Posted on March 9, 2010 by debraroberts
I spent this weekend at the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) conference in Miami. With over 18,000 attendees, it broke a record
for attendance. While at the conference, I was invited by Sciton Laser to speak about two of my favorite subjects: Effective Websites and Social Media (as it relates to physicians marketing their aesthetic practice). I was curious by some of the looks I received while talking – which ranged from blank stares to nodding heads. There wasn’t a classic persona that defined the physicians who listened intently – they were young and old, established and newbie’s; but there was one common denominator that came through loud and clear after speaking with some of them one-on-one. Overwhelmed.
Comments such as: “There’s so much to do and so little time. What’s the best way to manage all of this stuff? I hardly have enough time to treat my patients, manage my staff and occasionally attend a conference. I don’t have a lot of money to invest in advertising.” None of these comments shocked me since I work with physicians everyday on their practice marketing. What did surprise me was an acceptance of complacency. Oh well…. Oh well! Oh well what! You’re smart people. You went to medical school. No one expects you to know everything or be able to do it all. So when you don’t know everything and/or don’t have time to do it all – get help. Marketing isn’t rocket science; however it does take planning, goal setting and time. It’s an investment like most things.
You don’t want that shiny new laser collecting dust do you?
– Deb Roberts, Acara
Filed under: Industry Resources | Tagged: AAD Activities, acara cosmetic practice consultants, Acara Medspa Consultants | Leave a Comment »
Posted on March 9, 2010 by Francis X Acunzo
It is that time of year again when the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) publishes its annual statistics on surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures.
As Acara had predicted, nonsurgical procedures held their own with almost a 1% increase in 2009 over 2008. This juxtaposed against 
an increase of over 3% in unemployment during 2009 clearly indicates what I have been saying over the past few years: there continues to be market expansion for nonsurgical cosmetic procedures.
It is now time to take advantage of these market trends and capture your share of the cosmetic market. Once again, Acara clients are experiencing tremendous success. This month alone, 2 of Acara’s clients (both cosmetic practices), will come close to doubling their monthly sales from when we started working with them; one in just 60 days and the other within 7 months.
FXA
Filed under: Industry Resources | Tagged: Acara - Medical Spa Consultants, acara aesthetic practice consultants, acara cosmetic practice consultants, Acara Medspa Consultants, asaps | Leave a Comment »
Posted on March 4, 2010 by Francis X Acunzo
The Acara team is always looking for the “Best of Breed” when it comes to technology, aesthetic medical devices and training programs. The most difficult is to identify “Best of Breed” training programs. There are so many individuals, associations, and quasi-non-profits that claim to have the best clinical training programs available but often don’t have the credentials or experience to back it up.
Up until recently we hesitated to make any recommendation for advanced laser training, in spite of the tremendous need in the marketplace. Then, one year ago, we were fortunate enough to meet Pat Clark at a Sciton Laser Summit. It was very clear to us that he was extremely knowledgeable and surprisingly (not typical for most PhDs that I know) charming and a brilliant, engaging speaker and educator.
So if you are looking for “Best of Breed” laser training, you should consider attending one of Medical Laser Dynamics 2 day training sessions. The next one is sponsored by Sciton and is being held in my favorite city NYC on April 17 and 18.
By the way (separate from Medical Laser Dynamics), I will be speaking at a Sciton sponsored dinner on the 17th “Business Boosting Strategies for Aesthetic Medical Practices and Medspas”. Hopefully you can attend both of these events. For more information on my dinner presentation, give us a call or contact your Sciton representative.
Fundamentals to Successful Outcomes with Aesthetic Light (2 Day)
Renaissance New York Times Square Hotel
Two Times Square – 714 Seventh Avenue at W. 48th Street
New York City, NY 10036
Phone: 1-212-765-7676
more info | register online | register by fax
FXA
Filed under: Events, Industry Resources | Tagged: aethetic medical practice business, francis x acunzo, laser training, medical laser dynamics, medspa consulting, patrick clark | Leave a Comment »
Posted on March 4, 2010 by Francis X Acunzo
I’m not sure how many of you receive MedEsthetics Magazine but if you don’t, you should. It is definitely one of the best trade publications 
available to Aesthetic Medical Physicians, Practitioners and Managers.
In the March/April issue Acara’s Top 10 Aesthetic Practice Business Tips were featured. If you missed them before (on this blog) you can go here to review them on the digital version of MedEsthetics (its on page 4).
FXA
Filed under: News Articles | Tagged: acara medspa, aesthetic business, aesthetic business tips, medesthetics, medspa business, spa business, spa industry | Leave a Comment »
Posted on March 4, 2010 by Francis X Acunzo
This past Sunday in the New York Times Style Magazine there was an article featuring one of the latest procedures in aesthetic medicine,
the “liquid face lift”.
This clearly points to a trend that the Acara team has seen over the past 12 months. As practitioners become more talented with injectibles and their results are visibly exciting, more and more women are holding off or foregoing traditional face lifts and opting for a Liquid Lift. I also believe that this trend is stimulated by the downturn in the economy. Even though, over time, multiple Liquid Face Lifts may be more expensive, the immediate cost tends to be significantly less.
To read the article online go to New York Times Style Magazine, the article is on page 112.
