These 6 Failures Will DESTROY Your Med Spa Marketing Efforts - Interview w/ Lauren Nettles

Summary

Med Spa Success Strategies Podcast: “These 6 Failures Will DESTROY Your Med Spa Marketing Efforts” – Interview with Lauren Nettles

Release Date: February 3, 2025

In this insightful episode of the Med Spa Success Strategies Podcast, host Ricky Shockley, owner of MedSpa Magic Marketing, engages in a deep dive with Lauren Nettles, the lead digital marketing specialist at Med Spa Magic Marketing. Together, they explore six critical failures that can derail med spa marketing efforts and discuss best practices to ensure successful marketing investments.

1. Staff Retention: The Foundation of Success

Ricky opens the conversation by highlighting the paramount importance of staff and injector retention. He recounts a client case where high injector turnover led to poor rebooking rates and revenue decline, emphasizing that retaining skilled staff directly impacts patient retention and overall business growth.

Notable Quote:

“Your ability to retain staff is going to determine your results to a large degree.” – Ricky Shockley [00:02]

Lauren elaborates on this by stressing that great staff not only excel in their technical skills but also in building strong relationships with patients. She shares that practices with high injector satisfaction typically see higher rebooking rates and stronger patient loyalty.

Notable Quote:

“The more you're retaining those patients, the more they're rebooking.” – Lauren Nettles [03:03]

Key Takeaways:

• Invest in competitive compensation and benefits.
• Foster a supportive and engaging work environment.
• Recognize and reward staff contributions to enhance job satisfaction.

2. Relationship Development: Building Patient Loyalty

The discussion transitions to the importance of developing meaningful relationships with patients. Ricky draws an analogy to hair salons, where clients return for their trusted stylist, underscoring the necessity of creating a personal connection beyond transactional interactions.

Notable Quote:

“You can't just have them through the door, rubber stamp a treatment and say bye.” – Ricky Shockley [06:34]

Lauren adds that the initial interaction, especially during the first consultation, is crucial for establishing trust and rapport. She recommends allocating ample time for appointments to thoroughly understand and address patient concerns.

Notable Quote:

“The time that you're sitting there spending with the patient, actually talking, working through that treatment plan… that's what starts building that relationship.” – Lauren Nettles [06:34]

Key Takeaways:

• Allocate sufficient time for initial consultations.
• Personalize interactions to address individual patient needs.
• Continuously nurture relationships to foster long-term loyalty.

3. Delivering an A+ Customer Experience

Ricky and Lauren emphasize the necessity of providing an A+ customer experience to differentiate from competitors. They argue that merely offering a "good" experience is insufficient in a competitive market where incremental improvements can lead to significant advantages.

Notable Quote:

“If people have a B plus experience, chances are they can go to the med spa down the street and also get a B plus experience.” – Ricky Shockley [07:34]

Lauren highlights various elements that contribute to an outstanding customer experience, including a welcoming atmosphere, clean and attractive environment, and thoughtful touches like refreshments.

Notable Quote:

“Having that first interaction with the new patient is so, so crucial.” – Lauren Nettles [06:34]

Key Takeaways:

• Create a welcoming and aesthetically pleasing environment.
• Train front desk staff to provide exceptional customer service.
• Implement small, thoughtful gestures to enhance patient comfort.

4. Crushing the Consults: Comprehensive Treatment Planning

The episode delves into the importance of crushing the consults by providing in-depth education and developing comprehensive treatment plans. Ricky warns against treating consultations as mere transactions, advocating for a more educational and personalized approach.

Notable Quote:

“Educate to elevate your sales.” – Ricky Shockley [20:46]

Lauren explains that effective consults involve thoroughly educating patients about their options and crafting long-term treatment plans tailored to their specific needs. This not only enhances patient trust but also increases the likelihood of higher sales through informed decisions.

Notable Quote:

“The more you educate, the more knowledge you show too.” – Lauren Nettles [18:11]

Key Takeaways:

• Utilize detailed intake forms to understand patient concerns.
• Educate patients comprehensively about treatment options.
• Develop personalized, long-term treatment plans to meet patient goals.

