Before starting a marketing campaign, it is essential to have a clear idea about who you want to treat
In this article, I will discuss why business strategy must come before tactics. No one wants to build the wrong business from the get-go or have their ladder up against the wrong wall. Pearls of wisdom will be provided from first-hand experience, so that facial aesthetic businesses can get off to a flying start, and the five key strategic elements for business will be detailed: marketing, sales, operations, finance and talent.
To begin: breathe before you build. Readers will be eager to get to the crucial information, but assessment should come before any action. Before working out a plan as to where to go, find out what stage you are at currently by examining your business.
There is a distinction between strategy and tactic. Strategy is an overarching plan or a set of goals. Changing strategies is like trying to turn around an aircraft carrier—it can be done, but not quickly. Tactics are the specific actions or steps that are undertaken to accomplish a strategy (Farnam Street Media, 2018), and these are easier to modify.
1. Marketing
Now, I will discuss the first strategic pillar: marketing. To get the best results from marketing and, in fact, all the strategic pillars, it is always best to start with a definition. Marketing is the process of consistently attracting qualified leads. I use the 3 ‘M's for any marketing campaign: market, message and medium.
Market (target)
Before embarking on any marketing campaign, it is essential to have a clear idea about who you want to treat and, just as importantly, who do you not want to treat.
So, who is your target market? It is crucial to know the patients who you love to treat and what the attributes of these patients are. Personally, I divide the ideal patient's characteristics into two parts and list them. The first is demographics and the second is the psychographics. Demographics include characteristics such as age, sex, income, family status and location, while psychographics are more personality orientated and include patients' lifestyles, where they spend their money and what their hobbies are.
Once a list of all characteristics has been drawn up, the message and which medium channel to use to reach the patient will fall into place naturally (more information regarding message and medium will be detailed next). At this stage, I am often asked about missing a large chunk of the population in my local area. I understand that this is a natural thought, as the more patients that are attracted, the more the financial reward. However, there are two flaws with this logic. The first is that not everyone will be an ideal fit, as no one is able to bond and build rapport with every single person. Additionally, it is likely that the ‘problem patients’ within each clinic are the ones whom you have not bonded with or they do not share the same demographics and psychographics as you. The second flaw is that, the more specialised or niche an aesthetic practitioner becomes in their market, the more the financial reward.
Message
In a nutshell, the message is what you do and how it benefits the end user. In this competitive market, aesthetic practitioners also need to consider why patients should choose them over another practitioner. What is it about you that distinguishes you from the marketplace, and how can this be conveyed?
Medium
The medium is what message delivery system will be used to reach the target market with the correct message. There are numerous medium avenues, such as online platforms, leaflets and print advertising. Use the one that appeals to your market (which can be identified from researching the market and new and existing patients).
» The medium should be repeatedly tested, as many will want to find out as quickly as possible what works and, most importantly, what is not working. In marketing, you either get a result or you get a lesson «
The medium should be repeatedly tested, as many will want to find out as quickly as possible what works and, most importantly, what does not work. In marketing, you either get a result or you get a lesson.
2. Sales and patient consultation
Sales and the patient consultation is where ideas and plans come to be tested, allowing practitioners to achieve consistent sales conversion into business. We are looking at the patient journey and the consultation in this strategy.
I will now detail the steps that are necessary for the perfect patient consultation.
Step 1: rapport
Rapport is a close and harmonious relationship, in which the people or groups concerned are ‘in sync’ with each other, understand each other's feelings or ideas and communicate smoothly (Oxford Dictionary, 2021).
It is essential to use the skill of active listening when speaking to patients, as this is where the practitioner should really listen to their concerns and the feelings that are conveyed through their words. This should be different from the situation where many may think that they are listening, but they are actually half-listening, because they are thinking of their next question and getting ready to respond.
Step 2: values
What does the patient value—and does it match your values? Patients will buy from people with corresponding values, and this essential piece of information can be discovered during the consultation by asking questions. Approximately 80% of the consultation should be the practitioner asking questions and the patient responding to these questions.
To elicit the patients' values, the following questions should be asked, as a minimum:
- What are your concerns?
- What are you hoping to achieve? Do you think that is reasonable?
- What is your timeframe?
Step 3: pair the benefits with the values
Now, the benefits of the treatments and services that are recommended and how these can be aligned with the patient's values will be discussed.
For example, in the case of a patient who values a natural appearance, rather than a ‘frozen’ look, who is concerned with fine lines on their forehead, anti-wrinkle injections would be recommended. Personally, I would approach the patient with a statement along the lines of: ‘I recommend this treatment because we can baby step the process and soften your lines gradually, giving you the natural look that you want and avoid the frozen look’. On the other hand, in this example, the recommendation would need to be changed if the patient expressed a rigid timeframe of, say, 1 week, as it would not align with the time-sensitive value that the patient has expressed. The benefits of the anti-wrinkle treatment are numerous, but since it does not meet the criterion of the rigid timeframe that is valued by the patient, they may not be treated by this practitioner.
