Articles

“Ask and ye shall receive.” “If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.”

These are sayings you’ve heard throughout your whole life. And guess what? They totally apply to your practice and your patients.

So many practices leave money on the table simply by not *asking* a few basic questions to their patients.

So let’s talk about the “Big 3 Asks” in your practice, the big levers to get more patients on your books. If you’re not doing these, you aren’t capitalizing on the amazing brand you’ve built and the incredible results you give your patients.

Subscribe in iTunes   |  Subscribe in Overcast

——————————————————

Transcript

Don’t forget to ask.

What is up, my friends? It’s your boy, Troy. Welcome to a fresh glorious episode of the Practice Growth Machine Podcast, where we teach you the persuasion tips and strategies you can use to command higher prices for your premium procedures and fill your surgery schedule.

It is all about the ask today people. Ask and you shall receive. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. These are sayings you’ve heard throughout your whole life, and guess what? They totally apply to your practice and your patients. I see so many practices who are leaving money on the table simply by not asking a few basic questions to their patients.

So today let’s talk about the three asks in your practice that are the biggest levers to get more patients on your books. If you’re not doing these, you are not capitalizing on the amazing brand you’ve built and the incredible results that you give your patients.

So let’s get into it.

Number one, you need to ask for reviews. 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. But with as many happy patients as you serve, you don’t have anywhere near as many five star reviews as you should.

Kind of crazy, right? Well, have you ever noticed how people who are upset or dissatisfied seem more than ready to go on and leave a bad review, but happy patients just don’t. And this is not just a medical thing. This goes for restaurants, bars, and yeah, of course, your practice.

Well, why is that? When you think about someone who’s upset and they feel slighted, they want some kind of justice and they want to vent. The best way to do that is to go out and tarnish your brand in public by leaving you a bad review on Google.

Why don’t happy patients go and leave reviews on their own in the same way?

Here’s the thing, when everything goes like it should and people are happy, they aren’t thinking about you. They’re out living their lives to the fullest, which is what you helped them do. Delivering great results is in a way a double-edged sword.

It’s absolutely what you want to do and it’s the most forgettable thing to our patients. It’s great for them, but it’s awful for your reviews. So how do you get five-star reviews from happy patients consistently? You have to ask.

I recommend asking in person, but you can also do it electronically via text or even via email if you don’t have time to engage the patient while they’re right there in the office. I have clients that use our review tool, Review Grab to 10 X their five-star reviews, exclusively using email invites.

So it’s doable. There’s a lot of ways you can do it, but the point is you have to ask. You have to ask for that feedback. You have to ask for the review. All right? And on that same note, you also want to ask your happy patients for referrals.

Number two, we have to ask for referrals. Patient referrals are some of your highest converting opportunities. Have you heard of the know, like, and trust trifecta? For somebody to do business with you they must know you, they must like you, and they need to trust you.

Marketing works to do this over time, but referrals speed up the process. So think about it. My friend or family member had surgery with you and they had a great result. That’s awesome. I know my friend or family member already has that know, like, and trust developed with you and I can basically piggyback on that as a shortcut.

Your patient referrals are also very highly educated. They’ve asked their friend or family a thousand questions about the procedure. Does it hurt? How long was the recovery? How much was it? And so forth. And these are a couple of the many reasons that personal referrals are so valuable to your practice.

So how can you get more of them? One way is through a strong post-acquisition marketing campaign, which we covered in detail in episode 10. If you missed that, go back and check it out.

Another great way is to simply ask, “Hey, do you have friends or family that’s struggling with this same problem that we just solve for you? If so, please, please, please have them give me a call. This is actually how most people find out about us and we would love to help them out as long as they’re as awesome as you are.”

It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that. You give them a handful of your business cards to hand out and that’s it. All you have to do is ask. That’s the operative word here, as I’m sure you’re well aware.

Number three, you have to ask for the business. Now, this one’s for your phone team and for your counselors. You must ask for the business, meaning you have to ask the person to take the next step.

This seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how often I listen to call recordings or I shadow consults and the counselor never directly asked the person to take the next step. It’s as easy as saying, “Hey, well, let’s go ahead and get you scheduled for your consult. Hey, let’s look at surgery dates and get you set up for your big day.”

