How to Set Your Aesthetics Practice Up for Success the New Year

As 2022 draws to a close and you start to prepare your aesthetics practice for 2023, we sat down with one of our APX Platform CEOs as well as some of our practice consultants and marketing professionals to reflected on the biggest challenges and solutions we helped clients with in 2022; the best advice to grow and recession proof your practice for 2023; and tips on the latest marketing and social media trends and “dos and don’ts.” 

Terri Ross, Founder and Co-CEO of APX Platform

As a girl from the Midwest, I’ve worked hard for everything I have. Success is not an accident, and I believe successful people do daily what others do occasionally. I always say to have a high-performing practice, you’ve got to put in the work and train like a high-performance athlete.

I’ve spent more than 15 years in the aesthetic space, including stints as Sales Director for both Medicis and Zeltiq; as the managing partner of a med Spa in Beverly Hills for 5 years, and as the Founder and CEO of Terri Ross Consulting for 10 years. In 2021, I launched APX Platform to serve more people & practices and to fill a huge gap in the industry on the business side of aesthetics.

Biggest Client Challenge/Opportunities in 2022: 

We’ve helped clients identify the real growth opportunities in their businesses through our exclusive practice assessment tool. Oftentimes, these areas come as a surprise. Perhaps one of the biggest areas of opportunity for most practices that is often overlooked is helping our clients understand that their team is their greatest asset and plays a vital part in the overall perception of the brand, the customer experience, and patient outcomes. 

Bottom line, training your team specifically by role and tying their performance to a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) not only builds trust, culture, and leadership, but results in higher morale and increased productivity, efficiency, and profitability.

Best Advice to Grow and Recession Proof for 2023:

You must treat your practice like a business. To withstand a recession and build a long-term sustainable and profitable practice requires strong leadership and a positive company culture. You have to establish foundational pillars of what you stand for and expect; you have to hire a solid team and invest in their training; and you need to understand your business metrics so you can make the necessary changes that will have a positive impact on the business. 

Saying I don’t have time to do these things equals saying they are not a priority to you. You have to decide and put in the work! As Stephen Covey so aptly puts it, “I am not the product of my circumstances, but a product of my decisions.”  

Robbi Grayson, Practice Consultant

I am a practice consultant with extensive experience in new development, feasibility studies, and the management of the financial aspects of aesthetic practices. I have been involved with new business development for more than 30 years, and I love helping people bring their vision to life through strategic decision making. When growing or building a new practice “hope is not a strategy” and to win you have to “know your numbers."

Reflections in 2022:

 It is easy to be a consultant and make recommendations; however, I do have tremendous respect for practice owners and stakeholders who are implementing our systems and know their success is due to a “no compromise” adoption of the methods found in APX Platform. They are putting in the work and the results speak for themselves!

For me the biggest satisfaction comes from helping clients discover their own “AHA” moments and the joy clients find in their businesses when they know and understand their financial numbers which gives them confidence to make the right decisions.

Best Advice to Recession Proof for 2023:

Maintain a “rainy day fund.” Have at least 3-6 months of reserves in the bank.  Stay the course, be consistent, be innovative, and keep learning.

Donna Walker, Practice Consultant

I have been an operations professional in the aesthetics, beauty, and wellness industry for more than 30 years. I joined the APX Platform team supporting both the start up medical aesthetics program and a practice consultant, which gives me great reward. 

Reflections in 2022:

Having been in operations and management for so long, I understand how important it is to be present within your practice. If you are an owner that is going to be taking a backseat to the day-to-day operations, you want to make sure you have an excellent practice manager  within your organization that you can trust. 

If you are going to be acting as the manager, you must be skilled, knowledgeable, and present. You must set the tone by creating a solid foundation. If you want your team to show up, stand out and deliver, you must start by setting an example. Make sure you are transparent, setting the proper expectations, and meeting with them individually to review with them–this gains trust and buy-in.  

As I reflect on 2022, I see now more than ever the need to take care of our mental and physical well-being. This is an important component not just in our industry but in the workforce overall. According to a 2022 press release by the Global Wellness Institute, “New research reveals that for roughly every $800 annual increase in wellness expenditures per person, happiness increases 7% and life expectancy increases by 1.26 years. That tells me 2 things: 1) We are in the right industry, and 2) We need to make sure we are” healthy” enough to care for our clients who need us.

Client Challenges: 

A challenge I have coached practice leaders on this year is to not let their staff hold them hostage. If you have a provider who is unhappy in your practice and you are letting them dictate how your business operates, you need to really look deeper at the big picture of what is really going on. More than likely what you are afraid of happening (loss of revenue) is already happening within your practice. It’s been eye-opening to take a deep dive with practices in these situations and for them to see what truly is happening behind closed doors.

Best Advice for 2023:

The best advice I can give for 2023 is to take advantage of all of the resources, training, data, and coaching you receive in the APX Platform. In the analytics alone, you are able to identify all the KPIs you should be tracking so that no money is left on the table, and you are making informed financial decisions. Finally, be aware of your controllable expenses so even if revenue is down, you can make quick adjustments. That way, even in a recession, your bottom line is protected.

