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Cosmetic Patient No-Shows Are a Problem

Cosmetic Patient No-Shows Are a Problem

It can be frustrating to watch your staff stand around waiting for cosmetic patient no-shows and you are also left in a “holding pattern” which isn’t good for your mood or your pocketbook.

There are lots of reasons why cosmetic patient no-shows are happening in your practice:

  • We live in a crazy busy world so patients forget about their appointment and then are too embarrassed to call back;
  • They had every intention to show up but something else came up so they didn’t bother to let you know;
  • They got lost, couldn’t find your office easily and just gave up.

However, when I interviewed patients to learn why they didn’t show up for their appointments, the #1 reason given was…

….they didn’t know you or have a relationship with you so they didn’t feel an obligation to show up if something else came up or if they changed their mind.

My guess is these are Internet Stranger Patients, rather than your current patients whom you have some type of relationship with.

There is just too much chatter out there to “assume” these prospective patients will show up even though they said they would.

Of course, there is a lot more you could do at the front end, such as:

 

Send Welcome Packet
The more the patient “feels” as if they know you, the more likely they are to show up so mail or digitally send your “Get to Know Us” that includes a warm welcome letter, before/after photos of other happy patients, patient reviews, thank you notes from grateful patients, information on easy pay plans, directions to your office and so on.

Pre-Consult Call
Have your coordinator start the relationship-building process ahead of time by making a friendly and informative call to the prospective cosmetic patient. They can introduce themselves and pre-frame you, the surgeon, as the best choice.

Send Reminders

Technology has made it easier for you to automatically remind the cosmetic patients via email and/or text; however, the human touch will never go out of style.

I lay out plenty more strategies in Converting Callers and Converting Consults tools.

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A Complete Guide to Understanding Your Aesthetic Patient and Growing Your Aesthetic Practice. Catherine Maley, MBA went straight to the aesthetic patient to get the answers you need to succeed with your patients.

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Charge a Consult Fee to Avoid No-Shows?

The quickest way to find out how serious a prospective cosmetic patient is, is to charge them a consult fee.

Of course there is a chance you will lose some of these callers who refuse to pay a consult fee; but the ones who do pay it are typically serious enough to respect your time.

All you can do is test it. For one month, charge a consult fee and track the following:

– How many prospects called or emailed?
– How many of them converted to the consult?
– How many of them showed up?
– How many of those consults said YES?

Now check those numbers against your usual numbers when you DON’T charge a consult fee and there’s your answer!

How do you keep cosmetic patient no-shows to a minimum?

TESTIMONIALS

5/5
"Catherine outlined a plan that put key metrics in place, gave us a clear plan to follow throughout the year and trained our staff to increase their conversions by at least 10%. Since engaging with Catherine, I’m happy to report that revenues are up 15% over the last three months - 22% in the last month alone! I highly recommend Catherine’s consulting services to any practice looking for “best practice” additions to their operation."
Robert Sigal, MD
Robert Sigal, MD
"I have finally tapped into the most efficient way to grow my cosmetic practice and that is to “fish in the pond of my own patients”. When patients return to my practice, over 85% will purchase another service, product, or procedure. Not only was it worth over $200,000 in revenues this past year, it also reminds my patients I’m still around so they don’t wander off to my competitors. Catherine’s group has far exceeded our expectations and goals we had set up for them to achieve."
Victor Ferrari, MD
Victor Ferrari, MD
"Our consult conversions were running at 40-50%. Then we attended Catherine’s online training and implemented her strategies. They immediately increased conversion rates to 75-80%."
Anthony Corrado, MD
Anthony Corrado, MD
"I know how to run a profitable practice; however, it was not without major staff issues, inefficiencies and unproductive drama. With Catherine's guidance, I reorganized staff, set up processes for them to carry more of the workload and hold them accountable so I have more time to focus on patient care. The changes we put in place and the staff training to convert more callers and consultations will easily increase my revenues by 15% as well as save us time, money and costly mistakes. "
Evan Sorokin, MD
Evan Sorokin, MD
"Working with Catherine and her team has been very profitable. We’re only half way through the year and I’m up $200K and I’m booked out for the next 2 months even though we typically go into our slow summer months now. Her recent promotion brought in an extra $63,782 with more surgeries scheduled. I never realized how much money was sitting in my patient list but I’m a believer now!"
Robert Langdon, MD
Robert Langdon, MD
"Catherine Maley has one of the best Marketing Minds in the aesthetic industry, bar none. She understands the aesthetic patient and she also understands the challenges and frustrations we face as aesthetic surgeons. You will benefit from Catherine's tools whether you are new in practice or a seasoned professional.Turn to Catherine for guidance - she knows what she's talking about."
Edwin Williams, MD
Edwin Williams, MD
“Catherine’s Cosmetic Patient Marketing Service has been a great addition to our practice-building overall plan. While we still invest in our online presence, we also found immense value in the internal marketing efforts. We especially like that all results are tracked so we know we are getting a great return ... last year it was 1,148% and no staff time was used. That’s a much easier way to grow my cosmetic practice.”
Mark Mason, MD
Mark Mason, MD
"Catherine Maley turned our practice around. We converted more consultations in one week than we did in an entire month. Our practice went from a painful 50% no show rate to a remarkable 85% show rate. Even more impressive was our close ratio - from 35% to 80% and still increasing. We would recommend her to any practice that’s looking to not only increase their profits today, but sustain a healthy flow of income for many years to come. Thanks Catherine!"
Sam Assassa, MD
Sam Assassa, MD
"Catherine found me the best patient care coordinator I could have asked for. She worked out a payment plan that was fair to me and motivating to my coordinator. She also provided training tools to help my coordinator convert better, even though she was already experienced. The results have been phenomenal. So good, in fact, that my income increased 250% and I’m booked out for 3 months. Don’t waste any more time or money doing it yourself. Outsource to someone you trust!"
Andrew Lofman, MD
Andrew Lofman, MD
"Since we’ve been working with Catherine and her team for the past 5 months, we’ve brought in $79K in surgeries and have booked an additional 17 surgical procedures and 20 non-invasive body procedures since then. This does not include the additional new patient referrals and revenues we are seeing from the on-going nurturing of my current patient database."
Verne Weisberg, MD
Verne Weisberg, MD
"I had given my staff the goal to convert at least $35K per week in surgeries AND I gave them the tools to help which was Catherine’s Online Learning Center at More Patients Academy. They watched Catherine’s modules and implemented her strategies and converted $80K! That equaled a 2,550% ROI. Nice!"
Adam Stein, MD
Adam Stein, MD
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Catherine Maley

Catherine Maley

Catherine is a business/marketing consultant to plastic surgeons. She speaks at medical conferences all over the world on practice building, marketing and the business side of plastic surgery. Get a Free Copy of her popular book, Your Aesthetic Practice: What Your Patients Are Saying View Author Profile.

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