Converting new plastic surgery leads IS getting more difficult for all sorts of reasons.
You most likely are paying pretty hefty monthly fees to your SEO/hosting company, your digital marketing agency, your directories that help you get found, and so on.
They, in turn, send you leads of prospective plastic surgery patients wanting your services.
And that’s where the trouble starts…..
Your staff complains these leads are awful – They are not serious about moving forward. They are wasting their time. Ever hear that?
Sometimes it’s true. Some of the leads are a waste of time. When you put your message out there in the Universe to millions of people, it’s a crapshoot that comes back to you.
You have to take the good with the bad.
If you aren’t happy with the leads coming your way, look at what you are doing to attract them.
The quality of the leads is dependent on your marketing message, and media used to attract new patient leads. The goal of marketing is to attract serious plastic surgery candidates to you and repel those who are not serious.
But let’s say you know you’re doing a good job marketing YOU. You make videos, post on Instagram, answer questions online, and you pay to advertise.
Why aren’t these leads you’ve spent a fortune to get NOT converting?
Thanks to the sheer amount of marketing messages, stiff competition, confusing information about cosmetic procedures, and fickle consumer patients are three big reasons you are struggling.
That’s what is leading to a waste of your valuable time and holes in your surgery schedule. Not to mention the anxiety you and your staff feel when your efforts go to waste.
But after working with plastic surgeons since the Year 2000, another huge part of it is what happens to that lead.
When it comes to lead conversion, the 2 deadly sins are bad phones and weak consults.
I’m sorry to point the finger at your staff, but the good news is, it’s easy to fix, so let’s break it down:
DEADLY SIN #1: BAD PHONES
A big mistake that’s ruining your marketing efforts is having bad phones.
Here’s the scenario….
You have spent a fortune re-designing your website to ensure Google and its rules don’t ban you from the Internet, and you work with a company to get your SEO in shape so prospective patients can find you online.
You are most likely spending advertising dollars on Real Self, Google Adwords, banner ads, and directories which isn’t cheap.
Next, you tackled your physical office by spending another small fortune designing your office to cater to cosmetic patients who have the disposable income for your services, so you give them a nice atmosphere when they visit…
Then, you conquered the world of social media. You’ve hired a team to blog for you, write content, and update your FB page regularly. You even assigned an internal staff person to be your “social media ambassador.”
This is costing you time and money, but you’re sure it’s helping.
So, the stage is set, and you are ready for new cosmetic patients.
And all your efforts are working!! Prospective cosmetic patients found you online, they learned enough about you, and they are confident you are a great choice to help them with their needs.
They eagerly call your office with anticipation knowing you are a first-class practice ONLY TO HEAR….
“Doctor’s office. Please hold”…. Click and now waiting?
A disinterested receptionist with no enthusiasm?
A friendly receptionist who doesn’t know anything?
This WAS NOT the image or the experience your callers expected.
That “incongruence” between your image portrayed to the prospective cosmetic patient is lost when that image is not carried through to your receptionist and how they handle new callers on the phone.
What a waste to lose that cash-paying patient before you ever got to meet them.
DEADLY SIN #2: WEAK CONSULTATIONS
Let’s say you have a great front desk staff, and they booked the new patient consultation.
The patient comes in and is greeted by that friendly front desk person. The visiting patient now goes through your consultation process of completing paperwork, having photos taken, and meeting with you, the surgeon, to discuss your recommendations.
So far, so good.
Now your patient coordinator takes over. Her job is to present the numbers, answer additional questions, and book surgery.
But is that what happens?
How often do you hear they walked out the door without booking, never to be heard from again?
When asked, your coordinator tells you things like:
– They were just price shopping
– They can’t afford it
– We (you) oversold them and on and on
If that really true? I guarantee at least 15% of those consults were lost due to your coordinator not being experienced enough to convert them.
Your patient coordinator can be a game-changer for your bottom line so choose carefully.
Just be sure you have the right patient coordinator representing you who looks, acts, and feels the part.
For example, your coordinator must have a process set up to bond with, and qualify the prospective patient by asking powerful questions.
They need to discover what the patient REALLY wants, why they want it, and what it will take for them to say YES.
Converting plastic surgery consultations takes confidence and skill to ASK FOR A DECISION.
This one skill makes the difference between 25% conversions and 75% conversions.
But like anything else in life, it’s a learned and practiced skill.
If your staff could use professional plastic surgery converting training, check out www.ConvertingClub.com for the strategies, practice, and accountability they need to help you grow.
By the way, it’s a lot faster, easier, and cheaper to fix these 2 deadly sins than it is to throw even more money at advertising that doesn’t result in more plastic surgery procedures.
Just saying….