The One Phone Call That Can Make or Break Your Practice

It’s not marketing’s fault—you’re probably losing most of your opportunities at the front desk. That first call matters, and you need someone who knows how to guide the right patients through.

When your front desk knows your technology, your treatments, and how to handle tough questions, they’re more likely to turn inquiries into appointments.

To set the front desk up for success, Mara Shorr of ACG Practice Partners shares her best tips: fast but effective onboarding, solid scripting, and tools to help your team speak with confidence.

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Guest

Mara Shorr, Consultant
ACG Practice Partners

Mara Shorr has 15 years of experience guiding aesthetic practices across toward their strongest operational, administrative, and financial health. She has served as an editorial board member for DERMASCOPE magazine, writes for numerous aesthetic industry publications, and is a respected international speaker and key opinion leader for nearly a dozen aesthetic industry conferences annually, as well as a proud textbook chapter author for The Business of Plastic Surgery: Volume 2.

Learn more about ACG Practice Partners

Follow Mara on Instagram @marashorr

Connect with Mara on LinkedIn

Host

Robin Ntoh, VP of Aesthetics
Nextech

Access Robin's toolkit of helpful resources to help optimize practice operations»

Transcript

Announcer (00:06):
You are listening to the Aesthetically Speaking podcast presented by Nextech.

Robin Ntoh (00:16):
You're listening to the Aesthetically Speaking podcast presented by Nextech. I'm Robin Ntoh, and we're coming to you live from the AmSpa, med spa show 2025 here in Las Vegas at the Beautiful Wynn Hotel. And today my guest is Mara Shorr. I'm so excited, Mara. It's great to be here. And once again with you, and what did we just say? How many meetings have we done so far this year together?

Mara Shorr (00:39):
I think we settled on, we've lost count, so we are hovering around half a dozen so far, and we've both said we've done three in the past four weeks alone. But it's fun. It's so fun to get to do this. And you have the energy, just the collective effervescence, if you will.

Robin Ntoh (00:58):
Oh, I know. And there's always so many great people that we meet and some people we see weekend after weekend. Let's reintroduce the audience to who you are. Tell us a little bit about yourself and how did you get into this exciting world of aesthetic consulting?

Mara Shorr (01:11):
It is a wildly exciting world. So my name is Mara Shorr. I'm a consultant with Brinson Anderson Consulting and we focus on plastic surgery and med spa. Though I will say the majority of our clients are board certified plastic surgeons and we have dermatology clients as well, but we really focus on the business side of medicine and I love this wild, weird world that we all live in. It really is

Robin Ntoh (01:37):
The wild west?

Mara Shorr (01:38):
Oh, we try to make it less wild west, let's put it that way. Especially when we're at a show like this. It is all about compliance as well, so we try and make it far less wild west, although it can be. And I've been in this industry for close to 15 years now, consulting with clients all over the country. Love, love, love what I do and focus truly on the business side of medicine. I work with provider owned practices, so it's something that I have done for a very long time now and just keep on because I love this so much as on the consulting side.

Robin Ntoh (02:12):
Operations is an interesting place to be in this world. We've got talks that we've heard about generational differences. We've seen the differences in compliance as you just mentioned, and what's going on in that environment and there's oh, so much going on there always, but I think that, let's talk a little bit today just about that whole patient experience that we're trying to create, but it really happens. The magic happens at the front desk, I think.

Mara Shorr (02:40):
Oh my gosh, so much.

Robin Ntoh (02:41):
And so much is going on there. Distractions, upheaval, maturity or immaturity. So many things impact that front desk team and I know that you and Amy have actually had courses just on how to build a high performing front desk team. So I'm excited to hear a little bit about this. So let's talk today about some of those top areas where you see practices really thrive when it comes to managing that team or maybe even some of the craziest things that you've seen that were like how did they even survive through that?

