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Fastest Path to More Patients & Profits — with Catherine Maley, MBA (Ep. 273)
09/05/2024
Fastest Path to More Patients & Profits — with Catherine Maley, MBA (Ep. 273)
📅 ⚙️ ⬇️⬇️⬇️ Hello, and welcome to Beauty and the Biz where we’ll talk about the fastest path to more patients & profits. Additionally, we’ll discuss the general business and marketing side of plastic surgery. As always, I’m your host, Catherine Maley, author of “Your Aesthetic Practice – What your patients are saying.” I’m also a consultant to plastic surgeons, to get them more patients and more profits. Presenting today’s episode titled, “Fastest Path to More Patients & Profits — with Catherine Maley, MBA.” Obviously, your lowest hanging fruit will always be those who know, like, and trust you already. Additionally, those who USED to know, like, and trust you—and now they’re gone because you have been ignoring them, so your competitors nabbed them. Furthermore, those who have friends who could also know, like, and trust you. The point is, your patient word-of-mouth referrals are everything in our industry. I don't know why practices don't focus more on that and only focus on PPC ads or directories and other expensive advertising. This is because your patients will bring you all the business you need if you set it up like that. Here’s what I learned. Whenever I'm consulting with a practice, I ask them to pull a report called Revenues by Referral Source. Typically, this is what happens: The majority of your referrals for your surgeries are coming from word of mouth, friends and family, patient referrals, staff referrals, physician referrals, and existing patients. By the way, if that is not the case for you, just know you are working twice as hard when you have that “one and done” mentality. So, I like to focus on word-of-mouth referrals because it’s faster, cheaper, and more effective than other types of marketing. Let's keep in mind how powerful and profitable a good cosmetic patient can be for you now and in the future. We cosmetic patients have endless needs. For example, “Wrinkles” is the absolute number one keyword in our industry. Nobody wants them, and we’ll pay a lot to get rid of them—and that’s just the beginning. There’s also sagging face and neck, blotchy skin, crepe skin, crooked nose, tired-looking eyes, chin fat, big ears, thin lips, small breasts, unwanted fat pockets, and it goes on and on for decades since the aging process is relentless. Because a cosmetic patient who cares about their appearance today will care about it tomorrow and next year, as well as when social trends kick in, such as when they are getting married or suddenly single. Moreover, have you noticed your patients starting so much younger nowadays? I’m sure social media has a lot to do with that. However, whatever the reason, these patients end up having multiple cosmetic procedures throughout their lifetime. So, knowing this, do you want a patient one time or for a lifetime? Obviously, for a lifetime. The most successful practices focus on this, so they have a steady stream of patients who come back again and again and bring their friends with them. This is because they have changed their focus from “one and done” to “patients for life” who return and refer. The shortest distance between you and new patients is from your patient talking to her girlfriend, mom, sister, aunt, neighbor, gym buddy, or yoga friend about YOU. That person trusts that other person, so now they trust you. That transfer of credibility is golden. The referred patient is less price-sensitive, more open to your recommendations, and more likely to convert in less time. However, it doesn’t just happen, or it doesn't happen as often as you want it to because patients are not thinking about how to help you grow your practice. They are thinking about their own lives, kids, jobs, and other things. Even though they would be more than happy to refer you, it’s not top of mind, so you can’t take it for granted they will, and you can't assume anything. Therefore, here are some ideas to make word-of-mouth referrals happen more often. You want to use clever ways to remind your patients you would love to get to know their family and friends. Start with internal marketing by having your staff wear eye-catching lapel pins or T-shirts that say, “We Love Referrals.” Additionally, use other signage around the office that says something like, “The greatest compliment you can give us is to refer us to your family and friends.” For instance, I was in Maine, and they had that quote splashed across the wall behind the reception desk so you couldn’t miss it. It was huge, artistic, tasteful, and a really good idea. You could also do a simple “Buddy Botox” sign that says, “Got wrinkles, got a friend? Bring a friend to your next Botox appointment, and you both get an instant $50 gift card toward your treatment.” Another easy one is when you're answering the phone, always ask how the caller heard about you because that is very good intel to know what prompted them to pick up the phone and call. You should also ask on the patient intake form because you’re trying to figure out which of your marketing efforts is working so you can double down on them. And then, here’s the secret—thank them! For example, if they say, “Oh, my hairstylist,” and you hear that the hairstylist referred them two times, go meet the hairstylist because he or she is a big fan. You should make that a bigger alliance than it is now because right now it’s just an anecdotal, “Oh, my hairstylist mentioned you.” In my book, I'm telling you, there was a hairstylist in San Francisco who was referring to one cosmetic dermatologist and a facial plastic surgeon. We were all in a very small area—just two blocks away. This guy was worth 250 referrals a year because he was also being well taken care of by the doctors. But that's a killer referral source—wow. Can he come here? So, go get your hair done. When you do, you have to thank them. What we say is when on the phone or in their patient intake form, when they say, “How did you hear about us?” and they say, “Oh, Sue Smith,” then you just next to it say, “May we thank her?” or “May we thank them?” And they say, “Yes.” Sometimes it’s privacy-related stuff. So, if