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by Douglas Preston
 Many medical spa owners have been faced with a perplexing dilemma: how to get their amazing and effective high-impact treatments to sell as well as they expected them to. They built a beautiful facility and staffed it with highly competent nurses and estheticians. They leased the latest equipment that promised high consumer demand and a steady flow of insurance-free income. They have marketed and attracted a stream of interested potential patients that scheduled and experienced a well-presented pre-treatment consultation. And after all that many are still baffled by a less-than-stellar rate of post-consult appointments for the services demonstrated. What’s wrong? Why would a potential patient or client learn so much about appearance-improving services only to walk away unconvinced or unprepared to commit?
Recently I was asked to experience a medical spa’s client consultation process in order to see if I could detect any reasons why the consult to commitment conversion rate had  proved disappointing overall. While they seemed to have a reasonably good “close” rate it remained that many prospective patients left the spa undecided and unscheduled, and often remained that way. I elected to play the role of a 55 year-old man (which I am) seeking solutions for growing signs of aging on the face, including hyperpigmentation, crow’s feet and pronounced nasal–labial folds. It was supposed that I knew perhaps something about the corrective treatments available at the medical spa but not enough to schedule them without a proper consultation. I was greeted by reception the same as any normal patient prospect, asked to fill out the various health history and HIPPA forms, and then led to an examination area where a smiling and professional nurse technician took over. In a well-appointed room I was asked a number of questions related to my appearance concerns and then sat for a series of photographs taken by an imaging device that permitted the nurse to explain various finding in great detail regarding the integrity of my skin, including pigmented areas, oil and hydration content, even bacterial concentrations. No question that I needed some sort of help and I was open to whatever suggestions that may be offered to me. But this is where the  process broke down. Instead of a clear path to personal rejuvenation I was instead provided with a bewildering set of treatment options and prices I neither understood nor knew how to select among given my relative unfamiliarity with them. In other words, I couldn’t make a decision. The nurse handed me a file with copies of the photo images and several brochures that described the various treatment technologies that might be employed in a corrective treatment plan. But what plan was that? All I had were options, not instructions, so I, like so many others, determined that I would simply go home and think about it, whatever “it” was. And right there was the problem affecting the medical spa’s service sales.
The solution? Programming.
Consumers love choice but many prefer to know exactly the best plan of action when making decisions about things they have little  expertise in. Options are helpful but, in this selling situation, would be better provided if and when requested by the prospective patient, or as another completely planned set of instructions. Here’s what would have helped me make an on-the-spot decision about whether or not to proceed with a treatment program, saving both me and the business an extra round of considerations and follow-up phone calls:
New Directions Medical Spa Inc.
Phyllis Proctor, M.D., Medical Director
Date: 11/16/08
Patient name: Douglas Preston
Address: ______________________ Phone: __________________ E-mail ______________
Examined by: Cheryl Clarke, RN
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Areas/conditions of concern:
(see attached facial imaging sheet for zone identification)
Zone 1: mild melasma in cheek area
Zone 2: capillary dilation near nose
Zone 3: rough skin texture overall on face, particularly on cheeks and chin
Recommended corrective treatment program:
Week 1:
Week 2:
Week 3:
Week 4:
Week 5:
Week 6:
Total service fees: $_______________
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Home care instructions/products:
Day:
Evening:
Follow-up care options:
Facial treatments every 3-4 weeks. Set up consult with esthetician Debra Lewis for 1/10/09 |
By filling out and presenting me with a complete program for corrective treatments, and by explaining the result each treatment modality produces, I would have had an easy and immediate means for making an informed decision about going forward with them. The form is simple, uncluttered and unambiguous. More importantly it tells me what to do, when to do it and how much it will cost without hesitation, an overabundance of information or confusing options. A practitioner offering me such a plan would impress me with her or his knowledge of my conditions and ideal approaches for correcting them—the very things I am there to learn and decide upon.
The form also includes a section for home care and/or pre-treatment product recommendations, an area often overlooked during these consultations yet are important for patient, client and business. Such printed prompts are often necessary to assure complete employee compliance with the medical spa’s patient service protocols.
 In this case my client’s practitioners saw an immediate increase in both post-consultation treatment program and product sales—the method made the task less confusing and easier to present, resulting in more business income. We hope it will work for you too!
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