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Why Day 4 of My New “Meal Plan” is always the worst…

We just started a 6-week challenge at our gym (so we can get our beach bodies ready for… Thanksgiving? whatever.)

The challenge program includes daily workouts and a specific meal plan.

Here’s what happens anytime I make significant changes to my diet literally overnight:

My body… doesn’t really like it.

My body’s like “Yo, you were giving me plenty of calories, all this easy-burning sugar fuel… we were living the good life, dude!”

And my mind is like “Sorry, body, time for something different. Deal with it.”

For the first 3-4 days, my body tells my mind: “Hey dude, you can stick it up your you-know-what. I ain’t changing a thing.”

The Body is in a state of Resistance.

The result: I feel extra tired, dragging, a little foggy. Because my body fights against the big shift, as my mind fights against my body.

So it’s Mind vs. Body. What I *know* I need to do, vs. what I *want* to do.

And for the first few days, the Body seems like it’s winning the battle.

Slowly but surely (by about day 5-6), the Body relents and starts to get on board with the Mind.

The Body stops fighting the change. It adapts. And I start to feel better, clearer, have more energy.

Then the Mind is affirmed in its decision by the feeling from the Body. And the Body realizes it can function well in this new, “cleaner fuel” environment.

Momentum builds. The cycle perpetuates itself in a positive direction…

Mind and Body working together…

As long as I can get over that initial 5-day hump.

Here’s the deal…

And the same thing happens when you try to take your practice to the next level.

Right now, you have your usual stuff that you do at your practice, and you do fine.

You make good money, do a decent number of surgeries, and everything’s pretty solid.

But when you challenge yourself and decide it’s time to take your practice to the next level…

You are playing the role of The Mind. And “The Body” (your team, your processes, your culture) isn’t ready for that change.

So it feels like an upstream effort… at first.

As you make seemingly radical (but reasonable) updates to your “meal plan” including:

” /> Raising your prices

” /> Offering early morning and evening consultations

” /> Multiple follow-up points with every prospect

” /> Daily training and development of your patient-facing teams

The Body will give pushback… at first.

But then shifts will start to happen. As your team is trained in the proper ways to bring these new initiatives to life…

And they start to experience the results for themselves…

“The Body” will start to get on board with “The Mind.” And that’s when the momentum can build.

It takes a little time. It takes a little effort. Just like meal prepping and working out take a little time and effort. But it’s all totally doable.

…As long as you can get past the initial Resistance.

SO – what’s keeping you from fighting that initial Resistance and taking your practice where you *really* wanna go?

because if you’re *still* dealing with the same issues you were faced with last month…

Last quarter…

Last year…

It may be time to make a change or two?

The short-term Resistance is worth fighting for the Long-Term Gains.

Think about it…

[VIDEO] Being Considerate vs. Being Afraid (Costing you patients)

“Are we like your worst-case scenario?”

That’s what a new client asked me during our intro call on Wednesday.

She reached out to me because their sales process was pretty… broken.

No follow-up with non-converted leads…

Consultation process that’s lacking persuasion and value-building…

Putting the Responsibility of Action back on the patient at all times.

“No, this is actually pretty common,” I told her. And that’s true.

Which is why I recorded this “Thursday Thunder” video about it (these are the vids I record in my truck on the way back from my Thursday morning lifting sessions).

In this one, I discuss the difference between being considerate and being afraid. These are very different things, but they often get confused.

And this mistake is costing you a lot of patients. And especially if you’re the best provider in town, you absolutely must get this fixed asap.

So watch this video, forward it to anyone on your team who needs to hear it. And have a darn good weekend.

Click here for the vid

We’ll talk more about 2021 next week.

Have an epic weekend,

– Thunder Troy Cole

Who won the debate? (A sales lesson on reality)

In case you didn’t watch the recent Vice Presidential debate, you might be confused on who “won.”

(If ‘winning’ is even a thing for a debate like this)

Depending on where you check your headlines, you might see that the VP destroyed Kamala.

Other news sources will tell you Kamala took Pence out behind the woodshed, and she dominated the debate.

Everyone saw the same show. So how can people draw such starkly different conclusions?

Last night’s debate is just another example of what happens every single day in politics.

A thing happens. Half the media says it was great. Half the media says it was the worst.

The president’s Coronavirus response… Russian collusion… Obamacare…

Countless examples of what Scott Adams calls “2 movies, 1 screen.”

