Work back from the launch date
Plan backwards from the day the first patient can book, so nothing important lands in the last week. Alder is adding radiofrequency skin tightening at its Bristol branch.
- Before you sign: the supplier's launch package in writing, and a diary check that the new service fits.
- Eight weeks before: training dates fixed. The practitioner agrees the protocol, claims, risks and aftercare; the owner sets prices.
- Six weeks before: the treatment page drafted and photographed, and reception's brief written.
- Four weeks before: event invitations sent to people who've agreed to hear from you; ad wording checked.
- Two weeks before: a test enquiry run through the whole route.
- Launch week: the event, then the first campaign.
Move the weeks to fit the supplier's training dates, but keep the order.
Ask for a launch package, not just a machine price
The supplier gains when its treatment becomes known, so ask what it will contribute before you sign.
- Co-funded advertising: the amount, what it can be spent on, who approves the ads and whether the money comes upfront or after invoices.
- Training and a demonstration day: dates, who attends and whether a trainer supports the first patients.
- Photography and video: who owns the rights and whether you can use them on your own channels.
- A representative at your event: to answer technical questions, never clinical ones.
Copy and adapt · supplier request
"We plan to introduce [treatment] at our [branch] through a launch evening, a treatment page and a local campaign. Please confirm in writing what you can supply, when it arrives, who approves the material and any conditions attached."
Keep the clinic's ad accounts, website and enquiries under the clinic's control, whatever the supplier funds.
Confirm the service and the diary before you announce a date
Announce only when the practitioner is trained, the protocol is agreed and the diary can hold the courses. Your clinical team signs off claims, risks and aftercare before any public date.
Count the appointments a course creates, not just the first visit. Five new course buyers at four sessions each is 20 appointments, plus reviews. If the diary can't hold them, move the launch, not the safety checks.
Give the launch event a job
Make the evening a place to learn and ask, ending in consultation requests. A practitioner-led explanation, a look at the device, a room tour and the full prices on display can do that job.
Any live treatment on a volunteer needs its own clinical protocol and consent, so most launch evenings show and explain the device instead. Invite only people who've agreed to hear from you; an old enquiry isn't permission by itself.
Copy and adapt · event invitation
"We're introducing [treatment] at our [branch] on [date]. Come and see how it works, ask our practitioner your questions and see the full prices. You can request a consultation on the night or afterwards. Reply to save a place."
Skip launch discounts. People should choose the treatment, not the deal, and a discount sets a price you'll struggle to raise.
Make the page, the photos and reception's answers agree
Before launch, read the treatment page, the invitation and reception's brief side by side, and fix anything that disagrees. Our treatment page guide and front desk guide cover each one.
Decide what the treatment is called on your menu before the page goes live. The PatientPulse Menu Clarity Score flags device names that need a plain description beside them.
Check the supplier's material before you reuse it. A claim in a manufacturer's brochure becomes your claim once you publish it, so you need the evidence for it.
Fund the launch from what a buyer leaves
Work out what one course leaves, set a ceiling per buyer, then check the whole launch bill against it. Our marketing budget guide explains the ceiling.
The sum · Alder's ceiling
£1,200 course price − £400 delivery costs = £800 left. Alder keeps half for overheads and profit, leaving £400 per buyer for all launch and acquisition costs.
Target: 5 buyers, so the launch can cost the clinic £2,000 at most.
The sum · Alder's first plan
Media £2,000 + event £250 + photography £200 + page writing £50 + campaign setup £100 = £2,600.
Minus the supplier's £500 = £2,100 for the clinic: £420 per buyer, over the £400 ceiling.
In plain words: the supplier's money helped, but the plan still cost more per buyer than a buyer leaves room for.
A smaller media budget wouldn't fix that on its own, because the fixed costs stay. Alder looked for a cost it didn't need, and found one: the supplier's package already included photography Alder could reuse.
The sum · Alder's fixed plan
£2,600 − £200 photography = £2,400. Minus the supplier's £500 = £1,900 for the clinic: £380 per buyer.
At only 4 buyers it would be £475, so Alder adds a stop rule. It plans on 1 in 4 usable enquiries becoming buyers, so 5 buyers need 20 enquiries from £2,000 of media: if fewer than 10 arrive from the first £1,000, pause the rest.
In plain words: the launch now fits, with a check halfway that stops the money if demand doesn't show.
The clinic still pays the full £2,400 before the supplier reimburses its £500, so check the cash can carry it.
Follow up the event and the campaign separately
Count event requests and ad enquiries in separate groups, because they come from different people and close at different speeds. Follow each group through to consultations and courses, as our clinic numbers guide shows.
Ask the supplier for its own figures too, but decide on your records. After the event, follow up each request once, as our follow-up guide explains. Review the launch four weeks after the event, and decide whether the next month's spend is earned.
Alder's finished launch plan
Put the whole launch on one page, with owners and dates.
Alder's finished launch plan
- Treatment: radiofrequency skin tightening, a course of four sessions, Bristol branch
- Supplier package, in writing: training on two dates, a demonstration day, £500 of co-funded ads paid after invoices, and photography the clinic may reuse
- Clinical sign-off: protocol, claims, risks and aftercare agreed by the practitioner before any date is announced
- Diary: 5 new courses of 4 sessions, so 20 appointments plus reviews, in weekday afternoons and the 4.30pm and 5.30pm slots
- Event: a launch evening for people who've agreed to hear from the clinic, taking consultation requests on the night
- Funding: £2,400 total, £500 reimbursed, £1,900 clinic share, £380 per planned buyer against a £400 ceiling
- Stop rule: pause media if fewer than 10 usable enquiries arrive from the first £1,000
- Decision: approved to launch
- Review: four weeks after the event, with event and ad enquiries counted separately
- Owner: the clinic manager, with the practitioner signing off clinical wording
Do this today
Write your supplier request for launch support, listing every item you want in writing.
Done when: the request is drafted on the launch plan, with a date to send it before you sign.
Questions owners ask
Should we launch with an introductory price?
We'd skip it. Launch on information instead: a demonstration, the full price and a consultation route, so the first patients choose the treatment rather than the deal.
Can we use the supplier's before-and-after photos?
Only with usage rights, the patients' permission, signed and dated records that they're genuine, and evidence for the result they suggest. Your own photos need the same checks.
Who owns enquiries from a supplier-funded campaign?
Your clinic should. Make sure every enquiry comes into your own system, and that the campaign uses your page and your form.
Alder is an example clinic. Its supplier package, prices and figures are illustrative.
