Consistently good service is no longer a “USP” – practices need to innovate to stand out, move forward and stay ahead.

In this episode of the podcast, we hear from Erika Shakespeare from Audiology & Hearing Aid Associates, who agreed to tell Oli in detail about how she has continually innovated in her practice.

Erika started her career, after her fellowship year in clinical work, working in a hospital setting as a clinical audiologist. She then became an audiology program manager, managing multiple teams and locations, until in 2006 she was asked to help out with clinical work. 10 years later when her boss retired she took the opportunity to buy a practice and leave hospital administration back to clinical care full time.

Now she does audiology the way she always wanted to do it, without the shackles of bureaucracy and the chance to shape it how she wanted and using the valuable experiences she gained as a program manager.

Erika talks to Oli about exactly how she has used this strategic approach to build a highly successful practice, including an introduction to a tool that has been invaluable for improving processes and quality of service delivery.

Listen out for the bundle she offers to new patients allowing them to have access to the technology that keeps her in touch and offer tools for an even better service.

Highlights:

“I decided I was finally going to do audiology the way that I’d always wanted to do it. Threw off the shackles of bureaucracy and said no one’s gonna tell me no any more unless it’s me.”

“It’s really just about getting you out of your comfort zone to do something.”

“I’m answerable to myself and I can set my billable hour however I want. So I get to include real rehab in my hearing aid fitting process without guilt.”

“I wanted to engineer a process that allowed me to stay present in the moment with the patient in front of me.”

“Remote technology is something we’ve been using for a while. It’s something that when the pandemic hit, it wasn’t a huge shift for us to embrace that more.”

“Change is a good thing when done with intent.”

Learn more or connect with Erika – https://lagrandehearing.org 

Find out more about how “Inner Circle” members are transforming their hearing care practice with the help of the Orange & Gray team: https://orange-gray.com/inner-circle/