Some patients may object to treatment prices, suggesting that they are too expensive. In this situation, it is useful to provide further information and remind them of the high quality of the service that is being provided
Step 4: objections
I believe that objections are a great thing, because they show that the patient is interested in the practitioner's recommendations. An objection is not a problem—it gives the practitioner the chance to provide further information to make the sale. An objection is an opportunity.
Often, people can get confused with the definition of objection versus rejection. An objection is where the patient disagrees or has doubts about what is on offer, whereas rejection is an outright no. Generally speaking, objections from patients will fall into three categories:
- Money: for example, the treatment is expensive and it costs more than the patient expected. The practitioner should re-emphasise the value that they are offering, and then they can consider any guarantees or risk reversals that they may be able to offer (be careful with wording for medico-legal reasons). I remind the patient that no one can give them the best quality treatment, top service and lowest price; out of these three options, which are they prepared to do without?
- Time: the patient may not be able to commit to the time that is required to complete the treatment. They should be reminded of their initial concerns and asked what it may cost them by not going ahead with the treatment. Offer a cooling-off period if they are unsure and rebook in a fortnight or so to give them some breathing space
- Credibility: the patient does not believe the practitioner, or they are not confident in them delivering the results that they want. I would show some case studies and testimonials and offer the opportunity to speak to past patients who have undergone the treatment that they are considering.
Step 5: close
Many aesthetic practitioners do not ask for the sale, probably because of the fear of rejection. However, the worst thing that the patient is going to say is a simple no, and if you never ask, the answer is always going to be no. Asking for the sale does not mean having to be pushy. Simple statements, such as ‘would that work for you?’ or ‘does that make sense?’, will work. Ask with confidence and conviction: ‘shall we go ahead and take care of this?’.
It is not the end when patients say yes. The practitioner still needs to deliver the high standards that have been set and promised to the patient. Book their appointment (or appointments) and explain what will happen next. One day later, either phone them to ensure that they are happy with everything or send an email to them, thanking them for their business. No one wants buyer's remorse.
3. Operations
In this strategic pillar, operations refers to creating a resilient and efficient system, which allows the practitioner to focus on what they enjoy.
The practitioner will need to examine what systems they need, now and in the future. These include:
- Practice management: to take bookings and send reminders
- Payment processing: to take payments face to face and online
- Customer relationship management: a software system for managing relationships with your customers (for example, sending emails and newsletters)
- Cloud-based accounting software, such as Xero
- Planner: for marketing campaigns and team tasks, such as Trello
4. Finances
Finances are necessary to establish a profitable, cash-positive business. As well as the normal accountancy spreadsheets that practitioners will need to produce (profit and loss, cashflow projections and balance sheet), the one that most successful businesses also complete on a monthly basis are key performance indicators (KPIs).
There are numerous KPIs that can be measured; however, personally, I have found that using just five KPIs will provide an accurate scoreboard for businesses. The five KPIs that I record on a monthly basis are:
- Number of enquiries
- Percentage of enquiries that are converted to visits
- Percentage of visits that are converted to treatments
- Percentage of treated patients who are retained
- Percentage of treated patients who refer others.
5. Talent
In this last strategic pillar, we will look at talent. You cannot run a successful clinic without top talent. So, the definition of this is to hire, nurture and retain top talent.
I am always looking for special talent. Whenever I experience exceptional customer service, whether this is at a hotel, spa or restaurant, I am always on the lookout. You need to always be planning, rather than enacting a knee-jerk reaction when a team member hands in their notice. Hire slowly, fore quickly.
Who do you need now and in 2022? Top talent will be in stable jobs and may need to give 2 months' notice, so practitioners need to plan months ahead. There are two subgroups of talent needed:
Direct
- Marketing: in-house
- Operations: practice manager
- Sales: in-house?
- Finances: bookkeeper
- Talent: clinicians/admin.
Indirect
- Insurance providers
- Pharmacies
- Suppliers
- Clinical waste contractors
- Digital marketing
- Public relations
- Accountants.
Summary
Strategy always comes first, before tactics. Practitioners need to be clear on what strategy they have in place for each of the five pillars and share this with all team members. Once the strategies have been determined, then it will be much easier to plan the tactics that are needed to undertake and achieve the strategic plan. Hundreds of hours will be saved not wasting time, and the frustration of not achieving your goals for your business will be avoided.