Mara Shorr (03:13):
Yes, and I've seen some crazy things. I've seen some wild things. I think that empowering your team and giving them the tools that they need is one of the top tips that I can give any practice. And so making sure that you're not trying to do more with less. So when we are using technology for instance, make sure that you're giving them time to be trained on the technology and you're giving them time to be trained in really learning about the procedures that your practice performs and your practice does. Because I see so often you hire somebody at the front desk and say, oh, it's unquote just checking patients in and out. It's just answering the phones and it's so much more that goes into that, but we aren't training them on all the other components in the business. Obviously they're not performing the treatments, right?

(04:08):
This is not what we want to do, but we should have them listening to someone else that you already know and trust the way that they do things at the front desk and have them mimic and model and role play at the front desk before we're just letting them loose, training them on the technology and the software that we have instead of just letting them figure it out. So I think look at what modules, Nextech being an example, what modules can we give them to learn from with when they're first hired so we're not just throwing them to the wolves from day one.

Robin Ntoh (04:47):
You say there's some interesting things there. First of all, so many things. Technology, we talked about training, you talked about scripting, leaving it up to them to create their own script becomes as we know, not necessarily right script. Yeah, I mean the things that I've heard people say, the things that I've seen over the course of the years. However, let's go back to just something as simple as scripting. We know, in fact, it's a lot of on the job training, we know that that's the way this world works. We don't have a training center or necessarily training modules to put people through. So we've got to think about what does that really entail and how do I actually make that easy to do, especially if I'm the injector and I'm in a room trying to do treatments, but at the same time I've got a new front desk person that's supposed to be pre-selling me or the business. Do I actually, what are some great ways to get them onboard quickly, but also following the guidelines that you need them to follow?

Mara Shorr (05:48):
So you hit the nail on the head with scripting, and I've seen so often, and I've heard people say, and other speakers have said this as well, but it's, oh, I don't want them to sound too scripted, but do you want them to sound like they're not scripted at all? We want them to know if a patient or either current or prospective patient says X, then this team member says Y, how are you reacting when a patient says one thing or another thing? We want to give them the if this then that script and eventually, no, they're not going to need a piece of paper or have it up on a monitor in front of them, but in the very beginning, make sure they have the tools right from the very start. I also say frequently asked questions and you can keep a running list. Training, all of your training tools are going to continue to evolve because, and we were just talking about this Robin with a doctor downstairs, that your practice at day one is not the same one month in, or three months in, or six months in, or one year or five years in. Your practice is going to evolve. And so your training tools need to evolve with the practice. And so it really is so incredibly important, but have those tools in place. So have scripts have frequently asked questions. I always say that part of your team members' training for every single team member is to go through your entire website because patients have gone through your website and you don't want patients to know the website better than your own team knows the website.

Robin Ntoh (07:22):
You bring up a really good point. I think though, if you think about the scripting, but you also think about where that really can become more of an evergreen type of situation where you build the information, you either put it in a written format, you create a video, you even role play to some degree, and the first day you sit down and you're seeing patients or you've got a day full of things that you need to do. You don't have a full-time trainer. How do you get them started and how do you make sure that they're doing it right? Is start with putting the things in place today that will continuously grow with your practice. And then that becomes a reference guide.

Mara Shorr (08:00):
I also say, which is a little bit contrary to what you just said, you have to make the time, right?

Robin Ntoh (08:07):
Yes.

Mara Shorr (08:08):
And I've seen this happen where a practice owner will want to have double the amount of patients that they really should because they can, they say, oh, well, I'm getting this many leads, so I want to just book as much as possible. But they don't let their team have that breathing room or the time to train the team or they're not letting themselves, the owners of the practice aren't giving themselves time to train their team. So there needs to be time that you set aside as a practice owner to train the team. And yes, that's going to mean initially seeing less patients, but you need to walk so that you can jog, so you can run.

Robin Ntoh (08:50):
Let's talk about some of the things that go wrong when you don't train your team.

Mara Shorr (08:54):
Oh my goodness.

Robin Ntoh (08:55):
So many, right?

Mara Shorr (08:56):
And I've seen this so much, right? I've seen that when you don't train your team, they don't know how to answer questions, they don't know about the provider. So when a patient calls and wants to learn about a specific surgery that a doctor provides, and maybe that doctor is known, for example, their revision rhinoplasty, that's what they're known for. If nobody trained that front desk team member, then that front desk team member has no idea that that's what the doctor is known for. And there's going to be a lot of, I don't know, let me check. Let me put you on hold. I think it's not going to work, right? So I've also seen that they haven't put together a training plan, and so somebody is learning on the fly and it takes a lot longer for that team member to get up to speed than they really should.

