady cash flow. In today's economic environment, it is essential to attain and retain as many customers as possible. It's just common business sense.

However, does your management team realize there are consumers walking into their businesses everyday who are looking to form relationships and become that new "regular customer?" I'm talking about the hearing-impaired community of Las Vegas. Once serviced by understanding businesses, these customers can become the most loyal customers any business will ever find. They are looking for businesses that understand and meet their needs.

We know that close to 40 million Americans have some form of hearing loss. Doing the math (statistically) and knowing the Las Vegas region and its population as well as I do, I have calculated that Las Vegas' valley metropolitan area has more than 200,000 individuals who can be classified as "Significantly Hard of Hearing," or SHOH. While these individuals have lost a bulk of their hearing, they speak well and do not use sign language. Mostly they function in society well, they blend in as an ordinary customer - in other words, they do not "look" disabled.

Hearing loss is an invisible disability. This is why business owners need to educate their employees and make their businesses accessible to a person with a hearing loss if they want to capture this niche market, which is growing rapidly as the boomer generation ages. It's easy to see why a person with hearing loss would become a loyal customer once one understands the psychological issue combined with the physical issue of not being able to hear. He or she wants to be a customer of a business that is attuned to dealing with the hearing loss community.

Hearing loss often has a profound influence on the personal and general well being of the individual who has lost their hearing. They often live in a world of uncertainty, not exactly sure if they hear what is being said, or if anything is being said at all. This is why visual clues are so important from businesses and their employees.

When I go into an unknown business, I am always looking around for visual clues to find what I need. If I do have to ask for help, I want the employee to look at me to make sure I understood what they say. I don't want to humiliate myself by telling my story to every individual whom I encounter; I will tell people once I have been given the notion of "polite dignity."

Making sure a customer is being heard and understood must be one thing every employee learns. They don't have to stare at the individual or ask them if they heard, but they do need to pay attention to see if the person is responding. They need to help the customer state what he or she needs and to provide clear feedback as to what products or services are available. One of the worst things an employee can do is to assume that a customer can hear and start talking with their back turned to the individual.

It's so easy for an employee to be respectful and courteous, while at the same time, measuring up a situation and knowing how to respond. Talking slowly and clearly with face-to-face contact is essential to working with people with hearing loss.

If an employee feels an individual is not hearing what they are saying, they can work to clarify any uncertainties on the discussion. If an employee suspects that a customer is hard of hearing, raising their voice, making extreme motions or excessively mouthing words (for lip-reading) in an effort to communicate does nothing but embarrass the individual and make the patron want to run out the door and never come back.

Here is a quick way to help your employees become knowledgeable about hearing loss:

• Teach empathy by having employees place cotton in their ears and run a blowing hair dryer close by
• Speak in both normal and loud tones to the employees and then ask them how much they can hear or understand

Employees will quickly learn that shouting doesn't make them understand any better. The key is in looking for visual clues and letting the individual extrapolate for themselves; in other words, let the hearing loss individual fill in the blanks in their own way. If they don't understand, they will ask.

Another important thing for employees to understand is how a Nevada Relay call works. If an employee answers a phone and doesn't immediately hear a voice, remind them to hang on for a moment while the automated system kicks in. Do not hang up on the caller, as he or she could be a potential hearing-impaired customer. Develop a system for how these calls are responded to.

Give hearing-loss customers self respect and understanding - the idea of polite dignity - and you will have a loyal and regular customer. These little steps can lead to a better bottom line and future for your business.

Mark Finn is late-deafened and assisted by a Cochlear Implant. He is the founder of the non-profit Hearing Loss Resource and Guidance Center of Nevada. He also has started a support group called Hearing Loss Association of Las Vegas which is associated with the national Hearing Loss Association of America.