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[SMS Screenshot] What did I actually say?

Quick quiz today, but first…

What do you call high-intensity interval workouts in a 130-degree sauna?

Torture? Bliss? “What is required” for peak physical performance? Ridiculous?

It has a name: HOTWORX. A trendy fitness spot that just opened near our house. They have a dozen sauna bays, and you go into one, crank up the heat, and then do a cardio/yoga/bike workout. (Who comes up with this stuff?)

The ever-ambitious Susan Cole, founding partner of LogiCole Consulting and Cole Family Matriarch, is a member at HOTWORX. And being the adventurous glutton for punishment I am, I dared join her last week for a day-date so I could try it myself.

She fared better than me (no surprise), but I’d say HOTWORX was an… enjoyable… workout. I could see myself doing it a couple times a week.

But upon further inspection of HOTWORX, I got the sense that it isn’t really for me. In the same way Curves isn’t for me.

Meaning the instructors were women, the signage had 100% women pictures, and I only saw women there. Seemed like it was more of a spot for the ladies. (Which I have zero issue with. You know I’m a fan of niching and positioning, so I thought this was smart from a marketing standpoint)

Here’s where this becomes insanely relevant to you…

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I was surprised they didn’t try to sell me a membership when I was there. But I did get a text the next day from them (great job following up, HOTWORX).

Here’s the text, and here’s my reply:

Now we get to the quiz:

What do you see me communicating in this message?

Put yourself in their shoes – You work at HOTWORX, you know you serve men and women, and you have this beefy bald guy who tried a class and sent this message as a response.

You can read my words. But what am I actually communicating?

👉 Did I say probably no? Or did I say probably yes?

👉 Did my words make you think, “this guy isn’t gonna buy.” OR “Ah he’s totally in, just needs to get over a small obstacle.”

👉 Might you be offended at my comment… or do you believe I’m just misinformed and need more education so I can make the smart decision?

(Feel free to reply with your input, would love to hear your thoughts)

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The reason I share this exchange is because this very type of interaction happens multiple times a day with your prospects. Either by text, on the phone or in person.

A prospect will throw up what appears to be an objection or a rejection or a reason they simply can’t move forward… but is it really?

The way your team interprets what prospects say will inform their response, their posture, their approach, and the way you serve them. As a result, it will heavily influence whether prospects move forward with you and allow you to change their life, or stay stuck where they are.

👆 Re-read that paragraph. Because this Mindset Mastery is the most important skill if you want your team to be seen as Professional Advisors to your patients, not simply order-takers or worse yet, slimy sales people.

This is more important than having “the best script” or memorizing 100 responses to objections. Yes those are useful, but not nearly as crucial as learning how to interpret, process and respond to our prospects’ communication.

Our entire sales training philosophy, our bootcamps, our intensives, all our coaching materials are built around the Mindset Mastery foundation. Because once your team has this one skill, you have the keys to the kingdom.

Did HOTWORX message me back? Yes, they did, and it’s quite interesting. But we’ll get into that tomorrow…

For now, hit reply and tell me how you processed my initial message back to HOTWORX. And I’m curious if you perceive me as rejecting them or if it seems like I’m right on the precipice of joining…

What say you?

– Troy “Stay Hot” Cole

PS – I haven’t joined HOTWORX and don’t know if I will. I don’t know how this whole thing plays out, but I’m taking you on the journey with me so we can all learn and hone our skills together 💪🏻

Marketing lessons learned from lapses in lawn maintenance

Quick story: Let’s talk about my new Weed Eater.

(I’m sure you’re on the edge of your seat to see where this is gonna go…)

Actually, let’s talk about the process of buying my new Weed Eater.

We talk a lot about the patient journey, the buying process and patient psychology. And as I retraced the steps of me choosing my new Weed Eater last week, I realized there’s useful insights that can apply to your interactions with prospective patients.

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We live on 2 acres in the country-suburb town of Aledo, Texas. As such, I have a large yard to maintain, and I enjoy doing it.

My weekly routine involves a number of pieces of equipment: a riding mower, a push mower, Weed Eater (some people call it an edger) and of course a leaf blower to clean everything up at the end.

