When it comes to marketing a cosmetic practice, our goal is simple: increase visibility, increase traffic, and increase leads. Think of it as a funnel with the large opening being the visibility and the small opening being leads. There are tactics that you can implement to improve this funnel, but in this article I’d like to focus on how to convert these leads into consultations (or patients).
One of the golden rules in marketing is to treat each lead like, well, gold. You need to have a specific process in place for following up with each and every lead. I’ve outlined some crucial tips that every practice should follow below:
- Do not use a call center: I have yet to speak to a single practice that has had a good experience with call centers. I understand if you use them periodically, such as when everyone is out for lunch or after hours, but I’d avoid them as much as possible. You’re leaving your practice’s reputation up to a complete stranger with no knowledge of your business.
- Follow up with web leads within one business day: This goes without saying, but it’s worth re-iterating. The quicker that you follow up with web leads the better.
- Train your receptionist on sales techniques: The person or people that handle phone calls need to be properly trained on not only answering calls, but also follow-up calls. I’m not saying that your staff needs to “Boiler Room” cold-calling experts, but give them some tips. When someone calls in with a question about a service the goal should be to get their information and get them scheduled (in a non-pushy way). In many cases, a consultation is free, so use that to your advantage in getting people in the door. If a particular service does not require a consultation then you can create a sense of urgency with an offer. Bottom line, be helpful in answering questions, but emphasize the value of scheduling a consultation or appointment in your conversation.
- Automatically add web leads to your email list: Before you say, “hey, doesn’t that make me a spammer?” it’s worth noting that you should incorporate a checkbox, or confirmation of some kind, with each web form. This will legitimize your email list, since people will be knowingly opting in, and that in turn should improve your open rates. Ultimately we want to grow our list, and we should naturally do this with new patients.
- Follow up if you weren’t able to reach the lead initially: If you’ve sent an email and left a voice mail, but you still haven’t connected with the lead I would not disregard it. Make a calendar note to follow up in a couple weeks. You might also consider setting up a customized email template for all leads that you haven’t been able to reach, and then configure your email marketing software to send this canned message (with a discount) to these unreachable leads.
If you have any tips of your own that you’d like to share we’d love to hear them. Just leave a message in the comments section below. If you’d like to learn more about how you can generate more leads or improve your conversion rates then leave us a note here. You can also reach us directly at 877-673-7096 x2.
