Cameron Hemphill, host of the Medical Millionaire podcast, emphasizes the importance of a robust checkout process in medical aesthetics practices to enhance patient retention and lifetime value. He highlights that acquiring new patients is crucial but insufficient if they don’t rebook or upsell. Hemphill advises tracking patient retention rates and lifetime value, which averages $15,000 per patient over three years. Key strategies include rebooking patients, upselling products, offering membership plans, soliciting reviews, and engaging on social media. These tactics help create a predictable revenue stream, reduce marketing expenses, and ultimately grow the practice.

Transcript

This is medical millionaire the podcast, helping your Med Spa increase in status, visibility and profitability. Join your host as he dispels myths, shares trends and gives you actionable steps today that will take your medical practice to the next level. Here’s your host, expert marketer and founder of growth 99 Cameron
Hemphill,
Hey, what’s up, everybody? Cameron Hemphill, here your host for medical millionaire. Hey, first off, everybody, thank you so much for taking the time to tune into the podcast. Our goal is to give incredible value and insight into the medical esthetics market. So if you own a practice, you own a med spa, this podcast is 100% designed for you because we want to help you take your practice to the next level. My team and I, we have consulted with practice owners all over the country for years. We see ones that are thriving. We see ones that are doing extremely well, going from one location to two location multiple levels of revenues and products and services. And then we see others that have not quite figured it out. And so as we incubate that content and collaboration internally, we want to push this content out for you to help you take your practice to the next level so you can achieve all of your dreams and help grow your guys’ business. So that being said, I want to jump into the episode. I actually have not recorded a personal episode in quite some time. We have been extremely busy, and we have been hunkered down, focused on creating exceptional products, renaming our entire infrastructure, and re thinking how we are doing things as we go into 2024 because we want to help you guys get in the best position possible, so you guys can scale. So that being said, I don’t talk a ton about growth 99 on the podcast, but as you guys all know, I am the CEO of growth 99 and we power over 1000 practices and 2000 providers across the country and outside the United States. So if you guys are interested in learning more about growth 99 feel free to go over to growth 90 nine.com and feel free to request a demo. Anyway, I want to jump in, because this has been on my mind lately a lot, and I want to talk about the importance of the checkout process. So if you’ve tuned into some of my previous episodes, you may have heard me talk about this, or if you’re a new listener, you’re going to get ton of content. Or if you’ve heard this before, it’s always a wonderful refresher. And I also have some great new spin on what’s taking place. So it is extremely important to bring in new patients, right? We all understand, if we want to grow we have to increase external head count, meaning new patients. But if you are always focused on new patients, and you just have this revolving door where patients are coming in and they’re going out and they are not rebooking and you’re not upselling them, then you’re constantly on the fight for new patients. What this is showing is you either a have a bad patient experience, or B, you do not have a comprehensive process for your checkout process. Now I’m a very process oriented person. For those of you that know me, you obviously understand that. For those of you who don’t, maybe you’re a new listener. Having a process in place is one of the most critical things that you can do to run a business and scale your practice, and if you can automate the process, even better, most of processes can be automated with tools, but not everything can be automated, right? So let’s talk about that. Obviously, the importance of new patients is is important, and there’s always need to focus on marketing avenues, in terms of social media, search engine optimization, website, word of mouth, referral, doing events, collaborating with vendors, Google ads, Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, like all of the stuff that you have to do to get new patients. It’s extremely expensive. I’m sure a lot of the people that have tuned in have spent 1000s and 1000s of dollars on marketing, and you’ve shown that that is very successful, and also maybe not too successful. Maybe some of these leads are almost too expensive, or some of the patient acquisition costs are too high, right? Well, there’s a saying out there that says if you’re not marketing, you’re out of business. And I truly believe that, because marketing is the most important way to get your message out there. And now we have this super computer that we carry in our pocket that gives us the ability to connect with millions of people online with our fingertips for free. For example, Instagram, Tiktok, right posting on those channels, building up your followers and having people engage with great. Content is going to produce new views, new users, and if your audience is to get new patients, obviously that’s where you’re going to get new specific bookings for services and treatments. So that’s going to be important, and I’ll create another episode specifically for that. But what I want to talk about today is that checkout process, because the last thing I want you guys to do is again, have those patients come in and have a low retention rate. So if you are not tracking your patient retention rate, that is what I want you to get out of this episode. I want you to start tracking your patient retention rate, and if you get really good start tracking the patient lifetime value, what do I mean by that patient lifetime value? How much does a patient spend with you over time, before they stop coming to see you? Right? They may move. Something may happen within their life, a life changing