Nick Tvrdik joins us to share his expertise and success strategies for more effective patient consults. We discuss how to help the patient get the treatment they need while also increasing revenues. Nick has personally done over 8,000 patient consults within his own practices, Aria Integrative Health and Lohi Lipo Laser. He is also a public speaker, consultant with Practice Empowered, and podcast host for the Aesthetic Coaches' Quarter.
Nick Tvrdik joins us to share his expertise and success strategies for more effective patient consults. We discuss how to help the patient get the treatment they need while also increasing revenues. Nick has personally done over 8,000 patient consults within his own practices, Aria Integrative Health and Lohi Lipo Laser. He is also a public speaker, consultant with Practice Empowered, and podcast host for the Aesthetic Coaches' Quarter.
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:28:01
Ken
All right. Welcome aboard. Welcome aboard. So today is episode three in our revenue hourglass discussions. And we have Nick Tvrdik here with us today. He's going to talk about the consult, how to optimize the consult, how to book more treatments. He's the king at this. Nick, why don't you kind of tell us who you are?
00:00:28:03 - 00:00:49:17
Nick
Hello, everybody. So my name is Nick Tvrdik. I am owner of Aria Integrative Health, Lohi Lipo Laser, and we also have a consultancy where we really help people make more money, because that's the whole point of starting a business, if you guys that are listening did not know that. So we're really going to dive into how we can optimize that.
00:00:49:17 - 00:01:15:21
Nick
But it's called practice empowered and we also have a podcast that is the Aesthetic Coaches Quarter where we really try to help people in this space make more money and answer a lot of different questions. So hopefully that was a decent summary of who we are, but we've been around for 12 years. I've personally done over 8000 esthetic consultations, so I kind of know what I am doing.
00:01:15:23 - 00:01:20:02
Charlie
Dude, I love that. Making money, man. Yes.
00:01:20:04 - 00:01:36:05
Nick
Right. I mean, it's when people get in and like, you know what? I really want to help people and don't get it wrong, I love that. So on the functional Integrative Health Center, I joke about that when I said I truly care about our patients health, but at the end of the day, you're not starting a nonprofit, right?
00:01:36:09 - 00:02:00:15
Nick
You're not a 501c3. This is a for profit organization that you started in aesthetics. If you did not start it for that, you are doing the wrong thing. So I really like jumping on here and Charlie and I have become really good friends over the years and what Liine has done for us has been absolutely instrumental to really optimizing that whole moneymaking piece of it.
00:02:00:15 - 00:02:15:07
Nick
But this is a for profit business and you have to watch, watch what's going on. You have to have your T's cross, you have to have your I’s dotted. And how you construct and really run a consult is crucial to that entire process.
00:02:15:09 - 00:02:36:08
Charlie
Totally. I'll just jump in on that. And you know, the reason Nick's here, we have become good friends over the years. But I've heard I've heard Nick speak many times at events that we both gone to. And most of the people that are practice owners are involved with management that I mean, they don't have a background in business and certainly not in sales.
00:02:36:13 - 00:03:11:05
Charlie
Fact, sales is a word that people get like afraid of, which they should just embrace. What sales really is, is, you know, if you help enough other people get what they want, you're going to get what you want. And so the consult like there's there's technology and tools that you can buy, including Liine that can automatic for help you with stuff in other parts of the hourglass without you really having to develop skills or expertise or have a plan of how you're going to communicate the consult is a tough one because if you've never had any training, if you don't know why you're doing the things that you're doing, you're not in control.
00:03:11:07 - 00:03:29:24
Charlie
The good news is the stuff that Nick's going to share with us and I've personally heard him deliver is like unbelievably impactful, especially because most people are so bad. So if you're really bad at something, you don't have to get amazing at it right away. You can just start getting better at different parts. And that's going to have a really big, really big impact.
00:03:29:24 - 00:03:33:14
Charlie
So I've been looking forward to this conversation for a while.
00:03:33:16 - 00:03:34:23
Ken
Yeah, go glad to have you on.
00:03:35:00 - 00:03:36:04
Charlie
How should we start, Ken?
00:03:36:06 - 00:03:51:10
Ken
Well, first, I think it's worth mentioning, I'm going to assume, Nick, a lot of this applies to any kind of specialty practice because a lot of our audience, you know, won't be in aesthetics. But, you know, I assume a lot of these lessons are across the board right?
