4 Tips for Talking to Patients About Laser Therapy
If you’re thinking about adding laser therapy services to your practice, you’ll need to consider how you talk about laser therapy services to your patients to encourage them to try it out. Adding new services to your practice is a big investment, and how you talk to patients about those new services will be a big driver of your success.
Your patients trust you as their healthcare provider, so it’s important you communicate the value of laser therapy services and how it’ll help them reach their health goals. But if you come across as pushy or if you fail to address their needs, you could end up alienating patients and losing their trust instead. We’ve got a few tips to make sure your patients know you have their health and wellbeing at heart when offering laser therapy services to them.
Tip 1: Address Patient Needs & Concerns
Your job is to help patients make informed decisions about their healthcare. When you add new services to your practice, your goal is to help patients feel better and meet their needs with those services. But your patients will need your help in understanding that your new laser therapy offerings are in their best interest.
When you bring up the option of laser therapy to patients, be knowledgeable and patient. Explain why you think laser therapy is a good option for them, and answer any questions they have. Patients are likely to be concerned about whether their insurance will cover the treatment, how much it’ll cost them out-of-pocket, what treatments are like, and what a treatment plan will look like. If patients want more information than you can provide during their appointment time, make sure to offer a brochure or point them to the Aspen Laser website for more.
Tip 2: Wait for the Right Opportunity
It’s important to assess a patient’s situation and hear all their concerns about their condition. Wait until you’ve heard your patient out, and make a recommendation for laser therapy when it’s appropriate for their situation. Take into account what you might know about their daily lives as well as their health history. For example, a busy parent with active kids might not have regular time to set aside for multiple treatments, and laser therapy might not be as effective as it is for someone with a consistent schedule.
When you start offering a new service, signage in your practice or social media posts and email announcements will stir up interest and bring patients with more questions to you. Even if a patient isn’t in need of laser therapy right now, if they ask about the new service, use this as an opportunity to talk with them anyway. You might learn then if laser therapy is a good recommendation for them in the future.
Tip 3: Offer a Trial Period
Most practices offer packaged treatment services for laser therapy where patients purchase a certain number of treatments for a bundled price. If you have patients on the fence about laser therapy, consider adding a first-time trial package that’s discounted. This is helpful for patients who might feel sticker shock and are worried about the value of the treatment. Once they see results from using their trial package, they’ll have a better understanding of the benefits of laser therapy and will feel better about making a higher commitment to more treatments in the future.
Tip 4: Be Careful of Overwhelming Patients
Most patients want to understand how a treatment option will help them and be able to weigh their different options. As the provider, you should be careful not to overwhelm patients, either with different options or too much information. An overwhelmed patient won’t be able to make a properly informed decision.
Be ready to explain the pros and cons of laser therapy for a specific patient in a way they can understand. Laser therapy works at a microscopic level, and you might need to refresh patients on some of their high school science to understand how laser therapy works. Be cautious of using too much jargon as it’s easy to lose someone who doesn’t understand it.
Overwhelmed patients are frustrated patients. Keep options to a minimum of what you find best for their situation and explain things as simply as possible to avoid causing frustration.
When you invest in a laser therapy device, your device provider should be able to help you realize the return on investment. That’s why at Aspen Laser, we offer patient marketing programs to help practices educate their patients and show how high intensity laser therapy will help them live pain free.