they say, “Yes, you may thank them,” please do so. Just send a nice note card. You could handwrite it or have some of it preprinted, but definitely sign it—handwritten signature. Another doctor, Dr. Pontel, does send this letter and hand-signs it. It’s a nice touch. If another doctor refers them here, Dr. Pontel does send this letter and hand-signs it. But we don’t send a form letter to patients who refer other patients. Instead, we send a thank you note card—like this one. It’s beautiful. Inside, it just says, “Hello Sue, thank you so much for referring Sarah to us. We appreciate your trust and support. We’ll take great care of her and hope you’re well.” Then you just sign it or decide what you want to say. Usually, the receptionist handwrites all this stuff, and then the doctor adds his fancy signature. This goes a long way because nobody does this anymore. I call these “show and tell” cards. Give your patients their photos—hand them their photos. Their before-and-after photos. Again, you give them a thank you note card. Usually, I just go with flowers—tulips, roses, and things like that. And I just hand them their card with the photos in it. They don’t have to use it; they could throw it away, but they won’t. We women cannot keep a secret. We will show it to at least three people because now we’re holding it. And it says again something like, “Thank you for your trust.” It’s a great idea. I don’t know why people don’t do this everywhere. Everything I’ve ever done, I love to show my sister. Here’s the text with correct spelling, punctuation, and formatting according to US AP style, with added transition words for flow: It's the first one. Then my girlfriends. Then, my—I show everybody everything, but I'm pretty transparent. However, if you showed, if you gave me the photos, I'd show everybody. But here's the nuance. Thank you for your trust. Here's the doctor's signature; however, you have to include the doctor's name, address, phone, website, and then, P.S., the greatest compliment you can give us is to refer us to your family or friends. Consequently, when they open the card, the patient will say, "Oh, my God, who was your doctor?" And, oh, he's right here. If you were really good, you'd put a QR code on there. Thus, the friend can simply scan the QR code with their phone. Now, the doctor's information is on their phone. Okay. So, that's that. I love that. You could also consider a referral display. The issue with this is, as I saw at your office, you keep it nice and clean there. Consequently, this could start to look a little junky when you put things on the checkout counter. So, it's just a thought. However, we used to literally place it at the checkout counter because, when we have our wallet open, that's when we look over and take some cards and put them in our wallet. That was the thought process. You can use it or not use it, but it used to work very well. Alternatively, if you don't want to clutter your counter, you could have cute little cards and simply hand them a card with their receipt for the day. You know, just hand it to them. Yes. Okay. Another previous idea involves branded items like gum or pens. I like the pens. Moreover, whoever books a surgery gets a pen. Sign your receipt, and you can hold on to that pen. Don't worry about it; you can keep it. That's a great idea. Make sure your website is on there because you can't fit much, but at least, if you can get your website on there—like Puntel and Wayne Facial Plastic Surgery dot com or whatever. Anyway, you need a URL on there. I really like to have your name and your website on there if at all possible. Now, what do you think? Is there a way around this? I love to do a referral program; it's never a bad thing. I think it always works from what I've seen. But what's a way around the prohibition on buying referrals? We couldn't say, "You refer somebody, and you get a $100 gift card," or "You get a gift," or similar. It’s a legal issue that Bonnie, who is Doc’s wife and a lawyer, explained. Well, it's called fee-splitting, and that's why we're doing this. We're trying to get around it while keeping this legal and keeping you all out of trouble. What I do know, because I've been doing this forever, is that I call the medical boards. Here’s what happens: If you put things in writing, like, "I will give you money if you refer a friend," you're asking for trouble. Guess what happens? The competition gets a hold of that. And then, they send you to the medical board. But you guys seem to play nicely in that area. In other places, like Vegas or Miami, they are cutthroat. They’ll just tear you down if they can. So, we try to do things not in writing. With the board, it was a tip-for-tap situation: If you do this, I will do this. That's what gets you in trouble. Yes, it's like someone having a surgical procedure is the one. So, here's another thought. Remember we had the goody bag gifts with surgery? Yes, with surgery. Well, we could also do something like a goody bag or a "buddy beauty basket." Both talk about buddy beauty baskets, right? And in that basket is "buddy Botox." So, we need to include two little gift cards: one for you and one for the friend taking care of you. Yes, okay, so that’s that. Then, there are referral perks, and I like these a lot, such as a two-for-one. Hey, Dr. Wayne, do you do any peels? No? You would want to. Okay, it's just a thought because I like peels—they're quick and clinical. You get a nice shaping result from it, and it's a way for them to meet you. But I wouldn't do this unless you're trying to transition them from a peel to Botox to a facelift or rhinoplasty. You know, it's kind of a jump. So, it all starts somewhere. Just keep this in your back pocket in case you ever get an aesthetician in there. You know, this will be a good one for them to get people through there. Okay, you could also do a refer-a-friend monthly promotion. While you can’t give money, you could always offer a product if you have any. Alright, then you could also use a quick gift, especially as the holidays approach. I’ve used this many times with my own. For example, my sister loves Botox but won't pay for it because she's so cheap. Therefore, I give it to her as a gift. I think many people are like that. For instance, it's Christmas