Wondering why prospective patients are hesitant to commit to a treatment plan? Follow these four tips to connect with an indecisive patient and ensure they book an appointment for their first procedure before leaving your office.
15 November 2017
A fresh year warrants new goals for your aesthetics practice, but knowing how to achieve those goals can be a little trickier.
Creating a roadmap to follow throughout the year offers the best chance of success for any aesthetics clinic. To help you get there, we’ve compiled our best aesthetics practice management tips to help you reach three of the top New Year’s resolutions for aesthetics clinics in 2018.
How to Get There: An aging Baby Boomer population can certainly help to keep practices in the anti-aging market booming. But what might work for now won’t work forever — relying on just one stream of clientele could mean setting your business up for a big fall in just a few years’ time. For this reason, diversifying your target demographic to include younger prospective patients can be a wise New Year’s resolution for your aesthetics clinic in 2018.
But how exactly can you diversify your clientele for the greatest chance at success? Target Millennials, a segment that represented almost a quarter of non-invasive procedures in 2016 and has no doubt risen since, as Millennials overtook Baby Boomers as the largest living generation last year.
How do you target this younger generation? Go digital with a comprehensive, targeted, on-brand social media marketing campaign. According to a 2016 survey, 25% of consumers report purchasing items they saw on social media so meet Millennials there. Offer a branded message that balances entertainment and promotion. At this point, it might be a wise investment to hire a social media coordinator who can make these efforts their top priority, or hire a third-party company specializing in social media to manage this aspect of the business. At the end of the year, evaluate your numbers and see if the investment was worth it, or adjust accordingly.
How to Get There: Just as in real estate, the success of a medical aesthetics clinic is all about location. Knowing your target demographic, including where they live, where they travel to, their transportation needs, and their expectations of your clinic, is key to evaluating your best location.
This month, take a closer look at the pros and cons of your current location. Consider if it’s a good fit for your target clientele — if not, make a move by the end of the year. The right location could offer a big boost to business. If your practice is booming and you’re ready to take on a second location, approach this as an opportunity to experiment with new trends. For example, if you’re targeting a more discerning clientele, consider doing away with the waiting room at the new location and prioritizing space for more consultation and treatment rooms. Alternatively, reach out to current clients and survey them on their opinions of your current location and clinic layout. They may be the best source for discovering potential inefficiencies or inadequacies in your current clinic, that could be improved at a new location for even greater business success in 2018.
How to Get There: Consultation bookings are key to business growth but a full schedule may not have shown much of an increase in income in 2017. If conversions are your focus in 2018, take the time to evaluate your consultation system and start to draw patterns in your conversion data where possible. Consider if perhaps the intake process is a little long, or if some potential patients are balking at price points.
Next, introduce a system that allows you to cover these concerns or offer alternatives to unsure patients. You may also consider charging for consultations if they’re currently free. This can help to weed out those who may not be serious about anti-aging treatment, and spot patients who better align with your goals for an ongoing patient-provider relationship. To encourage conversion, it may also be a good idea to offer passing the consultation fee forward as a credit towards a treatment plan upon conversion. Finally, if you're the treatment provider at your practice, refocus your time on exactly that — providing treatments. You can hire an operations manager to work under you and handle the day-to-day details. You’ll still have the last say in all business affairs, but you’ll be able to spend more time focusing on getting those conversions, rather than on details that don’t directly generate income.
For more insider tips on how to boost conversion rates in 2018, download our eBook, “Mastering the Art of the Aesthetic Consult,” today!