Well the last several months, my gas-powered weed eater has been acting up. Sometimes it will die, then it will run OK, another time it might only run on full choke. And it’s become undependable.

I’ve considered taking it to a small engine repair shop, but by the time they charge me for the repair and any parts, I might as well have bought a new one.

What to do, what to do…

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Every Labor Day my brothers and Dad (and how my oldest son, Cannon) take the weekend to Dove Hunt in Abilene.

I had mowed my lawn the day before my dad came from East Texas to ride with us to the hunt. And the ol Weed Eater quit on me, I couldn’t even get it started. So my yard didn’t look great. (Frustration at the equipment, at my yard looking bad, at having a job that I couldn’t get done – all pain points)

And one more pain point – embarrassment. I want my dad to think I do a good job with my yard. I was embarrassed that my mow job looked that bad. and I felt like I had to say something about it.

So I told him I’d been having trouble with my Weed Eater, and how I thought it was finally time to get a new one.

“You should just get an electric one, dude,” he replied.

Up until this point, I thought electric yard tools were for grandmas who need to keep their garden area trimmed up. Didn’t think they had enough power for what I needed to do.

Gas was the way to go. Electric… that’s amateur stuff.

BUT here was someone I respected on the subject of yard maintenance – my dad – telling me that the newer electric models are actually really good. And then you don’t have to worry about engine issues that come with the gas-powered ones.

So my old man got me to consider a new category of yard tool – electric instead of gas.

Similarly, LASIK is a different category vs. glasses/contacts. Part of what you’re trying to do is to get people to switch categories (or at least consider a new category).

In the case of the Weed Eater, the “category switch” had begun. So what’s next? Drilling down into actual brands and products….

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Next morning, we’re sitting in the hunting lodge after a decent sunrise hunt. Eating breakfast and watching College GameDay on ESPN, I notice a commercial for an electric leaf blower by EGO, a brand they sell at Lowe’s.

The commercial shows how much more powerful this leaf blower is than a gas-powered leaf blower. “Cool, I wonder if they have a Weed Eater?”

So I Google them on my iPhone. Sure enough, they do. I leave that window open in my browser for later use.

(The funny thing about this is that I’m not a Lowe’s guy. I’m a Home Depot guy. And I’m a Home Depot guy because Home Depot has sponsored ESPN’s College GameDay and I’ve grown an affinity for the brand over the years. The fact that Lowe’s ran a commercial during Home Depot’s show and got my business is funny to me, and there’s probably a lesson in there…)

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We return home from the hunt Monday morning. Of course my yard still isn’t up to par (I’m reminded of the pain-point yet again).

So I check my phone, to see if they have any of the EGO Weed Eaters in stock at my local Lowe’s. They do, so I head on over…

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Once I arrive at Lowe’s, I head back to the lawn section and start looking at these EGO Weed Eaters. They have them on display and I can physically hold them. Seem solid.

At this point, I’ve decided to get one. It’s just a matter of which one. So I’m reading the features on the boxes, and checking the reviews online on my phone at the same time.

They had 3 models, and I quickly decided I wanted the biggest one. I just needed to justify the purchase to myself.

Literally my justification was: 1. If I’m going to upgrade my Weed Eater, I might as well get the one I really want (aspirational, desire justification) 2. If I paid someone else to do my yard, I would spend this much in less than a month. So whatever I buy will more than pay for itself simply because I’m the one using it. (Financial justification)

Boom, new Weed Eater for me.

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And so I brought it home, got it out, charged it up and gave it a spin. I dig it.

Easy to use, plenty of power, auto-winds the twine onto the spool (what used to be a 5-minute task is now a 15-second task), lightweight, easy to maneuver.

And in just the last week, I’ve told half a dozen people about it. “Dude, I got one of those electric Weed Eaters. I didn’t know if they could get the job done, but let me tell you about this thing…”

(People like to share new discoveries because it raises our status)

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IN CONCLUSION – a few takeaways:

NUMBER 1 – My decision was influenced by MULTIPLE touchpoints across different media – personal referral from my Dad, TV commercial, Google search, reading reviews on the Lowe’s website, in-person “consult” at Lowe’s. Which one was responsible for my purchase? All of them.

