PracticalDermatology

A patient care coordinator (PCC), or cosmetic care coordinator (CCC), plays an essential role in a growing aesthetic practice. This individual is charged with helping patients navigate the aesthetic process and serves as a liaison—or translator—between the patient and the provider. Because the activities of the coordinator position are directly tied to a practice’s success, care must be taken in finding the right “fit” for the position.

It takes time to find someone who can effectively fill a practice’s coordinator role. This is primarily because many of the required traits for this position cannot be provided in training. Before a staff training session, I often tell a practice, “I can’t teach nice,” and “I can’t teach you to have care at your core.” That said, practices will have a greater chance of hiring the ideal coordinator candidate if they keep in mind the attributes outlined in this article.

Top Attributes

Following are the top attributes to consider when hiring a PCC or CCC.

Experience. Experience in the aesthetic marketplace is always beneficial to a person in this role. However, candidates with experience in other fields should not be overlooked. While specific job duties may differ, the core skill set required to be an effective coordinator is often found in people with experience in other industries. For example, waitresses (or food servers) can be good candidates because they tend to be efficient multitaskers with experience interacting with a variety of personalities. Other examples are flight attendants, pharmaceutical representatives, and individuals in cosmetics. Flight attendants are well trained in the art of customer service and managing challenging personality types. Pharmaceutical representatives tend to present well, are comfortable speaking with physicians, and are goal-oriented. Individuals with experience in cosmetic or beauty departments have experience in business, customer service, management, sales, and art—and they hustle.

Personality. Filling a coordinator role requires finding someone who is outgoing and extroverted, i.e., someone who is comfortable taking the lead on a consultation or conversation with a potential patient. Keep in mind that aesthetic services are a “nice to have” and not necessarily a “need to have,” so a consultative approach is an absolute must. Being able to effectively communicate and interact with each patient to understand what drives that patient and his/her interests is a key to success in this role. Coordinators must be able to talk with patients while ensuring the conversation stays focused on the coordinator’s job responsibilities. Essentially, effective coordinators are skilled at practicing friendliness with a purpose—the purpose being the scheduling of an appointment or treatment.

Articulation. Try to find a coordinator who is well spoken but able to adjust his/her tone and cadence to mirror that of the patient. Money doesn’t discriminate based on training or education level, so the coordinator needs to be skillful in adapting his/her communication style accordingly. However, it is equally important the person is able to do this while making sure the message conveyed is clear and concise. For instance, if a patient needs to stop smoking or commit to postoperative and follow-up appointments, the coordinator must be able to clearly articulate this information in a manner to which the patient will respond.

Education. Generally, practices benefit from hiring someone for their coordinator position who has at least some advanced education (i.e., junior college or college). The college experience provides exposure to different types of people and situations. Having this experience tends to make a person more relatable to all types of patients. Continuing education or developmental seminars provided to boost an individual’s skill set in a previous work setting may also be beneficial. That said, don’t underestimate people with work experience or those with strong emotional intelligence; they often have exposure to real-world or life experiences that could serve them well in this role.

Listening skills. Listening is the primary skill that makes it possible for a coordinator to “read” patients and identify different buying and communication styles. Effective use of LAER—listen, acknowledge, explore, and respond—is a key strategy to understanding a patient’s state of mind, previous experiences, research completed, and motivators behind having surgery or a procedure. Coordinators interact with patients, staff, and physicians and must have an awareness that helps them know when they must adapt their style to complement other personality types in the practice.

Problem-solving ability. A practice’s coordinator is responsible for connecting the lines between what patients want and what the providers can deliver. It’s not as simple as, “Oh, you have wrinkles—here is an injectable.” The coordinator must understand the patient’s comfort level and be tuned into his/her background and previous experience. This makes it possible to present options and recommendations that align with the patient’s time frame, goals, and financial situation.

Flexibility. A good coordinator candidate can handle change. Real-world aesthetic practice scenarios can be chaotic—patients frequently change their mind about surgery or treatments, rooms get overbooked, patients need reassurance, schedules run late, doctors decide they have a meeting or are taking vacation when the schedule is full of surgeries or consultations—and the list goes on. To effectively deal with these regular occurrences, the coordinator must have the ability to roll with the punches and maintain a “find-a-way” attitude.

Comfort in sales and goal-setting.Yes, the role of a coordinator is somewhat of a sales position because aesthetic practices “sell” experiences. Therefore, any previous sales experience can be helpful, as long as the coordinator can remain sensitive to the fact that the practice is in the business of making people who want to better themselves feel good—they’re not looking to buy life insurance. Additionally, the coordinator should be capable of establishing and tracking monthly or quarterly goals in a variety of areas. The responsibilities of tracking a practice’s phone calls, marketing efforts, online inquiries, consultations, surgeries, cancellations, and no-shows are a few of the responsibilities of a coordinator.

Practice ambassador potential. Coordinators need to trust their providers and feel proud to represent them. Someone who has received a treatment and is skilled at articulating his/her experience, anxiety, excitement, and outcomes will do well in this role as this individual will be viewed by patients as authentic and genuine. However, being able to articulate another patient’s journey through a treatment is seen as equally effective. Additionally, the role is easier when there is true belief in the provider, the practice, and the procedure/treatment. The coordinator serves in a managerial leader capacity within the practice and works hand in hand with the providers and team to ensure high patient satisfaction. For that reason, representing the practice also means that the coordinator must be comfortable offering insight and feedback to the providers and team members.

The Right Person

Hiring the right person for a coordinator position is a big deal and takes time. It is recommended that practice leaders reflect upon the attributes presented in this article when considering a candidate for the role. The successful growth of the aesthetic practice depends on it. n

Michele McCormick Simmons is a management consultant with the Allergan Practice Consulting Group of Allergan, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company based in Irvine, California.

Mrs. Simmons consults with dermatology, medical spa, and plastic surgery practices in the areas of financial analysis, practice evaluations, human resource issues, internal and external marketing, leadership training and team building, sales training, compensation, and cosmetic practice development.

Mrs. Simmons has more than 12 years of experience in sales, consulting, sales management, training, and business operations. Prior to joining the Allergan Practice Consulting Group, Mrs. Simmons served in a number of sales and management positions, including senior sales representative and northeast field trainer.