It’s that simple, but so many times it just doesn’t happen. It’s almost like we’re waiting for the patient to take action of their own fruition, and unfortunately, that just doesn’t work most of the time. The reason? people don’t like making hard decisions and they don’t like breaking from the status quo. We really like staying the same.

So unless someone is guiding us to the next step on a transformational journey by asking us for our business, we rarely go there on our own. So let’s make sure that at every step along the way of the patient journey you ask for the business.

All right, let’s recap.

So what did we learn today? Asking is one of the easiest ways that you can get more patients, but it’s also one of the easiest things to forget. Happy patients are generally happy to comply or help you out if you just ask.

The three most high value asks to reinforce in your practice: ask for the review, ask for referrals, and ask for the business. Now, get out there and ask your way to a full surgery schedule next week.

We’ll see you on the next show.

For more persuasion tools and scripts. Visit the free resources tab at troycole.com.

We’re talking about a dirty 4-letter word on today’s show. Or at least… a word that a lot of people *think* is dirty.

That word – S-E-L-L – Sell.

A lot of folks, particularly in Medicine, find the idea of selling offensive. Of course, you should get money for what you do, but when I talk about selling, I mean as it relates to being a salesperson.

Should you be selling your services? Should the idea of selling even be part of the conversation in your practice? Let’s discuss!

Subscribe in iTunes   |  Subscribe in Overcast

——————————————————

Transcript

Let’s talk about my favorite four-letter word.

Hello, my friend. It’s your boy, Troy. Welcome to a fresh episode of The Practice Growth Machine Podcast where we teach you the persuasion tips and strategies you can use to command higher prices for your premium procedures and fill your surgery schedule.

We are talking about a dirty little four-letter word today, or at least a word that a lot of people think is dirty. That word S-E-L-L. Sell.

A lot of folks, particularly in medicine, find the idea of selling to be offensive. And of course you should get money for what you do, that’s not what I’m talking about. When I’m talking about selling I mean as it relates to being a salesperson.

Should you be selling your services like a salesperson might sell a product? Are you a car lot? Should the idea of selling even be part of the conversation in your practice?

Let’s discuss.

First of, it’s important to remember that everyone is always selling all the time. “Troy, I’ve never had a sales job in my life. You’re crazy.” Maybe you’d never had a business card that said sales on it, but here’s a question.

Have you ever talked to your spouse about a new car that you wanted to buy, or maybe you’ve talked to your child about why to eat their vegetables, then you’re selling.

You’re selling ideas. That’s not much different than what you’re doing every day in your practice. You sell your team on why your practice is the best because you believe that, and you want them to believe it too.

You sell your patients on why vision correction, or a facelift, or dental implants, are the right decision for them because you believe that it is. And you sell yourself on buying that new piece of equipment that will help you get better results for your patients.

Yeah, it’s expensive, yeah, it’s going to be an investment, but you believe it is going to help, and so you do it. So what’s the common theme among all these examples I just listed? They’re all things you believe in, and that’s a key operative term.

Our beliefs and our convictions drive what we’re selling and who we’re selling to. Ultimately, selling is about persuading. That’s why we talk a lot about persuasion here on the show.

Here’s something I know about you, you aren’t going to persuade someone to take action that’s not in their best interest. If a patient is not a good candidate for a procedure you won’t persuade them to have the procedure. In fact, you just aren’t going to do the procedure.

It’s obvious, but it’s a beneficial reminder for you, and for your team as well. Your team can be confident in your recommendations because you come from a place of true belief that what you’re recommending is in the best interest of the patient.

Let’s say you have a patient who is a good candidate for a procedure. You know it will improve their life, improve their self-confidence. Is it okay to assertively sell to that person? Let’s dig a little deeper.

Jay Abraham is one of the most widely respected marketers and speakers of our generation creating billions of dollars in profit for giant brands all over the world. Look him up. Jay Abraham. Jay is well known for his strategy of preeminence, which I want to share with you today.

This is a focus on serving your patients and helping them make the right decision for them. It is very patient-focused. It’s not us, we, look how awesome we are. It’s 100% focused on the patient and how we can serve them.