5. Effective Rebooking Strategies: Securing Future Appointments

Ricky and Lauren discuss rebooking strategies as essential for maintaining a steady flow of appointments and ensuring continuous revenue. They advocate for making rebooking a default part of the appointment process rather than leaving it to the patient's discretion.

Notable Quote:

“Set the default to you have an appointment on the books and now the onus is on you to cancel.” – Ricky Shockley [24:39]

Lauren recommends techniques such as scheduling the next appointment before the patient leaves the chair and utilizing front desk coordination to secure future bookings seamlessly.

Notable Quote:

“Don't make it a question and make that next appointment before they even leave your chair.” – Lauren Nettles [22:51]

Key Takeaways:

• Implement a standard procedure to schedule follow-up appointments during each visit.
• Train staff to confidently propose and secure future bookings.
• Utilize automated reminders to reduce no-shows and ensure appointments are kept.

6. Post-Appointment Patient Interaction: Nurturing Ongoing Relationships

The final failure discussed is the lack of post-appointment interaction. Ricky explains that after a patient has received treatment, maintaining contact is vital for nurturing the relationship and encouraging future engagements.

Notable Quote:

“People buy from people at the end of the day.” – Ricky Shockley [28:45]

Lauren suggests simple yet effective follow-up methods such as personal calls or texts to check on patient satisfaction and remind them of upcoming treatments. These touchpoints can significantly enhance patient loyalty and satisfaction.

Notable Quote:

“Just staying in touch with those people.” – Lauren Nettles [28:45]

Key Takeaways:

• Schedule follow-up communications to check on patient well-being.
• Personalize interactions to reinforce trust and satisfaction.
• Implement systems to ensure consistent and meaningful post-visit engagement.

Conclusion: Integrating Best Practices for Marketing Success

Ricky concludes the episode by recapping the six critical failures to avoid and emphasizing the interconnectedness of staff retention, relationship development, exceptional customer experience, comprehensive consults, effective rebooking strategies, and ongoing patient interactions. He reiterates that successful marketing is not solely about attracting leads but also about converting and retaining those leads through outstanding service and relationship management.

Final Thought:

“Action changes attitude faster than attitude changes action.” – Ricky Shockley [28:45]

By adhering to these best practices, med spas can optimize their marketing investments, enhance patient satisfaction, and achieve sustainable growth moving into 2025 and beyond.

---

This episode was produced by MedSpa Magic Marketing. For digital marketing services tailored to med spas and aesthetic practices, visit MedSpaMagicMarketing.com.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, everyone. I'm your host, Ricky shockley, owner of MedSpa Magic Marketing. Welcome to MedSpa Success Strategies, where med spa and aesthetics practice owners come to discover strategies and tactics that help them better market and manage their practices so they can grow, improve profitability and have greater impact for their teams and their patients. I'm excited today to be joined again by Lauren Nettles. Lauren is our lead digital marketing specialist at Med Spa Magic Marketing. She manages and guides online advertising strategies for med spas all over the country, from Seattle to Miami and Boston to Los Angeles. Today, Lauren and I are going to discuss the make or break items that we found that our clients that are succeeding most from their marketing investments have in common. So there's a famous quote in marketing. Good marketing makes a bad product fail faster. These are the six things that we've identified as common themes for the clients that see the most success from their marketing investment. And a lot of it has to do with things you do after the lead is generated. I think this is going to be a really valuable episode for you if you're investing in marketing for your practice. Whether it's just organic social media or you're running ads or you're paying an agency, these are things that are going to make or break your marketing investment going into 2025. And these are best practices from our clients across the country. The clients that we see nailing it and succeeding with their advertising investments are clients that do these six things exceptionally well. So here's a, a very true statement that I think some of you maybe don't connect the dots on immediately. Your marketing is not going to carry the entire weight of your ability to grow your practice. It is not in and of itself going to be the catalyst to growth. Doing these things well is going to allow your marketing to be fuel on the fire of your business. If you're not doing these things well. I always say it's like, it's like trying to pour water over the side of a bucket. Pour water over the side of a ship that's drowning right with a bucket. It's just not going to get you out of the hole that you're in if you're not doing these things well. Marketing is going to be effective in terms of getting people through the door, but your ability to retain people and make your patients really, really happy is the name of the game when it comes to maximizing roi. So again, this is going to be best practices from our clients, things that we've learned from our clients across the country that are doing these things exceptionally well. So starting at the top, the first thing I think, Lauren, that we always run into is the importance of staff and retaining your staff and your injectors. So to kind of tell a horror story, right, when we, when we look at our marketing investment, we measure these things for our clients. One of the things that we look at is retention, lifetime value and rolling data in terms of revenue coming through the door. We had a client this year that they had a ton of injector turnover. They're a small practice and the injector I think changed wasn't Lauren four or five times in the course of 12 months. And when we look at the numbers, the rebooking rates are really bad, the retention is bad. There are a lot of one and dones because ultimately your ability to retain staff is going to determine your results to a large degree. So, Lauren, can you guys just talk about this concept of, of injector retention, staff retention, and why it's so important to results?

