Historically, October and November kick off the busier months for hair restoration. Prospects start thinking about the coming year, which often prods them to solve their thinning hair problem and get back a feeling of confidence and vitality. Regardless, summer is over, and the slow months should be behind us.
Yet many clinics are not feeling this seasonal shift, though, at least not to the degree they did in prior years.
At Efferent Media, month over month, year over year, we track Google search volume for hair transplants and hair restoration services. The data shows that consumer interest in hair restoration is still strong. Despite pandemics, increased interest rates, and supply chain issues, people still dream of addressing their hair loss problem and planning how to do it. Unfortunately, they’re just not acting as quickly.
So how do you encourage prospects to move forward and choose your clinic?
Innovative and/or aggressive clinics have multiple touchpoints on platforms such as Google Ads, Facebook, TikTok, AdRoll, etc. It may take more impressions and better messaging, but the prospect is still out there, and they still need your services.
A common problem we frequently hear from hair restoration practices is not reaching a prospect after their initial inquiry. Many clinics report spending more and more time chasing down leads. It’s frustrating for business owners.
Why does this happen? Prospects call your practice when it’s convenient for them, not when it’s convenient for you. That means a percentage of these calls go to voicemail. Worse, some practices aren’t quick to answer the phone, even when calls occur during office hours.
You’ve spent good money on your leads. So why waste money on unanswered calls?
The solution is to work with your front-desk team to optimize your callers’ customer service experience and minimize lost leads. How can you do that? It’s easier than you think.
For practices that offer multiple aesthetic services, i.e., Hair, Cosmetic, Med Spa, Plastic Surgery:
If your website focuses only on hair restoration, does the phone or voicemail greeting match the service? Is it confusing for the caller?
- For example, it’s common for Plastic Surgery, Cosmetic Surgery, and Med Spa’s to offer hair restoration services. Sometimes the practice has a unique website for hair restoration, but callers get a greeting for a Med Spa. Each website should have a unique phone number associated to it, as well as a unique greeting or voicemail message.
- Is your phone consistently answered during regular working hours? If your response is anything but yes, this is your first action point. Depending on the market/city/state, we see phone calls are slow before 11 a.m., pick up until 3 or 4 p.m., and sometimes pick back up between 5-7 p.m.
- If voicemail must be used to handle leads, does the outbound message include your company name and service? You’d be surprised how many businesses use the generic default message. If your outbound message consists of a list of questions for the prospect, they’re more likely to hang up without leaving a message, and that lead was wasted.
We made some changes to Hair Loss Marketing, Inc.’s phone system when Covid began so we could better serve our clients. If interested, I can share what we learned through that process in a future email.
Note: When selecting a service, ensure you’re working with a provider who offers HIPPA Compliance for voice and texting if that is something you use in your practice.
