How does this apply to your aesthetic practice?  Being just a little bit better is oftentimes enough for the prospective patient to say yes to you versus all the other choices they have today.

Brainstorm with your staff to determine how you could have the razor’s edge when it comes to:

-          Answering the phone better than your competitors

-          Being friendlier to your visiting patients than your competitors are

-          Offering better post-op care so your patients are comfortable and on and on

Hint:  it’s often the little things so look at each detail of the patient experience with you and give yourself the razor’s edge so they choose you.

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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.

For example, if Sally is a 57-year old white professional who wants a face lift, it’s best she see other 57-year old white professional patients who had a face lift. It’s even better if you have a 57-year old patient coordinator who you performed a face lift on so she can show her scars (or lack of) in person.

Or, if Cindy is a 30-year old Hispanic young lady with two kids who wants a Mommy Makeover, it’s best she speak with and sees patient photos of other 30-year old Hispanic young ladies with kids who had a Mommy Makeover and couldn’t be happier.

More “matching” strategies include:

• Have different Websites for different procedures
• Show a variety of demographics on your websites
• Show the prospective patient before/after photos that match their demographics
• Any staff person who matches a demographic and has had the specific procedure done should talk to the prospective patient about their own experience.

The point is, the more you can match your message to your market, the more successful you’ll be.

For starters, this is not the perfect time to fish for new aesthetic patients. It will take much more time, money and effort to attract total strangers to your practice.  These people don’t know you so it would take expensive repetition and effort to get them to spend their disposable income with you rather than with someone they already know.  Or, not spend any money right now.

This is the perfect time for you to go inward and concentrate on your low-hanging fruit. The patients, who already know, like and trust you are much more likely to respond to your marketing efforts.   If you have been ignoring the very patients who could sustain your practice during this shaky time, you better start communicating with them before they drift off to your competitor.

Marketing to Your Current Aesthetic Patients

Be smart about your internal communications.  Start with your more mature, affluent patients. They have the most need and wherewithal to actually want and pay for your services.  They have been on the planet longer and are now showing signs of aging – wrinkles, folds, fat, droopy body parts and sagging skin.  They also are more likely to have the financial means to afford your services.  Perhaps they are married and a homeowner and have built up a nice nest egg for rejuvenation.

It would behoove you to invite them to your in-house seminar to discuss new solutions to crepe skin and sun damage.  Send them fun, themed postcards with a special offer to try a new service they haven’t yet experienced.  And, inform them of anything new in your office they should check out such as new technology or new staff.  Bottom line – educate these more mature patients on what they can do to turn back the clock easily and quickly.

Need more tips, tactics, strategies and resources to drive patients to your practice? Please watch my free videos by filling out the form to the right, now.

Thank You, and I encourage you to leave any comments or questions below.

Article by Catherine Maley, MBA, Author, Your Aesthetic Practice and President, Cosmetic Image Marketing

Don’t buy into it! There is much you can to ensure you float through these choppy waters safely and profitably.

I’ve put together a timely audio and visual presentation, with me personally narrating, entitled:

What You Can Do to Ensure a Successful Year
http://cosmeticimagemarketing.com/media/What_To_Do_For_Successful_Year.wmv

It’s full of simple strategies to keep your phones ringing, your patients buying and referrals coming to you.

The point is to first check your mindset. Are you buying into this pessimism? If you are, you are not going to be open to opportunities and possibilities so fix that first.

The next step is to do something. I know your first instinct is to lay low for now but that’s the worst strategy. Your aesthetic patients need more compelling reasons to invest in aesthetics so, now more than ever, give them those reasons.

Educate them on little things they can do right now to look fantastic. Motivate them to act now with a special offer and a tight expiration date. Encourage them to refer their friends so; they too, can look fabulous.

Those who strategically act now will conquer. Those who sit back and do nothing will perish.

Need more tips, tactics, strategies and resources to drive patients to your practice? Please watch my free videos by filling out the form to the right, now.

Thank You, and I encourage you to leave any comments or questions below.

Article by Catherine Maley, MBA, Author, Your Aesthetic Practice and President, Cosmetic Image Marketing

They realize it’s not one email.

It’s not one newsletter.

It’s not one event.

The secret is to set up systems so you are regularly attracting new patients to your practice, keeping them coming back for more and more often and taking care of them so well they refer others.

The financially successful aesthetic physicians do what needs to be done consistently to keep their name in front of their patients so they return again and again and bring their friends.

Their on-going efforts and attention to patient attraction – retention – referrals keeps their schedule filled with cash-paying patients.

Need more tips, tactics, strategies and resources to drive patients to your practice? Please watch my free videos by filling out the form to the right, now.

Thank You, and I encourage you to leave any comments or questions below.

Article by Catherine Maley, MBA, Author, Your Aesthetic Practice and President, Cosmetic Image Marketing

Truly successful aesthetic practices know that word-of-mouth referrals are the life blood of their practice and worth the effort.

Here’s something interesting I learned from aesthetic patients when I was interviewing them for my book Your Aesthetic Practice/What Your Patients Are Saying.  They told me they would have referred you to others if they were only asked.