This is almost a parallel copy of what happens in your practice. Someone refers a friend, that friend thinks about it, does some Googling, reads the reviews, sees other ads/media from your practice, decides to reach out, has a consult, books.

Marketing is an ecosystem. If you try to pigeonhole conversions and referral sources into one specific area, you’ll end up cutting out parts of the ecosystem that play a vital role in your brand’s growing dominance.

NUMBER 2 – You see many psychological factors at play in the buyer’s journey. Just in this short story, I shared with you about my pain, frustration, embarrassment, aspiration, raising status, fiscal responsibility.

All of this is running in the background of your prospects’ minds and informing their words and decisions. You need to be aware of these thoughts/feelings so you can address them. It’s easy to overlook and forget. It’s easy to live on the surface. But what’s DRIVING someone to reach out in the first place?

NUMBER 3 – When it’s time, it’s TIME. I’ve thought about a different Weed Eater for a while now. Just like a lot of your prospects have thought about having a procedure, maybe they’ve reached out or even had a consult. And then… nothing.

But NOW it was time for me to buy. The pain was big enough. I was ready to get my problem handled.

And when it’s TIME, you need to be top-of-mind. That Lowe’s commercial I saw during College GameDay – Right Place, Right Time.

Keep your practice name out there. Stay in your prospects’ inboxes. Have your counselors follow-up. Continue to market to them over and over and over. Because when it’s time, it’s TIME.

Maybe I’m a nerd, but all this is fascinating to me. And if you can reverse engineer some of what I’ve shared to your benefit, excellent.

Hit me back and let me know if this was helpful. Also if you have any other insights on how/why I was influenced, or if you just absolutely hated this whole thing. All feedback is welcome.

To full surgery schedules and well-manicured lawns,

T-Cole

Does “Price Transparency” do more harm than good?

“Transparency” is a big buzz word in marketing and sales these days.

And it seems like a great idea. Be up front with your pricing. If someone asks for price, give it to them. Transparency for the win, right?

If it were actually that simple, then yes. And maybe it is for certain straightforward purchases, like groceries.

But the elective procedure Patient Journey is long and complex. And in these situations, “price transparency” as we know it can actually do more harm than good.

Let’s go through a quick illustration to demonstrate the point:

Johnny Blur decides he wants to get his vision fixed. So he calls 5 different LASIK places in his town and asks the most common question, the only question he can think of to ask – “How much do you guys charge for LASIK?”

Johnny lives in Transparencyville, USA. So all 5 providers tell him the price they charge to do LASIK.

Later that night, Johnny sits at his kitchen table. As he analyzes the 5 practice names and 5 price points on his legal pad, he tries to decide where to go.

Practice C is the cheapest. Should I go there? I mean, lower prices are good, right? That’s what I’ve learned from TV commercials all these years.

But then Practice E is actually the highest priced. So many that means they’re awesome for some reason? But they can’t be THAT much more awesome though. They seem too expensive, not going there…

Question: now that Johnny knows the prices of all the LASIK places in town, is Johnny any closer to making an educated decision about his health care? No, he is not.

In fact, he’s in a worse position than if he’d simply researched each practice online and picked one based on what he read.

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If someone made a list of procedure prices in your city, would they pick “the right” practice? Sure some of them might choose you. But many others wouldn’t understand your true value, and pass you up for a “cheaper” provider.

I tell you this story of Johnny to illustrate how “Price Transparency” often backfires without adequate context in which to assess actual value.

(This isn’t theory. We see it daily in SMS exchanges and call recordings. A practice will indiscriminately give out a price, and the prospect will reply with “Oh wow, that’s too much for me” or “I can’t afford that. I’ll just stick with glasses.” Everyone loses in this situation.)

Remember, 98% of the prospects calling your practice lack the necessary decision-making framework because they’ve never had to make this type of decision before.

They don’t know how to think about the decision, how to process it, or how to confidently make it. You need to give them their decision-making frameworks. (which isn’t as hard as it may sound. We coach you how to do this in our E3 Conversion System bootcamps…)

So if price transparency is an issue, what do you do? Hide price? Act like you can’t give any kind of pricing estimate? No. That’s ridiculous and frustrating to people.

In fact, being up front with your pricing can work really well, when it’s done in the right context and sequence.

