Catherine Maley, MBA - Attract More Patients and Profit» Catherine Maley Cosmetic Marketing Expert features on Business Growth

To Discount or Not To Discount

Catherine — Thu, 27 May 2010 13:58:02 +0000

Once you lower your prices, it’s nearly impossible to increase them again without losing patients so I don’t recommend offering temporary discounts. You are always better off adding value instead. Patients love a good deal but it doesn’t have to be a cheap price. Bundling services to add more value is a great strategy. For example, free sunscreen with every laser treatment or every laser hair removal leg package comes with a free underarm treatment. This way the patient gets a little something extra and you keep your profit margins up.

Another great strategy is to offer a special price for a very limited time for a very specific reason so the patient knows this is special. For example, if the patient can have surgery on a Wednesday during a certain month, they can save $500 on the OR room since it’s less on a Wednesday than a Friday during that month. Or, a special Birthday Gift Card your patient can use to look their best on their special day and it includes a tight expiration date. The point is for your patient to feel as if they got great value. If you discount, make it feel special rather than random or ‘cheap’.

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Get Your FREE Marketing Checklist on www.CosmeticImageMarketing.com and see how you compare to top aesthetic practices. Catherine’s firm specializes in attracting cash-paying patients to a medical practice using PR, advertising and creative marketing strategies. Catherine can also be reached at (877) 339-8833.

Financing Cosmetic Surgery-Pros and Cons

Catherine — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:38:33 +0000

I have watched so much money walk out the door because the physician will not offer affordable patient financing because “it’s too expensive”. I’m flabbergasted because what’s so much more expensive is to tell that patient to go save up for what they want and come back when they can afford it. That patient will simply move on to the next practice that actually helps them get what they want now rather than wait. The first practice not only loses that patient but they also lose that patient’s friends and family.

Help your patient get what they want now. Many patients today have the money but don’t want to spend it or they really do need help paying for it. It’s a small price to pay for the physician to keep that patient in their practice. It’s also a great closing question. Rather than ask the patient if they have decided, ask a better question to get a better answer such as “Sara, did you want to use our affordable patient option of $200 per month or use your own credit card?”

Increase Aesthetic Patient Conversion Rates

Catherine — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:36:04 +0000

You increase conversion rates by getting back to the fundamentals: ensure your aesthetic patient goes step-by-step through your process so they are most likely to say yes at the end of it. This a well-oiled machine with no shortcuts and every step must happen every time to ensure the patient is comfortable, informed and compelled to move forward. The steps include:

-         Efficient Phones
-         Welcome Packet
-         Trained, friendly Staff
-         Comfortable, Clean Environment
-         Educational and Compelling In-House Signage
-         Initial Consultation with Staff (who are trained in effective aesthetic consultations)
-         Social Proof
-         Consultation with Physician
-         Closing with Staff
-         Thoughtful follow up

In today’s competitive climate, it’s all about the quality of the patient experience rather than just the sheer quantity. The “churn and burn” theory is no longer viable since it’s getting much too expensive to advertise that way. If a patient has called your office, taken time out to drive over to see you, meet you and ask questions, it’s your job to do everything possible to help them make a great decision.

Getting High Quality Referrals

Catherine — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:34:07 +0000

You get quality referrals by offering quality. The quality of your materials, your receptionist, your staff, your office, you and your services all dictate your values and what you deem important. If you have the finest quality everything – you will attract patients who see that as attractive and be drawn to you (this will also deter patients who are uncomfortable with quality and just want cheap). So, use quality to attract quality.

Then, by all means, when you do attract a quality patient to you, do everything humanly possible to keep them loyal to you. These patients can be golden to you so build a golden fence around them to they stay, pay and refer their other like-minded friends. Suggestions include inviting them to be an exclusive member of your VIP Club where they get special perks and invite them to be part of your Aesthetic Advisory Board so they can offer feedback and, of course, have them bring a friend so they, too, can get to know you.

Give Your Patients What They Want

Catherine — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:20:42 +0000

So much money is left on the table because you don’t give the aesthetic patient all they want. Watch my presentation I gave at the AAD for pearls on how to increase your average order size per patient. Enjoy!

