IT’S NOT ABOUT YOUR SKILLS AT THIS LEVEL TO LEARN HOW TO ATTRACT AFFLUENT COSMETIC PATIENTS
This will be counterintuitive but important to grasp: It’s not about being 2x better at a surgical procedure to charge 2x more. Board-certified trained plastic surgeons all do a nice job. That’s true or you wouldn’t be board-certified. There’s more to it than that.
THE AFFLUENT PATIENT’S FRAME OF MIND, AND HOW TO ATTRACT AFFLUENT COSMETIC PATIENTS
Affluent patients pay more because doing so makes them feel more like the person they either wish they were or envision themselves to be. At this level, you are hardly talking about the surgery. It’s more about the intangibles and what this procedure means to them that is driving their decision. The affluent patients are looking for a superior service provider… even if it’s based on perception.
HOW TO MAKE PRICE DISAPPEAR FROM THE EQUATION, BY LEARNING HOW TO ATTRACT AFFLUENT COSMETIC PATIENTS
Affluent patients need to feel they are getting the best because they deserve the best. You become the best by standing out from the crowd. By doing what others won’t do or can’t do. The quickest path in today’s world is to marry a housewive on Bravo TV but if that’s not possible, here are 3 other strategies that help make price go away:
PEER RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOW TO ATTRACT AFFLUENT COSMETIC PATIENTS
The affluent are reached more through peer referral than any other avenue. This group of cosmetic patients value trust more than anything else so they turn to others they trust.
Knowing that, you’ll want to identify who those patients are in your own practice. Give them an excellent result and an exceptional patient experience. Now make them part of your VIP Club where you have private events they can invite their affluent friends to. To make it special, add a charity component to it and invite the media. It’s the exclusivity that gives the affluent patients the feeling of status they want and expect.
BE THE EXPERT ON HOW TO ATTRACT AFFLUENT COSMETIC PATIENTS
Although you are well versed at all sorts of surgical procedures, the affluent patient wants to go to the BEST. They want the surgeon who specializes in, for example, blephs, has done 10x more blephs than the average surgeon and who has tons of social proof of hundreds of other happy bleph patients. It would also be helpful if you are considered, “The Eye Guy” because you have been interviewed by the media and you even train other surgeons on your innovative bleph techniques.
USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO CONNECT WITH AFFLUENT COSMETIC PATIENTS, AND LEARN HOW TO ATTRACT THEM
Social media has made it possible for you to develop your own fan club quickly and easily.
Shoot short Instagram video stories answering bleph FAQs and lots of before/after photos of affluent patients and their stories. But also show off your gorgeous office, wine cellar, extravagant travels and luxury lifestyle. This gives affluent patients enough proof and sufficient trust in you to choose you as their go-to plastic surgeon.
CONCLUSION ON HOW TO ATTRACT AFFLUENT COSMETIC PATIENTS
Attracting the affluent patient takes a different mindset (and some healthy ego). If you believe you are worth double what your competitors charge, set your practice up to cater to the affluent patients who are attracted to your higher prices because, just like you, they believe they are worth it.
Catherine Maley, MBA is a cosmetic practice consultant, speaker, trainer, blogger and podcaster. Her popular book, “Your Aesthetic Practice/What Your Patients Are Saying” is read and studied by plastic surgeons and their staff all over the world.
She and her team specialize in growing plastic surgery practices using creative patient attraction, conversion, follow up and retention strategies as well as staff training to turn team members into converting rock stars.
Click below to read “How to Attract Affluent Cosmetic Patients” in its original format in Aesthetic Society News, Spring 2023, volume 27, number 2.