(09:49):
So one of the other things too, if I can provide another tip is when it comes to the phone, you as a practice owner should be continuously listening to the recorded calls. And I always recommend having your front desk team member or anybody that is on the phone on a regular basis, listen to about three of their own calls a week and send you a note, send an email to their manager saying, these are two or three things that went well in the calls. These are two or three things I'm going to work on, and we're always our own worst critics. You and I are going to listen back to this podcast and go, oh my goodness, I said this. I said that. I could have said this. Why didn't I include this fact? But we're always our own worst critics.

Robin Ntoh (10:31):
Yeah, I think the other thing that happens that we've seen and we've talked about this is they set the stage and you end up with people that have not been pre-qualified because you've not done your diligence and then you end up as a provider starting to see patients that really weren't good candidates because they could have been disqualified based upon a few questions at that initial phone call. And so then you end up with time lost on your schedule and time is money.

Mara Shorr (11:03):
I've seen two things happen with that. I've seen really unqualified patients. I've seen where a patient that is on a medication that they're never going to be able to get off, that it's not a good idea for them to be on this medication and have surgery. I've also seen, one of my clients had a patient that had early onset dementia and had we known this ahead of time, the concern was her going under an anesthesia that could possibly really intensify. And the doctor said, I'm not comfortable putting this patient under anesthesia unnecessarily if we don't have to. Things that potentially we could have found out ahead of time if they'd spent just a little bit more time asking some questions. On the other side, what I see is that a practice is investing a lot of money in their marketing efforts and the phone is ringing, but you have a front desk person that's not able to convert those leads. And I hear time and time again, a practice will say, we're not getting enough leads or our marketing isn't doing the job, our SEO isn't working, our Google ad words aren't working, our social media isn't working. All of these components when it's not a matter of that, it really is that by the time the leads get to the front desk, the front desk is not able to convert them into patients and so into consults. And it really becomes a very much a lost lead. And we're dealing with that with the client right now where the injectors have been incredibly slow, but we look back and there are so many leads that were lost at the front desk.

Robin Ntoh (12:33):
Wow, that's an interesting tale to tell because if you think about the way that practices tend to think about that front desk person, they tend to be the lowest paid person. They tend to look at them as a receptionist, and that's the title that they've been given, but we put so much on them. When do you think that this, I don't know, system, this ecosystem of aesthetics will start to realize that should you be hiring like a Saks 5th Avenue type of person versus someone that is really just there to answer the phones? When are you going to change that profile and should they be paid as much, if not the same as a higher level person that you would normally think is paid more? I mean, I think about that and I think when are we going to change that profile? When are we going to look at that differently?

Mara Shorr (13:27):
I've started seeing, thank goodness, I've started seeing that, and it used to be, oh, if we can get away with paying someone $12 an hour, $13 an hour or $14 an hour, and not too long ago, I mean I would say even as recently as maybe 2018, 2019, that's what people were trying to do. And we were getting people that quite honestly, that's what we were getting. And there are wonderful people that are making that amount. So it's not a matter of that, but I will say I am seeing much more, a higher paid position than I used to because people are realizing that we need so much more out of a skillset. That person is your gatekeeper. They really are your gatekeeper, and they're either going to let everybody through, or they're going to let nobody through, or they're going to let the appropriate people through. And we want somebody that has that judgment to let the appropriate people through the appropriate number of people, the appropriate candidates. That's what we want. We want a good gatekeeper.

Robin Ntoh (14:31):
I mean, it can impact their revenue so much.

Mara Shorr (14:34):
Oh my goodness. Yes.

Robin Ntoh (14:35):
And people just don't pay attention to it, but they consistently put them down. They consistently assume that that is the best they're going to get, but they don't invest in them.

