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Back in the 70’s, McDonalds noticed that a lot of their customers bought a hamburger and nothing else. So, they tested a strategy to consistently offer add-on menu items to every customer with the simple iconic question, “Do you want fries with that?”

There’s no fancy pitch or gimmick, just a humble suggestion. 

How to upsell in your practice and double your profits

Amazon also uses this add-on strategy brilliantly to create a 30% increase in revenues by simply suggesting other products their customers might like as an add-on to their current purchase. Using a simple statement, “People who bought this…also bought this…”

This one marketing tool has been worth billions of dollars to McDonalds and Amazon and you can use the same concept in your own cosmetic practice.

Focus on making life easier for your patients. What else can you offer them to save time, money, downtime, and hassle?

Here’s the thing…. once a patient is in a buying mood and has said yes to you once, it’s much easier for them to say yes again.

How to Upsell Surgical Procedures in a Professional Way

Give your prospective patient a choice of 3 scenarios and position them as “Good, Better, Best”. For example…

Tummy Tuck, Tummy Tuck + Breast Aug, Tummy Tuck with Breast Aug & Lift 

how to upsell in your cosmetic practice

However, this can be tricky so know your audience. If they will be overwhelmed by too much choice or resistant, for example, to the breast work since they told you they only want a tummy tuck, skip this strategy and try this instead…. 

Suggest to your prospective patients that doing both surgeries at the same time saves them X amount of money since you offer a multiple procedure discount, and they eliminate going through the downtime again.

Now that they have already agreed to a surgical procedure, make simple suggestions they can add-on to their experience such as:

  • Lymphatic massage specially-priced package with a neighboring alliance
  • Overnight nursing care for only X dollars more
  • Cooling mask for face or body parts for additional comfort
  • Additional scar cream, soothing cooling packs, garments…anything to help them recover faster with less discomfort

Upselling Non-Surgical Treatments: Checkout is Checking In

Checkout is a crucial point in your patients’ experience and not to be taken lightly. It makes the difference between a raving patient and one that disappears forever, never to be seen or heard from again. 

It starts with a friendly team member at your checkout desk that greets the patient with a smile and asks how their visit was today…then listens!

If the patient mentions any negative feedback at all, your staff should acknowledge, apologize and do something to correct it. This helps prevent the patient going online to complain.

This can also turn the disappointed patient into a friendly ally because she sees you care.

how to upsell plastic surgery

Otherwise, if all is well, your checkout staff goes through the 4 Rs of Checkout listed below:

Return 

“When can we see you again?” 

Always do all you can to book their next appointment now, while they are standing in front of you. This psychologically keeps them focused on you versus checking out your competitors.

Dentists have done this for decades and you can do the same with a simple question such as…

“Karen, let’s get you set up now for your next visit since we book up quickly. Does this same day/time [June 10th] work for you?” 

If they say they have to check their schedule, you say,

“Sure, let’s do this to save you time…. I’ll reserve this time for you now and send you reminders in case you need to reschedule. How’s that?”

Another approach is more direct but effective and goes like this:

“Karen, we offer a 10% discount when you book your next appointment now, would you like the same day/time next month?”

Retail

Many of the non-surgical treatments are so popular because they are quick fixes for busy people. However, they can also leave you red, swollen and bruised.

It’s the perfect opportunity to suggest they try your cover up makeup, your cooling masks and other products that help them get back to their busy lives. 

Of course, bundled products are the best value for your bottom line and your patient’s results. 

For example, they can buy just the cooling lotion to help after a laser treatment, or they can upgrade to the “Complete Laser Post-Op Pack” to include the cooling lotion, soothing cleanser and cover up makeup, for only X dollars more.

Refer 

The best NEW patients come from your current patients who have raved about you and done all the hard work singing your praises, so do more to make referrals happen more often.

Simple in-house signage at your checkout counter works because the patient is handing over their credit card so it’s easy for her to slip a couple referral cards into her wallet to pass along to her friends. This leaves a nice paper trail so you can thank them when their friends do visit. 

“Need a Quick Gift?” showing off your gift cards also becomes a great upsell for the busy patient looking for a unique present for their sister, mom, friend, etc.

It’s also a nice touch to include a $50 credit on their account for their next visit to thank them for referring and/or buying a gift card.

Review

The next best thing to a referral is an online review. Now hundreds of other prospective patients see how great you are, but don’t leave it to chance. 

When you have a happy patient at checkout gushing about their results, get that in writing!

Have a simple postcard with instructions on how to write an online review. 

You can include a Starbucks gift card as a thank you for them taking the time to do it, or have them do it from their phone while they are still in your practice and give them a choice of a free skincare product they would love to try.

Conclusion

Learning how to upsell or bundle or whatever you else you create can seriously increase your revenues and patient satisfaction in a fun way. 

Get your team together, have them read this and brainstorm which strategies work best in your practice and then execute and watch profits soar!


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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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