Beauty and the Biz episode #123: The patient coordinator roles and responsibilities and patient coordinator mindset
Welcome to “Beauty and the Biz”, where we talk about the business and marketing side of plastic surgery. In this episode, we’ll go over the patient coordinator roles and responsibilities.
I’m your host, Catherine Maley, author of “Your aesthetic practice – What your patients are saying”, and consultant to plastic surgeons to get them more patients and profits.
The Patient Coordinator Role
You may not realize how insanely difficult it is to get a complete stranger to buy your cosmetic services.
First, they need to become aware of you. Then research you enough to feel compelled to contact you, then meet you and then say yes to you and hand over their credit card.
A lot happens between each of those stages, but especially at the converting stage when your would-be patient is at the pivotal moment of saying yes or….
“I have to think about it and call you back.”
A professionally trained coordinator would NOT set herself up for failure by letting this happen in the first place.
She would use proven strategies to not only avoid this from happening, but to methodically prepare the prospective patient to say yes instead.
But here’s what I see in many practices….
Too many coordinators have been placed in the role with no sales training.
Sure, they are nice people, may look the part and be educated on your procedures and processes.
However, they don’t have the mindset, sales methods or structure to convert more often.
And just because your coordinator has been on the job for years doesn’t mean she’s a professional living up to her potential.
Without professional training, she’s actually working with one arm behind her back and not able to give you the best results you both want.
For example, see if your patient coordinator has these attributes:
Patient Coordinator Role, Mindset and Attitude
A patient coordinator must love serving the public. She must be curious about others and helping them get what they want.
She is open and friendly with a ready smile, great eye contact and has a confidant air about her that puts strangers at ease quickly.
She doesn’t see her role as “selling” but rather as “serving” the public to help them make a good decision.
Her patient coordinator mindset is money-driven. She appreciates your skill and expertise and calmly explains why you charge what you charge without apologizing for it.
A Coordinator Builds Rapport
A professionally trained coordinator listens and learns.
She acts as the patient’s aesthetic advisor to help them through their journey, so they are comfortable every step of the way.
She builds rapport by asking strategic questions to help her bond with the patient.
These questions also help her get to know the prospective patient’s pre-conceived beliefs, expectations, and hot buttons to better gauge where the patient is coming from emotionally, physically, as well as financially.
A Coordinator Promotes the Surgeon as the BEST Choice
The role of a patient coordinator: The right coordinator knows how to strategically build you up BEFORE the patient consultation, so the patient is 70% more likely to say yes during their visit.
The right coordinator “drinks the Kool-Aid”. She loves the plastic surgery industry.
She’s fascinated with the transformations that happen with your patients and wants that for new prospective patients who visit you.
She partakes in the services herself and has no qualms about people spending money to enhance their appearance and confidence.
She is your biggest fan and knows how to brag about you using presentation tools, so the would-be patient also sees you as the best choice.
A Coordinator Knows How to Present
The perfect patient coordinator roles and responsibilities training will allow them to know how to use verbal cheerleading to present the quote, so the patient understands all that goes into it and is excited to proceed.
She confidently articulates the process, so the patient is comfortable with the steps that follow
and reiterates the benefits of choosing you and your practice.
The coordinator checks in with the patient throughout her presentation to be sure the patient is following along and still engaged.
A Coordinator Knows How to Convert
The professionally trained coordinator knows there is a pivotal point when she stops presenting and asks for the decision in a smooth way that makes it comfortable for the patient to say yes.
And, if the patient does have questions or objections, the coordinator calmly addresses them and asks for the decision again using a different angle.
So, how did your patient coordinator stack up?
Does it sound like you have a trained professional who knows the role of a patient coordinator, and who can effectively wield the patient coordinator roles and responsibilities to the best of her ability?
The point of all this is to remind you that there are nuances to everything.
For example, there are nuances to surgical techniques that make all the difference in your outcomes and the same goes for converting consultations.
Without knowing these small nuances in the process of converting consultations to paid procedures could be holding her back from greater results.
If you believe your patient coordinator could benefit from professional patient coordinator roles and responsibilities training, to improve the patient coordinator role, please check out The Converting Club for Coordinators at my website catherinemaley.com where I professionally train coordinators to convert more consultations professionally and confidently.
If you want to talk more about your specific situation, just leave me a message
Or DM me on Instagram
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➡️ Robert Singer, MD FACS – Former President of The Aesthetic Society
➡️ Grant Stevens, MD FACS – Former ASAPS President
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