How to Build Your Body Contouring Brand by Shaping the Patient’s Perception with the ‘Patient’s Eye View™’

To get your office ready for body contouring patients, to quote the renowned business trainer, Katie Zabriskie, you must always remember that “Your patient’s perception is your reality (or your truth).”

So when you want to achieve success with body contouring, this basic concept must always be first and foremost on your mind at every step.  It’s your customer’s perception that matters so you must create the perception that you are the body contouring expert.

You probably fall into one of three categories, you’re adding body contouring to your medical practice, you’re adding it to you established aesthetics business or you’re a brand new body contouring provider.  Either way, start now evaluating everything from the patient’s perspective.

You have the power to shape the patient’s perspective, and therefore to create the reality you want to create – that of a body contouring expert.    

Just like you focus on the way your website looks and the content it contains to set yourself up as the expert, you must stay mindful of how your office looks and what it contains.  And from the patient’s standpoint.

We call this the Patient’s Eye View.  

The Patient’s Eye View has two parts.

First, it’s emotional, not logical.  Many facets play into the Patient’s Eye View that are not be based on logic. People form opinions, for the most part, based on how they feel, on emotion.  So you’re probably thinking. How could this occur? It’s so because perception very often exists even without our awareness. Now that’s profound. Let’s repeat it.  Perception very often exists even without our awareness.
Second, understand that you don’t see things from the same standpoint as your patients – for a couple of reasons.  The first one is you see your office day in and day out. We’ve learned from research that we often don’t perceive stimuli that remain relatively constant over time.  This is called sensory adaptation. The second reason is that you just don’t share the same experience as that of the patient.

For example, how many times do you go out and sit in your waiting room?  Do you know what time in your waiting room is like for patients?

Let’s put the Patient’s Eye View into action.

Here’s an Action Step.  Go out to your lobby sometime before patients arrive or after they leave one day.  (It might cause too big of a distraction if you sit with them during office hours.)  Don’t tidy up. Don’t turn down the television. Don’t change a thing. Just sit down.  What do you hear? What do you see? Are the chairs comfortable? What do you smell? How would you like sitting there for 20 minutes or more?  What feelings does it evoke?

Take a look around.  Do you see dust bunnies in corners?  Are there marks and scratches on the walls?  What about the decor? Does it fit within the boundaries of you body contouring brand?

When you’re setting the stage for body contouring, the old adage is true – the devil is in the details.   The details definitely strike an emotional chord. Think of how you feel if you walk into a place that appears outdated and cluttered versus a place that is clean, neat, updated, great sounds and smelled good?

Take a look from another perspective. Action Step Number Two.  Do this one on another day.  Enter your office as your patients do.  Park in the front. Go through the front door.  What was it like to park with patients? Did your signage reflect your expertise in body contouring?  Is the exterior, the door, window, signage all in line with your body contouring brand?

We recommend you go through Action Steps One and Two yourself, then ask your staff to do the same.  Make a checklist for everyone to use. Take the exercise to other rooms, your exam rooms, the bathrooms, and standing at the reception desk as a patient would.  Gather the input from the checklists and come up with your own action plan to create your reality – the body contouring expert – by shaping the patient’s perception using The Patient’s Eye View.

That’s it for today but there’s more to come…

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Bye for now from Kay and Shannon at the Body Contouring Academy’s Proven Profits Podcast.