By Tyler Terry, vice president of sales, TouchMD

Medical aesthetic practices spend a lot of their money and resources on marketing to attract patients to their practice, as well as on a savvy website to sell patients on why to choose them over their competition. All this results in a patient scheduling a consult. What happens next is where most practices "strike out looking."

I've been in more than 400 cosmetic practices spanning more than 40 states across the country, and the problem is always the same: Patients—your captive audience—are either on their smartphones or reading magazines in both the waiting and consultation rooms. They are literally waiting to be sold on whatever product, procedure and/or service that attracted them to your office in the first place. Wouldn't their time be better spent learning about that product, procedure or service? This surely would prepare them to ask better questions and participate in a more efficient and effective consult. Sure, most patients are already sold on Botox, but why wouldn't you give them the opportunity to engage with and learn about the new laser you just purchased or any specials or events that are coming up?

Brag books and brochures were sufficient back in the early 2000s, but it's time to retire them both and invest in technology that will enhance the patient experience and showcase the products, procedures and services that your practice offers. You can start by adding a waiting room solution consisting of either a patient-friendly app for patients to download and watch videos and look at before-and-after pictures, a waiting room loop system to stream educational and promotional content, and/or a tablet with which patients can interact. The same concept applies to your consult room—take advantage of any downtime the patient might have while he or she is waiting.

Here are a few ways to implement captive audience experiences:

• In-house marketing: Utilize promotional videos and images to educate patients about services you offer.
• Visual consultation: Everyone is a visual learner—combine videos, images, before-and-after galleries, and educational content into a patient education platform.
• Patient education: Allow the patients the opportunity to relive the consultation at home using software. Your patients can review drawings, signed consents, operational instructions and custom educational videos.

The captive audience experience is too often forgotten or left out of the equation. It's an easy fix with the right technology.

TouchMD is a visual consultation, marketing and imaging software utilizing touch-screen technology that enhances the patient experience with proven revenue generation. To learn more about TouchMD or request a demo, please email tyler@touchmd.com.