How to go from Phone Call to Consultation using WRITTEN PHONE SCRIPTS

You’re a body contouring provider.  A body contouring expert. You’ve learned how to ‘look the part’ on your website and in your office.  You’ve learned that your Team must also project body contouring expertise to the patients. This is especially true for those on the front line…your Phone Team.  

Learning the facts is Step One, but it’s not enough.  Just like you, your Phone Team must also ‘look the part’ during their phone conversations.  There’s a long road between knowing the facts about body contouring and sharing that body contouring information, in the right way, with the patient over the phone.   

That’s why we recommend preparing and using scripts.  But why? And how? Which scenarios? And where do I start!”  

Those are the questions and concerns we’re going to help you with today.  We’ll tell you

why you need to script (at least at the beginning)
how to prepare scripts
what scenarios you’ll need to script out
who you should involve in your script writing process.  
And we’ll give you some real life script examples that you can use in your own practice.    

So let’s get started.

Why Script

You know the old saying, “What is now easy was once hard.”  That is so true with handling body contouring phone calls. Many of you are new to body contouring.  That means body contouring is a strange, new frontier to your team. They may have become familiar, maybe even very knowledgeable about your body contouring services, but answering the phones and relaying your key selling points may take your Phone Team a while to get good at.  And if you’re not new at it, how effective at converting calls to appointments is your Phone Team? Chances are, they could use some improvement. Couldn’t we all?

Scripting serves two purposes:

It gets your entire Phone Team on the same page as to what is being said so your “brand” is consistent across all of your calls.
It gives your Phone Team confidence, a ‘crutch’ so to speak, in handling caller’s questions and in guiding the conversation.  Many of these questions can prove quite challenging. Having ready-made scripted out responses, especially to some of the more difficult ones, decreases your Phone Team’s level of anxiety, which in and of itself, elevates their level of performance.
How to Script

First and foremost, you’re going to need your Phone Team’s buy-in.  You’re not going to have much luck in writing the scripts yourself then handing them out with mandates to ‘use as written.’  So get your entire Phone Team involved in the script-writing process. Let them know the outcomes you want (and expect) to achieve and provide them with all the information you have learned, i.e. the 4 behaviors and the 5 elements of every phone call, etc.  Task your Phone Team with creating the first drafts of the scripts and review them. If you feel changes are needed, talk it over with your Phone Team. Finalize the scripts, then get started.

These initial scripts won’t be set in stone.  You and your Phone Team will need to make changes along the way.

Scripting is an important part of your Phone Team’s development.  As we mentioned earlier, scripts are a type of a ‘crutch,’ something they may need when starting out.  As time goes on, these conversations will become “learned behavior” or “habits.” So as soon as your Phone Team has developed these habits, and learned what they need to say and how to say it, they need to toss the scripts.  They can get rid of their crutches. Sure, you’ll need consistent conversations flowing from all of your Phone Team members, but using their own natural flow, while saying the right things, is highly preferred.

Warnings about Scripts

On that note, you never want your calls to come across as cold or regimented or sound like they are reading.  That’s one reason why every Phone Team member should be involved in the script writing process – so each Phone Team member should put their touch on the scripts by being a part of the process or at least feel comfortable with the scripted conversations.  

Also, please allow your Phone Team members to use a bit of themselves, their personality, in the calls.  It’ll feel and sound much more natural and the conversation will sound much more sincere.

Scenarios for Scripts

The more scenarios you script, the better.  Thinking of all the possible contingencies requires your Phone Team to go through the mental process of problem solving for each scenario.  They will be thinking of and resolving strategies long before that challenging situation rings in. Here are a few to consider.

The Price Shopper
The Know-it-all
Calling for another person
Wanting a procedure you don’t offer
The Tire Kicker
The Skeptical Caller
Dragging on and on
The Angry Person
The Indecisive Caller
The Misinformed Caller

Let’s break down a couple of these.  We’ll start with The Price Shopper.

Many Price Shoppers ask a lot of questions about cost and that may even be their leadoff question.  Many of these are qualified and very interested but they just don’t know what else to ask. Others will tell you they are “calling around” and they are truly looking for the “cheapest” solution.  You may decide you need a bifurcated script – one for the former and another for the latter.

First determine which category to put this caller.  

Price Shopper:  How much is that treatment for fat?

Phones:  Oh, it’s amazing.  You’ll love it. May I get your first name please?

Price Shopper:  Yes, it’s Maria.

Phones:  Oh, hi Maria.  Have you had any treatments like this before?

Price Shopper:  No, I don’t know anything about them.  

Phones:  Okay.  Let me give you some basic information.  These treatments reduce inches where you want to give you the curves you want.  No surgery! How does that sound?

Price Shopper:  Good. I just don’t know if I can afford it.

*This answer is key.  She is interested and would like to buy but wants to know if it’s in her budget.  You could go ahead and give her a range (or whatever your office has decided to divulge over the phone)

But suppose she answered this way:  “I just need to know the price. I’m calling around.”

Then you may want to say, “It’s difficult to give prices over the phone.  That’s why we need you to come in for a Consultation. We will create a custom plan for you.  How soon can you come in?” You may ultimately give her a price range but you would know it may be more difficult to schedule her in for a Consultation because she is basing her decision on one factor, alone, the lowest price.  

Let’s look at one more category of callers.  The caller asking for a procedure your don’t offer.  Take advantage of these calls and turn them to your advantage.

Patient:  Do you offer CoolSculpting?

Phones:  Oh, yes we help a lot of patients reduce fat.  You definitely called the right place. But we offer something better than CoolSculpting.  It’s called SculpSure. It’s the most modern technology available to get rid of fat. And it’s permanent fat elimination without downtime or surgery.  Truly remarkable. What do you know about SculpSure?

Patient:  I never heard of it.  I have heard of CoolSculpting.  

Phones:  Well actually when SculpSure was developed, it was designed to improve on all the shortcomings of CoolSculpting.  

*Then you would go on to show how your technology is superior.  Sometimes the patient buys in and other times the patient is skeptical but either way, you should handle the same way.   

You can see how going through the mental processes required to prepare written scripts prepares your Phone Team in and of itself.  

Action Step:  Meet with your Phone Team.  Explain about written scripts.  Tell them the objectives you’d like to achieve.  Ask them to put together written scripts to as many scenarios they can come up with.  Review the scripts and make tweaks as needed. Then implement as crutches to be tossed out once good habits are formed.  

So now you know how to create scripts and say the right thing every time, but what do you do when they decline to schedule an appointment?  

We’ll tell you how to follow and nurture these patients who do not schedule on their first call…until they DO ultimately BECOME YOUR PATIENTS… in our next episode.   

That’s it for today.  Stay tuned and hit subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode.

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