As you know, plastic surgery advertising is out of control. Everywhere you look, you see ads, banners, and websites
offering deep discounted surgical and non-surgical procedures.
That’s not happening by accident. Extreme competition is forcing some practices to lead with price to attract new cosmetic patients.
However, this heavy emphasis on discounts creates the “Groupon Discount mindset” in consumers. But that not only cheapens the surgeon’s image but also our entire industry.
Does Discounting help and should cosmetic procedures be discounted?
And, on the other hand, you have to address it with prospective patients because they are bombarded with it. They start believing price is the only variable to consider when shopping around for a service provider.
But then, that puts you in a position to play “Let’s Make a Deal” with prospective patients who want to negotiate with you.
OR NOT, but then you lose to these discounters more often than you want to admit, so what do you do?
First, get your own mindset straight. Does discounting cosmetic help drive sales?
It’s never ALL about price. If it is, you didn’t do a good enough job promoting your value OVER price.
It’s your responsibility to show prospective patients why you are worth what you charge, and I’ll give you examples coming up.
And here’s something else to consider…
Like attracts like. That means you attract who you are.
If you verbally wrestle vendors to the ground to get a great deal, you will attract patients who do the same.
If you make buying decisions based on quality, credibility, and excellent customer service at a fair price, you will attract patients who do the same.
Be the quality decision-maker you want your patients to be.
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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.
The value of your services is the difference between the price you charge and the benefits the patient perceives they will get.
If the patient perceives they will get a lot of benefit for the price they pay, then their perception of your value is very high.
The good news is, you can control that.
Spend the time teaching prospective patients how much they will benefit, how much your expertise and skill will help them, and all of the things your intangible services can do to help them to achieve their goals and solve their problems.
The more you focus on these values, the less important price becomes.
Steps to follow to help you focus on more than price:
Who Wants Your Services?
In other words, who is most likely to choose you and pay your prices? How old are they? What is their income level? Do they have children? What is their level of education? What zipcode do they live it?
Now that you know their demographics, ONLY advertise to that targeted audience.
Not only will you save money, but you’ll also get better quality prospective patients who can afford your services and who want to pay a fair price for your skill and expertise.
Identify the Patients’ Problems Clearly
You are in the business of providing solutions to problems consumers have about their appearance.
Cosmetic patients pay you to solve their problems, so your job is to find out what bothers them and why.
Here’s a secret that wins you more patients……
Not only are you looking for the positive benefits prospective patients hope to gain such as increased confidence, increased desirability to the opposite sex and a new lease on life, but also address their fears.
Because they may like what they hear, but they are afraid. Afraid they will spend all of this money and time recuperating only to regret their decision.
The media loves to show plastic surgery patients who have had bad plastic surgery outcomes with distorted face and body features, awful scarring, and disfigurement of other cosmetic surgery patients who said yes.
So, the prospective patient is scared they, too, will end up with regret and have to go through hell AND spend even more money to fix it.
The surgeon who not only proves their skill but also calms their fears AND reassures them of a better future, wins.
Prove It!
For all sorts of reasons, consumers are a skeptical group. They want proof from all sorts of sources so provide it. For example:
Proof from You:
Great before/after photos untouched – and lots of them
Videos explaining each procedure
Your videos talking about pros/cons; i.e., A smiley face scar vs. a flat tummy
Tour of your clean, updated private and comfortable in-house OR suite
Media PR
Speaking engagements
Book you wrote and/or articles authored
Guest spots on others’ blogs and podcasts
Voted Top Doc
Excellent staff credentialing you
Your superb customer service
Outside Proof:
Patient video testimonials telling their story and what you did for them
Online reviews from happy patients
Patient comments in 3rd party forums
Google your name and all good news comes up
Your patients interacting and talking about you on your and their social media platforms
The more benefits, value, and proof you can clearly provide to prospective cosmetic patients, the more likely they will consider more than just price.
If you’re still wondering does discounting cosmetic help? The answer is when done correctly, they see and appreciate your higher price is well worth it.
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."
"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."
"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%."
"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. "
"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!"
"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."
“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.”
"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!"
"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!"
"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."
"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!"
Check out this video I made on discounting “Is Discounting Helping or Hurting Your Practice?” and find out if it is a good idea to discount cosmetic procedures.
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.
