The Quickest Way to Grow Your Practice is to Retain the Patients You Already Have

In light of the recent news about the economic downturn, many physicians are re-focusing their sites on best ways to advertise aesthetic procedures to prospective patients. Much of the time, practices tend to concentrate on external advertising in outreach mediums such as local magazines or newspapers without much success. When spending advertising dollars externally rather than internally, most practice managers are doing nothing to utilize the patient base that they have already worked very hard to build.

Statistics show that it costs somewhere between 5-8 times more to attract a new patient than to keep an existing one. Additionally, recent market research contends that aesthetic practices lose approximately 2/3rds of their first-time patients due to lack of follow-up and loss of communication.

Retention of a practice's patients can be the easiest way to grow an aesthetic practice without the high and less effective cost of external advertising dollars. Further, by merely raising patient retention by just 5%, a practice may be able to increase the value of an average patient (in lifetime profits) from 25-100%.

The following eight categories highlight the top things that aesthetic practices should be doing to retain every patient that has already visited their facility:

1) Consistent Message in Brochures, Advertising, and Promotional Materials-

It is important to carefully judge your current "brand" of communication. Evaluate your current brochures, magazine advertising, and promotional materials. Is there an objective to the message that you are sending to your patients? The information projected in every form of communication in your practice should be consistent with your overall goals and objectives. Consider what message is being received both from current patients, as well as new patients, who may be reluctant on their first visit to the practice.

Although a practice brochure can be an investment, it can help to convey the practice's image and values to the patients Your brochures should be educational, should contain your logo or a designer graphic, and possibly a bio of the physician to create a sense of friendliness and personal touch.

2) Business Cards. Letterhead, and Stationary-

Business cards, letterhead, and stationary are great tools for inexpensive advertising to your patient base as well as to potential new patients. These items should reflect the practice's image and culture, and should have your logo and address information, as well as a place for follow up appointment times. If you have a motto or tag line, it is important to get it onto your business card and letterhead. This may be the first and only item that a potential patient sees prior to deciding whether to become a customer at your facility.

On the front of your card, you should place a graphic design and a message that will grab attention. A business card and letterhead should create awareness about your brand in the medical marketplace. To do that, you must convey your practice's personality through design, type font, logo, graphics, and verbal messages or a slogan.
These items are important in creating the initial brand awareness about your facility, physicians, and staff. They can make a real statement about the type of business that you run, when used effectively in a professional manner.

3) Follow-Up With Patients Who Have Not Booked A Procedure

Have a system in place either on your charts or in your computer system to track and follow up with patients on a regular basis. Whether using people or a computer system to confirm future appointments, try to get a commitment from a patient regarding a set date that he or she is coming back. It is critical to stay in touch with patients who may have come in for an initial consultation or diagnosis, but did not follow through with their surgery or other elective procedure.

Many patients may still be weighing their options for the procedure and may book if given an extra phone call or appointment reminder.

Is your patient coordinator detail-oriented and focused on getting patients to book?

Your coordinator can serve as a vital link and liaison between the physician and the patient. Even after a patient consultation visit with you, patients will often tell the coordinator information that provides the staff added insight into their personality. With the right coordinator dedicated to follow up with every patient in your practice, you will have a better chance of having consultations convert to procedures.

4) Team Approach to Patient Care and Follow-up-Staff Communication

Verbal and non-verbal communication are two of the most powerful internal marketing tools available. Your receptionist and staff should consider it a "job description" to add personal touch when dealing with patients during day-to-day operations. They should also be encouraged to think about their verbal communications and messages given to patients, whether VIPs of the practice, or reluctant potential ones.

Additionally, the staff should be aware of all new patients in the practice. There should be a special attention policy in place for a patient's first visit to your facility. If possible more time, pre and post consultation, should be given to the new individual and a staff member should make a follow up call or send a thank you note to the patient in a timely manner.

Lastly, telephone and on-hold messaging can work to turn a negative situation into an educational one by perhaps credentialing the physicians in the practice or raising awareness about new, innovative procedures. The telephone is the most-useful tool in the practice for new patients. Proper phone skills, training, and follow up in this area will help to insure retention success.

Your overall team approach to patient care should ideally include a high degree of hand-holding and personalized attention to the details of the entire patient experience.

5) Monitoring The Retention Rate Of Patients Within Your Practice .