00:03:51:12 - 00:04:13:15
Nick
It doesn't matter whether you're selling cardboard boxes, aesthetics, new teeth, it doesn't really matter. The sales process should be the same. And what you're trying to garner out of that consultation should be the same where they're selling real estate esthetics, it doesn't it doesn't matter. You really need to follow specific pieces that you need to check off on that.
00:04:13:15 - 00:04:21:23
Nick
What we're trying to accomplish during this consults. So yeah, this will definitely well, at least hopefully people will be able to get a lot out of this.
00:04:22:00 - 00:04:40:20
Ken
Absolutely. Okay. Well, we've I guess just to quickly recap, we've talked about getting more leads to the business. We've talked about turning more of those leads into consults. Nick, just open ended. What's next? What should we be thinking about? I'll let you just run with it. Just run with it. Well, I'll jump in if I have to.
00:04:40:22 - 00:05:11:10
Nick
So any time. The first thing that I want everybody that's listening to this to really get out of the consult is if you're not excited about what you do or what you're selling, you need to learn to be. I love the aesthetic space. I love the functional integrative health space. I really, really do. I'm excited about it. If you're not excited, you can't get the person that you're sitting in front of you excited about it, which is the number one goal that you need to do in any single consult.
00:05:11:12 - 00:05:33:06
Nick
I don't care if you're trying to sell real estate. I don't care if you're trying to sell lollipops, if you're trying to sell a $12,000 noninvasive body contouring package. If you're not getting the patient or the person across the table from you or over the phone from your in person in front of you, or trying to sell a car, excited about what you're selling, you're doing that wrong.
00:05:33:08 - 00:05:55:24
Nick
And I want to go back a little bit to what Charlie said about how sales kind of has a bad connotation and it shouldn't. Doctors, for instance, I'm going to specifically stay in the aesthetic space. So many of these doctors are scared because they're like, oh, I don't know how to sell. You've been selling drugs for your entire career, right?
00:05:56:01 - 00:06:24:04
Nick
So you're just now selling something that's actually going to help somebody feel better about themselves, right? So all it is is really diving into this whole piece, but it's getting excited that you have a solution to the problem that they're presenting in front of you. Because at the at the point that you have a consult, you've already established that they have something that they want and you're sitting down to really try to solve those problems and put together a solution.
00:06:24:06 - 00:06:42:17
Nick
So you're helping them with what they are trying to accomplish by excitement, excitement, excitement. And if you're not excited because you're worried about the sales process, you got to look at yourself in there and pull up your big boy pants or big girl pants and really dive into what you're trying to accomplish with this.
00:06:42:23 - 00:07:01:12
Charlie
I think one thing I just love that sales is a transference of feeling. I learned that when I sold bookd door to door back in the day. But the other thing is when people are reaching out about the treatments and services that you offer, they they're looking for a feeling, right? The outcome they want is going to make them feel a certain way.
00:07:01:12 - 00:07:24:10
Charlie
That's why they're there. And that is so important to remember. And people don't remember that and they get too caught up in the logical details of whatever, Right. Of course, you've got to explain and educate. Those things are important. You got to have credibility, which I know Nick is a big believer in. But that excitement level and you don't have to be like, you know, fake about it, but you just have to be passionate.
00:07:24:12 - 00:07:41:09
Charlie
And I totally agree. If you're not if you're not if you're not thinking about man, when someone sits down in front of me and they're asking questions about whatever procedure, I'm excited to tell them about all the things that we can do. If you don't feel that way, there is a problem and you're going to you're also not going to enjoy yourself.
00:07:41:11 - 00:07:50:21
Charlie
So I think that's an easy thing for people to forget. If you aren't if you aren't excited, it's time to ask some serious questions, right? Is this really what you should be doing?
00:07:50:23 - 00:08:12:10
Nick
And I want to expand a little bit on that transferal of feelings, by the way. I love that when when you're doing this, I don't know if anybody, the listeners out there have ever heard of Simon Sinek. If you have not, I highly recommend you listen to a couple of his TED talks, But he wrote an amazing book that's called Start with Your Why.
00:08:12:12 - 00:08:33:03
Nick
And it goes on to what Charlie was just talking about, and it's people don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it. And that is a full transferal of feelings and it kind of goes hand in hand and creates that full circle where you really need to make sure you're looking in the mirror and you believe and you're passionate about what you're talking about.
