Listen to this Complimentary Webinar: How Acara Boosts Businesses to the Next Level

On Thursday, I presented a live webinar on Business Boosting Strategies for Your Aesthetic Medical Practice or MedSpa. I discussed the successes Acara has had over the past year and the Business Boosting Strategies and Tactics that we implemented to achieve the success.

I decided to post a recording of this webinar, for a limited time, for everyone that visits this Blog to enjoy and learn about Acara’s secret sauce.  The content provides you a step-by-step approach to building your business stronger and at the same time describes how Acara accomplishes this for our Medical Spa/Aesthetic Practice Clients.

In addition, if you want to listen to other recorded webinars you may purchase them here.  What’s great about the recorded version versus the live complimentary Webinars is that they are available for 30 days from date of purchase for multiple plays and many of your team members can listen too.

To listen to this Webinar go here.

FXA

Why Medical Spas & Aesthetic Practices should be involved in Social Media

Still think social media is just for teenagers. Not convinced social networking is in your business’ future. Perhaps you should think again – here are some recent stats from Facebook.

• More than 350 million active users
• 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given
• More than 1.6 million active Pages on Facebook
• More than 700,000 local businesses have active Pages on Facebook
• Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans

Hey – it’s free! Social networks such as Facebook provide a venue or marketing vehicle that can take the place of or enhance more traditional methods of marketing.

Social Interaction with Clients / Potential Clients – this is one of the primary goals. Reach your target audience. You don’t want to be out of sight, out of mind.

Branding – enhance your brand image. Show the world or atleast your clients/potential clients who you really are. Cutting edge, super knowledgeable, a leader… and you care about your clients and what they think. You are in sync with them.

A hub feeder – if you website is the hub, then FB, Twitter, Myspace, Your Blog, etc… are links into the hub

Exclusivity – generate exclusive promos for your medical spa and cosmetic practice Fans

Events – promote educational seminars and special events to your fan base

Creating a page is easy, promoting it well is work. Do you have a successful fan page? What did you do to get the word out? How do you engage your clients?

Let me know –

— Deb Roberts

Acara’s Top 7 Rules for Selling Gift Cards at Medical Spas

I borrowed much of this information from Fran and added some marketing tips. He blogged on selling gift cards a couple of years back; not surprising it’s all still relevant.

1. Always sell services, series of services or packages not dollar amounts. This provides much greater up-selling opportunities.

2. If your location accepts gratuity then always recommend that a 15% gratuity be included. Acara’s standard script, “For the convenience of the recipient would you care to include the gratuity?”

3. Sell virtually. Boost your sales by making gift cards instantly available on your website. I like SpaBoom for instant gift card sales.

4. Have a gift guide setup in dollar ranges that lists services, series and packages available for the clients to peruse at point of sale.

5. Provide your team a gift card sales goal with incentive. Typically the incentive could be anywhere from 1 – 5% of the gift cards sales split pro-rata amongst the front desk team. Keep it fun and track the goal daily.

6. Don’t be too aggressive on your promotion. People buy gift cards for convenience, reputation, and credibility; not because it’s cheap. I like the give and you shall receive approach. For every $100 in gift cards purchased the client receives $20 of gift cards for themselves.

7. Promote online + offline. Go low cost by leveraging your Website, Facebook, Blog, Twitter, Email Broadcasts and of course don’t forget an in-house display.

Even though medical spas gift cards sales will not match those of a day spa or resort spa – gift cards should still be part of your offerings.

Good luck with your gift card season. Do you have and secrets or tips for improving gift card sales? Share with us!

— Deb Roberts

Featured Online Training:Sales & Consultation Secrets: Training for the Aesthetic Medical Professional – 3 Part Series

Join Sandi Unkrur, Acara Sales Guru as she shares her secrets of sales and consultation success

Session dates:
Session 1: Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Session 2: Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Session 3: Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Starting time: 2:00 pm, ET / 11:00 am, PT

Duration: 1 hour

This three session course is being presented by Acara’s Sales & Consultation Guru, Sandra Unkrur. Sandi, has over 7 years of experience selling procedures in medical spas and cosmetic practices. She was the Director of Operations for 37 Medical Spas where she oversaw the sales and consultation functions companywide. In addition, she has conducted numerous Educational Events with a high of over $75,000 in seminar sales for a single event. Sandi has personally trained over 100 Sales Consultants in the Aesthetics Industry in over 75 different practices.