experience, and whatever happens patients most likely are not with us forever. We obviously want them to be with us forever, but that’s just highly unlikely. However, the data shows that most patients tend to stay with us for about three years, and we want them to stay with us for three years, right? Because an individual that is investing into esthetics, wellness, whether they are on peptides, semaglutide weight loss, injectables, any sort of treatment that has to do, you know, laser treatments, whatever it is, skincare products, if done correctly, patients, and you build the journey, patients will stay with us for the trend values about three years, and they spend right around three to $5,000 a year. So a typical, you know, average patient lifetime value, you know, take the 5000 times by three, it’s $15,000 in income, okay? So that’s what you guys need to start tracking your patient retention rate, and also patient lifetime value or customer lifetime value, right? LTV, that’s that’s a very, very important metric, especially if you’re looking to sell your practice one day. That is going to be a data point that any strategic buyer, private equity company, is going to ask, right? They want to know exactly how much money am I going to have to spend on marketing, and how much output is it going to take to get the input that I receive? So what is the ultimate patient lifetime value? And once they can understand numbers like that, they can then really put forecast analysis on valuations and take into practice to the next level, because eventually they’re going to roll it up and sell it again. Okay, so it’s going to be very important. So let’s talk about some of the key things that you can do to improve patient retention and also start tracking patient lifetime value. So the number one thing that I want to talk about is at the checkout process, right? The customer comes in, the patient comes in, they’re in your waiting area. You know, hopefully, if they have a wonderful experience, first impressions are everything. You greet them properly. The front desk greets them properly. Maybe them offer them something to drink or a snack or something like that, while they’re waiting, whatever the case is. I’ve seen practice owners get extremely creative here, that first impression is everything. Now, obviously, as you do the service and treatment. That’s what you’ve been trained to do. You have been trained to thrive during that patient experience, engagement when you’re up in their face, literally, right? That is where you need to thrive. You know you need to show your personality. You need to show your expertise. You obviously need to have a wonderful patient experience during when they’re actually you know, you guys are conducting the treatment, and that’s where you’re that’s where you thrive, right? I am not a doctor. I’m not an injector. The last thing you want me to do is to get anywhere near you with a needle or anywhere giving you advice on anything that has to do with taking some sort of peptide that’s going to enhance body composition or sleep, or whatever the case is. However, what I am good at is I’m great at consulting practice owners on how to grow their practice. And so as you guys conduct the treatment, there’s going to be an end point. There’s going to be an end point where, in that moment happens where the treatment is over. They have now just been injected with Botox, or, you know, Xeomin, or Kybella, or whatever you guys are, whatever you guys are using, right, whatever products and services you guys using. They have just had an experience, and I’m just using the injectable experience now, okay, maybe they’re in pain. Maybe they’re, you know, depending on whatever they had, if they had a lot of filler, or whatever the cannula, whatever the cannula going in, I’ve been had that experience happen before. It’s not a wonderful experience. But again, what happens after? They are now leaving. They are walking towards the front desk. They are walking out of the practice. What are you. Doing in that moment right there? Are you just saying, Okay, here’s the, you know, here’s the step by step process on, you know, healing and downtime and feeling better. Here’s our suggestion, stay out of the sun. We’ll send you an email. We’ll send you a text. Like, I really want you to analyze this part of the business. It’s so important, because this is where I see so many practices just completely drop the ball on patient retention and patient lifetime value. The number one thing you guys need to do is you need to build a treatment plan. You need to build a treatment plan because you want to create a journey. You want to create progress. You want to put inside of the mind of them that, hey, this is step one. Well, I’m going to take you to step 10, and this is going to be a journey, right? And this can obviously be discussed during the consultation process, so you can kind of prep them during the treatment process. But again, like if they only want to come and maybe they’re just like, hey, I just like, hey, I just want to get a good deal on Botox. Because, like, I see my lips that look good for this vacation coming up, or this wedding or whatever event it is, totally get it, but at the end of the day, that stuff’s going to wear off, right? And so put in their brain of this journey they need to be on this journey to really get themselves to where they want to go. You