Mara Shorr (14:47):
I also think I like to say when, because we help lot of our clients hire to do a lot of their hiring, and when we're hiring for our clients, I want to know what is the culture at that particular practice? Because somebody that is wonderful at one client's front desk might not be a fit for another client's front desk because we say front desk is a generic term, but quite honestly, there are so many different skills that often will get pulled into front desk. Sometimes it's front desk slash marketing. Sometimes you also have some patient care coordinator duties in there or some surgical coordination in there. I've seen sometimes where if their schedule allows, some days they're functioning as an aesthetician, and some days they're at the front desk if we need cross coverage this slash that position. But truly we need somebody that is really trained really well in what it's that they're set to do.

Robin Ntoh (15:45):
It's almost like they walk in the door and it's like, okay, which hat am I putting on today?

Mara Shorr (15:48):
My goodness, yes.

Robin Ntoh (15:49):
Or how many hats can I put on my head?

Mara Shorr (15:51):
Yes. And be picky on purpose. When you are hiring for this position, be picky on purpose and know what your company culture is and who's going to be perfect for that role in your particular practice. Please don't settle for less because I have a client that they did for a split second. They settled for less and it showed it did not go well. And the practice saw the repercussions of that, and it affected surgical schedule. It affected an injectable schedule. It really, it affected lead generation. It affected so many different things. And so we want to make sure that we are very picky about that. But then when we do bring that perfect person for us in, we're providing them with the training and we're providing them with the tools that they need. And this could be anything from lead tracking, appropriately tracking software that integrates with your EMR, because if not, you're going to have an Excel spreadsheet over here, you're going to have this over here. We want everything to integrate as best as we can.

(16:55):
But also I've seen sometimes it's as simple as a client of ours that quite honestly, she said, you know what would really help me is a headset. And she said, Mara, I'm wearing my AirPods and I feel like it looks, and she has really conducts the majority of the calls from an iPhone. And she said, it looks because of the way the technology works, right? It's being conducted, like the calls are coming in through an iPhone. And she says, I can be on a very much, it's a practice call, but when somebody comes in and they check in and they see me on an iPhone with my AirPods in, she says, the optics aren't good, and I feel like I get a reaction because of that. She said, if I could get an official looking headset that would just, and we looked, these headsets are no more than $50 really for something that's official, right? She's not recording podcasts on these headsets, so she needs it for the optics of this. And a tool like that was a game changer for her.

Robin Ntoh (17:57):
It's interesting, the little things that make such a huge difference in a business, but the tools, the training, I think the focus and emphasis on the importance of the position, all of those things play into it. Nextech recently just announced that we're integrating CRM into this, which I think is exciting. It goes back to your point of lead management because so many leads come in via social media or the website or things like that, which we don't see as impacting the front desk except for when they pick up the phone and do make the phone call. And then they've done hopefully some of the research that helps to pre-qualify them to some degree, but they're still looking for that exceptional experience, that exceptional person that actually in a lot of way pre-sells the practice.

Mara Shorr (18:44):
Absolutely.

Robin Ntoh (18:44):
Presells the next person that's going to take on the next step in the journey.

Mara Shorr (18:49):
I often will, when I'm meeting with the front desk team, and I say this with the patient care coordinators as well, but when I'm meeting with the team, I'll say, first talk to me. Give me a couple bullet points, 30 seconds or less about your providers. And typically I say, I don't want to hear their cv, right? Don't read me their cv. Give me 30 seconds. And they're probably giving me, this is where they went to school and really a summarized version of their cv. I said, okay. And while that is wonderful, and I only half joke, I say, don't tell your doctor this. Most patients aren't calling and caring where they went to school. I said, tell me what makes them special. Do they have an artistic eye? Do they have this beautiful bedside manner that just makes every patient feel so comfortable as soon as they walk into the room?

(19:41):
Have they performed over 10,000 of said procedure and this is what they're known for? Have you had procedures done by the doctor or the injector, right, the provider. Have your family members come here? Do you trust this practice enough that your mom comes here? Because that speaks volumes too. And that's all part of credentialing the practice. Everyone on your team should be able to credential the practice. And sometimes it's just that simple exercise of don't read me the cv, but tell me in 30 seconds or less because we have 30 seconds or less to credential the practice.

