As is the case with all home health care products, selling lift chairs has its unique challenges. In addition to taking up a large portion of the sales floor and the warehouse, lift chairs usually require a two-man delivery team and the price needs to include the cost of any labor involved in warranty claims.

“It’s expensive to carry lift chairs because you need two delivery guys and you have to have the stock available, plus you must be able to repair them,” says Jim Binson, who has been selling lift chairs at Binson’s Hospital Supply in Centerline, Mich, since he founded the company 50 years ago. “But it’s not that challenging. Besides, if we had only one product and it was easy to sell, then everyone would be in this business.”

In the long run, lift chairs can help the bottom line—and keep the customers coming back.

“Even if lift chair sales are less than 1% of your business, it’s still worth having them out on the floor because you have to take care of the customers,” Binson says.

Lifting Sales
Of course, just setting a line of lift chairs out on the floor is not the best way to market these items. Savvy dealers know that proper in-store displays, an educated sales staff, and professional-looking promotional materials will bring in the customers. If dealers can then offer lift chair customers a good selection of products at a reasonable price that includes quick delivery and setup, as well as future maintenance, then they truly have met the needs of their clientele.

The dealers interviewed for this article have offered lift chairs for a decade or more, and have learned several strategies to boost their sales. For starters, they each stick to carrying a range of models from a limited number of manufacturers who have a proven record of cooperation.

Binson’s carries 30 different models from two manufacturers, and tries to make sure a large proportion of those models available are out on the showroom floor in each of its 24 stores. The biggest store has all 30 models on the floor while the smaller stores feature at least eight or nine.

Matt Hausfeld, equipment manager for Bernens Medical in Cincinnati, says the company noted a change in sales when it, too, chose to display its entire stock of lift chairs.

“We used to have only two or three models on the floor in our store, and we noticed that when we upped our selection, our sales volume grew tremendously,” Hausfeld says.

Bernens carries six or seven of the most popular models made by one manufacturer—a choice also made by Medic Drug Inc, in Mayfield Village, Ohio.

“We work exclusively with one manufacturer because of price and quality issues, not because we have any type of contract,” says Bill Collins, director of Medic’s HHC division. “We carry two models as our stock chair, and those provide either two or three reclining positions, and we carry five or six colors. That gives customers some variety to choose from—and it allows us to do immediate delivery on a number of styles.”

If customers want chairs from other manufacturers or want other styles not in stock, Medic can usually have those in a few days.

Basic Retailing
While dealers need to have a lot of space for storage and for display when they sell lift chairs, retail and marketing techniques for selling them are not particularly challenging. The first aspect of retailing the chairs is to display them in a variety of positions to show the end users how the chair elevates to help them get into a standing position. Lift chairs that are left in the “down” position look like ordinary easy chairs or recliners.

With a wide array of products in the showroom, customers have the ability to choose between options that meet their own needs. Another element of that is the ability to compare different chairs and fabric selections side by side.

“Every store has color swatches to show the customers, and we can send swatches home with them so they can match the color of the lift chair to their décor,” Collins says.

Other marketing strategies include making sure the showroom sales staff is educated about how the chairs work and how to fit customers to the correct chair for their needs.

“We get a fair number of our chairs bought by kids for their mom and dads, and so we have returns,” Binson says. “Lift chairs are not cut and dried. These chairs are just like clothes: If the customer has short legs, you can’t give them a tall chair. We also get a lot of people who come in and sit in a soft chair and buy it because it’s comfortable. But after a while, a soft chair hurts your back.”

Most dealers also include lift chairs in their circulars to draw attention to the items.

“A lot of people come in on the pharmacy side of the store and realize that there is a home health care center here as well, and that we have products for their needs,” Collins says. “Lift chairs are a definite asset to that division. We put them in our circulars, and we definitely see them as an enhanced value for our customers. They also are a tool for awareness for those who don’t get out to the stores.”

Medic HHC started offering lift chairs when they received a lot of customer inquiries about the small seat lifters they carried. It may seem amazing to those in the home health care field, but many potential customers still don’t realize how lift chairs can help them until they get the opportunity to try one.

“Many of our customers are not looking for lift chairs, but once they see the items, recline in them, and realize that they do help in standing, that’s a selling point all on its own,” Collins says. “People don’t think that there are items available to help them get out of chairs at home, so it’s a situation of building awareness. I’ve found that a lot of things in HME have to do with helping people realize that these items are here to help them in their everyday lives.”

Elizabeth Finch is a contributing writer for Dealer/Provider.