Are you running a self-service business?

Don’t fall into the trap of running a business without identifying each patient’s full aesthetic needs, warns Ricky Allen.

I do not think there is a medi spa or cosmetic enhancement clinic in Australia which has not felt a seismic shift in revenue in the past two years. That is hopefully all in the past, and now is the time to focus on the next two years and beyond. Now that the doors are open, without any more lockdowns, we need to regroup, not pivot (that word just reminds us all of lockdowns), and move forward.

Beware the self-service business

If you examine your business properly, you may realise you are running a self-service business. What I mean by this is the patient rings and books in for some sort of treatment. They come in and have their treatment and that’s the end. In they come and out they go without your clinic identifying their full aesthetic needs.

From a business point of view, there has been no extra revenue nor any real loyalty built. You have also not introduced them to anything else available in your clinic. Sadly, these patients do not remain long. When they find a cheaper or perhaps, they are told by their friends, a better injector, off they go.

To end self-service, the first thing you need to add to your menu of services are individualised aesthetic care programmes. This enables you to really put your knowledge to work, to meet clients’ actual aesthetic needs and also increase your profit margins.

How to include individualised aesthetic care programmes

Here’s how to easily add a customised programme to service menu: Put a dollar value on care programmes but make the cost redeemable on a treatment or skincare product. The treatment must be booked in that day or the skincare purchased that day to be redeemable – there is nothing like a discount to get things moving. Another interesting fact is that it has been proven that patients who purchase retail are 78% more likely to return to your facility.

The next thing you are going to do is start looking at the demographics and then socioeconomics of the area in which your clinic is located. Now look at the current and past figures of the number of treatments performed and which treatments and products they were. By preparing, understanding and reacting to all of that data and applying it, you will fast-track your way to increased profitability.

Making your menu of services work harder

With all that valuable research at hand, you can then start looking at who else you should be attracting to the business and what treatments and skincare you could be offering. Something as simple as having LED treatments and selling scar care skincare products can increase your profit margin, especially if you are a surgeon working in the aesthetics area (in which case you should also be offering post- operative scar care treatments).

Your menu should also appeal to a cross section of the demographics. If your business is in a suburb with an older population, make sure the menu includes different types of anti-ageing treatment packages as well as the skincare to support them. You may even bring in consultants such as dieticians and add these services to your menu. These older clients will probably have grandchildren – why not add baby massage lessons and baby massages to that menu?

You may live in a suburb with a lot of tweens. Consider hosting small groups at your clinic with a focus on skincare or makeup education, as well as a section dedicated to this group on your treatment menu. You could even offer tween birthday parties where they enjoy simple facials and makeup lessons with their friends.

For teens, offer similar activities and a more comprehensive offering on your services menu. Perhaps add something along the lines of ‘The A to Z of treating acne’ on your menu so you can look at the teen’s diet, lifestyle as well as their skincare and appropriate treatments.

Your research may have also found a high level of women experiencing peri-menopausal or menopausal symptoms. Add treatments which support and improve menopausal skin as well as packages offering makeup and dietary advice.

Change your hours

Look at your opening hours when you are planning your menu of services because offering more services generally means longer opening hours needed. The days when an aesthetic clinic or medi spa can open from 9 to 5 and perhaps Saturday morning is not at all realistic and is a real negative business decision.

Ask your patients, ask your staff; change your hours based on that research. You will be surprised what a difference this can make to your bottom line. Asking for feedback from your staff in the beginning means you can work with them to find the hours that suit you and them the best. It is not ‘happy wife, happy life’; in business, it is ‘happy staff, happy business’.

Regularly review your menu and add or subtract your offerings where necessary. As soon as you agree to buy a new piece of equipment, start working out what will go on your menu and how you will adapt that treatment to some of the different age groups. Instead of ‘pivoting’, start using ‘adapting’ and ‘changing’ as your 2022 business buzzwords and you will really benefit from both. AMP