00:08:33:03 - 00:09:04:12
Nick
I love the space that we're in. I love people coming in and wanting to look better, to feel more confident. But then when they get that confidence, it drives an entire health journey for so many of our patients and really gets our entire clinic excited. And that's that's our why at the end of the day. So when we're talking about it and somebody sits down in front of us and the building credibility piece that you said, Charlie is really the next thing that we always want to make sure that we're really starting with.
00:09:04:12 - 00:09:20:22
Nick
So when we start our consultation, somebody sits down in front of me, the first thing that I do before I ask them what they're there for is I want to build some credibility about what we're going to talk about and about why I'm sitting here to talk to them in the beginning, right? Kind of like how we started this podcast.
00:09:21:03 - 00:09:28:05
Nick
I wanted to build credibility before we go through and I sell everybody that's listening something, right? So what, we're just just joking.
00:09:28:05 - 00:09:33:07
Charlie
Just so you know, I've already signed up. Ha.
00:09:33:09 - 00:09:52:04
Nick
So when I sit down, I say to every single patient, You know, we've been around for 12 years. We treated over 14,000 patients at this at this point in time. But we are a functional integrative health center. First and foremost. We just happen to do more noninvasive body contouring and functional aesthetics than anybody in the state of Colorado.
00:09:52:06 - 00:10:17:22
Nick
Right? So we establish what our why is we actually care about your health. We want to get to the root cause of what's happening. But then we just also have more experience in this space that you're looking to do and the aesthetics than anyone, right? So we start with that whole thing. So you just built credibility. So then anything that you say after your credibility, pitch or line or whatever it is, I would recommend that you start with your.
00:10:17:22 - 00:10:26:08
Nick
Why? Because that's what ours is. Because it also can build some amazing credibility. But you need to have that when you're starting.
00:10:26:10 - 00:10:47:23
Charlie
Love that love that. I think that's something everybody should spend a ton of time on because anything tactical from there isn't going to be as effective if you're not passionate and believing in what you're doing. Switching to kind of structural stuff, Right. I mean, I think just visualizing someone coming in, I know there is a we don't have enough time to talk about everything that you that you believe in with this.
00:10:48:02 - 00:11:09:21
Charlie
But like, you're in front of someone, you're you're establishing credibility, telling and telling them about your why. What are a handful of things that you're most focused on making sure is accomplished in that conversation so that, A, they're going to be able to make a good decision about, Hey, I want to do this or not. And B, you're going to basically put a treatment plan in front of them.
00:11:09:21 - 00:11:26:14
Charlie
That fits because I think a lot of times people are reaching out about something and because they don't really know how it works and really they need more than they thought to get the result they're looking for. So tactically, what are you thinking about doing in the conversation so that you can accomplish that?
00:11:26:16 - 00:12:01:16
Nick
So the first question I asked so short answer your question is educational based sales. The long answer to your question is I always ask the patient what they're trying to accomplish and then whatever it is that that patient says, I'm always going to come back to what they say right then and there throughout the entire consult to make sure that whatever plan we're putting together, whatever I'm doing an education in terms of what device treatment is going to be best, what medical functional health plan is going to be best for them, guiding them down their path.
00:12:01:18 - 00:12:33:16
Nick
I always go back to answering the question that is answered, What are you trying to accomplish? So I'm a big believer in educational based sales. So when I say that is we want to educate the patient as much as we can. So many people go right into a pitch of what they're trying to do. But I'm a big believer in talking about competition because if you're not doing it in the education of whatever treatment plan is going to be best for them or for you.
00:12:33:16 - 00:12:57:12
Nick
Charlie, if you're not talking about your competition, I'm I'm sure you are. They're going to wonder. So when a patient comes in sticking with the esthetics again, they're going to wonder, does it hurt? Does it work? How much does it cost and what other options are out there? So you want to make sure that you are solving upfront the objections that whoever is in front of you may have during your consultation.
00:12:57:14 - 00:13:20:19
Nick
And part of that is really talking about the competition and explaining why. Why did I spend $350,000 on this particular device? We really want to educate the patient as to why this is the device that I chose to buy and why this is the best option for each individual patient. Whatever it is we have 19 devices now. So I mean, nobody can really touch.
