I speak with happy hair transplant patients all the time and it’s great to hear their stories but I also speak with people every week that haven’t had surgery and many of them are asking about the odds of having a bad outcome, or they’ve already had a bad outcome and are really angry with their doctor. The latter issue is what has been on my mind. Happy hair transplant patients are what all clinics strive for. I don’t think that any clinic is out there trying to scam people while at the same time knowing they’re doing awful work. I could be wrong but I don’t think I am for two reasons.
1. I’ve spoken to a lot of doctors and even the ones that I know aren’t really any good at what they do honestly feel that they are. In fact, some have an arrogance that defies belief!
2. I choose to believe that most people are inherently good and wouldn’t intentionally harm others for a quick buck. This point may be a bit naive but this is what I believe.
The problem however is that this industry known as hair restoration is one of the most competitive fields you can find anywhere. Everyone is the best, no one has unhappy patients and everyone has invented their own tools and has been a pioneer of whatever procedure they’re currently offering. The literature that clinics put out is designed to support this message and the presentation of the clinic in all formats, from print to internet to the personal consultation, are all designed to convey a message of perfection. The problem is that this is about the deepest pile of horse shit that anyone can step into, marketing wise, and it is partially why you ALL have unhappy hair transplant patients.
Happy Hair Transplant Patients, Their Origins
It would make sense to assume that every hair transplant clinic wishes to have every client turn into happy hair transplant patients and that would be a valid assumption. However, the REAL goal of hair transplant clinics is to reduce or eliminate any UNhappy hair transplant patients from making their feelings known on the internet, especially on the various review websites. You may think this is an unusual point to make but if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Happy hair transplant patients are indeed the goal but this does not bring in as many patients as an unhappy hair transplant patient on a review website will keep away. The old marketing rule of thumb is that for every happy client they will tell two or three others about their experience. An unhappy client will tell ten. Now, this is known to be variable depending on the product or service but the message is clear and it is true, that unhappy hair transplant patients will damage your business for more easily than happy hair transplant patients will help to build it up. So what can you do to reduce the chances of unhappy hair transplant patients?
We first have to identify why a patient might be unhappy. There are two possible reasons;
- The result did not manifest a high final growth percentage from the procedure. This can be because of sloppy technique or it can be from the patient just not having the characteristics and the physiology that you expected. The patient winds up not getting the result they want, the growth is obviously bad and the patient complains.
- The patient had expectations that were not realistic and they expected more from the procedure than it could realistically provide.
The first point is a discussion that could, and has, filled books but the second point is part of what I wish to discuss here. When patients start doing their research into hair restoration they already have ideas of what is possible and their research will either reinforce their ideas of what is possible or it will contradict their expectations. Sometimes patients will recognize their original assumptions were incorrect and as they continue their research they’ll come to understand what the reality is with surgical hair restoration and they wind up being a happy hair transplant patient. The problem is that sometimes patients will choose to ignore the information they learn and choose to only believe the information that supports their existing ideal. This is obviously indicative of bigger issues that will be discussed in a future blog post