DEALER CASES 

They are not just super convenient, but also really good, the latest-generation hearing aids. Read how thanks to his customers a chemist in Uster (Switzerland) was converted.

“I was very sceptical and even laughed and thought that for this amount you certainly would not get anything clever”, says Pascal Pfleiderer of the Impuls chemist’s shop Brunnehof in Uster, a chemist through and through who does not do things by half, not professionally or in his private life. A colleague and friend in Thusis had told him about hearing aids that cost only a fraction of the well-known brands. “Just try it”, was his well-intentioned advice.

When Pfleiderer picked up the new hearing aid for the first time, he stopped laughing. “I saw immediately that it can’t be a cheap product, on the contrary. It fascinated me straight away, because it has everything it needs for good hearing and nevertheless is very easy to use. The patient puts it on, that’s all, and it works! What convinced me completely were the reactions of my customers, first of all a caretaker. He had lost his hearing aids, which he had bought for 9000 francs, and could no longer afford anything so expensive. I recommended to him the new hearing aids from Sonetik, which cost only a fraction. He tested them for three days. When he came back he said simply: I cannot hear any difference at all!”

Since this key experience Pascal Pfleiderer has been a voice in the wilderness of the hearing aid market. With hundreds of other colleagues in pharmacies and chemist’s shops he advises people with hearing difficulties not to wait until life passes them by more and more. “After all it is a shame when one can no longer understand one’s partner and the children. I had a lady who felt excluded because she no longer dared to ask. But it should not be like that! Why this shame! Why is it so bad to have a hearing aid? Wearing glasses or telephoning on a mobile phone is also entirely natural! Men in particular are still naive in this respect and waste years until they finally realise that with a hearing aid they are not on the scrapheap, on the contrary.“

Pfleiderer tells of countless similar experiences. “Every customer who tries the new hearing aids comes back and says that he has not noticed any difference compared with the much more expensive products. It’s fantastic that you can save thousands of francs, without any loss of quality.” The young star from Uster thinks that the idea of simply going into one of hundreds of pharmacies or chemist’s shops without an appointment, having a hearing test and straight away being able to take away a device for testing without any obligation is brilliant. “I am convinced that that is the future, to show people that early provision is worth it. With our low-threshold offer we want to contribute to good hearing being available without waiting for ever and becoming quite normal as routine.” Is that an attack on all the acousticians who for decades have made a good living from the much more expensive hearing aids? “No, I have nothing at all against acousticians. For difficult cases they are needed as never before. But for the great majority of people with hearing difficulties we are the ideal people to talk to. Which is why we can solve 90 per cent of all cases straight away.”

Pfleiderer has changed for good from being a sceptic to being a fan. He calls on all sceptics to do the same, namely simply to give them a try rather than studying: “Come and see me or one of my colleagues. Take a device with you and wear it for a few days. I guarantee that you won’t give it back!”

Source: Sprechstunde Doktor Stutz, Nr. 2/2012, Page 60-62