Jay talks about those who practice preeminence coming from a place of here’s what you should do, here’s how you should do it, and here’s why you should do it. That sounds pretty bold, right?

But if you truly believe, and there’s that word again, believe, that your procedure can help someone have a better life, listen, it’s your moral obligation to do everything you can to help that person choose your solution.

Let’s say you’re a cancer doctor, and you’re sitting there with a stage four cancer patient. Are you going to say, “Well, here’s a few options that would work for you. Just let us know what you want to do. Give us a call if you have any questions.”

Of course, you’re not going to approach the situation in that way. You’re going to say, “Here’s the treatment you need, here’s when you need to start, here’s what you need to do, and here’s why this is the recommendation that gives you the best chance of beating this thing and getting your life back.”

Maybe the procedures that you perform aren’t as life and death as dealing with cancer patients, but that doesn’t matter. If you can truly help someone you need to be bold, be clear, and do whatever you can to help them make the right decision.

Is that selling? Definitely. But is it bad? Is it wrong? Is it icky? I don’t think so. I think that’s exactly why you spent decades of your life in medical school building a practice focusing your entire life around your medical specialty because deep down you feel that moral obligation.

Let’s recap.

Selling is something you do all day every day whether you know it or not. You sell what you believe in, so take comfort in that. And if you believe you are the best surgeon, or doctor, or dentist in town and you believe your offering can help someone, you have a moral obligation to do everything in your power to help them choose your solution.

That doesn’t mean be a scummy used car salesman. It doesn’t mean trick people into taking action. But it does mean being clear, bold, and decisive in your communication with your patients, and this goes for your team as well.

So get out there and sell the thing that you do that’s making the world a better place. We’ll see you on the next show.

For more persuasion tools and scripts visit the free resources tab at TroyCole.com.

If “friends and family” is your most valuable referral source, we should be asking “How can I get more of those?!” Today we talk about why and how to get more friends and family referrals through a process called “Post-Acquisition Marketing.”

Subscribe in iTunes   |  Subscribe in Overcast

——————————————————

Transcript

Spend more of your marketing budget and attention on this.

What is up, my friends? It’s your boy, Troy. Welcome to a fresh episode of the Practice Growth Machine podcast, where we teach you the persuasion tips and strategies you can use to command higher prices for your premium procedures and fill your surgery schedule.

Today we’re talking about an aspect of the patient journey where you should be allocating more of your marketing budget and attention. We’re talking about post-acquisition marketing, marketing your practice to people who have already had a procedure with you.

“Oh, come on Troy. Why would we want to promote ourselves to someone who already had surgery? Why would we even need to do that and how would we go about it anyway?” Hey, these are all great questions, so let’s get into it.

Where do you get your most qualified referrals? Friends and family referrals are consistently in the top three referral sources for the practices we work with. Usually, they’re the number one referral source for patients who are highly qualified and ready to buy.

Why are friends and family referrals so awesome? First of all, we trust our friends and family more than we trust companies that market to us. That’s just the way we are wired.

Look, I’m a big fan of marketing. It plays an important role in growing your practice brand and building the know, like, and trust factors when attracting new patients. Friends and family referrals allow you to speed this process up because when someone you already know and trust says, “Look, I tried this product and it’s awesome,” or “I had a procedure with his doctor and it changed my life,” you listen.

Even if you aren’t ready to make that same decision right then, you hang on to that suggestion, put in the back of your head until you’re ready to pull the trigger.

Another reason is when someone’s referred by a patient who had a procedure with you, you can bet that person’s already asked the patient a thousand questions. Did it hurt? How much was it? How was the recovery time? Etc. So they’re already pretty educated coming into the appointment and they’re ready to go.

Now, how does all this come back to the concept of post-acquisition marketing? Well, think about it. If you’re advertising on a radio station, let’s say, that’s sending you a lot of happy patients, what do you do?

Well, if you’re smart, you look for ways to invest more with that station or at least with that demographic, since you know it’s working for you. Same thing goes for your happy patients.

If friends and family are one of your most valuable, if not the most valuable referral source, doesn’t it make sense that you would spend time and money trying to increase that referral source?