[B]

Yeah, I think it sort of goes to exactly what you just said. It's the experience that people get when they come in, in that relationship that they build with you immediately. And we're going to go into that a little bit further in number two. But when you're the practice owner and you're trying to build your practice, you need to be focused on choosing a staff that's going to back you and that's going to be amazing at what they do. Not only in the way they communicate with people, the relationships they build, but also the results that they deliver. Because that's why people are picking us. They're not just picking based on the practice, but based on that experience that they have. So like Ricky said, we've seen a lot of practices either nail it or really, really struggle. In this area. We have our ROI calculator I'm sure you've seen on the podcast. If you haven't, you can visit YouTube channel and see that more. But one of the numbers we look at mainly there is that retention rate or that rebooking rate. And it's wild to watch how much your revenue growth is impacted by that retention rate. So the more you're retaining those patients, the more they're rebooking. Of course, the longer they're with you and the more that you're spending. And a lot of that comes from having the right staff that's going to be with you. Because we've heard countless people patient wise say, well, I love this practice, but I'm going to follow my Injector, because they're leaving, I want to know where she's going. They always want to know. They follow their own practice, private social media, those kind of things. So it's really, really important for the success of our leads to stay with us, to enjoy that experience with the provider. And the main thing too from this that I kind of take away is the practices that really struggle. The one specifically Ricky was talking about with injector turnover, when we have talked to their injectors, they've had great experiences with the people coming in. So they've never had an issue of all these are discount shoppers. I don't feel good about the people coming in. The quality isn't there. The injectors we had talked with were really happy with the people that were coming in. So there would be all indicators to us that rebooking rate should be incredibly high. But since the injector turnover was also very high, that rebooking rate ended up being very low. So that's definitely something Patient drop off is attributed to 100%.

[A]

Yeah. And I would say it's not probably always that the patients are perfect quality patients, especially if you're using some of the discounting strategies that we talk about. But in general, you're going to have a lot of stickiness if the people have a great experience with their injector. So I would say as a business owner, takeaway from point number one is your staff. And your ability to retain staff is really important. So treat your people really well, pay them well, come up with comp plans that make them happy because you really want those people to be there for the long term. Right. I think we've had this example come up a lot. Think about it as your, your hair salon or your barbershop, right? Once you have somebody that you trust to do your hair, you really don't like to roll the dice to go to the person the next chair over. So being loyal to your injector or the person that's performing, performing services is just kind of the way this business operates. So you need to retain staff. So that's point number one. Number two, that kind of ties into that is relationship and development. So just like that hair salon example, you develop a little bit of a relationship with the person that's performing services and that's going to create additional stickiness. So you can't just, you know, have them through the door, rubber stamp a treatment and say bye, because then those people feel like they're just. The product is commoditized. If botox in this case is just commoditized. It's something you just go in and get rubber stamped anywhere and you don't have a deeper level of relationship with your patients, you're going to struggle. So I think that the point one and point two in terms of relationship development kind of go hand in hand. Lauren, anything else that I missed that you want to add for the relationship development item?