Join Sandi for these three 1 hour information packed webinars to learn her secrets to Aesthetic Medical Sales Success. She will share how to become a great communicator, verbal & non-verbal communication, listening tips, the Acara 5 step sales process, understanding the consultation, overcoming objections, mock consultations, managing the sales pipeline, and proper sales follow-up. The course includes a series of worksheets to help you become a better salesperson.

Registration is limited to 25 so reserve early.  To save your company money, register once and have multiple team members gather around the computer to view and participate in the Webinar.

Each session will be recorded and available to anyone that registered for the live Webinar for 30 days in case you cannot attend one of the live sessions.

Session fee (USD$): $149.00

Register Here – space limited to 25

Acara Expands its Online Training Program to Include Recorded Webinars

We now have available on our website many of our webinars recorded so that you may listen to them at your leisure.  The fee per webinar is $49.95 and you have up to 30 days to view the session.  To view the complete list go to Recorded Webinars.

The live Webinars are still complimentary.

FXA

Business Leader Attributes for Success in 2010

I asked the Acara team “what business leader attributes (qualities, skills or characteristics) do the top Medical Spa Owners or Aesthetic Medical Physician Owners have that helped them to generate success for their business?”  They came back with the following list of 10 Business Leader Attributes:

1. Listen and Communicate: with the experts you hire, your team and your customers.
2. Motivate Your Team: Set goals and provide incentive when the team achieves the goals.
3. Be Passionate, Driven & Committed: its hard work and it takes dedication to make a business successful.
4. Insist on Quality: always raise the bar.
5. Stay on Trend: be the market leader with new procedures and treatments.
6. Invest in Your Business: marketing, facility, team; all necessary investments to grow a business.
7. Lead by Example: your team will mirror your behavior to each other and your clients.
8. Be Customer Centric: this should be an obsession; every decision needs to be customer focused.
9. Be Consistent in day-to-day operations, sales & marketing of your business
10. Focus on Training & Education: a highly skilled team is invaluable in building your business stronger.

Acara succeeds when our Medical Spa/Aesthetic Practice clients succeed.  This success is always a combination of Acara’s proven team and tools in the areas of operations, sales and marketing with many of the above attributes.

All of our successful clients have many traits from the above list.  They are leaders in the industry.  We just posted a few new testimonials…

Client Testimonials

“Acara does outstanding work in all areas of their field. They are true professionals, very creative and deliver top quality results. We have worked with them for over 10 years and will continue to do so in the future. I recommend them very highly.
—Bruce E.Katz, M.D., Medical Director Juva Skin & Laser Center, New York, NY

“In just 8 month Enhanced Images sales have doubled working with Acara.”
— Bruce Marko, M.D., Medical Director Enhanced Images, Charlotte, NC

“Because we built a solid relationship with an industry mentor like Acara, and a workable business and marketing platform to begin with, it has allowed us to survive and flourish when others in our area have not.“
— Paula Young RN, co-owner, Young Medical Spa, Center Valley, PA

Read More Here

FXA

Acara Announces its Q1 2010 Complimentary Webinars for Cosmetic Physicians, Aesthetic Medical & MedSpa Industry Professionals

Acara, a leader in business education for Aesthetic Practices & Medspas, announced today its Q1 2010 weekly complimentary educational Webinars for industry professionals.  These Webinars offer insight into how Acara’s Team of Medspa business experts strategize and implement successful aesthetic medical business programs.

Our approach to the upcoming 2010 Q1 Webinars is to present education for Aesthetic Medical and Medspa industry professionals worldwide based upon our benchmarking 2009 best practices.  Acara’s clients experienced so many great successes in the past 12 months through the implementation of Acara’s Business Boosting Programs that we decided to tap that experience and share the knowledge. Education is critical during tough economic times when it is essential to act swiftly and accurately with your business decisions.  I so often hear that our online training provides the insight needed to help aesthetic medical leaders make better decisions.

