Melbourne audiologist Neelima Yadlapalli shares why she chose Specsavers Audiology
to take her career to new heights as a business partner and why it aligns with her ethics and ambitions.
Starting your own practice as a health professional while in your 20s would be daunting for many. But Melbourne audiologist Ms Neelima Yadlapalli has achieved this accomplishment by becoming a Specsavers audiology partner in two clinics, and all before her 30th birthday.
Yadlapalli says she never would have been able to afford to set up an independent practice at this age or had enough business acumen to deal with the practicalities of establishing and operating a business.
“At 29, I definitely would not have been able to afford to go into business by myself – it’s a huge outlay if you do it on your own,” she says. “The amount of work involved in doing your own marketing, financial planning and forward thinking, I would have struggled by myself.”
However, the financial and practical backing of Specsavers came to the rescue of the enthusiastic practitioner, helping her make a smooth transition to business owner. Today, she is a Specsavers audiology partner and director in two audiology practices based in northern Melbourne optometry stores at Preston and Northcote shopping centres.
“I love the autonomy and knowing that I’m working in a practice where I can provide the best value to my customers and see the benefit of good hearing in their lives. Specsavers just aligns with my ethics,” Yadlapalli says. “It’s so rewarding, and my husband who works in IT is jealous because I get to see first-hand the benefits of what I do every day.”
Yadlapalli’s pathway to the hearing industry began with a fascination for science, leading to majors in genetics and pharmacology at The University of Melbourne.
“I enjoyed science but wanted the people aspect,” she recalls. “I realised working in the lab was not for me and I was lucky to find audiology which encompassed everything that was interesting to me.”
After graduating in 2012, she worked for a corporate network in Frankston.
“I discovered the satisfaction of helping people hear better, conducting hearing tests and fitting hearing aids and I was humbled by the impact I could have on people’s quality-of-life,” she says.
She worked there until 2018 practising in the clinic one day a week to keep up her skills and working as a state trainer for Victoria and Tasmania, another role she found rewarding. This included training graduates and audiologists in various aspects of clinic life.
“It was dynamic, I had to be adaptable, and each day was different,” she recalls. “I enjoyed connecting with my peers, seeing them grow and upskill. It was a fantastic experience that allowed me to make a positive impact on others’ careers and patient care.”
Innovative approach
But after six years, she yearned to practise full time and, as luck would have it, this was around the same time as Specsavers Audiology was entering the Australian market (2017).
“That was where my true passion lay and I was really drawn to Specsavers – it had such an innovative approach and marketing strategies, and I knew they would disrupt our hearing aid industry,” Yadlapalli recalls. “My intuition told me Specsavers was poised to revolutionise the industry, and I wanted to align myself with a forward-thinking organisation.
“The prospect of owning my own clinic with the support and autonomy that Specsavers offered was a signature drawcard for me.”
As a director she bought shares in the business, which was not expensive as it was new.
“The process was quite straightforward. I came in and the clinics, the equipment, everything was set up for me. At both sites, I had a soundproof room including a soundproof booth for hearing tests and heavier doors to keep things quieter, and Specsavers paid for these.
“The set-up fees are taken out over a five-year loan from revenue generated which is negligible, about $1,500 a month, and spread out so you don’t notice it.
“But it didn’t take long, six to 12 months, before I started to make dividends. Although I was surprised at how quickly it happened, I also believed it would work. We’ve grown immensely in the past six years – about 30% last year – and I’m now looking at hiring another audiologist. This is a culmination of coming out of COVID, the good work I’ve been doing, word of mouth and Specsavers marketing.”
Financial stability, best outcomes, value and service
Yadlapalli says the biggest benefit of the partnership structure is the financial stability and reduced business risk. As an audiologist she was previously unaware of the costs involved in running a business.
“But the support and resources from Specsavers have not only opened my eyes to these costs but enabled me to manage them effectively,” she says.
“The other big advantage is having the backing of the major hearing aid brands and being able to provide them at a very reasonable cost compared to competitors. This has given me the confidence as an audiologist that I am fitting products which will give the best outcomes, value, and service for my patients because the buying power that Specsavers has means I can give a better hearing aid at a reduced price.”
Yadlapalli says one example is that while $10,000 might be charged by competitors for a top of the range hearing aid, she can provide the same device to patients from $3,500 or from $1,900 for Hearing Services Program funded customers.
“Because we provide this reduced price, most people are more accepting of going for the top of the range model to meet their needs as they’re not as worried about the financial costs and they receive much better outcomes than if they had gone for a lower priced, lower-level hearing aid which they might have struggled with,” she adds.
People are starting to shop around now and they’re the ones who benefit most, she says.
Optometry benefits
A key feature of the Specsavers audiology model is the co-habitation with pre-existing optometry practices. Advantages of this include sharing rent and front-of-house staff costs but she says the greatest benefit is the optometry database which enables staff to suggest patients who might benefit from a hearing test.
“Optometry has such a large database and working in a trusted store with a vast customer database has been a game-changer. It’s enabled me to reach a broader patient base. Patients have also expressed their appreciation for the one-stop-shop experience, where they can address both their eye and ear concerns.”
Another benefit is the opportunity to not talk about ears the whole day. “It’s been nice to work alongside another profession.
‘‘A lot prefer back-to-back appointments for eyes and ears but sometimes if they are diabetic, for example, the eye appointment might go longer so they return another day for ears. Having both in one store, and often easy access in shopping centres where many of our stores are, means patients are already building rapport with the store so are comfortable to come back and see us for hearing.”