time, and people might be busy wondering, "What am I going to give my friends or family?" If they're generous, they might give a gift of beauty, such as a gift certificate. There’s also the option to have a friendly staff referral contest. You could simply have these little cards made up, and, given that you have a very small staff, Marie, you could probably win this. You would just pass out as many cards as you can. Then, whoever gets the most referrals receives a really good grand prize, which could be a shopping spree, a flat-screen monitor, a computer, or something similar. It's a thought. Okay, yes. Here’s what I would suggest doing. When it's a slow month, like usually September—when kids are going back to school—I would say, “Okay, team, we're focusing on referrals this month.” That’s when you would pull out these slides and think of what things can we do this month to focus. You know, how they always have themes for retail—it doesn’t matter. Anyway, that's an idea. You could also have a staff special event where family and friends are invited. However, you have a small staff, so you'd need to get as many people as your neighbors, gym buddies, and everyone. Yeah. It brings us to our next topic. Once you're done with this, you want to run something by me. So, all right. Family and friends—here’s how you play this game. That night, they either sign up or have things done for a special fee. However, only because they’re going to approve their before-and-after photos, they’re going to give you a good review, and they’re going to give you a referral. So it’s definitely a win-win. If we do this party, this is what we would like from you in return. You could also hire staff with a following, such as those with a blog, a huge Instagram following, or their own clients. Let’s see. We’ll say that when we’re ready for another staff member, they have to be an advertiser for us. I’ll tell you, there are some people who don’t have an Instagram following—they must be rich, right? No, they’re strategic. They live off rhinoplasty and need that rhinoplasty influencer to get a nose job and tell her 200,000 followers. So, they take that pretty seriously. That’s a little strong, but any local influencer—anybody. And that’s why we bond a lot. We’re trying to figure out, are these staff or even patients connected to the community? Can we make something of that? You could also have a patient appreciation event where you’re just saying thanks a lot. However, I would also have little props for Instagram. For example, I would have them take little photos, but don’t do mustaches because you want them to show their faces. I like the frame idea better. So, just make it a really fun party, but you have to bring friends. Okay. And then there’s this—this is a little advanced, but it has worked beautifully, especially in an area like yours. It’s a patient advisory board. So, when Dr. Wayne is a little early to do this, here’s the concept: You have an advisory board. You handpick 10 women—women who have spent a lot of money in your practice, who are committed or connected to the community, who absolutely love you. These women would love to sing your praises but don’t know what to do. So, here’s what we do: We invite 10 to be your advisory board. Let’s say five to ten. You have a gorgeous dinner for them at a very nice restaurant in a quiet back room. Then, the doctor says, “You’re my new advisory board. I would like us to meet once or twice a year. I want to hear from you. It’s all about how you can do me a favor. Give me your feedback. What do you want? What don’t you want? What else can we do to help you and your friends look good and feel great?” Serve a little wine at this event so everyone relaxes, and then let the women brainstorm. Women will flow like crazy when given food and wine and are relaxed. They might say, “Actually, my sister is a publisher. I bet I could get an article for you.” Or they might say, “Oh, well, if you need that, I have a friend in the TV world. Or I can get you in front of my women’s club.” You just don’t know what’s going to come up. So, that is a thought. Okay, do you like that idea? Awesome. It’s advanced and more strategic, but it’s aspirational. Right? Women love to help, especially when a doctor asks us for our opinion. We love to help. We have opinions, you know. We love to help you. Alright, referrals from external word-of-mouth strategies. This is where we need to network. Dr. Wayne, you’ve been hitting that hard, so that’s fantastic. What you’re doing is exactly how you do it—you feed on the streets. However, you could also have a brainstorming session with all of you. Who are your friends and family? Where do you go for services—hair salons, health clubs, retail shops, media outlets, mom’s groups, Chamber of Commerce, hobby groups? Do you know there’s a hobby for everything? There are groups for things like scrapbooking that used to be popular. There are groups for everything. You’re pondering. What’s that? You’re pondering. Oh, really? That’s fun. Okay. Fundraising organizations, cosmetic dentists, gyms, women’s centers, pain centers—just brainstorm. I love brainstorming. If you could all get together and really think in your day-to-day operations—where do you go? Where do you eat? Who does your nails? Who does your hair? Who does your massage? Just think about that. Then, how could you work with them? As we said last time, you could literally just give them pens to hand out or give them some tchotchkes and have them pass them out. But they’re going to be asking themselves, “Hey, what’s in it for me?” Just know that whenever you’re asking somebody for a favor, we all think, “What do I get out of this?” I see what you get out of it, but what do I get out of it? Always answer that question. Here are a couple of thoughts: You could provide them with food, have a network lunch for the neighbors. Remember you were going to have those people over—the husband and wife who own that spa—and you were going to have them over. Did you do that? Did Doc go there? Oh, they were there. Okay. So the next idea would be to invite them to your place and have some snacks and a meet-and-greet kind of thing. Or, I have done this—though it’s not my top priority. A...
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