Some of the most common questions I receive time and time again are:
- Why are we not growing as fast or generating as much revenue as we would like to?
- How come our schedules are not full?
- What reports should we be running?
- Why isn’t our website generating any leads?
- Why are our conversion rates not as high as they should be?
- What should our revenue per hour be?
These are very valid questions. In fact, I asked myself the very same questions years ago when I was hired by Lasky Aesthetics & Laser Center in Beverly Hills back in 2012. As a result of being charged with increasing their profitability, I created a comprehensive process to analyze the entire business from the ground up. I made bold recommendations that resulted in an incredible turnaround and generated more than $600,000 of additional revenue in one year.
So how did I do it? I realized that data doesn’t lie. It was factual, and I needed to take a good hard look at that data to figure out where the gaps existed. Then, I had to find the opportunities for growth. Most importantly, I had to take ACTION and make an investment into the business.
I created my own Practice Assessment Tool back then out of necessity and have refined it over the years based on my hands-on experience and proven methodology for practice growth and scaling aesthetic practices to 7 and 8 figures.
What is a Practice Assessment and Why Do I Need to Perform One?
A comprehensive Practice Assessment is a series of questions that helps to identify the gaps in your practice; allow you to course correct; and make the changes you need to implement RIGHT NOW!
Here are the top three reasons it is important to perform one at least once a year:
1. You can’t make an accurate diagnosis without the proper information.
Just as you would never make a medical diagnosis without a set of diagnostic parameters or tests, you cannot diagnose what’s working and what’s not in your practice without taking what I like to call the “Ultimate X-ray.” A Practice Assessment allows you to take a deep dive and really evaluate your business as well as uncover missing revenue and growth opportunities, so you can pivot and make informed decisions on what to change.
2. You must focus on the whole wheel, not individual spokes.
A Practice Assessment is a tool that asks probing questions and requires you to provide details about your business. You’ll want to evaluate every area of your practice to get the full picture, not just a piece. A wheel does not turn properly unless all the spokes are in good shape.
Before you can accurately find the gaps in your practice and identify areas to improve efficiency, productivity, and profitability, you must have data to analyze. You’ll want to gather what you can from your Practice Management Software, pull out your Profit & Loss statements, and any marketing-related information/data you have access to.
If you are already an APX Platform member, you will be able to extrapolate the data you need from our financial calculators & analytics dashboard and translate it into actionable insights within the platform.
If you are not yet an APX Platform member, here is some key information you’ll want to gather and evaluate:
- Revenue Sources (previous year and current year, including retail) and Goals
- Facility and overhead costs
- Services Offered and Profitability of each procedure/treatment
- Equipment
- Strengths and Weaknesses
- Patient Retention
- Lead Generation Sources and Follow Up
- Consultations and conversion rates
- Operations
- Marketing
- Website & SEO
- Information Technology
- Human Resources, Staffing and Compensation
Once you evaluate all your data, you will want to translate it into concrete action steps that, if implemented, will turn your business around. Action creates energy and movement. Information without implementation does NOT create change.
3. You Can’t Track What You Don’t Measure
You MUST know your numbers. With an uncertain economy and post-covid protocols still in place in some areas, it is more important than ever to analyze your data and know your numbers, so you can streamline and choose to focus on the services that have the highest ROI (return on investment). In addition, you can determine what changes you need to make going forward.
Completing a Practice Assessment can help you to:
- Analyze your cash flow
- Determine your revenue per hour compared to industry benchmarks
- Know your profit per treatment
- Evaluate your conversion metrics. They should be 70% or higher (Don’t worry, we can help you figure out how to make changes to achieve that).
- Put call tracking into place and evaluate your phone conversions so you don’t lose thousands of dollars.
- Streamline your consultation process, build long-term treatment plans, and create follow up protocols.
- Understand your cost of goods
- Align your compensation plan with the company goals
- Make sure your payroll is 30% or less of your operating costs and if not, where to make cuts.
- Maximize scheduling software
- Channel your marketing dollars in the areas that are most important
- Optimize and ensure your website is converting leads
- Put the proper SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) & Job Descriptions in place so you are LEGALLY COMPLIANT.
If you could identify these gaps and see up to a $100K ROI from implementing even a few of the recommended actions, would that be worth the investment?
There is no better time than RIGHT NOW to complete a Practice Assessment and invest in your team. You’ll understand your business in ways you never have before. With systems and structure in place, everything can change for the better.
While this may seem a bit overwhelming, the APX Platform team and I are here to support you. We have created a FREE, simple yet powerful Practice Assessment Tool you can complete right now. Click here to start.
After answering a series of questions, you’ll have an opportunity to schedule a follow-up meeting with one of our APX specialists to review your results and discuss how we can help you exponentially grow your business and improve efficiency, productivity, and profitability.