FXA
Filed under: News Articles | Tagged: acara marketing aesthetic practices, liquid face lifts, new york times style magazine, smartlipo - Acara Consulting | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 24, 2010 by Francis X Acunzo
For the past few weeks Acara has received a much higher than normal number of inquiry calls from people seeking to open a medical spa
or add cosmetic procedures to their medical practice.
Are people beginning to believe there is a light at the end of this long dark economic tunnel we’ve been doing business in? Not sure, but to me, it seems to be a small yet encouraging indication of the business confidence in the world of aesthetic medicine.
Tomorrow I am hosting a webinar “Opening a Successful MedSpa or Cosmetic Medical Practice“. For all of you thinking about embarking on a new business or business expansion, please join me. It will be approximately 1 hour and there will be a Q&A session at the end.
FXA
Filed under: General Business | Tagged: building a medspa, medical spa consultants, medspa business, medspa consultants, medspa consulting, opening a medspa, spa business, spa consultants | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 17, 2010 by Francis X Acunzo
One of the many technologies on the market for liposuction is the Body-Jet. Even though it has been around for a few years it seems to 
have taken on some recent momentum. One of the reasons is the success many physicians are having using it to harvest fat for fat transplant i.e. natural breast augmentation.
Dr. Robert Langdon, Medical Director & Owner of The Langdon Center in Guilford, CT was just featured on WTNH, the local ABC network affiliate station. Read and view more…
FXA
p.s. I know many have heard be tout the wonders of Acara’s press release distribution. A recent press release sent by Acara for Dr. Langdon was the catayis for this special news report.
Filed under: Marketing | Tagged: aesthetic medical practice marketing, cosmetic practice public relations, marketing medspa, medspa marketing, medspa public relations | Leave a Comment »
Posted on February 15, 2010 by Francis X Acunzo
I recently did a blog post on running a Customer Centric Aesthetic Medical Practice or Medspa. I talked about how all your business 
decisions need to be made with the customer in mind.
I made a call today to a cosmetic medical practice and the phone was answered in a brusque voice, “Doctor’s Office”. Here is a classic example of a non-customer centric business decision. Essentially, the decision was made to answer the phone as simply as possible with the least amount of effort. There is no greeting, no personal introduction and no gracious offer i.e. “how may I help you”. Just a curt, easy to remember, easy to manage approach (a staff member will never forget the correct way to answer the phone in that office…just 2 words “Doctor’s Office” thus nothing to manage).
Can you tell that this is a pet peeve of mine? Small example of a big problem! If the aesthetic medical practice that I go to ever did this, I’d spend my money elsewhere.
FXA
Filed under: General Business, Human Resources | Tagged: customer service, medspa business, medspa consulting, medspa training, spa business, spa industry | Leave a Comment »
Posted on February 5, 2010 by Francis X Acunzo
I read an interesting article in the New York Times a few days ago. It was discussing Zerona and Zeltiq. Zerona is the low-level laser device that “melts” fat and the Zeltiq is the Cryo device that “freezes” fat. The article was essentially a mixed review discussing how some people have achieved successes and others have not.
The one missing discussion in the article is that (this is specific to Zerona, since I have experience with Zerona in a few of Acara locations) there was no discussion around how these types of programs have to be lifestyle driven in order to achieve success. As with Zereona, if you are willing to drink 2 liters of water, walk 40 minutes and take a Niacin supplement every day for 4 weeks in combination with your Zerona treatments, then you will see results.
Everyone asks the question: is 
it the lifestyle changes or the Zerona that “melts” the fat? Well, does it really matter? If by paying between $2,250 and $3,000 for 6 Zerona treatments you feel forced into changing your lifestyle thus losing 3 – 12 inches, then I’m not sure why anyone would care…Zerona or walking or water or Niacin: be happy with 3 – 12 inches.
The locations offering Zerona that are successful have someone on the team that is a great life coach. When you have a team member that understands that this is not about performing a few procedures and the patient has less wrinkles or age spots its about coaching, coaxing, reprimanding, mentoring someone through a lifestyle process then it works. Not all practices can accomplish this successfully.
Another approach to Zerona (or possibly Zeltiq) is to do it in combination with a Medically Supervised Weight Loss program. We have one location that doesn’t charge for the MSWL program if you sign up for Zerona (they do charge for the food supplments).
Just a few thoughts on melting and freezing fat…for you to chew on over the weekend.
FXA
Filed under: Equipment, General Business, Marketing | Tagged: aesthetic medical business, Aesthetic Practice Marketing, medical spa business, medspa business, medspa marketing, zeltiq, zerona | 2 Comments »
Posted on February 2, 2010 by Francis X Acunzo
I looked online for a definition of “selling” and here is what I found. Selling: to persuade or induce others to buy.
This definition is simple and understandable but it does not reflect what truly occurs within the best medical spas and aesthetic practices throughout the world. I believe the Acara definition does…
Selling: the act of discovering client needs and identifying the most appropriate solutions.
It is based upon this definition that I always say “selling is the highest form of customer service”.
If you are not working diligently through a consultation and diagnostic process to discover what your client needs then you are doing a “dis-service” to your clients. Selling, as in accordance with my definition, is truly the highest form of customer service.
To learn in detail about Acara’s Sales System, join our Sales Guru, Sandi Unkur starting next Tuesday February 9th for three consecutive weeks as she conducts a 3 session training:
FXA
Filed under: General Business | Tagged: customer service, medical spa business, medspa business, medspa industry, spa business, spa industry | Leave a Comment »
