While it may not sound like a lot, three more surgeries (or big-ticket procedures) per month can make a big difference for your practice. It could mean the difference between you just sliding by or barely being able to cover your fixed overhead costs. Or, even worse, you having to dip into your savings to cover your expenses for a slow month!
Some of you may be surprised to hear that the three extra surgeries per month are right under your nose without spending more on marketing, you just don’t see them.
Cut through the clutter
With so much hype out there, it is difficult to focus. Internet marketers have you running from one “patient magnet” scheme to another. But ask yourself how that is actually working out for you. Are you seeing the results you want?
When you can see the forest from the trees, booking three more surgeries per month is not as difficult to obtain as you might first think. Once you step back and examine your patient-attraction and conversion processes,
you will wonder why you never saw it before.
Three effective strategies
Here are three valuable tactics to find those extra surgeries without spending more on advertising:
Call back old consults that didn’t convert. You never really know why someone did not book a procedure so don’t assume anything. Call these leads again, but be prepared with compelling scripts to add a sense of urgency so they want to book surgery. For example, you could offer them a new 0% financing program that was just introduced. Maybe that is just what they needed to jump off the fence and say yes.
Reach out to current patients who could be ready for more. The best new patients are always your current patients because they know, like and trust you and do not need as much prodding as the new patient who doesn’t know you at all.
Treat them in a special way by offering them something for their loyalty and support. That could be a free surgical consult or a gift card towards surgery for a limited time only. Consider making the gift card transferrable to their friends and family in case they are not in the market for surgery right now, but those around them are.
Hire skilled staff to professionally represent you. A well-trained exceptional receptionist and a professional patient care coordinator can be a game-changer in your cosmetic practice. Their go-getter attitude and friendly personality win over prospective patients and fill up your surgery schedule.
But personality is not enough. They must have the confidence in you and themselves to ask for the appointment, and the decision to have surgery.
For example, make sure your receptionist knows to ask their own question with each answer they give, for example, the caller asks a question and the receptionist answers the question and continues on with her own question, “….and let’s see when we can get you in here. Do you prefer a particular day of the week or shall I just tell you our next available appointment?”
In addition, your patient care coordinator knows how to position you as the best choice and ask for a decision. For example, “Karen, I just know you’ll be in good hands. Dr. Smith has performed more than 1,500 surgical procedures with great results. And just so you know, I still have two surgical dates left this month, or do you want to wait until next month?”
There is a saying, “small hinges swing big doors.” By making the above small tweaks you can see big rewards.
About the author
Catherine Maley, MBA
Ms. Maley has been an author, speaker, consultant and trainer for the cosmetic industry since 2000. Her mission is to help cosmetic practices attract and convert more cosmetic patients via creative marketing strategies and training staff to be conversion rock stars.
