Archive for Business Growth
Catherine Interviewed During AACS Conference
Posted by: | CommentsI gave several talks at the recent AACS Annual Meeting in Las Vegas and a reporter asked to interview me about who a “preferred patient” is and how to encourage them to return and refer. Enjoy!
Golden Handcuffs for Your Best Patients
Posted by: | Comments2012 is going to be a challenging year for aesthetics thanks to lingering recession, Groupons, heavy competition, less Internet traffic due to the sheer number of competitors and fickle aesthetic patients who show little to no loyalty.
It is VITAL you corral your best aesthetic patients so they don’t wander off. It’s also cheaper than spending a fortune finding new patients. It’s also more fun to work with patients who know, like and trust you than total strangers who are apprehensive.
A great solution is the VIP Club Card. It builds “silent golden handcuffs” around your best patients who return often and refer their friends. These high-quality patients love feeling special and getting preferential treatment so use that to your advantage. Give them a unique VIP Club Card with perks and they’ll help you succeed in 2012.
—-
For a free download of Catherine’s book, Visit www.YourAestheticPracticeBook.com or call Catherine at (877) 339-8833. Her firm specializes in creative patient attraction – conversion – retention strategies to drive aesthetic profits.
Are You a One-Hit Wonder?
Posted by: | CommentsIf you spend all of your time, money and effort getting a new patient to say yes to you and then never see them again after their procedure, you are doing them, you and your pocketbook a disservice.
The patient liked and trusted you enough to say yes. The hard part is done. The least you could do is reciprocate by staying in touch, following up and seeing how they are. You can do some of that with post-op follow up appointments. It shows you care and gives you more opportunity to bond with the patient.
However, there’s a group of patients who won’t bother with follow-up appointments. They’re happy and don’t feel the need. That’s the group you want to reach out to throughout the year and give them other reasons to visit you.
An aesthetic patient has endless needs so it’s almost guaranteed if they had an issue with their looks, there’s a really good chance another issue has their attention.
Keep in touch to keep them coming back again and again.
—-
For a free download of Catherine’s book, Visit www.YourAestheticPracticeBook.com or call Catherine at (877) 339-8833. Her firm specializes in creative patient attraction – conversion – retention strategies to drive aesthetic profits.
Guarantee Surgery – Wha-Wha-WHAT???
Posted by: | CommentsThere’s a pretty good chance you don’t guarantee your surgeries so please hear me out.
Consumers in general are skeptical. Patients are even more so since they want to know they’ll get a good result and they won’t have buyer’s remorse. They don’t know whom to trust and often have a tough decision to make between several practices. So how can you stand out?
Offer something your competitors don’t and watch your conversions grow. Offer a guarantee they will be happy with their result or you’ll throw in a revision for up to one year. However, put parameters around it. They must adhere to your directions, show up for their appointments and agree to communicate.
You probably do this anyway if a patient is unhappy so offer it up front to take away their fear of making a mistake by going with you versus someone else. And it tells your prospective patient you’re confident in your ability and that builds their trust in you.
So even if 1 out of 100 take advantage of it and you lose a little money, you’ll get 10x more conversions and 10x more profits by offering something unique. Try it!
—-
For a free download of Catherine’s book, Visit www.YourAestheticPracticeBook.com or call Catherine at (877) 339-8833. Her firm specializes in creative patient attraction – conversion – retention strategies to drive aesthetic profits.
Answer the Phone!
Posted by: | Comments
I gave a talk at the AAFPRS Fall Meeting at Moscone Center in San Francisco this past weekend to the assistants, office managers and patient coordinators. The talk was entitled, “Mystery Call Critiques: What You Need to Hear.”
Since we offer mystery shopping to our clients, I was able to bring examples of good calls and not-so-good calls. My staff and I are still surprised at how many offices take their telephones so lightly. They either don’t answer in a friendly tone, don’t answer at all because they’re at lunch or don’t bother to ask us any questions to bond with us.
Did you know if you lose just one aesthetic patient per day and that patient was worth $2,000 to you (very low by the way), that adds up to $528,000 PER YEAR?! Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t it worth it to you to make your phones a priority? The prospective patients you spend so much time, money and effort getting to call you is wasted if they never get past your phones.
Give yourself a raise by giving your receptionist scripting and protocol so she knows how to professionally bond with the caller and ask for the appointment. It’s well worth a half-million dollars.