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And what this does is it puts them in a position that, hey, they’re not done yet. Hey, you’re here. You got the treatment service. Like, I know you’re happy, cool, all that’s great, but you’re not done yet, right? So make sure to build out a progress channel, put them on a journey, right? Understand where they are going. And this is going to build relationships. This is going to build rapport. This is going to show that you are the expert, that you are going to put them on this success plan. It’s almost like going to the gym. You can’t go to the gym one time, and expects to have six pack abs and just look shredded, right? Like it’s not going to happen, right? In order to go and get those results, you need diet and you need discipline on the gym. You have to work out daily, right? And you have to have great discipline on your diet, right? But, and we know if you’re going to hire a fitness trainer and go to a gym, you’re going to have to be consistent, you’re going to have to, you know, do what’s good. It’s already going to take to take to get the results you want. And so a lot of times that people hire a trainer, they’re not going to hire that trainer for one session, right? That’s why they sell them in like, you know, 10 slots, or 20 slots, or whatever it is, right? So I want you guys to kind of think of it like that is start to build this journey, this path, and what is that going to what’s, what’s doors are that going to open up for you? Okay, so what I’m getting at here is the way that you build that progress report. For one, you have to rebook them like, you have to get confident in the fact of, like, before they leave, like, You got to get you got to get back on my books. I’m busy. I know you’re busy. We’re trying to get to this, this end goal together, like, when are you going to come in next right? And at that moment when you guys, like, have them pull out their phone, figure out the day and time, lock it in on your guys’s calendars. Make sure that whatever calendaring or booking system you guys are using that sends them reminders, it sends them follow ups, it sends them like, a system to get a review or something like that, but make sure that you rebook them and set the expectation that we are on this journey together, and I’m going to rebook you because I’m going to get you the results you want, and we’re going to get you where you need to be right and that that is like the practice owners I see nail that and do that very well. Again, they retain the patient. They have now already booked new revenue that’s forecasted to come in from the existing patient, versus having to go spend more money on marketing to just get a new patient and keep that revolving door, spend the money on marketing. Trust me, big fan of that definitely spend the money on marketing. But don’t just have patients fall out the back door and you keep having to do that. Recycle. That’s just very, very expensive marketing, and I want you guys to focus on retaining your patients. Okay, so again, the key takeaway there, rebook the patient. Make sure they get the reminders, because the last thing I also want them to do is like, yeah, okay, cool. Rebook you and then they cancel, right? They cancel that rebooking. Make sure you have specific tools process, call them a week after, see how they’re doing. You know, have great notes in your EMR system so you can have the follow up discussion with them. Oh, yeah. And I look forward to seeing you in XYZ, you know, weeks or whatever the case is, right? So build that rapport during your downtime. Okay? And then make sure you have tools that automate to follow up and make sure that they’re getting text reminders and alerts to come back in and get the results they’re looking to achieve. Okay? What’s the other thing you can do? The other thing you guys can do is make sell the product, right? We are in the skincare business, and what can better help them than some serums or some sort of cleanser or something like that, right? I know you guys have products lines with, you know, revision, or, you know, there’s a various other lines out there. A big fan of revision myself, but there’s tons of stuff, right, that’s going to enhance the experience. Again, you’re building this progress. You’re building this journey. So the checkout process, you know, like, educate them about the importance of skincare, the importance of, you know, using these enhanced serums that are going to expose what they have and what they the treatment they just got in order to really, like help them achieve the goal they’re looking for, right? And what does that do? It creates more revenue, right? And it creates more trust. I honestly feel like you’re doing them a disservice if you do not educate them about the products and services that are on your shelves, right? If you guys have products and services on your shelves, sell it, right? And it should be, you know, educated throughout that checkout process, so a great area to create additional revenue opportunities. Okay? Now someone typically invests in a serum. They want more of it, they’re going to run out. So now they can go back to your website, they can rebook and they can learn more about products and services. So you keep them inside the ecosystem. Okay, a big fan of that. So again, you now have the the ability like the takeaway is to rebook and then also sell them a product. The other thing that I want you guys to start doing, if you are not is, please talk to them about your memberships, put them on a membership plan, your VIP plan, your beauty bank, whatever the case is, right? The reason for this is it makes them feel special, and it also puts you in a position to create reoccurring revenue. Reoccurring revenue is so, so important for medical esthetics practices or practice owners, because think about it, if you start the month out, let’s just say we’re coming up on April one, April one starts, and you have to start all over again. You have zero revenue for the month. But what if you had $100,000 of reoccurring revenue of a beauty bank or some sort of VIP reoccurring service where the revenue just comes in automatically. Like now you’re starting day one, you have 100 grand coming in because you’re forecasting that out right? So the most successful practices implement this strategy and they create this within the checkout process. Get them on the membership plan. Get creative with your membership plans. See membership plans that are currently in the marketplace and mimic what’s out there that’s working right, network with your peers, right? It’s very, very important. Love the membership plan. Love reoccurring revenue. And also, by the way, private equity or strategic buyers, when they see that you have reoccurring revenue in play, your valuations go through the roof. So I love I love that stuff. Okay, the other thing that I want you guys to make sure to do is make sure to get a review. Please ask for feedback. There’s so many products and tools