Lindsey Shaw, Practice Consultant

I am the newest member of the APX Platform Practice Consultant team. I have been in healthcare administration for 15 years with specific focus in the aesthetic/medical spa administration for the past several years. I work and live by the motto, “If you change nothing, nothing will change.” I am very excited to help our APX Platform clients embrace change to grow.   

Reflections in 2022:

We are moving back to seeing seasonality in our business. This was something that had gone away during Covid. Yet, as we are settling back into a normal routine, kids back to school, vacations, holiday gatherings, etc., we are seeing seasonality come back into play and the “typical” dips in business in the summer months. Many clients are expressing concerns about it and are asking if we’re seeing this trend across the board. We need to take this into consideration when we are forecasting for the upcoming year. 

Client Challenges:

One of the biggest challenges our clients face is knowing their numbers. As both a practice administrator and now as a practice consultant, I see how often owners and managers do not truly know or understand how their practice is performing.  Knowing what data to look at and how it can help you assess performance can be a real game changer. These numbers should be guiding business decisions, goal setting, provider performance measures, hiring strategies, and so much more.  

Best Advice to Recession Proof for 2023:

In the wake of the Covid era, staffing and team culture issues seem to be a consistent theme in our industry. We cannot discount the value and power of our staff and customer service/relationship building. Patients can get great results at a lot of places; yet they will come back to you for the experience and the way you make them feel.

Ronald Khadaran, Marketing Specialist 

I’ve been a Marketing professional for 20 years. I’ve spent the past 9 years specializing in the aesthetic industry, developing content that tells a story and appeals to the target customer in an engaging manner. I am a longtime adherent of inbound marketing and persona-driven content that moves patients along the buyer’s journey.

Reflections in 2022: 

One of the most significant trends that has continued to increase since the Covid pandemic has been the popularity of patient webinars, and the continual decline in the effectiveness of in-person open houses at practices. 

In the 20th century, money was the most valuable commodity that the average American had. Now, time is far more valuable than money. Virtual events such as patient webinars have skyrocketed in popularity and ROI. Aesthetic practices that have mastered a templated formula to conduct patient education webinars once a quarter, have generated incredible ROI, with minimal investment.

Biggest Opportunities for Impact:

Continuing to introduce B2B Inbound Marketing principles into a practice’s marketing funnel remains one of the most impactful, and untapped, opportunities that clients can benefit from.

For example, a plastic surgeon may have been running Google AdWords paid search ads for years. If you just measured the analytics and click rates, you would assume that the ads were very successful and had a high ROI. However, just because a patient responds to an ad or fills out a form does not necessarily mean they are a qualified lead.

Aesthetic practices can more accurately qualify leads, and truly identify where they are in the Buyer’s Journey by simply asking them. Sometimes a tactic as simple as inserting an additional question into the contact form has provided unparalleled clarity to paid advertising efforts – allowing us to connect the dots and go beyond the surface-level analytics. This way we can not only measure success/failure on the click and conversion rates of the ads, but we can also track how many leads each ad is delivering that are in the DECISION STAGE of the buyer’s Journey.

Best Advice for Growth in 2023 

Practices who will GROW in 2023 are those that embrace B2B inbound marketing principles. Introducing a marketing CRM software, understanding the sales/marketing lead funnel, qualifying leads, and generating engaging content will provide a competitive advantage to the top aesthetic practices who embrace it. Financial concerns and a greater emphasis on our personal time will continue to hamper the “traditional” marketing tactics that used to work pre-Covid. 2023 will be the year that separates the practices who embrace B2B Inbound Marketing vs. those that don’t.

Jennifer Kilkenny, Social Media Manager 

For the past 8 years, I’ve served as owner and managing director of Total Social Solutions, a full-service, boutique agency providing social media and marketing solutions to aesthetic medicine providers across the country. I’ve worked with Terri for more than 8 years, serving as the social media manager for Terri Ross Consulting and APX Platform.  My passion is helping practice owners achieve business success by achieving results through social media and content marketing. 

Best Advice for 2023:

Don't rely on stock images and graphics in your posts. People want to see YOU and hear YOUR voice more. 

Don't underestimate the power of a great headshot. If your engagement is down, post a good photo of yourself and you'll see it go up.

Speaking of engagement being down, try not to panic if you see your engagement going down. Instagram, for example, is constantly changing and adjusting its algorithm. If you get an awesome engagement on one post and the next one flops, it's not you... It's them. 

Instagram is prioritizing reels but posting reels for the sake of posting reels isn't going to benefit you. Only post reels when it makes sense to do so. 

Make use of collaborations on reels whenever possible to increase reach and engagement.

Facebook is back! Organic engagement is going up again on business pages. Get in while the getting is good. Posts with multiple images perform best.

Always remember to be authentic. Don't chase trends if they don't feel natural to you. Try to have fun and don't be afraid to be silly. Show off your personality.

Engage with other accounts. This isn't broadcasting. It's social media. Interaction is important for growth. You can pull people to you if you show interest in what they are posting.

That’s a Wrap! 

 We hope you’ve gotten some valuable insights from this roundtable discussion that have caused you to think, “What can I do differently or better?”  You matter, and we want to hear from you.  If any of these remarks or areas resonated with you or you are looking to uplevel your team or practice in 2023, please visit apxplatform.com and take the quick practice assessment. Our team would love to speak with you to learn more about you and to see how we can support you.