—-
For a free download of Catherine’s book, Visit www.YourAestheticPracticeBook.com or call Catherine at (877) 339-8833. Her firm specializes in creative patient attraction – conversion – retention strategies to drive aesthetic profits.
Where Are Your New Patients Coming From?
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s a 1-minute video with an exercise to determine where your big-ticket procedures are coming from. Hint: The answer is in the data so watch this, do the quick exercise and let me know what you find out:
—-
For a free download of Catherine’s book, Visit www.YourAestheticPracticeBook.com or call Catherine at (877) 339-8833. Her firm specializes in creative patient attraction – conversion – retention strategies to drive aesthetic profits.
Good Job Cross-Promoting Aesthetic Services
Posted by: | CommentsI recently had a Botox and wrinkle filler session with a plastic surgeon. He was great and I looked better, so all was well. But, that evening I did develop some bruising – that didn’t really surprise me, but what did surprise me was an email I got minutes later. His nurse, whom I met briefly while I was there, emailed me and offered to do a quick laser procedure to help minimize my bruising if I had any. How great is that? I called her and ran back in for my little laser procedure and my bruising is significantly better. Now I know about her and her laser procedures – and I plan on going back for more! What a great way to show you care and promote ALL of your aesthetic services.
—-
For a free download of Catherine’s book, Visit www.YourAestheticPracticeBook.com or call Catherine at (877) 339-8833. Her firm specializes in creative patient attraction – conversion – retention strategies to drive aesthetic profits.
Cosmetic Surgery Demand is Booming
Posted by: | Comments
I recently read that 1 out of 5 Baby Boomers polled said they have or would consider having cosmetic surgery. So I did some math: 20% of 76,000,000 Baby Boomers = 19,000,000 people (of which I am one) who are open to cosmetic surgery. That’s a lot of prospective patients!
And here’s more good news. Those 19,000,000 Baby Boomers are going to continue aging so they will need your services again and again. Be sure to offer minimally-invasive procedures and surgical procedures since many will start out small and eventually want surgery. Then they will want to maintain their surgical procedure with injectables and lasers. Like I always say, “You have patients with endless needs. Take care of them for a lifetime – not one time.”
—-
For a free download of Catherine’s book, Visit www.YourAestheticPracticeBook.com or call Catherine at (877) 339-8833. Her firm specializes in creative patient attraction – conversion – retention strategies to drive aesthetic profits.
* Photo Courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net
Your Best Defense Against Discounters
Posted by: | CommentsSince you’re not going to stop this new wave of discounters, a good defense is warranted.
Your best defense against discounters is the loyal relationships you’ve built with your current patients. They already know how skilled you are. They trust you. They get a good result. They refer their friends to you. They will not be quick to jump to another provider they don’t know, if they’re super happy with you.
Your competitors don’t have the same relationship with your patients that you have, so nurture it and keep it healthy so your patients cannot be lured away by saving a few bucks.
—-
For a free download of Catherine’s book, Visit www.YourAestheticPracticeBook.com or call Catherine at (877) 339-8833. Her firm specializes in creative patient attraction – conversion – retention strategies to drive aesthetic profits.
Actions Speak Louder than Words
Posted by: | CommentsWhenever I consult with physicians, they inevitably tell me, “I just want to make my patients happy.” Then I ask them what they are doing to make them happy. I’m told they give them a good result, their staff calls to follow up if they had surgery, they send out email blasts periodically and that’s about it.
But let me ask you this: Would you have your staff call your spouse to see how they’re doing? You wouldn’t? Why not? Because it’s impersonal, right? You have a relationship with your spouse and you need to keep in touch personally.
Same thing with your big-ticket patients. If you want them to return and refer, they have to feel cared for and cared about. If you go the extra mile, that builds mounds of patient loyalty because they’ll remember and tell their friends how caring you are. Take a minute to:
- Make the initial post-op call to check in on your surgical patient
- Send birthday and holiday wishes to your patients
- Write a thank you note to your patient who referred their friend
- Stop by to say hello when your patient is in with your aesthetician
Show you care, because actions really do speak louder than words.
—-
For a free download of Catherine’s book, Visit www.YourAestheticPracticeBook.com or call Catherine at (877) 339-8833. Her firm specializes in creative patient attraction – conversion – retention strategies to drive aesthetic profits.