00:13:20:21 - 00:13:47:02
Nick
Yeah, it's a lot. So nobody can really touch what we can do if somebody is trying to look better or feel better or get healthier. But it's my job to sit down, ask them what they're looking for, and then really educate them based upon whatever needs they have, whether it be facial aesthetics, body contouring, and really start to peel apart that onion and educate them as to why this is going to solve the problem that they told me they had in the very beginning with what they're trying to accomplish.
00:13:47:04 - 00:14:11:16
Charlie
Killer stuff there. There is there's another.... We're throwing all these books out. There's this book called Made To Stick. Amazing book about communication and a concept called The Curse of Knowledge, which is if you understand a ton about something and talk about it all the time internally, it's easy to forget that someone else doesn't know shit about that, right to the point where sometimes you're like, How do you not know about that?
00:14:11:22 - 00:14:29:13
Charlie
So don't assume that your patients understand. And by the way, even if they do know some of the stuff you're going to explain about the things that you offer, it doesn't matter because if you're passionate like Nick was talking about as you're explaining it, like they're going to continue to get excited and really understand why did you make that investment.
00:14:29:13 - 00:14:48:24
Charlie
This I think so many people skip over this because it's like, oh, this person's heard of this device or they know about this. Who cares that that that has a huge impact. And I would say most of the time the patient just really doesn't know. So you're going to have this huge gap if you skip over that part.
00:14:49:01 - 00:15:14:13
Nick
Yeah, absolutely. And it's really, really important because it doesn't matter what industry you're in, the customer does not know unless you live, eat, breathe, sleep this stuff every day. They're not going to know what the best option is going to be for them. So we really, really try and focus on maximizing that entire process of education as to why I purchased this device.
00:15:14:13 - 00:15:40:00
Nick
Why is this the best option for you? Why this is changing the game, why this is going to be the first step in the marathon of your facial aesthetic journey that that you're. Made to Stick is awesome. I love chatting with Charlie because we are very like minded in terms of just how we work and live and all of that because we share books back and forth and it's it's a great, great thing.
00:15:40:02 - 00:15:43:07
Charlie
Yeah, me and Nick are really professionally attracted to each other.
00:15:43:09 - 00:15:49:24
Nick
And this just got weird.
00:15:50:01 - 00:16:11:09
Charlie
Man. That's such good stuff. There's there's a lot I think we're going to have to have some more of these chats about this topic, but there's so many other, you know, elements that we can talk about at a later time, but to just try to put a bow on what we're describing, if you handle if you're excited and passionate and you handle the beginning of the conversation, the way he's talking about the other stuff becomes easier.
00:16:11:14 - 00:16:32:00
Charlie
You're going to have less objections because you're already handling them. People are more comfortable and excited themselves and so like that has such a big impact on the other stuff. One one thing I did want to talk about, we've got a few minutes left. Here is the money piece I've heard you discuss this many times and that in the talks that you give.
00:16:32:02 - 00:16:58:12
Charlie
And I know for a fact that this is something that practices aren't specifically focused on and they don't have a specific person with specific language they're using to get paid. So tell us give us the summary of your getting to the end of the console. Things feel like they're going in the right direction. And then how do you take that step of we're signing this person up and we're getting paid today?
00:16:58:14 - 00:17:22:21
Nick
Yeah. So you need to break it all down. You're always going back your active listening, going back to what they're trying to accomplish and it's time to end the consult and ask for the money. You've already handled all the objection that that patient's going to have. And the number one problem in our industry is undertreatment. And the main reason, in my opinion, is people are scared to ask for money.
00:17:22:23 - 00:17:46:23
Nick
It's a it's a rampant problem in this space because what we can do nonsurgical now with all these different amazing devices is jaw dropping. It really, really is. But it might cost more than what surgery does sometimes. Right. And people are scared to ask for ten, 15, 20. I put a $30,000 ticket in front of somebody yesterday.
00:17:46:23 - 00:18:12:22
Nick
Right? It's not my job to put my mind in the other person's wallet. It's my job to put together a solution to solve the problems that they're telling me that they have. Right. So if you do that and you go through the entire process and you do this, all right, at the end, the actual consultation of you listening and educating them on why this is going to be the best option, you've done the whole sales pitch.
00:18:12:24 - 00:18:31:05
Nick
The next thing is really, really easy. It's are you ready to get started? It doesn't have to be awkward. Whatever you want your clothes to be the biggest thing. I implore everybody out there that's listening is after you ask for the money, Are you ready to get started? How would you like to pay it? Whatever you want to use.
