“Spring Training” for Practice Growth

Are you looking for new business ideas that grow cosmetic surgery revenue? Take a trip to the nearest ballpark and see what you can learn from baseball. This great American pastime uses strategies that can help cosmetic practices. What baseball principles apply?

1. Start the Season with Spring Training! (That's Staff Development to us ): Baseball teams invest in spring training because it pays off later. Similarly, practices can benefit from investing in staff training and skills coaching. Everyone needs to practice and practicing on the job is a very expensive form of training! Mentor is currently sponsoring courses given by Mentor Solutions and The Fox Group. The ASPS/PSEF Spring Institute is always a great choice for team development. And, both APSA and PSAA offer wonderful programs for their members at the ASPS national meeting, which is in San Antonio this November.

2. Be Sure the Ballpark is Ready (Create a Patient-Friendly Environment ): Ballparks around the country are upgrading to provide a better environment that attracts more fans. The atmosphere has to be fun and exciting or the fans won't come back. Does your practice need a facelift? Does your team need an attitude adjustment? If so, now is the time to do whatever is necessary to attract and retain aesthetic patients. You can't have a winning team without fan support.

3. Buy the Best Equipment for Each Position (Make Sure Your Team Has What They Need to Win ): It's surprising how many practices miss this obvious point. Can you imagine a Catcher without a mask or a Pitcher without a glove? Yet we frequently find patient coordinators without sales and tracking software that would help them make the most of their leads. Or, without financing options that would help them schedule more surgery. Even the best players are limited if they don't have the "equipment" to do their job.

4. Create a Batting Order! (Turn Calls into Consults & Surgeries ): If you think of incoming phone calls as pitches, then your goal is get hits. To score more runs, you need to define your batting order. In baseball, the batting order is determined by a complex formula proven to win more games. Your practice telephones should be answered just as carefully. Coaches can't set a batting order without statistics and neither can your practice. Each member of your staff has her own "no show" rate and the person with the lowest rate should be your leadoff hitter. There can be as much as a 50% difference among your staff. This variation adds up to a lot of lost revenue.

5. Baseball is a game that is based on statistics (Your practice will get better results if your decisions are data based ): Every baseball owner and manager knows their players' strengths and weaknesses. They use player stats to adjust their line up and to win more games. Invest in your players and be sure that your coaches (practice managers) know which players to use in which situations. It can make a world of difference, which means more revenue for your practice. Put the right players in the right positions and your team will win more games.

6. Reach Out to Your Fans to Build Support. (Market to Increase Patient Activity ): Teams have an identity and history that are reinforced through marketing strategies and a marketing plan. They communicate constantly about everything. Fans want to know: when the games are, what special promotions are being offered, and why they should come to the ballpark. Likewise, your practice needs to tell its unique story to the marketplace. This involves a sophisticated brand strategy that builds recognition and awareness of you and your practice. If you don't have an on-going marketing plan for internal and external marketing, you need one now.

To learn more about our consulting services:

• Overview of our consulting services
• Our consulting approach
• Our consultants

Articles by our consultants:

• Using Patient Financing to Grow Your Practice
• "Haste Makes Waste," but "Time is Money"
• "Spring Training" for Practice Growth
• The Five Deadly Sins of Medical Marketing
• Top Five Tips for Revenue Growth

For more information about our consulting services call us at 800-994-6367 or contact us online.