[B]

I think the only thing with that, and we'll kind of go into the next point a little bit too, but having that first interaction with the new patient is so, so crucial. So we have a lot of practice who are trying to maximize that profitability per. And it's tough when you try to make those appointment slots shorter and shorter and shorter. So even if somebody's coming in new, we always suggest, like, give that appointment at least 30 minutes. If you can make it longer, 45 to an hour, do it. Because the time that you're sitting there spending with the patient, actually talking, working through that treatment plan, et cetera, that's what starts building that relationship. That's where they start to trust you. They're not going to see the results until after they leave. So they're not thinking about that up front. They're thinking about you, the experience you're providing, and the trust that you're instilling in them. So really take the time to kind of have that initial consult. We'll go into consult processes a little bit more later, but really take the time to like sit with that person and start building that connection in that relationship. That would be my number one takeaway from that one too.

[A]

Yep. Okay. So number one is you have to have great staff and you have to retain that staff. You have to develop relationships with your patients through the people that are performing service. Your front office too. Number three on our list is you have to have, and my note here is an A customer experience. So, so many of you listening to this, you know, these are things that are easy to overlook. You think, I've got that covered. We provide a good patient experience. My staff is nice. We do these things well. But the difference between being A and B is substantial because if people have a B plus experience, chances are they can go to the med spa down the street and also get a B plus experience. That's the importance of giving people an A customer experience. And that's what's needed to develop a deeper level of trust and affection from your clients. So we have a few bullet points here that we think can help. And these are best practices we've learned from our clients that can help you achieve that. A plus plus plus Customer experience. So the first is patient experience starts at the first interaction. I took that from Danielle White on one of our podcast episodes before they even visited. The patient relationship has started. So one of our newest team members, Nathan, he did something funny last week on one of our team calls where he took some screenshots from the high level conversations where they were just not managed well. Right. It was one word responses to leads, very blunt messages and replies. And this is your opportunity to just start developing rapport in a relationship as soon as you're engaging with the prospect. So don't miss the opportunity to develop a relationship with your leads prior to them booking an appointment. It starts there. Hey there. Wanted to briefly interrupt the episode to make a quick ask. If you're a podcast listener, it would mean the world to us if you leave a review for the podcast, whether that's on itunes or Spotify. It's something I hadn't really remembered or thought of asking for, but it does help us show up more frequently so that we can reach more people with the information that we're providing. So it mean the world to us if you'd leave a review on itunes or Spotify. If you're listening on audio, if you're watching on YouTube, make sure to hit the subscribe button so you're in the loop for future videos and you don't miss any of the content that we're putting out. Lauren, do you want to kind of go through some of these other things on this list?

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. So that one really is huge to us too because we get you a lot of leads. Ads come with a lot of leads, but really that first communication is so important from the time that you start talking to them, like Ricky said. So that's why we even like to include voicemail drops in a lot of our automations. So already having somebody from the practices voice, personally leaving a voicemail on your phone automatically is actually so important because they start to build that relationship with you. Even from that first touch. They hear a welcoming voice that they're excited to meet with next. From there, it's all about when they come into that office and what their experiences are from there. We really want to make sure that that first step they take into your practice, they feel welcome, they feel comfortable, and they're excited. There's a lot of nerves that come with injectable treatments and aesthetic treatments in general. I think a lot of people are scared that it's going to Hurt what can happen? How are the results going to look? We want to make it as relaxing and comfort for them as possible. So training your front desk staff is just as important as training your injector. Making sure that, that hello, welcome through the door is immediately an atmosphere that people want to be a part of. Some of our practices will do like a little drink or snack during their wait too. So just nice touches like that that really make them feel like they're at home when they go to the practice is huge. It kind of plays into. You want your office to look clean, attractive, organized. There's a lot of people where you can feel like you're in med spa or you feel like you're going into a doctor's office and you're scared and you don't want to be there. So having that, like, calming, welcoming atmosphere, nice decorations, a clean environment is going to be really important too, for that. Any thoughts on that? Ricky?

[A]

I think, I think we said at some point, one of the episodes put the spa in med spa, right. There's some good. I might mention this because it's fresh on my mind. Dr. Sylvia Tuthill, our most recent podcast episode prior to this one, she's got some really good insights and advice on like, hey, I want my practice to smell a certain way. I want people to. I want people to get a certain vibe as soon as they walk in. And that means my receptionist is looking them in the eye and smiling. They smell a certain thing, they see a certain thing. And controlling that experience to put the spa in med spa, I think is. Is really critical.