A quick patient satisfaction questionnaire after treatment can be a good barometer as to how your practice is doing on your retention rates. Additionally it can offer patient communication and insight. Patient satisfaction can be measured at the end of each visit by asking 10-12 well-directed questions around service and staff perception. When instituted correctly, the patient satisfaction survey can offer good feedback on what the practice is doing well and what may be areas of opportunity for growth. These surveys should be reviewed and compared against the objectives which the practice has set regarding retention and follow-up.

6) Have a System for Converting Patients from One Procedure to Another

A cosmetic interest questionnaire is an internal marketing tool that can help uncover a patient's interests and serve to educate them on other procedures within your practice. This tool can assist staff in communicating with the patient upon arrival regarding their present and future needs. Additionally the cosmetic interest questionnaire can serve as a great time saver as it can assist the patient in discussing his or her needs with the staff.

When used properly, the CIQ should afford staff members the opportunity to "sell" the patient on things that they may be interested in, with little effort. The tool is most effective in introducing patients to additional procedures and products within your practice that may complement their current needs.

Lastly, the CIQ should create more awareness around the other procedures in your practice. This tool, coupled with an educated staff, can offer the patient more of a reason to visit your practice on a regular basis.

7) Website

Websites are the ultimate branding in today's medical marketplace. According to the ASPS, over 50% of patients will go to your website prior to paying a visit to your facility. As a result, websites are becoming a critical aspect of short and long-term marketing plans for most physicians. A website can allow you to stay up to date and current with patients who may not have visited you in a few years. Additionally, your website can be a great educational tool for your patients pre and post visit.

The two most important qualities in developing a good, patient-centric website in the current marketplace is to have clear goals and to have a distinctive look.

View your home page as an advertisement for what you want your practice to stand for in the patient's mind. Get with your web designer and be sure to choose the right meta-tags and keywords for your industry. With the right words and text in place, you will be able to insure that your site will turn up on Google and Yahoo for relevant web searches.
You have just 15 seconds, on average, to make a good first impression, so make sure that your site has something to hold the patient's attention. Educational video, catchy graphics, and good before and afters can all assist in keeping the patient on your website, as well as coming back for more.

8) E-marketing Strategies

E-marketing is the easiest and most cost-effective way to communicate with your patients to date. Additionally E-mail marketing and e-marketing strategies are becoming a mandatory staple in the marketing arena. In today's competitive environment, it is critical that you keep in touch with your patients on a regular basis. This will insure patient loyalty when they are in need of a follow up procedure or need an aesthetic consultation.

E-mail marketing strategies have been shown to have a 12-15 percent return, versus single digits for direct mail and magazine ads. Further, marketing through "educational strategies" (i.e. newsletters, product information, and procedure updates) have been shown to be more effective than traditional advertising models.

Asking patients for their e-mail may sound daunting at first, but can be easily introduced if mentioned in the correct manner. Simply asking patients if they would like to receive your exclusive web offers, events, and seasonal promotions usually will address any concerns they may have. Your e-mail promotions should be done on a regular basis, and should offer catchy promos, graphics, and education of benefit to the patient. Without something that the patient deems useful on your e-mail, you run the risk of losing your readership.

Make sure that your staff is getting e-mail addresses at the front end of any patient visit to insure good follow up with patients that you want to see again and again.

As with all strategies within the practice, retaining your patient database should have a solid follow-up procedure in place to measure its effectiveness. The results should be monitored on a quarterly basis as a part of your internal business plan. Additionally, all of your aesthetic team members (from physician to receptionist) should be made aware of your goals and retention rate successes on a regular basis.

Ms. Jacoby is an Allergan Practice Consultant with Allergan Medical. She has over a decade of experience in healthcare, sales, and management with a focus on specialties of medicine including Cardiology, Plastic Surgery, Neurology, Orthopedics, Dermatology, Oncology, and Internal Medicine.

Ms. Jacoby has been involved in change management, marketing campaigns, equipment sales, and product positioning in 30 of the 35 major medical markets in the United States. Additionally she has been responsible for sales relationships and business planning strategies with management, medical staff, and physicians at 17 top tier hospitals as ranked by U.S. News and World Report.

Ms. Jacoby is a graduate of Louisiana State University and holds a Masters of Management from Tulane University School of Business. She is a Certified Medical Professional through the CMR institute, and has a Master of Health Systems from the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey.