Does the following scenario sound familiar…?

Your staff schedules a patient appointment & the patient is very excited about their upcoming visit while on the call. You just know this patient will schedule surgery on the day of consultation!

Except… the patient doesn’t make it to the consultation at all.  What happened???

Each appointment on your clinic day schedule should be viewed as valuable real estate.  I mean… we’re talking Malibu beachfront real estate here!

If you consider that each consultation slot is valued at your average surgeon’s fee, then each no-show or cancellation (NS/CX) equals lost revenue for the practice.

Here are 7 proven strategies to lower NS/CX rates & reclaim the $$ you spend to get the phone ringing in the 1^st place!

• Perfect the art of the 1^st phone call.  I cannot stress enough how important this is.  I see so many practices relying solely on the idea that nice or friendly staff will drive patients to not only schedule an appointment, but to show up for the consultation as well.  Studies show the cosmetic patient is “shopping” and is also shopping your competitors (we are in retail medicine after all!), many of whom have ‘nice & friendly’ staff as well.   How can your practice stand out?  By ensuring your staff is equipped with proven techniques to engage, educate, qualify, and yes, sell to the caller. This is a simple, step-by-step, wash/rinse/repeat consultative selling method statistically proven to increase conversions at each stage in the patient’s buying cycle.
• Consider a dedicated staff member to take all new cosmetic patient inquiry & appointment calls.  This should be someone off of the front line who has the time & privacy to spend with the caller.
• Send written confirmation (email, snail mail, text) directly after the appointment is scheduled with a personal note letting the patient know it was a pleasure speaking with them and you are looking very forward to meeting them!  Include info on the practice, provider, and procedure here as well.
• Ensure you have available appointment dates that fit the patient’s timeframe for surgery.  If your consultation schedule is booked out 6-8 weeks, it may be time to consider templating your schedule in order to accommodate fast-moving procedures.  For instance, data shows you generally have about 10 days to get breast augmentation patients in the office or the NS/CX rate rises and the consultation to surgery rate drops.
• Call to confirm appointments 48 hours prior to consultation.  This allows enough time for the patient to secure childcare, take time from work, etc, in the event they have forgotten to do so.
• For practices with a long wait time from appointment scheduled to consultation, consider adding an additional confirmation call or text 1 week prior to the appointment.
• Have the staff member that originally spoke with the patient make the confirmation calls to the patient.  This continues the very important lead nurturing process shown to decrease NS/CX rates.

How well does your staff handle initial phone calls from prospective patients?  To find out – click HERE to request a Free Telephone Shopper Bundle. 

Your practice will be shopped by phone within 2 business days.  You will then be provided with a report of findings & a complimentary 30-minute call to review findings and receive specific recommendations. Complete with a No Strings Attached guarantee!