Her advice to graduates and established audiologists who might be considering Specsavers but feel nervous or unsure is to “come and speak to one of us to see if their values and views align with ours”.
“There’s so many of us running Specsavers businesses now, it’s not unchartered territory anymore,” she says. “It’s a great place to work and our stores are like a small business, owned and run by optical directors. There’s always someone in the business who oversees day-to-day activities and strives to do their best by customers and staff. It fosters a nice close working environment and we’re like little families in each store.”
Front-of-house staff upskill to assist audiology patients and help with bookings. In her clinics, the plan is to train them to do basic repairs of hearing aids so when she is not there at weekends they can assist patients. When optometry patients aged 50 and over come in, reception staff offer a hearing questionnaire and hearing screening on iPads while they are waiting. iPads have been a great tool to generate awareness, she says..
“Many patients say they’ve never had a hearing test before and had no idea where to go,” Yadlapalli explains.
While many come from the optometry database and iPad checks, a good proportion also come from marketing and word-of-mouth. The audiology business also refers patients to its optometry colleagues, with patients often saying while they are there, they may as well have their eyes examined too.
“In six years, there has been a lot of sharing of customers. I’m a big believer in treating each customer like gold and this has never led me astray. I never miss an opportunity to do my best which has helped my business.”
Why patients and practitioners are embracing Specsavers
When audiologist Mr Nick Taylor came from England to Australia to help establish Specsavers Audiology, he was confident the model would take off, based on success overseas. His predictions were correct – with both the Australian public embracing it and more than 300 audiology professionals joining the Specsavers brand as joint venture partners in its opening years.
“It’s been very successful; we’ve screened 3.3 million Australians over six and a half years, which is, I believe, the most hearing screenings anywhere in the world, something we’re very proud of,” Taylor says. “About 40% are found to have hearing loss.”
The model of incorporating audiology practices within Specsavers optometry stores has paid off with about 60% of audiology consults coming from in-store optometry patients aged 50 and over who do a three-minute hearing screen as part of their eye and ear health check before seeing the optometrist. If this indicates potential hearing issues, the customer is offered an appointment with an audiology professional to discuss their results and any further steps needed.
Taylor, chief audiology officer for Specsavers Australia New Zealand, says because of its optics business, about 6.5 million Australians come into Specsavers stores every couple of years, creating a stream of potential customers whose demographic fits the most common patient type requiring hearing care – those over 50 – and the adult demographic Specsavers focuses on.
“This allows us to access many people to promote hearing health,” he says.
“Because we have so many customers coming into our stores, we don’t have KPIs or sales targets for our partners. Instead, we base everything on the Specsavers’ key value of providing accessible and affordable health care to all.
‘‘Our clinicians not having corporate pressure as to why they didn’t
make targets or sales is an important reason why many join Specsavers. History shows that this model works very well with many businesses becoming profitable within a few months of operation.”
Clinicians’ expertise is largely in clinical practice but to back this up, the company provides a full suite of operations support including looking after marketing, finance and procurement for all Specsavers Audiology businesses.
“As we’re the nation’s only franchise-based audiology business, we give clinicians the ability to own their own business with support of a fantastic, big, well-known brand that provides those other skills and expertise,” Taylor adds.
Apart from clinical education that Specsavers also offers – and buying power enabling reduced prices – it provides a mentoring program for early career audiology professionals to support them through their career journey including the possibility of becoming future business owners.
Doing the right thing by customers
Taylor says the principle of doing the right thing by the customer is the tone optometrists and Specsavers founders Mr Doug Perkins and Dame Mary Perkins set when they founded the company 40 years ago. In addition to a passion to make eyecare more affordable, they wanted to include other healthcare services.
Audiology was a natural partner.
“Our customers choose Specsavers for our amazing value, professionalism, customer service, and of course, convenience. They don’t see Specsavers optometry and Specsavers audiology, they just come in and see Specsavers eyes and ears together,” Taylor explains.
The audiology business was launched 20 years ago in the UK and now operates across Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Northern Europe.
Taylor joined Specsavers UK business in 2012, where he headed audiology training and professional services.
“It appealed to me the way Specsavers operates, with millions who have hearing difficulties who can’t access hearing care, plans that Specsavers put in place to address that on a large scale was the biggest attraction.”
Invited to be part of the launch team for Australia and New Zealand in 2017, he has been head of audiology’s professional services and product ever since.
“Developments in hearing aid technology have been fabulous and part of my role is to make sure our partners have great products to offer customers,” he explains.
“We passionately believe in clear and transparent pricing. Prices are on our website and in our stores and we want people to shop around and do their research because we’re confident when they do, they’ll see the amazing value Specsavers offers. We also offer a wide variety of prices and technology levels.”
The goal is to have audiology in all its optometry stores – currently just under 400.
“Whether you’re a great audiologist or audiometrist, you can be a business owner or an employee in our audiology stores,” Taylor says. “We’re proud that Specsavers has been listed as a ‘great place to work’ for the past three years by Great Place to Work, a global authority on workplace culture, and in 2023 was named as one of Australia’s top 10 best workplaces. To be recognised as a company built on great people is fantastic.
“There’s nothing more important in a business than the people who work there and, as Richard Branson said, the way you treat your employees will be reflected in the way they treat their customers.”