“But once someone has a procedure with us, they’re happy. We changed their lives forever. What more can we do?” You’re right, but here’s the deal. People forget things quickly.

A better way to put that might be that changes, even big changes in our lives become a new normal for us. It’s why a new car is awesome for the first few months and then it’s just our nice car. A new pair of shoes is fun and exciting, but then it becomes just another pair of nice shoes that are in our closet. And sure we like those things, but they don’t carry the weight and excitement that they do when we first get them.

Same thing goes for your procedures. We call it the honeymoon phase. So let’s take vision correction as an example. Right after surgery for a few weeks, everything is fun and exciting and new.

But once you’re out of the honeymoon phase, clear vision is your new normal. And sure, patients appreciate it, but they usually aren’t singing it from the rooftops like they are right after their procedure happens.

So one of the main reasons we want to do post-acquisition marketing is to keep that honeymoon phase going, keep stoking the fire of their excitement and leveraging that to bring in more of their family and friends.

Now let’s talk about a few ways you can implement post-acquisition marketing in your practice.

Number one, t-shirts. People like free t-shirts as long as they’re fun and they feel good. So don’t cheap out on this one. For an extra couple of bucks a shirt, you can go from cheapo stiff cotton to a nice soft feel, more fitted shirt that people will wear just because it feels awesome.

And it doesn’t need to have your logo gigantic across it. Use catchy sayings, fun graphics, and of course have your practice name or logo or your URL somewhere on the shirt.

I like sending shirts and other gifts in the mail versus presenting them in person, because hey, who doesn’t like receiving a package in the mail? That way it feels more like a gift being sent from a friend versus something you’d just do for everyone who comes into your office.

Here’s another tip. Include a postcard in the box that prompts the patient to post pics with their shirt and tag you and use your hashtags in the post on social media. Can you say free marketing?

Number two, thank you notes with gift cards. Thank you notes are a lost art, and even if your notes are pre-printed and you just sign them, letting patients know you appreciate them, putting their trust in you makes them feel great.

I like to include a small gift card. Nothing crazy, but a Starbucks card or maybe a pair of movie tickets. Nothing expensive but something they can go and enjoy as a small token of your appreciation.

Number three, referral gifts. All right, so this is the part where I say I’m not a lawyer and different state boards have different rules about this. That said, money talks. If someone refers you a patient, a thank you referral gifts can go a long way to making sure it happens again.

You don’t want to have any kind of official referral program where you say, “Hey look, if you send me a patient, we’ll send you $50 bucks.” That’s generally frowned upon regardless of where you practice.

This is why it’s better to send patients a thank you note after the fact with an Amazon card for example, after they refer someone. At that point, it’s a thank you as opposed to an upfront incentive.

And yeah, that means keeping a bunch of $50 Amazon cards on hand, but what does that new patient they referred worth to you? $5,000, $10,000, $15,000 bucks? A $50 thank you gift on a $5,000 procedure is a 100X return on your investment. I’ll take that all day long.

And number four, e-cards for birthdays and anniversaries. So this one’s easy. Set up automated emails to go to patients for their birthdays and the anniversary of their procedure day. This costs you virtually no money or time, and it provides you simple ways to remind your patients throughout the year that you exist and that you’re awesome.

Now we have an entire year-long outline that we use for our clients to map out the post-acquisition marketing strategy. What to send, when to send it, templates for cards, scripts, t-shirt designs, etc. If that’s something you’re interested in, shoot me an email, troy@troycole.com.

So to wrap this up, for around $50 bucks or so, maybe even more if they’re referring a lot of people to you, you can create experiences for your patients that keep your practice top of mind and keep them referring happy patients into your practice.

All right, let’s talk about what we learned today.

To recap today’s episode, spend money and time where you know you’re getting a return. Happy patients are your most valuable referral source, so invest attention and budget into that referral source.

The longer you can leverage that honeymoon phase, the more patient referrals you can generate. Use gifts in the mail, e-card reminders, and thank you gifts in your post-acquisition marketing strategy to make this happen.

All right, get out there. Get started on your post-acquisition marketing strategy today, and we’ll see you on the next show.

For more persuasion tools and scripts, head on over to troycole.com and click on the three resources tab right there at the top of the page.