[B]

It's so crazy how true. Even, like that little detail of the smell is like. So I get spray tans here where I live in North Carolina, and I've tried so many places, right? So there's like the big places that you go and you're in and out. Nobody cares. You just get in and out. And I found a. A really small place near my new town, and they have their essential oil diffusers going all the time and it's like their peppermint smell, their eucalyptus, and it smells so peaceful and calm and like, I'm not even getting a facial or anything nice. I'm just getting a spray tan. But the whole experience is just elevated so much by that simple having that soft music playing and those smells coming in and it makes me want to stay. I enjoy every visit. I go there.

[A]

Yeah. And then I think too, like, and then once you're. So once you're past that front office and you're Dealing with the medical professional, right. The injector, the, even the esthetician, the nurse. You also want to continue that, right? You don't want to have a doctor's bedside manner where you come in very matter of fact, not a smile on your face, shuffling patients in and out of the door. So make sure the provider is greeting the patients in a warm, welcoming way. Developing rapport, building the relationship. Ask questions during your visit. Lauren alluded to, like elongating, especially for your initial visit. It's. This is your at that. This is your opportunity to build relationship and rapport. Don't move that person in and out of the office to check a box. You are not there to sell them $295 worth of Botox. You're there to develop a relationship that has that person coming back for hopefully years to come. So ask questions, get to know them at a personal level. Find some common, you know, common interests and commonalities. Develop rapport and relationship. I think that's going to be critical. Okay. Anything else we can think of that kind of comes up as common threads for developing an a customer experience. Await times we talked about. So if you're inconveniencing your patients with unreasonable wait times, that's a ding against you. You know what an A plus plus plus patient experience looks like? I have an appointment at 8:30. I walk in the door at 8:25 and the clock strikes 8:29 and you're bringing me to the back room. Right? This, you want this to be as convenient as possible too. So incorporating convenience into the patient experience is really, really important.

[B]

Yeah, I would just say the main thing there too, one takeaway is like, challenge yourself and your staff in this area. Like Ricky started with, it is the number one thing where people are like, yeah, we got that nailed. We don't have to worry about that. Like, all of our injectors are great, they're great personalities, etc. But really, really nail this portion of it on high level. We have call recordings set up. So even listening to your call recordings and making sure that that first experience is going well and we're checking in on all of our staff members, just making sure that we're really nailing this area, I think is so important. Not just checking the box because we like everybody we hired, but making sure that it is up to par there.

[A]

Yeah. And checking the box. I think the, the default mentality here is you kind of think of it as a pass fail. Is my customer experience bad or is it good? No, it's good. So you move on to the next thing. But this is a very competitive industry and it's not that simple. It's a sliding scale. So, like, right, I always use sports analogies to a fault. If, if I've got an 85 speed, I'm like 85 out of 100 on the speed meter and the next guy's a 90. Guess what? I'm losing that race. So same thing happens here as a med spa. If your competitor down the street has an 88 out of 100 customer experience and you can get to yours to a 94, you're going to win. So those incremental improvements are the things that are going to help you stand out and create additional retention and stickiness in your practice.

[B]

That's where it really makes your marketing investment worth it. I mean, I know that's the title of what we're talking about here, and a lot of you probably think like, oh, we have patients that have been with us for 20 some years, they're so happy. Or five years, however long that might look like. But this is where we're changing the perception of the person that comes in the door for that first visit when it comes to our marketing investment. So you paid to get that person in that should be focused on making that appointment absolutely amazing and making that relationship sticky. So that's where, like, people did likely choose you because of the discount they're coming in for. So now you have to make them choose you for something else to come back to. So make them choose you for being the best practice, the best injector, the best results, not the price anymore. They're choosing you for being you and the practice.

[A]

Yeah, that's the quote we always use on the podcast. Action changes attitude faster than attitude changes action. It's the idea that we're trying to shape perception through experience. And our marketing or any marketing, not our marketing. I don't want to make this about our services. Any marketing, any advertising you're doing, it's going to give you opportunities, it's going to give you at bats, it's going to put a butt in the seat. And yes, you want to do that at the most effective rate. But ultimately you're trying to make sure these people love you and have a great experience. And if you don't do that, nothing else matters. It's not going to work. You could spend money on marketing all day. If you don't have these parts of your practice refined and humming along, then you're going to continue to struggle. Number four, kind of ties into patient experience. Crushing the consults. This has come up a lot on the podcast. I think we've got a lot of different advice on how to incorporate the better consults into your practice. But Lauren, some common threads that you feel like we see amongst our top performing providers in terms of how they manage their consult.