…….You cannot take patient referrals lightly

As much as you think (and hope) that patients will gush about you to their friends and family — don’t leave it to chance.

It’s imperative to your financial future you set up a system that keeps patient referrals flowing so at least 70% of your new patients come from other patients.

Need more tips, tactics, strategies and resources to drive patients to your practice? Please watch my free videos by filling out the form to the right, now.

Thank You, and I encourage you to leave any comments or questions below.

Article by Catherine Maley, MBA, Author, Your Aesthetic Practice and President, Cosmetic Image Marketing

The #1 reason patients leave your practice is not because of a bad result.

…….It’s because of your indifference.

They are being ignored by you so they don’t feel compelled to return.

Make your patients feel your concern for them and their welfare by keeping in touch with them and reaching out to them continually.

I promise you – they want to hear from you!

You most likely have a database full of prospective patients who came in for a consultation but didn’t book, who came in a couple of times and then wandered off and then those you haven’t seen in months or years.

I guarantee – they did not stop wanting to look good.

They just went somewhere else where they are treated better.

Where Did Your Patients Go?

• -Perhaps they were having a bad day when they visited and couldn’t connect with your staff.

• -Perhaps your staff was having a bad day and scared them off.

• -Perhaps they got sticker shock.

• -Perhaps they went to your competitor and want to return to you but are too embarrassed.

You are never going to know unless you reach out to them. Because……

There’s even a good chance they were not saying no –

They were simply saying “Not Yet” or “Not Now”.

Since it’s always faster, cheaper and easier to reconnect with patients who have visited you before than it is to attract total strangers to your practice, reconnect with these patients.

Need more tips, tactics, strategies and resources to drive patients to your practice? Please watch my free videos by filling out the form to the right, now.

Thank You, and I encourage you to leave any comments or questions below.

Article by Catherine Maley, MBA, Author, Your Aesthetic Practice and President, Cosmetic Image Marketing

I guarantee if they don’t buy from you, they will from someone else.

Have strategies in place so you never hear, “I didn’t know you did that” and they had it done by your competitor.

Value of Just One Patient

I conducted a case study where I went back through a plastic surgeon’s practice records and followed one of their favorite patients.  I was able to piece together her history with this practice for almost 10 years.

What I found was that this one patient not only was worth $40,000 in minimally-invasive as well as surgical procedures, but she was worth more than an additional $90,000 in terms of referrals from her friends, family members, coworkers, the woman’s business group she belonged to and her hair stylist.  And, I’m not even including all of their referrals.

It’s imperative you have a system in place to attract referrals……

Need more tips, tactics, strategies and resources to drive patients to your practice? Please watch my free videos by filling out the form to the right, now.

Thank You, and I encourage you to leave any comments or questions below.

Article by Catherine Maley, MBA, Author, Your Aesthetic Practice and President, Cosmetic Image Marketing

……Please resist that urge!

It’s actually time for you to step up your promotional efforts to avoid dips and inconsistencies in your aesthetic patient flow.

Let your competitors lay low while you actively engage in attracting new patients and re-engage with old ones.

You can even attract your competitors’ patients while they are being ignored by your competitors due to cost-cutting measures.

So, How Do You Get More Aesthetic Patients?

Your aesthetic patients 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 practice that keeps them coming back for more and bringing their friends with them.

The point here is not to see how big you can grow your database.  It’s to attract your preferred patient to your practice and then nurture that relationship so you grow your practice more from within rather than from random, expensive, external efforts.

Need more tips, tactics, strategies and resources to drive patients to your practice? Please watch my free videos by filling out the form to the right.

Thank You, and I encourage you to leave any comments or questions below.

Article by Catherine Maley, MBA, Author, Your Aesthetic Practice and President, Cosmetic Image Marketing

Another way to get multiple exposures is through combinations of media. If at the same time your patient is receiving mail from you, they also see your ad in the local newspaper and their girlfriend mentions you… that’s powerful and compelling for them to call you since they feel as if they know you better.

Multiple exposures gives your patients instant recognition of your name and practice and a much better chance of them responding to your promotional efforts because they are mentally saying, “Oh yes. I know you.” and is now much more receptive to you.

Here are other low costs things you can use for multiple exposures to your aesthetic patients:

#1: A uniform business image – colors, your name, a logo carried over to your practice materials, your website, your signage and, of course, all of your advertising.

#2: Repetitive contact with fewer aesthetic patients rather than just one contact with a large number of prospective patients.

#3: Distribution of your brochures and business cards to strategic alliances.

#4: The sponsorship of a community event.

The point is to stay in front of your patients as well as your prospective patients. Because, when they are finally ready for aesthetic enhancement, they are going to look up and look for answers and you better be there for them!

Need more tips, tactics, strategies and resources to drive patients to your practice? Watch my free videos now.

Thank You, and I encourage you to leave any comments
or questions below.

Article by Catherine Maley, MBA, Author, Your Aesthetic Practice
and President, Cosmetic Image Marketing