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Get Your FREE Marketing Checklist on www.CosmeticImageMarketing.com and see how you compare to top aesthetic practices. Catherine’s firm specializes in attracting cash-paying patients to a medical practice using PR, advertising and creative marketing strategies. Catherine can also be reached at (877) 339-8833.

Work ON Your Practice – Not IN It

Catherine — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:21:55 +0000

You will be way ahead of your competitors once you realize it’s not so much your skills in aesthetic medicine that win you patients; it’s the marketing of those skills that keep you busy with cash-paying patients.

Your marketing efforts will succeed only if time and energy are regularly devoted to them. You can do the marketing yourself or designate promotional duties to someone else. Be sure that “someone else” you delegate to is enthusiastic, confident, high energy, full of joy and curiosity, open to opportunities and has a killer instinct to maintain, track and develop successful marketing efforts.

They must be accountable for creating, executing, tracking and following up on all efforts so you know what’s working and what needs to be tweaked or dropped.

The more time you and your team spend strategically planning how you will stay in front of your prospective patients and current patients so they choose you over your competitors, the less money you waste and the better results you will enjoy.

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Get Your FREE Marketing Checklist on www.CosmeticImageMarketing.com and see how you compare to top aesthetic practices. Catherine’s firm specializes in attracting cash-paying patients to a medical practice using PR, advertising and creative marketing strategies. Catherine can also be reached at (877) 339-8833.

How the Aesthetic Physician Can Thrive in the New Economy

Catherine — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:54:30 +0000

The Old Economy is gone; never to return. Aesthetic patients no longer spend like drunken sailors. A majority of them have pulled back on aesthetic enhancement due to the uncertainty of the bad economy. That doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t have the money anymore. It could simply mean they are not willing to spend it without a good cause.

To thrive in the New Economy, aesthetic physicians must better understand their patients’ decision-making processes. Here are four main points that should be carefully considered:

1.)The aesthetic patient has all the power to decide who gets their business (and cash).
2.)The aesthetic patient does not tolerate average treatment.
3.)Money will be spent more judiciously by the aesthetic patient.
4.)You will need to earn the right to your patients’ needs and interests.

To enjoy endless cosmetic patients in the New Economy, get smart about your messaging, your marketing and your customer service. It will pay off for you handsomely. Click Here To Read Full Article

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Growing a Multi-Million Dollar Aesthetic Practice

Catherine — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:50:17 +0000

The most successful aesthetic practices today work on never-ending improvement of their processes to ensure their aesthetic patients get the care, result and feelings they are looking for. They understand it’s the fundamentals that never change and always need to be focused on and perfected for endless cosmetic patients to be attracted to their practice. Click Here to Read About The 10 Endless Patient Success Strategies

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Do You Want More Aesthetic Patients or Profits?

Catherine — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:06:51 +0000

Your aesthetic patients want to go to you because they know, like and trust you. They get a consistent experience every time, a consistent result, and a relationship with you and your staff that keeps them coming back for more and bringing their friends with them.

In the New Economy, the point is not to see how big you can grow your database. It’s to cost-effectively and creatively attract your preferred patients to your practice and then nurture those relationships so you grow your practice organically from within rather than from random, expensive, external efforts.

Tip: It’s not a contest to grow your database with anybody and everybody – It’s all about quality of the patient and NOT quantity

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Attract New Patients by Networking

Catherine — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:15:40 +0000

When you align with another business owner and they introduce you to their patients or customers as their aesthetic expert, you get instant credibility with a whole new group of prospective patients who already trust you through your association with someone else they already trust.

However, before you approach others, be sure to prepare an answer to the question they will be asking themselves which is, “What’s in it for me if I share my clients with you?” Be sure you set this up as a win-win relationship because this can be a double-edged sword. Your alliances can sing your praises or cut you to the quick if they feel like they were used by you so be sure they get as much from this alliance as you do.

Tip: Set up a win-win relationship with your strategic alliances so they introduce their high-value clients to you.

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For more Free tips and videos, visit www.CosmeticImageMarketing.com. Catherine Maley, MBA is Author of Your Aesthetic Practice/What Your Patients Are Saying and her firm offers everything you need to succeed in aesthetic medicine. You can call Catherine at (877) 339-8833 or email her at info@CosmeticImageMarketing.com.