By Terri Ross, Terri Ross Consulting

Imagine this scenario: You have a consultation with a prospective patient. It goes really well. You establish a good rapport. You answer all their questions and smoothly handle all their objections. However, when it comes to closing the deal and booking a procedure, they can't quite commit at this time.

So, what do you do? If you are like most clinicians in the aesthetics industry, you chalk it up as a "win some, lose some" situation and move on to the next patient. But the truth is, not every prospect will say yes on the spot.

The Facts on Follow-up

Did you know that 80% of all sales require five follow-up touch points to close? According to research by Marketing Donut:

• 44% of sales reps stop following up after one rejection or ignored email;
• 22% stop after two attempts;
• 14% stop after three attempts; and
• 12% stop after four attempts.

That means 8% of salespeople are scoring 80% of the deals.

So how does that translate or apply to generating revenue for your med spa? It means that establishing a prospective patient follow-up protocol and a process to nurture existing patients for additional sales is crucial. This is how repeat business and referrals are generated—through consistent follow-up.

Why Follow Up?

Following up does not mean being a pest or annoying people. If you shift your mindset from selling to educating, you simply are providing additional opportunities to educate them about what you offer and why they need it.

If you can detach or release the expectation for when the sale happens and instead focus on...

• Cultivating the "know, like and trust" factor and genuinely communicating educational information with prospective patients;
• Continuing to reach out to people who already know who you are or with whom you have established some relationship vs. spending more money on generating new leads through advertising;
• Respecting that some people really do need time to think about a large financial outlay, but not letting too much time pass for them to linger on a decision; and
• Putting a concrete, consistent follow-up plan into place,

...you can experience the magic of following up and watching your revenue increase.

Create a Post-Consultation Follow-up Plan

If a patient doesn't book post-consultation, here is my six-step follow-up plan:

1. Send a thank you email—or, better yet, a hand-written note that will really set you apart—and include follow-up information about the physician, practice or procedure they were interested in.
2. Schedule a follow-up call two days post-visit (or whatever protocol your practice decides works best) to offer more information, see if they have had time to think about it or have any questions, and schedule an appointment if they are ready.
3. Track all communication in your practice management software program.
4. Continue to stay in touch when appropriate. Invite prospective patients to education events or seminars.
5. Send monthly newsletters out to prospects, as well as to all established patients, as future touch points to highlight a particular procedure, treatment or special you might be running. Use these newsletters to credential your staff, educate on the latest trends or new equipment you might have, or a particular retail product that is a much smaller investment.
6. Vary your message in email communication—include a provider video or a testimonial, or perhaps take the opportunity to simply thank them for their continued support and check in to see how they are doing.

If you need help with establishing a strong follow-up process or feel you or your staff could use expert sales training, I am here to help. To learn more or book your onsite sales training today, click here.

Terri Ross brings more than 20 years of sales and management experience to the field, having worked with leading-edge medical device companies such as Zeltiq, Medicis, EMD Serono, Merck Schering Plough and Indigo Medical, a surgical division of Johnson.

Ross' vast knowledge and experience as a sales director managing upwards of $20M in revenue and successful teams has allowed her to become a renowned plastic surgery management consultant helping aesthetic practices thrive.

To optimize revenues and business performance, Ross' practice management consulting services help physicians evaluate practice processes including, but not limited to, overall-operating efficiencies, staff skill assessment, customer service and operating efficiency strategies. The goal is to develop a comprehensive plan of action to improve productivity, quality, efficiency and return on investment.