Conducting successful consultations is by far the MOST important part of your hair restoration business. This is where the money changes hands, and you make $$$$. You can implement all the correct marketing and business-building strategies only to blow it all at the consultation. Failure comes from a consultant who is not suited for the role and lacks the proper tools. Ensure you set yourself up for an easy ‘yes’ with the following consultation tips:
Hair Restoration Intake Form:
This key intake form performs best as a leading questionnaire designed to reveal the pain behind hair loss as well as the positive feeling once hair is restored. This is not to be confused with a medical questionnaire. It is important to design this form with questions based on behavioral psychology to reveal the ‘emotion’ behind the loss.
In behavioral psychology, human nature is inclined to buy something based on an external AND internal pain. Let’s take an example of a car purchase by John, the balding businessman.
John buys a new Mercedes AMG GT C Roadster Edition 50. There are only 500 of these cars manufactured and only 50 sold in the U.S. Why would John buy this?
The special edition car gives John a sense of individuality, uniqueness, and exclusivity. He likes the feeling of having a rare car and the prestige of ownership. It makes him feel successful and like he can have unobtainable things. John essentially feels powerful and confident behind the wheel. The external pain was needing a car upgrade and the internal pain was wanting to feel prestigious, confident, and successful. So instead of buying another car like he already has or a purely practical and average car, John bought a limited-edition prestige car that upgrades his personal style and helps him feel special.
In hair restoration, when we combine external needs with internal pain it is only a matter of time before human nature figures out how to overcome their obstacles – including how to afford the procedure. Uncover the PAIN points.
Consultation Photos, a Large Mirror, and ProScope Video Microscope:
You will want to take photos in the consultation for both men and women, but it is important to note that men tend to spend less time looking at all angles of themselves in the mirror. This creates an inaccurate self-perception.
By taking photos of every angle of their head during a hair restoration consultation, he will have the opportunity to see the truth behind his hair loss. Always keep this in consideration when conducting consultations: perception and reality may not be in alignment with what the person thinks they look like. By giving him the reality of the extent of his hair loss, he will feel more of the ‘external’ pain.
To do this, use a camera and high-quality photography program (We recommend RX Photo) as well as the ProScope microscope tool. The Proscope magnifies follicular units and portrays them on a TV monitor or iPad. You can magnify their balding areas in comparison to the areas still healthy.
More importantly, if you let him sit with his photo visible alone for a few minutes, you will help him sell himself. Hair restoration patients are quicker to schedule their procedure when undeniable evidence is set before them. It is in the best interest of the sale to create awareness with visuals.
Consultation Room Prep Guide:
Do not put a desk in your consultation room separating you from your potential patient. It is not an interrogation room or the principal’s office. You want to build rapport with the prospect to make them feel comfortable. Creating boundaries between you and the candidate slows the connection and can inhibit the sale.
Placing a desk between you and the prospect is a common mistake for a consultation room layout. Instead of barriers, we want to create a comfortable and friendly atmosphere. You wouldn’t invite your friends over to visit and sit behind a desk; you would sit in comfort in your living room or your porch while sitting adjacent to or next to each other. It is a fact that we buy from people we like. Create an atmosphere where it is EASY and comfortable to generate a connection. Do this for your consultations, and you will see your sales increase.
Steps to Conducting Successful Consultations
Here are steps to help you create more successful consultations:
1) Greet the prospective patient, and thank them for coming.
2) Take photos of the areas of concern.
3) Allow them time to fill out the intake form while printing the photos or displaying them on a monitor with Apple Airplay or something similar.
4) Take the intake form. Leave the room to review it and plan your approach, leaving the patient with the photos. You can also use a monitor to display the scrolling pictures.
- NOTE: It’s very important to let him see himself on a big screen or, preferably, in print. While digital is easy, it’s different when you can put photos in their hands as tangible evidence of their hair loss. This, hands down, increases your close rate. Being able to see, or even better, hold, physical images of the hair loss that he can’t see himself routinely helps make the case for treatment. Some doctors also mark up the photo for the candidate to take home.
5) Upon returning to the room, sit adjacent to your potential patient and review the intake form with them. Allow them to elaborate on their feelings about hair loss. Ask what bothers them and what their goals are for their hair. Ask OPEN-ENDED questions that begin with who, what, when, why, where, and how. LISTEN to their response.
6) Speak to the points they bring up as well as explain what is so great about the practice, the “why” behind your business, and credentials of the doctor(s) and staff, and the procedure’s advantages. This is your opportunity to build trust and credibility. Use before-and-after photos from past procedures to show the positive change in the lives of others who got their hair back. Show the post-procedure photos between 1-7 days to alleviate healing concerns. Tell the stories of those who have had it done and how they are happy, confident, attractive, younger-looking, and more successful with their new hair!
7) Step out to get the doctor, and have a quick review to know where to focus.
8) Introduce the doctor to the potential patient, then inform the doctor of the candidate’s hair goals and procedure or outcome concerns.
9) This is the opportunity to mark the hairline on the prospect’s head. While he looks in the mirror after the physical markup, markup the photos noting the areas to be treated for the candidate to take home. It’s important for the doctor to prescribe the procedure as the solution to the problem.
10) During the closing, reinforce what the doctor prescribed and ask if there are any other questions or concerns. Be able to offer a solution for every excuse the candidate has. For example:
- ‘I need to talk to my spouse.’ Answer: ‘Would you like a few moments to give them a call while the information is fresh in your mind? We can step out of the room.
- ‘I don’t want to cut my hair short.’ Answer: ‘No problem, hair grows about a ½ inch a month, so in the next few months, as it comes back in, we offer gift cards to our local barbershop to get you back to your pre-procedure hair. This has helped many of our patients take the next step.’
- ‘I am concerned about the healing process.’ Answer: ‘No problem, we provide you with a loose-fitting new ball cap to wear while you are healing. It will cover and protect the areas from the sun and from people seeing you had work done.’
- ‘It’s too expensive.’ Answer: ‘No problem. We offer financing, and there are many great credit cards out there with no interest for 18 months, and you can get points or cash back.’
11) Finally, ask for the sale. We are firm believers in “we have not because we ask not,”’ so asking for what you would like is incredibly important to getting what you want, which is a scheduled procedure. In addition to being clear and concise, your request is incredibly important to moving forward. An example is: ‘You are too handsome to go bald! From all we covered, are you ready to do this for yourself? I have these dates open.’ Then, invite the potential patient onto the schedule with already planned procedure dates. See our document in the education center for additional ways to ask for the sale.
We hope this helps you to set yourself up right and nail it with a successful consultation. Remember, you can do your marketing and business building right, but the consultation will determine if you earn revenue. Hire the person best suited for the role and implement the proper tools.
As always, in the best interest of your hair restoration business,
Kari Collins
