How well does your plastic surgery practice or medical spa do against the competition? Do you mystery shop your medical practice to find out? Do you offer the same services? What is the pricing strategy? How does your staff’s cross-selling and upselling techniques compare? If you don’t know the answers to these questions and more, you need to find out stat. It’s time to mystery shop your medical practice.
The goal of mystery shopping (secret shopping) is to determine your competitors’ marketing and pricing strategies, staff skills, services and products, and marketing practices. Some upfront research can yield a huge payoff. It’s like looking at your practice through a 360⁰ lens—you see it from all sides. You need resources and time to do it yourself or you can ask an agency for help. Here are some of the basics you need to do to mystery shop your medical practice.
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Identify your competition
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Develop the survey instrument
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Outline competitors’ marketing techniques
(online, events, print, email, etc.) -
Determine their pricing strategies
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Develop a scoring guide and evaluation spreadsheet
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Find “shoppers” to call the staff to assess selling
techniques and skills
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Train the shoppers
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Develop action standards
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Validate the shopping
(was it kept blind, are results legitimate) -
Analyze results
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Take action on results
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Repeat regularly
Mystery shopping isn’t a “gotcha” game. PUMC has found that mystery shopping is one of the best ways to gather important information from other plastic surgeons and/or medical spas in your area so that you can position yourself as the leader. It’s an effective tool for identifying gaps in strategies and staff skills so that you and your staff are prepared.
Yes, mystery shopping can be time-consuming, but the payoff is worth it. If you aren’t sure how to get started or need help, contact PUMC to mystery shop your medical practice. Our experience gives us the insight to deliver effective results and solutions to help you bring patients in the door.