00:18:31:09 - 00:19:02:08
Nick
Shut up. After you ask for it, you're going to have some extremely awkward silences. But it is imperative that you do that because it's psychologically whoever speaks first loses and the people that are out there really need to understand that because you can get into some awkwardness, but it's really, really important. You've done your work, ask for the sale and then let them answer.
00:19:02:10 - 00:19:08:13
Nick
So many people will talk themselves right out of a sale because I keep trying to talk to him.
00:19:08:15 - 00:19:32:08
Charlie
Man. I remember this when we were raising money. I'd never raised money before. And so, like, you know, your belief barriers are broken and change every time. But one guy in our house, we did a convertible note after our first angel round, and I went into the conversation thinking, Oh my God, what if this guy invested $100,000? Like, holy shit, that would be the most insane thing of all time.
00:19:32:10 - 00:19:51:08
Charlie
And I didn't even do this on purpose, to be honest. But he was talking and I said, Well, what do you think? You think you may want to get, you know, get in on this? And I shut up. And he and then it was silent for like 10 seconds. He's like, Yeah, I think I'm in. I think thinking about 250.
00:19:51:10 - 00:20:11:07
Charlie
And if I had like started talking, he probably would have invested because like, something I would have said would have been related to my belief that do this, like this guy is not going to write a check over 100 grand. So it's just there's so many examples of that. And what I like about that is you could do that like in the next consult that you have.
00:20:11:13 - 00:20:34:04
Charlie
That's an easy thing to just do immediately, right? Just like at the end. Are you ready to get started? Stop. Don't worry about the outcome. Just worry about executing what he's talking about. And you're going to find that people are people are okay spending way more money than you think, especially if you're doing the consult the way Nick is talking about.
00:20:34:06 - 00:20:36:04
Charlie
So I think that's killer.
00:20:36:06 - 00:20:40:11
Nick
I mean, I could talk for hours on consultation. I know we have a short.
00:20:40:14 - 00:20:43:10
Charlie
We're going to we're going to have we're going to have more. Don't worry.
00:20:43:12 - 00:20:44:09
Nick
All right.
00:20:44:11 - 00:20:45:19
Ken
We're going to have you back next.
00:20:46:00 - 00:20:46:21
Nick
Yeah.
00:20:46:23 - 00:20:47:05
Charlie
Awesome.
00:20:47:05 - 00:20:59:18
Ken
Awesome. Yeah, let's let's let's call it let's call it a day. Although, like we said, we've got to have you back some time. Nick, why don't you share where people can find you or what you want to plug for us today?
00:20:59:20 - 00:21:04:12
Nick
Yeah. I mean, if you're in the Denver area and you want to look better, come see, I'm just. I'm just going to.
00:21:04:14 - 00:21:06:07
Ken
Go for it. Do it.
00:21:06:09 - 00:21:30:04
Nick
So we we own Aria. Integrative health. That's right. A integrative health. But then also, if you're in the esthetic space and you would like to learn you like some of what we said or you've listened to our podcast, the Aesthetic Coaches Quarter, we fully dive in and find where your inefficiencies are. We find where your issues are. We teach you proper patient flow.
00:21:30:07 - 00:22:02:18
Nick
We make your business streamlined moneymaking machine. As long as you listen to us. But that is at practice empowered. So you can find us on Instagram, you can find us, you can shoot me an email, you can go to our practice. Empowered Docs, but we really want to help people. And it's been very powerful for Stephanie and I to really help and rewarding for us at the end at the end of the day, seeing practices that either aren't doing very well, do well, or people that are already doing well.
00:22:02:21 - 00:22:22:02
Nick
We find where the fires are and pour gas on it and see it explode. It's a lot of fun. So if there's any people in the esthetic space or functional health space and would like some health lead gen, whatever it is, a lead conversion line or whatever it is, we we really like to help people with that.
00:22:22:04 - 00:22:39:03
Charlie
If you I'll say one more thing, if you ever have a chance to hear Nick speak and there's an event that you're considering going to and you see his name anywhere, book your fucking ticket and show up to that thing because he is an engaging individual. You will learn and you will have a lot of fun as well.
00:22:39:06 - 00:22:41:22
Charlie
Brother, thank you for coming on. Thank you.
00:22:41:22 - 00:25:29:00
Nick
Always good. Talk soon, gentlemen. Thank you.