| SERVICE ENHANCEMENT | PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
The key to successfully branding your clinic is to
communicate a consistent message to consumers about the products or services you offer in all of your advertising, promotions, and marketing.
adding anything that may be perceived as having a greater risk or increased downtime, unless your customers are asking for more invasive options.
Early adopters Your clinic does not have to add every new device or product on the market as soon as it launches. Rather, it is wise to properly evaluate every treatment you bring into your clinic carefully, have it done on yourself or staff members, and ask the right questions prior to making a long-term financial commitment. Prior to investment in new technology
or product, you must do some research to learn how this will fit into your existing menu of services. In the first place, determine whether your intention is for it to replace something else or enhance what you already have. Before jumping into bed with a new manufacturer that may be unfamiliar to your clinic, take some time to do you due diligence. Find out what the manufacturer or distributor is willing to do for you in terms of training, marketing support, and direct consumer programmes to drive patients to your clinic. It is perfectly reasonable to ask to speak
to existing users of the technology ® who are not direct competitors ® to find out about important issues such as learning curve, patient acceptance, downtime and discomfort, results and the best applications of the technology. Ask to see a selection of before and after photographs, review the clinical data available, and look
for double-blind studies published in peer-reviewed journals. This will give you the evidence, or lack thereof, that you need to make an informed decision. Consider asking your existing patients
whether they would be interested in the type of treatments you are looking at. Checking out online forums for consumer reviews and commentary can also shed light on whether the device lives up to the claims made by the manufacturer. If you see numerous posts about the device that include comments such as ÔoverpricedÕ ,
ÔdidnÕt workÕ, or Ôthe EmperorÕs new clothesÕ , or Ôthe pain was unbearableÕ, you may think twice about bringing it to your clinic. It is also important to find out how many
of your competitors have the device in question in your geographic region, and what they are charging for treatments. If you are in an area where there is no other clinic within a reasonable driving distance, there may be a big opportunity for you to dominate that market. On the other hand, if you are in a
densely populated area where many clinics within walking distance are already flogging the treatment, you will need to set your expectations accordingly. Furthermore, if many of your competitors offer systems for popular treatments such as skin tightening or non-surgical body shaping, and you do not, you may feel more pressure to add this new technology to remain relevant to your customer base. Lastly, being impressed with the results a technology can achieve, is not sufficient
rationale for adding it to your practice without further investigation. Most devices on the market do, at least to some degree and some of the time. The bigger questions are all about
the business
model. For example, you need to know whether this really is something patients want. Are they willing to undergo the treatment and pay a reasonable fee for the service? What are your costs to administer the treatment in terms of disposables, time, staffing, and aftercare? Who will be able to carry out the treatment? Clearly, if a technician or aesthetician
can use the device safely, the costs to the clinic will be far less than if the treatment must be relegated only to registered nurses or doctors. In some cases, the business model does not make sense on paper for small, privately-owned clinics that are notoriously understaffed or have no room to bring in another system that takes up precious floor space. For example, if the device itself is oversized and cumbersome, it may not be possible to move it from room to room. Consider how much time the treatment will take up valuable clinic space to perform. You should think of your business in terns of how many rooms you have available, how many treatments can be performed per hour, and how much revenue can be achieved per room, per hour, and per day. Bear in mind that it is very hard to pass
on the fees for disposables to a patient. Your choices are to add it as a line item, or adjust your global fee to offset any additional
prime-journal.com | July/August 2012 ❚ 67
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