Since 2005, we've learned a lot from our hearing professional partners. We've conducted a lot of research, we've asked a lot of questions, and we've listened very carefully. We know how important the role of hearing professionals are to the community, and we have a pretty good handle on the challenges that you're facing every day.
We also know that our growth as a company is tied to your growth as hearing professional and clinic owners. We all have a role in helping our customers hear better and live a more full life. As more people embrace hearing instruments, we all are able to grow together.
When we started planning for the future, we knew that we wanted to do a better job of supporting our hearing professional partners, and we wanted to come alongside you to help you sell better by improving your sales funnel and reducing the number of unnecessary maintenance and service appointments.
We've decided to make this a core part of our business, and we are excited to introduce to you today the new Ear Gear Partner Program.
Benefits of the Ear Gear Partner Program
- Access to our Partner Portal (and wholesale rates!) and direct access to our support staff. Once you sign up and your Partner Account is approved, you'll receive special wholesale rates on future Ear Gear purchases.
More importantly, we've done a lot of research about when in the sales process you should provide Ear Gear to shorten the length of your sales cycle (which allows you to sell more hearing instruments), and we'll share that with you so you get the most out of your partnership with Ear Gear.
- Marketing Assistance. We know how busy hearing professionals are, and often marketing yourself or your practice unintentionally stays on the back-burner. We want to help you market yourself and your practice in two ways. First, we're working with top-notch marketing professionals to deliver bite-sized DIY marketing ideas right to your inbox. These are marketing strategies you can set up in 15 minutes or less that can have a real impact on your business. Second, we want to double down on our partner directory. We've found that we are ranking on the front page of Google organically for many of our partners, so we've revamped our Partner Portal and directory to give you more control of your listing. This gives our customers a sense of who you are and why they should do business with you. You can also manage multiple locations, and have separate contact information for each location. We hope this makes it easier for you to showcase your business, connect with prospects, and increase your SEO authority.
- Affiliate Program. While we've offered wholesale pricing to hearing professionals for a long time, we know that not everyone wants the added complexity of having inventory and selling additional products. We've invested in an affiliate program so that you can sign up and receive a unique referral link to the Ear Gear site. If someone purchases from us using your referral link, you'll earn a commission of the sale. This is a really easy to both help your customers and create easy revenue for your business. We'll jump start your commission by $25 simply for simply putting your referral link on your site. Join our Affiliate Program here.
- Additional Rewards & Contests. We'll be periodically running contests, drawings, and other opportunities for you to receive free Ear Gear products and steeper discounts. Stay tuned!
Ear Gear Partner Frequently Asked Questions
We know that you may have some questions - especially if you had a wholesale account with us prior to the launch of our new Partner Program in June of 2020. We'd like to answer some of those here:
What happened to my wholesale account on the old Ear Gear website?
If you had a wholesale account on the old Ear Gear website (prior to June 2020), you'll simply need to create a new account on our new Partner Portal. You can do that here: partners.gearforears.com. Once you create your new account and we approve you for wholesale discounts, you'll get access to steep wholesale discounts.
What if I've been paying retail pricing when I order Ear Gear for my customers?
If you're an audiologist, or if you're in a related field where you help people with hearing loss - think schools, hospitals, assisted living facilities, etc. - you can qualify for wholesale discounts through the Partner Portal. You should definitely sign up for an account at partners.gearforears.com to take advantage of those discounts moving forward.
If you've paid retail price in the recent past, drop us a note at info@gearforears.com and, depending on your circumstances, we may be able to provide you a credit of the different that you can use on future purchases within the Partner Portal.
I love Ear Gear and want to recommend it to my customers, but I don't want to deal with inventory, sales, or returns. What should I do?
Along with the new Partner Portal, we've also created an affiliate program for our hearing professional partners. This means that if you want to promote Ear Gear to your customers but do not want to actually carry inventory and sell Ear Gear, then you can join our Affiliate Program. When you join, you'll receive a unique link that you can give to your customers. When they purchase Ear Gear, you accumulate a 25% commission on each purchase that you send our way, which we'll pay out each month.
This is a great way to create an additional revenue stream for your business, without having to deal with the added complications of carrying inventory.
We're having fewer people coming into our office because of Covid-19. What can we do?
We've written extensively about how Ear Gear helps increase customer delight, reduce the sales cycle, cut down on unnecessary service requests, and helps drive revenue up across your business. In fact, we've written a whole ebook on how audiologists can increase revenue. We understand that Covid puts a strain on your entire sales process, and we believe that audiologists can do a couple of things to ensure their customers have a great experience.
First of all, many of your existing customers would benefit from Ear Gear, particularly if they are active or if they work in a field like construction where dirt or moisture is more likely to interfere with their hearing instrument. We would encourage you to be pro-active with your customers. If you sign up for our Affiliate Program, you can proactively reach out to your customers to let them know about Ear Gear, and receive a generous 25% commission on any sales you send our way.
Not only can you earn great commissions, but you can be smarter with who's coming into your office during the pandemic. Your time is best spent selling hearing instruments to new customers, not maintaining instruments that are faulty due to sweat or dirt damage.
Can I join both the Partner Program and the Affiliate Program?
Absolutely. These programs are designed to complement each other, and we have many audiologists who are taking advantage of both wholesale pricing and affiliate commissions.
We're very excited about our new Partner Program and we hope that you are too. To join, simply head over to our Partner Site and sign up. If you have any questions, please let us know at info@gearforears.com.