But this message is long enough already. That said, I’m happy to go further down this mind-bending, persuasion-packed rabbit hole if enough folks are interested. If you’d like me to dive deeper into this next week, reply with ‘rabbit hole!’

– Troy “Price Translucent” Cole

PS – What do you think? Is it helpful to give people the price up front when they ask for it, or is it actually a major disservice?

Focus your team on The Job not just “their job” (common mistake)

One of our primary areas of focus is working with clients to build the Who, What, When, Where and Why of their outreach processes with prospective patients.

A lead comes in to the practice – What do we say? Who says it? When do we say it? How do we approach it differently from lead source A, B, C, D? How/who/when do we follow-up? You get the idea.

But before we get into customizing all these tactics and strategies, your team needs to first understand The Job.

Everything we do centers around The Job. What is The Job of your front-line folks who are talking to prospective patients?

The Job is to get quality prospects in the door. It’s the ONLY WAY you can help them (or at least have the opportunity to help them).

That’s The Job.

And one of the most common roadblocks in getting The Job done is team members who are overly focused on “their job.” I’m helping a client with this very challenge right now.

What do people think their job is? Depends.

“My job is to answer the phone.”
“My job is to answer questions.”
“My job is to be a receptionist.”
“My job is let people know someone will call them back to schedule.”
“My job is to touch base with our leads.”

It’s funny because you have great people who hone in on a specific bullet point of their job description, and act like that’s their sole purpose at your practice. They limit themselves.

But “their job” is not their job. Their job is The Job.

Remind them of this. Remind them of the mission. Remind them of what we’re actually trying to do (help as many people as possible live their best lives).

To do The Job, we have to think outside box, pivot, do something a little different as necessary.

We also have to grow, develop, get comfortable being uncomfortable from time to time.

And we all need our “Radars On, Antennas Up” (nod to the infamous Ritz-Carlton customer service training) to meet and exceed the requirements of The Job.

When your crew understands The Job is getting quality consults in the door… and that their job is The Job…

They can reach new levels of clarity and confidence about how to get The Job done.

– Troy “On The Job” Cole

PS – My favorite “Do The Job” song is “The Business” by Tiesto. We jam it before every baseball game. What’s yours?

You Qualify Your Patients (not the other way around)

Quick reminder there are millions of people in this world who would benefit from your surgical expertise. But there’s only one of YOU.

You can’t possibly help everyone. You have to pick and choose who you help.

Which means you qualify your patients. They don’t qualify you.

You choose your patients. They don’t choose you.

🤔 Is he a good candidate for a procedure?

🤔 Is he compliant and willing to do the necessary pre-operative and post-operative steps to ensure a successful outcome?

🤔 Does he have realistic expectations?

Great, he qualifies. If not… well, he’s out.

It’s time to stop thinking we are auditioning for our patients…

“Pick me! Choose us! We’re better than those guys down the street. C’mon, go with OUR practice. We’ll even knock a few bucks off. Will that seal the deal?”

No no no. You qualify your patients. That’s how YOU run YOUR practice.

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And if you’re squirming at the thought of this… if this sounds pompous and arrogant to you…

Remember that you already do this with non-candidates.

Someone comes in for a screening and you find out they are not a candidate for surgery, what do you do? You tell them, and then you don’t do the surgery.

“But I want to have the surgery, doc.”

Sorry, dude. we’re not gonna perform it on you. And no one else should either. It’s not the right decision for you at this time.

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OK, now we’ve determined you ALREADY qualify your patients. You ALREADY decide who you will and won’t do surgery on.

Just keep this in mind for every person who DOES qualify. For every person who DOES come through your doors. For every person who reaches out.

They have to QUALIFY to come in for a consultation. They have to QUALIFY for a procedure. And when they do, that’s cause for celebration!

“Congratulations! You qualify for this! Not everyone does, but you do, and you’re gonna love it…”

Taking the Qualification Approach is a paradigm shift that projects more value and helps your team to be more confident in getting your prospects on the books.

We’ll do a deep-dive into the nuts-and-bolts of the Qualification Approach in our upcoming Fall sessions of the E3 Conversion System Bootcamps for elective surgery teams.

Message me if you’re interested in choosing your ideal patients vs. hoping they choose you. 🖐🏻