How does this tie into growing your surgical volume?

You’ve heard the old adage that “Perception is reality.” And that’s certainly proven true in the examples above.

But here’s the trick you need to steal from politicians and the news media…

Politicians and the news media don’t let people come up with their own perceptions.

A thing happens. A pundit gets on TV and tells viewers what to think about it. Viewers adopt that perception.

CNN is NOT waiting for you to conclude that Kamala destroyed Pence. Fox News is NOT hoping you see for yourself that the VP ruled the roost last night.

No, they take action. They form the perception. Then they tell us what to think.

In politics, this might feel like a shady practice. But I submit that it’s actually helpful in an area like surgical procedures.

Why? Because most patients don’t have any frame of reference. Most have never gone down this road before – of vision correction or plastic surgery or a cosmetic dental treatment. All the information is new to them.

So if you leave them to draw their own conclusions – to create their own perception of reality – it may be skewed.

We’ve all been in situations where someone explained a concept to us in a new way. And we say, “Wow, I never thought about it like that before.”

That’s what you want to do with your patients.

A few examples:

Your premium price

Wrong perception – “Wow, that’s expensive!”
Right perception – “Wow, these guys don’t cut any corners or spare any expense when it comes to the health, safety and outcomes of their patients.”

The driver who is tired of waiting for the patient on surgery day

Wrong perception – “These guys take forever. This is really inconvenient.”
Right perception – “They are committed to making sure every I is dotted and T is crossed on surgery day. They take no chances, don’t get in a rush, and stay focused on each patient.”

I could go on, but you get the picture.

Help your patients form the right perception, and they’ll love the reality you create for them.

How Floyd Mayweather would handle the “Spouse Objection”

Floyd Mayweather is considered one of the greatest boxers in history. In his professional career, he’s amassed 50 wins and no losses, with 27 knockouts.

And belts. Lots of belts.

One interesting aspect of Floyd’s preparation is his “Calm before the Storm” approach on fight night.

You might think in the hours leading up to a fight, he’d be doing final preparations – working through his game plan, strategizing with his team, studying for the fight.

Not the case.

On May 5, 2012, Mayweather fought (and beat) Miguel Cotto for the Super Welterweight Championship.

Pro wrestler Triple H, a friend of Mayweather’s, was visiting his dressing room before the fight that night. Triple H explains how surprised he was at Mayweathers “pre-fight prep” – the champ was sitting on a couch, watching a basketball game.

When Triple H asked Mayweather what he needed to do to get ready, Mayweather calmly responded:

“I’ve done everything I’m going to do. Nothing I do in the next little bit is going to change anything, so ain’t no use getting worried about it. I’m going to watch this game for a little bit, talk with you if you want, and then I’m going to go win my fight.”

A big reason why Mayweather is a champion:

He knows that when it’s game time, you better have already put in the work during practice.

So let’s apply this to another Classic Common Objection – The Spouse Objection.

“I need to talk to my spouse/boyfriend/partner about the surgery/treatment/whatever.” How often do you hear this in consults?

I’ll estimate at least 1x a day, on average. (This and price are the most common objections that consistently come up with our clients’ prospects.)

Handled properly, you endear yourself to the patient and keep the momentum moving toward surgery. Handled poorly (which happens most often), and you end up losing most of these patients or driving them away to other practices.

We have a number of specific tactics our clients use to identify and handle the spouse objection. (Not enough space to cover those details in this short email, but we cover them in-depth in our team training programs.)

Here’s the big idea:

The best way to avoid the spouse objection is to keep it from coming up in the first place.

How do you do that? Just ask – What Would Floyd Mayweather Do?

He would lay the ground work, do the investigating early in the consult. And because he was prepped, he could proactively handle the spouse objection before it even comes up at the end.

Practically, what this means is: Get to know the prospect’s situation, which includes anyone who may be helping to make this decision.

You need to find out:

If they are married / in a serious relationship
Does their spouse know they are here?
What does their spouse think about this great opportunity?
Who’s in charge of making this decision?

If you are a counselor, and you are surprised when you receive the spouse objection at the end of a consult… then you didn’t do the necessary groundwork early on in the encounter.

Mayweather prepares for months before a fight. And when he gets in the ring, there are no “surprise” left hooks that he isn’t expecting.

In the same way, your preparation leads up to (and through) the consult. Don’t let someone throw a “surprise left hook” of a spouse objection at the end.