[B]

Yeah, I feel like there are two things that mainly come up all the time when we hear people who are killing this aspect of it or crushing this aspect. And the first one is making that a consult that's deep in depth education, talking to the person about what's going on to elevate that experience and to play into that cross seller that upsell too. So for example, a lot of our promos might start at like 20 units for 179 of Botox or 20 units of Botox. Let's say the point of them coming in is not to get those 20 units. The point of them coming in is to be educated on what units do for them. Educated on areas, talk about their concerns with where they want the treatment and then tell them why 20 units isn't that choice, but why they need to pick 50, 60, however many units it might be for that face. So education is so, so crucial here. It's not just saying, well no, you need 50 units. It's going deep. Why it's talking about how long it'll last, what areas we can treat, how you're not going to be happy if we only 220 because in two weeks it's going to wear off, that kind of thing. So we want to make sure we're educating, being as intentional and in depth with that education. And then the next part that plays on that too is building out that long term treatment plan with them from that first visit as much as we can. So on our last podcast with Gina, or a recent podcast with Gina, it hasn't actually come out yet. Maybe it has by this time.

[A]

Not as of this. It will though.

[B]

Anyway, there's a podcast with Gina and it's a really, really good episode where she's talking about doing on your intake forms, getting people to mark down their concerns or areas of treatment that they're interested in or things they're interested in treating. That's a really, really important factor to play into your consult too because before you even start talking to that person, you already know what they're concerned about and you can start building out that treatment plan with them. So sitting down and saying, hey, I think your first step here to address the wrinkle concern might be Botox. And then if we want to get you in a microneedling package in the next six months, we want you to start building on that and then lasers down the line, those kind of things where we build out that treatment plan to get to that end result. Having them understand that they're not going to accomplish every single thing they want to in one short visit. So that's super important too. So building out that long term treatment plan, getting them to that goal that they want to have, and then educating so hard on every service that it is the more you educate, the more knowledge you show too. So from experience, I have tons and tons of clients. I have one client specifically who educates me every time we're on a call. And I love that I always learn something new. It instills so much trust in the provider she is that I've actually traveled to get treatment from her because I trust the way she educates and the way she explains her knowledge and her expertise. So educate, take your time to showcase your learning, your schooling and show why you're the best at what you do.

[A]

This episode is brought to you by MedSpa Magic Marketing, my agency. We help med spas and aesthetics practices grow with more effective marketing strategies. And I know that's a vague phrase, right? That's a vague claim. So I have an offer for you. I offer this to any new prospects if you're interested in exploring any of them, another marketing option, a new agency, or just getting into Facebook, Instagram, Google Ads for the first time. I'd love to show you why we're different, what we're doing for clients. And we can do that via a one and a half hour planning session where I'll outline a specific marketing plan and I'll give you all of the blueprints that we would implement if we were to do business together. Now you can take that, use that on your own, hire someone else to help you execute it or work with us. We really don't hold anything back on that strategy call. And I think you'll have a lot of confidence in how you manage your marketing investment moving forward. Understanding some of the nuances that can help you implement more effective marketing strategies for your business. So if you want to do that, you can go to MedSpa Magic Marketing dot com. Yeah, I think what we're trying to avoid here, to summarize this step, is you're going to have detrimental results if you rubber stamp the treatment. If somebody just comes up through the door and says, I want this because I saw you were advertising 20 units. Give me 20 units. Put it right here.

[B]

Right.