out there that can automate the feedback loop to just send out a text or an email, or even put a QR code at your checkout area that says, How is your experience? Right? Take them to a page where they can say the experience was great, and if it was great, push them to Google. You want to get that review on Google, Facebook’s Okay. Yelp is okay. The best place you can get a review is Google. I see practice owners all the time that have been in business for years, and they have like nine reviews. It’s like 5.0 reviews, but it’s like nine. I’m like, you’ve been in business for five years. Why do you have nine reviews? I know you’ve seen more than nine patients. Yeah, I don’t really push it, and I’m over here educate. I’m like, Well, you don’t have the push to just automate the process. Like, I’m surprised you don’t have a one story view. I wish you had a one story view, because you’ve been in business for so long, you’ve seen so many patients by now, you should have a one story view. And that’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with the one story view. But if you have a systematic process to ask for feedback, you’re in the business of doing a good service and good treatments, you’re going to get way more five star reviews than one stars. Of course, you’re going to have that disgruntled person out there that’s going to give you one story view because they waited too long in the lobby, or their lips didn’t turn out the way they wanted. Whatever it’s. All good. It’s gonna happen to swallow your pride. Don’t respond with negativity online. That just makes you look you know, makes you just look bad. But
make sure to to have a process in place to get a review. Okay? And so, again, there’s text messaging tools out there. There’s email tools out there that can request feedback loops, also QR codes. I can go to landing pages. The other thing I like to do is have reputation management. So let’s say, if it goes to a landing page and they click on, like a thumbs down, had a bad experience, have that request a form. So they fill out a form, they rant. Now you call them and solve the problem of avoiding a potential one story of you online, right? So that feedback loop is extremely, extremely important. Big fan of that. And you know, the criteria for when somebody is identifying to go to a medical esthetics practice is they are going to look at your reviews. They want to know you’re credible, right? Again, you guys are touching the human body. I want to know that this person knows what they’re doing. They’re going to look at your before and afters. They want to see your work. And they’re going to look at your website. Can I book online? Can I navigate it? Is this place real? Check those boxes your social media, obviously, was where your before and afters would be. So they’ll probably look at your Instagram. Make sure that you guys have that in place, because that is one of the key buying factors, especially in this space. Like, obviously, we make buying decisions on reviews all the time, like Airbnb, Turo, Amazon, purchases, but this is the space that matters most, because, again, it’s a vulnerable space for people, and you’re also touching the body, and so they want to make sure you know what you’re doing. Okay, so that’s another big thing. Last thing that I see practice owners do very well and not do very well is connecting on social media, right? Imagine if a person comes in that is a, let’s just call it influencer. They got, you know, few 1000 followers, 10,000 20,000 100,000, whatever it is, and they come and have a wonderful experience, and they are leaving, and they pull up their social media, and they create a story or a reel or whatever it is, and they talk about how of amazing experience they just had, and they have to go see XYZ at XYZ medical esthetics practice or Med Spa, because you’re the best all. What that just did was it just gave you access to, you know, the person had 10,000 followers, 10,000 potential views for free, and maybe seek people out that you’re willing to give them a deal or discounts on services or products or whatever it is, to have them come in and do something like that for you. Great way to get your social media following increase and also get new bookings through credibility of referral. Okay, so that’s huge, all right, so I want to go through the steps, right? So key steps, rebook is going to be number one, right? Number two is going to be the upsell process, okay, upsell process on the product. Number three is going to be memberships. Number four is going to be review, and number five is going to be social media, connection and share. If you guys can nail those five tips, those five check boxes during the checkout process, you’re going to grow your practice. You do that time and time again. You can’t do it once. You can’t do it twice. You have to make it a discipline. You have to make it part of the process. When you make it a discipline, you make it part of the process. Your Practice will grow. Your Practice will thrive. Your patient retention will be impacted dramatically, and your patient lifetime value will increase, and this is going to take a tremendous amount of pressure off of you. It will reduce your marketing expenses, and you can now build a more predictable revenue generating practice. So I’ll leave it at that. Hopefully you guys got a tremendous amount of value out of this episode today. You guys are incredible. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you guys find this content valuable, do me a favor. I put this stuff out there for free. I just take it out of my own time, and there’s I get I asked for for nothing in return. But please share it. Please leave a review. Please share it, because you and I both know there was someone out there that’s one of our peers that could use this content. They could get a lot of value from this if you do all these things. Great. Thank you. Great. You guys are just keep doing what you’re doing, right? Maybe you got something out of this. Maybe you got nothing out of this. But at the same time, there is someone out there that needs to hear stuff like this, so share it. Thank you guys. God. Bless you all until next time, happy. Injecting you.