I recently onboarded a new client who was complaining of people in their market “shopping around” for vision correction.
People who didn’t seem serious. Only asked about price. Didn’t want to book a consult.
This comes up fairly often when interviewing practices for one of our bootcamps. Especially when we share big wins our clients typically achieve – Conversions going up, record days/weeks/months for treatment, raising their prices while also raising conversions, etc.
Typical response: “That all sounds great. But our market is different. It’s unique. We have a lot of shoppers. I don’t know if that will work here.”
Every market has its nuances. But the big thing we’re talking about here are the laws of human nature, and those stay pretty consistent across the board.
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So how do you keep people from “shopping around” when they call your practice?
Picture a shopping mall (remember those?). You walk into a store, look around then on to the next one. And the next and the next.
Why do you do this? 2 reasons:
1. Because you are in charge of your shopping experience. You run the show.
And 2. Because most retail employees aren’t going to step up and run the show for you, so you stay in charge by default.
Think about it. You walk into a store and many times aren’t even greeted by someone. Or maybe an associate says “Hi, can I help you find anything?” That’s better than nothing I suppose. But it ain’t leadership.
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So what would take you out of “shop around” mode in a mall?
If someone else who started running the show instead of you.
Here’s what I mean:
Picture yourself walking into Nordstrom to find a new outfit for a party.
Instead of the sales associate saying, “Can I help you find anything?” It goes more like this:
Nordy: “What brings you in to see us today?”
You: “Oh just looking for something for a dinner party.”
Nordy: “Ooh, sounds fun! Let’s see if we can help with that. Are we talking formal, semi-formal, dressy-casual…?”
You: “dressy casual for sure.”
Nordy: “Great. And would you say you’re feeling more on the fun-n-funky side, or something more traditional?”
You: “Ha probably fun and funky. It’s my friend’s 50th birthday dinner, we’re doing the limo thing and probably getting ridiculous.”
Nordy: “Excellent, can I show you a few things that you might like? I’m Susan by the way, nice to meet you…”
And you’re off to the races…
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Nordstrom knows a thing or two about customer service. They know to help their customers get the result they want (look good, feel good), it takes an element of leadership.
One of the big reasons people shop around for a product/service they already know they want – they don’t have anyone leading them in the right direction.
This is especially true for something like elective surgery, where people are making a big decision they’ve never had to consider before.
They’re basically flying blind. (pun for my LASIK folks)
So they call you and 5 other practices. Ask questions about the few things they are familiar with (this is where so many of the pricing questions come from!). And they desperately try to gather enough information to formulate some kind of plan of action themselves.
Problem is, many of them never get themselves to the point of saying, “OK, here’s my next step.” Which shouldn’t surprise you. They don’t have any idea what they are doing.
Most people are bad decision makers anyway, and that goes double when we’re in unfamiliar territory.
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But is there any real harm in just answering their questions? In a word, yes.
Answering questions does your prospect ZERO favors. In fact, it’s a disservice.
If you answer every one of someone’s questions… and they leave more confused than before (which is often the case)… then you actually hurt them more than helped them.
Your prospects need a leader. A leader who is going to ask her own questions, to find out what the prospect really needs and work together to formulate an action plan that gets results. That’s why they called you in the first place, right?! To get a result?
One of the Es in our E3 Conversion System Bootcamp is “Exhibit Authority.” We re-wire our clients to think about leadership in a way that actually serves – and converts – prospects.
Don’t want people who “shop around” at your practice? Exhibit authority and give them a reason to fall under your leadership for this important decision. They cannot find the promised land on their own. They need you to lead them…
Share this with your team and go lead your patients today.
– Troy “Nordy Boy” Cole
PS – The 2021 Fall cohort for our E3 Conversion System Bootcamp is kicking off in a couple of weeks. We only have room for 3 more practices to join.
If you would like to: grow your surgery volume, raise your prices beyond “market rate,” build a strong culture, and turn your team into true believers in what you do (because conviction trumps everything) – then your team needs the toolset, skillset and mindset to make it happen.
E3 is the way. Reply to this email with “E3 me!” and I’ll send you a copy of our Dossier that outlines the entire program.