[A]

That's what we want to avoid. So some of the things that can help you create a more comprehensive treatment plan, first of all, like I was literally using chat GPT to try to come up with a phrase, but I liked this one. It's educate to elevate your sales. Right. So as you're educating patients, you're going to give them a comprehensive view of what you can do to address their concerns. And that's going to lead to greater sales. So we want to draw the line here. We don't want to be pushy, we don't want to sell things people don't want. But by getting information up front. So an intake form that asks people what areas of concern they have. Right. Dark spots. They might have come in for Botox, but if they've got a patient intake form that mentions dark spots, they're like, well, actually do have these spots that kind of bother me. I didn't think about that. Dark spots, Right. You have that form, it's going to queue up a more fruitful conversation during the consult. So now you can guide, you use that to guide the consult while you're coming up with a comprehensive treatment plan that is, you know, long term. Right. We're going to do, we're going to do injectables quarterly. That's going to take care of this and this. That bothers you, Right. You got these sunspots bother you. We're going to do a session of micro needling and a laser device like whatever that looks like. You're going to be able to come up with a much better plan that allows the client to increase their purchase behavior through education. And that's what you're trying to do in the consult. So longer appointment times, a good patient intake form and a conversation that centers around a holistic treatment plan and presents a variety of options. You also don't want people coming in the office that don't know what you do. So if they've got a concern, let them know all of the different things that might be components to the treatment solution. Right? Right. We've got this laser product, we've got micro needling, we've got the injectables. There are four or five different things that we might be combining together to create a comprehensive treatment plan and not just rubber stamping the initial request. So really, really important to crush your consults. Number five on our list is rebooking strategies. And this is something that's come up a lot on the podcast, we have clients that again, we've learned from in terms of best practices that we've kind of piecemealed together. Hey, this is probably the best way or some of the best ways to think about rebooking. So, Lauren, what are some of those things for best practices on rebooking?

[B]

Yeah, I would say the number one easiest takeaway from this is don't make it a question and make that next appointment before they even leave your chair. So that's a huge way to do it. A lot of our clients who do this the best have their iPad in hand and before they even walk out of their room, they say, hey, I'd like to see you back here in three months. We're going to treat X, Y and Z. I'm going to put that in your notes. How many units you got, how many units you're going to get? And we'll see you back for that three month visit. Does June work for you? And that's the question. We leave it there, we tell them they're coming for that next visit and then we have them planned for that next one. You'll get pushback, obviously. Well, I don't know my schedule that far out, whatever that might look like. But hey, let's get you on the calendar. When you get your reminder text, if you need to reschedule, you can do that, but we want to make sure you get an appointment because we do fill up fast. However that looks for you, reschedule that appointment, have that conversation before they even walk out of your chair. If that doesn't work for your timing of getting them out of your chair and doing it there, walking them to the front desk, handing them off to your front person and saying before you walk away, hey, I want to see Lauren back here in three months. Same conversation, but to that front desk person so they can look through the schedule, find the time, get them booked. So I'd say that's the number one thing. It's super, super simple to add into your process. And it's crazy to us when we hear these conversations. How many spas? Don't even think about that. They just have been in business for a while or they're brand new and they think if somebody likes me, they're going to rebook. Right? That's really not the case. I mean, people forget. People go on about their day. They saw you three months ago, now they need the Botox again. They see a deal, they go get the deal. So it's important to capitalize on that next visit and that rebook before they even leave. Same thing for that follow up visit. Making sure they're coming into regardless of liking or disliking their results.

[A]