Robin Ntoh (20:19):
So in your experience, what are some great pearls or tips that you could share that help someone overcome the hurdle of training? How do I continuously, not just on onboard, but beyond the onboarding? Because I think onboarding, there's a list we muddle through it, but I think it's the continuous training that is key. The continuous training that constantly levels up, that constantly keeps us in check that we're differentiating, we're always competing with somebody. So this is one way that we really differentiate. How do practices do it?

Mara Shorr (21:01):
A couple different ways. I say set a tide, set aside time for regular training. That could be once a month and think about what it is that your practice might need to level up, but set aside that once a month for an hour. Because if you don't set it aside, it's not going to happen. So that's one component. I also talk regularly about this both from the stage and with our clients. And I say once a quarter, contact each of your tech companies, so all of your software providers and say, can you talk to me about what's different from the last quarter when we last talked? Tell me what is different and what the technology does now that maybe it didn't do last quarter because they may have sent out emails. But quite honestly, we get so many emails in our inbox that your team may have missed them.

(21:52):
So tell me what is going to make life easier and what different widgets have been updated? What integrations are different? But be proactive. Contact your rep and do this for your EMR. Do this for your phone system because they may have new features. Do it for your photography system. And if they tell you, no, there's no new features, great, you did your job. But really look to your vendors to help with ongoing training as well. And then look at what other webinars are available with ongoing training. Bring in outside consultants. I don't say this because I am a consultant, but for those of you that have kids, you know, you can tell your kids things until you're blue in the face. But when the cool aunt or uncle comes in and says something, they look at you like they've never heard it before. Use your vendors and consultants as the coolant or uncle, so you don't have to say something to you're blue in the face.

Robin Ntoh (22:45):
That is so true. It's a good call out.

Mara Shorr (22:47):
And Robin, you and I get to be the fun aunts. We talked about this at dinner last night. We do.

Robin Ntoh (22:51):
We really spoil 'em and return them.

Mara Shorr (22:53):
In real life we love being the fun ants. Right?

Robin Ntoh (22:55):
So true.

Mara Shorr (22:56):
It's so fun. So that's why professionally I also get to be the fun aunt, really.

Robin Ntoh (23:00):
And the bad guy too.

Mara Shorr (23:01):
And I do sometimes have to be the bad guy.

Robin Ntoh (23:04):
That's right. That's right.

Mara Shorr (23:05):
I think it's, but it's ongoing training. The final thing I would say too, when we talk about ongoing training, make sure that you constantly have an eye on your processes and protocols. Because if you do have staff turnover, or if your staff grows and you go from having one person at your front desk, and now you need two people at your front desk, oh, now you needed to add somebody else to answer phones or to check patients in or out, and we look at what that looks like, the more training tools you have in place, that you have more of a playbook, the easier it's going to be as you continue to grow. And keep a constant eye on that. Because if you give them a protocol you created two years ago, they take a look and they're like, the software doesn't look like this anymore. Right? Nextech doesn't look the same as it did 10 years ago when you created this step-by-step guide. They're not going to be able to follow it.

Robin Ntoh (24:00):
It's very true. Very true. Well, this has been a lot of fun today, but we're going to do part two.

Mara Shorr (24:06):
Perfect.

Robin Ntoh (24:06):
And we're going to do playbooks.

Mara Shorr (24:08):
Ooh, I love this.

Robin Ntoh (24:09):
So many people don't understand the concept, but how important it really is. There's so much that we can do with it, but it's a scary term. It's so stay tuned, part two, and we will do playbooks.

Mara Shorr (24:19):
I love that.

Robin Ntoh (24:20):
The front desk.

Mara Shorr (24:20):
Perfect. Thank you.

Announcer (24:23):
Thanks for listening to Aesthetically Speaking, the podcast where beauty meets business, presented by Nextech. Follow and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. Links to the resources mentioned on this podcast or available in your show notes. For more information about Nextech, visit nextech.com. Or to learn more about TouchMD, go to touchmd.com. Aesthetically Speaking is a production of the Axis, theaxis.io.