“Price shoppers, they’re a waste of our time,” said “John,” a sales rep I spoke with recently and whose name I want to keep confidential. John was referring to the people who are shopping for the best price and turning a blind eye to every other factor they should be considering for their hair restoration procedure. I can’t get that statement out of my head. These are qualified candidates leaving his office and not returning.
Does this statement sound familiar to you?
John said the prospects he mentioned are going with XYZ practice. You know, the one with a talk show on the local radio station, the one whose owner had his face plastered on every sign he could get his hands on?
Smiling, I said, “Sure. There is at least one of those in every market we work in.” John told me they’re losing business to that practice because they’re cutting prices so low that their margins would be terrible. More importantly, John shared with me that the doctor at XYZ clinic doesn’t even perform the procedures. His techs take care of everything while he’s in the other room handling a Blepharoplasty procedure.
So what can you do?
For starters, it’s a good idea to role-play with your staff, especially anyone patient-facing during consultations. While we never want to pressure any prospects because that never works out well, we want to ensure that every prospect is educated and has the right questions to ask if they shop around.
This is where you can stand out!
By demonstrating your knowledge and that cost shouldn’t be their only concern, you’re positioning yourself as the caring expert trying to help them make a wise decision. That will bring some prospects back to your door, ready to book a procedure instead of letting them go for good just because they had concerns about price.
Feel free to copy and paste the questions below onto your letterhead. Please share it with your prospective patients. Let them do their homework, but make sure they know that your practice shines above the rest.
Here is the material you’ll want to share with them:
It’s extremely important that you educate yourself before selecting a hair restoration practice to perform your procedure.
Unfortunately, the quality of results can vary widely in the hair restoration/transplant industry, and in some cases, the entire procedure is performed by the staff, with the doctor nowhere to be found. If you don’t ask the right questions, you won’t know it until you’re in the chair – when it’s too late.
Important questions you want to ask during your initial consultation:
- How long has your practice been in business?
- What type of hair transplants do you perform? (Manual/Robotic FUE)
- How long have you been performing hair transplants? (If they had mentioned both manual and robotic procedures, ask how long they’ve performed each type.)
- If they offer different types of procedures, such as strip, manual, or FUE, ask which procedure they recommend for your type of hair loss. Ask why they recommend that type.
- How many of that type of hair transplant procedures have you performed?
- Do you have any before-and-after photos of actual patients, not “stock” before-and-after photos? (It’s usually easy to tell the difference. Stock photos are usually very polished. The background of real photos made by the practice will probably be recognizable, though it could have been taken in an office you haven’t seen or against a generic background they set up.)
- Would it be possible for me to speak to a few of your past patients?
- Will the doctor be in the office during the procedure?
- Will the doctor be performing the procedure? Or is it performed by their staff?
- If they do indicate that a doctor will perform the procedure, ask, “Is the doctor on your website the same one that will be performing the procedure?”
- Based on the number of follicle transplants I’ll need, roughly how long will the procedure take?
- Will the doctor be with me the entire day? Or does he just pop in periodically?
- Who will be operating the manual FUE device or Robot during my procedure?
- Will there be follow-up appointments to assess my results? (You want to hear “yes.” A standard schedule is at 4, 8, and 12 months after the procedure.)
Remember that hair restoration is a permanent procedure. If it isn’t performed correctly, it can cause significant physical, emotional, and financial heartache. You deserve to feel confident in the doctor and practice that will perform your hair restoration procedure. Asking the right questions can help you get the results that help you feel like yourself again. You owe it to yourself to take the time to do it.
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