Yeah. And what we're trying to do here is we're trying to change the default. So there's so many practices like Lauren said that you leave it up to the default as they have no appointment and if they want, if they want to, they'll book and you kind of leave it up to them. But why don't we, why don't we set the default to you have an appointment on the books and now the onus is on you to cancel the appointment and to break the date. Right. So that's why we're trying to make sure that we get something on the books prior to them walking out the door. Even if it's tentative, you want to set the default, that there's something on the books and they're going to and the onus is on them to cancel and change the plan by getting rid of that appointment. So yeah, ask in the office. Not if, but when. Right. Hey, I would really like to see you back. We'll need to re up this. And the third week of March. What does the week of the 21st look like for you? Okay, 22nd, I got you penciled in at three. And then like Lauren said, that's a great way to overcome the objection. If somebody says, well let me look at my calendar. Why don't we get something on the calendar and if you need to reschedule or change it, we can do that. But let's just make sure we. Hey, we don't want to be fill, fill the schedule to be full when you're looking for your rebooking. So let's make sure we get something on the calendar for you. It's not going to be perfect, but it'll increase your percentages dramatically and it'll change the default standard to that you have the fact that you have the booking, you know, on the books and not pending action from the client. Okay. Rebooking really important. So to kind of recap so far, number one, choosing great staff and retaining that staff. Critical, critical, critical goal. You can't overlook that that one thing falls apart. Everything else doesn't matter. On the episode with Dr. Sylvia Tuthill, which I think is the previous episode to this, she does get some really cool tidbits and advice on hiring and how she screens for staff. I thought she had some really good insights on episode one of our podcast going back several years now, Mary Beth Hagen from Titan Aesthetic Recruiting that we should probably have on. She had some really good advice on hiring and retention, comp plans, things like that. Number two on our list was relationship development. Just like your hair salon, this is a business that relies on loyalty to the provider, not the practice. So building relationships and understanding a framework for relationship development is important. Having an A plus plus plus plus customer experience, crushing the consults. Number four, effective rebooking strategies, number five. And number six is going to be, hey, how do we deal with our patient interaction post appointment? So following up with the prospect after they've come in for service. Now that we've collected the money, we don't want this to feel transactional. So once we collect the check, we don't want to send them on our way, maybe see them for five minutes for their follow up appointment two weeks later and call it a day. We want to have a system for checking in with these prospects and continuing to nurture that relationship. I don't know that we have like super detailed advice on that other than just knowing that that's an important part of the really on developing that relationship on an ongoing basis and not just cashing the check and writing them off until their next appointment. So figuring out ways to increase your touch points in between visits, you know, imagine that injector calls you personally a few weeks later or texts you even and says, hey, maybe you mentioned something in the consult, an event that you had going on or something in your life and they're saying, hey, how did that go? Is everything cool? How are you feeling about the results? And they're just checking in with you, it's going to make all the difference in the world. So incorporating some additional touch points post appointment to nurture that relationship, think of creative ways to do that. Lauren, I don't know if we have any examples of that or if that was kind of the gist of that last bullet point.

[B]

For now, yeah, mostly just checking and seeing how people are feeling, seeing how they're, if they're pleased with their results. Kind of gives you a good picture too if you fall before your follow up appointment of how that's going to go and what you might need to do there, say hey, we can adjust those in your follow up, that kind of thing. And then for the people that didn't rebook or even if they did, calling them at that three month mark too or maybe a month out. So like two months to get them booked for that next visit. Some of our injectors who really, really do this, well, they will have A rolling list of who had their treatment, when and when to call them for that next next visit. And they actually set reminders in their emrs to pop up and say, hey, call so and so, call so and so. And they just give them a quick phone call in their downtime and say, hey, I know you're scheduled for next week. Like, I'm looking forward to seeing you for your Botox visit. Or hey, I need you to get scheduled for that next visit. Wanted to check back in with you. Simple things, just couple minute phone calls every so often. Just staying in touch with those people.

[A]

Yeah, I think this ties into kind of a final concept that maybe summarizes this episode is people buy from people at the end of the day. So we can automate an AI every part of our business from here to Sunday. But ultimately, people buy from people. And failing to incorporate those touch points, you're doing it to your own detriment. Especially in this business going into 2025, relationships are still important. People want to feel comfortable and confident with the person that's providing services. And just sending an automated text message or a specials blast is not enough. And I know this takes manual work. Like we automate a lot of what we do for marketing for our clients and I would say it's, you know, 80% of it, the stuff that can be automated. But those additional manual touch points make all the difference in the world. And unfortunately that requires time. So make sure you make time in your schedules, that you've got a process and procedures and standard protocols to make those additional touch points a part of your standard workflow. But hopefully this will help you going into 2025 better optimize your marketing investment. If you really want to get the most out of your marketing investment or whatever you're doing in your practice, these six things I think are absolutely critical to ongoing success heading into 2025 and beyond. Lauren, any final thoughts?

[B]

No, I think that's it.

[A]

All right, well, thank you all. We will see you on the next episode. Thanks everyone for tuning in. This podcast is a production of Med Spa Magic Marketing. If your Med Spa or aesthetic practice is in need of digital marketing services, help with advertising on Facebook, Instagram, Google lead generation and booking more appointments, please visit medspamagicmarketing. Com.