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Differentiate YOU in the Competitive Marketplace

When you look online for cosmetic rejuvenation, you see website after website of beautiful young women with similar headlines promising you’ll look and feel great too.

That would be fine IF there was not so much choice with lots of practices promising the same thing. 

As a consumer, how in the world do you choose who is the right service provider for you?  And, as a service provider, how in the world do you stand out as the BEST CHOICE given the highly competitive nature of the industry?  

The answer is you differentiate from competitors.  Differentiating yourself from the pack will help you get noticed, attract more cosmetic patients, and increase your revenues.

Here are strategies to help you differentiate from competitor

Answer the Question – Why you?

This is an important question to ask yourself.  Can you answer it confidently?  If not, start here.  Stop and consider why you are the perfect choice for your patients.  What are you doing that is unique that most of your competitors don’t offer?

If you are struggling with this question, survey your patients.  They will tell you.  Ask them directly or through an anonymous communication, why they choose to come to you and not the others.  

Use an online app called SurveyMonkey to email a survey to current patients, old patients you haven’t seen for a while, and even prospective patients who visited you but didn’t book. 

Keep it short and sweet. For example:

  • What do/did you like most about coming here?
  • What do/did you like least about coming here?
  • On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the best, how would you rate the staff?
  • On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the best, how would you rate your overall patient visit experience?
  • What is one thing we can do better?

Here’s the important step.  Now that they have told you, fix what’s broken and capitalize on what’s working.  If they say you are the best because your staff is always friendly and welcoming, be sure that is consistent for all patients who visit your office.

Or, if they say you are the gentlest Botox and wrinkle filler injector, which means less pain and less bruising, note that in all your communications. These are “hot buttons” for many prospective patients and should be highlighted.

Differentiating Strategies – Niche

You differentiate yourself through your community, technology, heritage, value, service or affinity (catering to certain groups of patients such as celebrities, athletes or dog walkers).

The riches are in the niches and like-minded people tend to flock together, so choose your preferred market carefully. 

top ways to differentiate from competitors

Define who your perfect target market is and then cater to them and their interests better than everyone else.  It’s determining what’s most important to them and giving it to them consistently.  

For example, if your preferred target market is busy professionals, offer them online scheduling, easy parking, texting if you’re running late, extra plug outlets in every room and anything else that would save them time.

Specific Differentiators

There are so many factors that can pull you away from the fray. I would get together with your team and come up with your own list or use my list below to get started:

  • Specialist in one procedure
  • Number of procedures performed
  • Advanced/uncommon technology
  • Extensive experience
  • Exceptional facility
  • Superior results (excellent before/after photos)
  • Caring personality
  • WOW experience
  • Convenience or accessibility
  • Physician personally calling patients to check on them
  • Short waiting times  
  • You remember patient names and details like they were family
  • Your staff also treats them like friends and family
  • You well known around your community
  • You are from the town you practice in
  • Special credentials or professional memberships
  • Pro bono efforts 
  • Creative financing

The point is to say what others won’t, don’t or can’t say themselves.

Yell it from the Rooftops

how to differentiate from competitors

In today’s crowded marketplace, there is no room for the timid. 

Your unique differentiators need to be integrated into every aspect of the patient experience including your website, signage, patient welcome package, advertising, public relations, on-hold messaging and new patient caller scripting.

Conclusion

Since you cannot be everything to everybody, choose your preferred patient and then cater to their specific needs.  You will be more likely to differentiate from competitors, succeed, increase your revenues and enjoy the process so much more.

Your patients learn to trust your brand and expect the same experience and result – every time.  As long as they get that, they will be passionate about trusting you to give it to them, they will tell their friends, and they will be less apt to wander off to “check out” your competitors.

Tune into my PodCast: Beauty and the Biz EP 69 – Differentiate or Die

See More on my YouTube channel:

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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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