Do the work beforehand, proactively overcome the spouse situation before it ever becomes an objection, and you set yourself up for success.

You probably won’t get to 100% win percentage like Mayweather, but you’ll stack on a few extra treatments per week.

The man nicknamed “Money” Mayweather would certainly approve.

– Troy

PS – If you want more in-depth training on this (the spouse objection stuff, not boxing), book a call here.

Solve Your Most Common Sales Issues First

I wanna get practical with you today, my friend. Let’s talk about which sales objections you should actually work to solve.

“You mean I shouldn’t try to solve them all?”

Nope. Because most of them don’t deserve your attention.

For example, the random patient whose husband is an engineer. He’s researching all the lasers in town and won’t allow her to book a surgery until she’s had 6 consults and waited 3 months to ensure they’re comfortable to actually do the surgery.

Yes, this happened to a client, and they asked me if we could create a word track specifically for this issue.

My question was – well how often does this happen?

“Eh, it’s actually never happened before. First time in 6 years.”

OK. So that’s not a problem we need to solve. It’s an anomaly.

Here’s the thing:

You don’t need a specific word track or plan of action for a problem that arises once every 6 years, or even once every 6 months.

The more different scripts / word tracks / if-this-then-that scenarios you pile on your phone team and counselors…

The more convoluted your process becomes.

And when you overcomplicate, you negatively impact results. Because attention is spread too thin across too many areas.

This is a big reason why we don’t train to use specific, memorized scripts. But rather we train around mindset and frame control.

If you’re addressing the prospect with the right mindset and frame, the right words tend to flow naturally.

More on common issues vs. anomalies…

Let’s say you have 3 patient counselors. 1 of them is on vacation, and then the other 2 call in sick on the same day.

That’s unfortunate, but it’s not a massive recurring problem that you should waste energy on.

BUT…

A number of common, recurring, expensive sales issues do exist in your practice.

These issues cost you thousands of dollars literally every single day, whether you know it or not.

Let’s look at a few examples…

Classic Common Objections (CCOs)

“Yeah so about scheduling my surgery – I’m actually joining the peace corps, I’m leaving tomorrow and won’t be back in the country for 6 months.” <<<< This is not a Classic Common Objection.

“I need to discuss this with my spouse.” <<<< this is definitely a Classic Common Objection (CCO).

Your team hears this objection at least once daily.

So if your team can better pre-empt / navigate / address / overcome this objection, the result could be… an extra 2-4 patients/week on your treatment schedule? No hyperbole. And that’s a game-changer.

Pricing concerns are another CCO – Whether it’s price questions on the phone, price objections in the office, comparing you to a discount competitor, etc.

Your team gets price objections daily. Learn better strategies to handle those, and that’s another chunk of patients that end up on your treatment schedule.

Another expensive recurring sales issue…

Response speed to online opportunities

Many times a day, prospects submit their info via contact forms on your website.

If your team isn’t calling them back in 60 seconds or less, the chance of actually connecting with them plummets. (Multiple studies reinforce this)

So if you don’t have a system in place to call someone back in under a minute – it’s time to fix it.

This is another opportunity where, if you get this common problem fixed, you’ll reap the rewards of more booked consults. Day in and day out.

And if your ‘system’ is simply saying “Yeah my team is supposed to do that.” <<< This isn’t actually a system. This is hope. And hope is not a strategy.

Yet another expensive recurring sales issue…

Building Unshakeable Beliefs

This is less tactical and more mindset. But it’s foundational to the premium brand you’re trying to build.

Your sales team sees ads in the marketplace for discount competitors. They hear price objections from prospects. People tell them your treatments are too expensive.

The world is constantly trying to drag them back down to the status quo. To mediocrity.

If your sales team doesn’t have a bulletproof mindset and unshakeable beliefs around WHY your practice is the best in the country…

if they aren’t secure and confident when they “ask for the money”…

Your prospects will sense the lack of conviction in your counselors.

And when there’s a lack of conviction, a lack of confidence, it’s much harder to build trust and book the surgery.

This common problem will cost you patients every single day until you fix it.

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I’ll dig a little more into specific common sales issues over the next few days.

Do me a favor: reply to this email with a common sales issue that you face in your practice.

It can be similar to the examples I listed here, or a completely different issue.

Let me know what it is and what questions you have, and I’ll address it in an upcoming message.

Troy “Fix the Common Problems” Cole