If You Can’t Lower Prices, Offer Higher Value

Our MedSpa, as most others, is severely limited in how low we can go on our prices. All of us in the industry pay roughly the same amount for our products, whether it be Botox, fillers, or equipment.

However, especially in this tough economic climate, our clients are looking for bargains. Price comparison shopping is a fact of life, and is made much easier for the consumer by readily available pricing information on the internet.

But low prices are not the only way (nor maybe the best way) to attract patients to your facility. To us at Canyon Lake MedSpa, the answer is VALUE: meaning, if we can’t lower prices, we have to offer more value for the money.

In our case, we offer free microdermabrasion/chemical peel (we almost always combine the two together) to any patient who purchases any other product or service. Additionally, if we hold a seminar or any other promotional event, we entice people to attend by offering free microderm/chem peel to all registrants. It takes very little time, and limited resources, to perform these procedures. And it gets people into our facility, gives us a chance to evaluate, speak with, and get to know them. Established and new patients alike can then be assessed for possible further interventions.

Even though these treatments are free, we never want the patient to feel rushed or feel less special just because they’re getting a free treatment. Taking your time now will pay off in dividends later on, when more lucrative procedures are scheduled.

Most importantly, our patients feel like they have received more value for their dollars, and it keeps them coming back.

In summary, service and value will trump lower prices in most markets and situations. Consider if it might be valuable for your facility.

Keeping Your Aesthetic Patients Happy Is Good Business

Keeping patients happy makes sense, both to avoid problems and build your reputation and referral base.

Not all patients that state they had a poor experience from another provider are signaling the proverbial red flag. Most of these patients HAVE had an experience of poor treatment outcome.

And to add salt to their wound,the previous treating provider could care less!

We must keep in mind that for most of our patients, coming in for Medical Aesthetic treatments is an exciting and much anticipated experience.

The number one reason patients state they no longer go to their previous provider is, "He was a jerk!" Oddly enough, the number one complaint I hear regarding a female provider is "I had to wait too long." This is not to say there are no female jerks or that patients don’t have to wait too long to see a male provider. These statements are simply the most common that I hear from (from) my patients.

No one is perfect. I don’t care how good you are at fillers, Botox, lasers, and surgery. We’re human, and we have bad days too. Bottom line: If you did achieve a less than desirable outcome, fix it for heaven's sake! With a smile on your face. If you're running more than 15 minutes behind, be prepared to apologize profusely and don't let it happen again. At both our clinics over 50% of our new patients are by referral. The most common reason for these referrals: “They're so nice!” Patients in general have a sense of helplessness when it comes to being treated by a provider. Do not tell a patient what they have to do. This is not life or death nor a dictatorship. Our patients know that we truly love what we do and we care. You don’t have to be all hugs and kisses, but, you'd better have a smile and a few jokes up your sleeve. You must keep in mind that this is the grown up version of a trip to Disneyland. It’s an E ticket ride with a high price tag. This is not an area of medicine of need.

This is completely a "WANT" this treatment situation. We encourage our patients to tell us what they are looking to have done and then offer safe, sane treatment options for them. This gives the patient a greater sense of control, and a decreased sense of possibly being pressured. If they can't afford all of the treatments at one time, what ever you do, never pressure a patient! If they like the one treatment you do and you personally, they’ll be back. And that’s how you keep your patients.

Stem Cells & The Vampire Facelift

If you attend medical conferences, or read the trade journals, you’ve no doubt heard about stem cells and their incredible potential in the healthcare industry. These cells have the ability to repair or replace damaged cells, reduce inflammation, and possibly even have a role in disease prevention and cure.

Lately, these cells have been the target of much interest in the cosmetic field. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is the portion of the blood that remains after centrifugation has separated out the red cells. This fraction is unusually rich in growth factors and stem cells, that have the ability to repair damaged skin, and act as a long-lasting filler to volumize the face. The PRP is activated using calcium, and then is immediately injected into the donor’s face.

At Canyon Lake MedSpa, we have been using the patented “Vampire Facelift” technique (Regen Labs) in conjunction with standard HA or CHA fillers. We inject the filler using standard technique and then layer the PRP on top. Although still very new to this technique, we believe we are seeing the early effects including improved skin tone and color. Research has documented significant prolongation of filler effect, but we have not been doing this procedure long enough to attest to that yet.

Since we are only minimally manipulating the blood (centrifuging and decanting off the PRP) in a completely closed system, and re-injecting it into the same patient, there is virtually no risk.

In our next article we will discuss, in greater detail, tips on collecting and injecting PRP, how to educate patients and the outcome of our patients’ results.

There has been tremendous interest in the very-well marketed “Vampire Face Lift” and we have experienced an increase in our Med Spa new-patient visits as a result of this interest.

Microderm + Chemical Peel Giveaways As A Marketing Tactic

In our Canyon Lake Med Spa practice, we are always looking for ways to attract new patients, and to give existing patients a “value-added” service. 

We’ve been doing microdermabrasion and chemical peels for many years. April Turner, our medical aesthetic RN, discovered that the 2 procedures done together were mutually complimentary, and could be performed with a minimal amount of time and material cost. We charge $99 for a combination treatment of a microdermabrasion and a medical-grade chemical peel, and do fairly well at this price. But since it is quick and inexpensive to perform, we decided to also make this a “giveaway” at our seminars and marketing events.

This strategy has served us well. We give away this combo treatment to anyone who attends one of our events, or anyone who comes into our surgical or Medical Spa office for a consultation. Some people don’t take advantage of it, but most do. And most of the time they are so happy with the outcome that they follow up the complimentary treatment with regularly scheduled (and paid) future treatments.

We found that this is a great way to attract people to our Med Spa and surgical office events, and it creates an additional revenue source for our business. If you perform these procedures at your facility (and chances are that you do,) you might want to consider this approach for your business.