Acara Webinars are typically attended by cosmetic physicians, plastic surgeons, dermatologists, medical directors, practice managers, entrepreneurs, and investors in the world of aesthetic medicine and medical spas.

There are five new Webinars in the series and some are back by popular demand and include topics on development, management, marketing and sales.

Here are the new Q1 2010 Webinars:

2010 Top Aesthetic Medical Trends

Thursday, January 21, 2010 — 1:00 pm, ET / 10:00 am, PT

Join Francis Acunzo, cosmetic medical business visionary as he discusses his top 2010 Aesthetic Medical trends and how you can stay on trend to build your business stronger in 2010.

Top Ten Medical spa business tips for 2010

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 — 1:00 pm, ET / 10:00 am, PT

At the start of 2010, the Acara Team identified the top 10 most successful business tactics they implemented in 2009 that had the most impact on their client’s sales & profits.  Francis Acunzo, Acara CEO & Founder will share with you his insight into the success of these business tips in the areas of aesthetic medical marketing, sales and operations.

Building a Customer Centric Cosmetic Medical Practice

Thursday, February 11, 2010 — 1:00 pm, ET / 10:00 am, PT

The Acara team visits Aesthetic Medical Practices and Medical Spas nationwide on a very regular basis; most of the time we find great clinical services but mediocre customer service. This is a difficult problem to fix because most of the time it is cultural; deep rooted customs or practices in which business is being conducted day to day.  This is not a situation where a set of protocols will solve the problem.  So how do you implement this change?  What is the solution? How do you create a Customer Centric Medical Practice?  Join Francis X. Acunzo, Acara CEO as he discusses how to convert your Practice into a Customer Centric Organization.

Build Your Business Stronger, Benchmark Acara’s Client Successes

Thursday, February 18, 2010 — 1:00 pm, ET / 10:00 am, PT

In 2009 many of Acara’s clients achieved great success.  Join Francis X. Acunzo, Acara’s CEO and Aesthetic Medical Visionary as he discusses Acara client’s top success stories of 2009.  Build your business stronger by benchmarking your business against these successful Medical Spas and Cosmetic Medical Practices.  Learn how to mirror their strategies and tactics that lead to increased sales and profit growth.

New Cosmetic Medical Technology: Don’t Make it a Field of Dreams

Thursday, April 1, 2010 — 1:00 pm, ET / 10:00 am, PT

Most of the time when a new medical device is being added to a Practice, the physician and team do a tremendous amount of research on the technology, the efficacy and the outcomes for the procedures.  But what doesn’t happen is the research to determine if they will be successful implementing and launching the new services into their market.  An expensive piece of equipment is not a “field of dreams”, an “if you add it they will come” approach will only produce minimal sales results.  Join Aesthetics Industry Business Expert, Francis X. Acunzo, Acara’s CEO and Founder as he discusses the analysis necessary to insure a proper technology decision and the steps to a successful launch of new technology within your Medical Practice or Medical Spa.

Review all 14 Webinars being presented in Q1 2010.

FXA

Bruce Katz, M.D. Smartlipo Pioneer Launches New Book

I’m happy to announce that my first and longest standing Medical Spa client, Bruce Katz, M.D. board certified dermatologist and founder of the Juva Laser and Skin Center has coauthored a new book titled “Body Contouring” part of the Procedures in Cosmetic Dermatology Series edited by Jeffery S. Dover.

The Procedures in Cosmetic Dermatology series provides high quality, up-to-date and illustrated manuals on cosmetic procedures for dermatologist and cosmetic dermatologists.

In this new Body Contouring book, numerous studies in medical literature are discussed along with breaking new technologies.  A look back at where body contouring has developed from i.e., cellulite treatments to today’s ultrasonic liposuction.

Go here if you are interested in purchasing a copy.

FXA

2010 Special Offer: How to become an Acara Success Story

Typically I don’t use this blog to sell Acara’s services (though I have used it to tout our successes) but I thought that our New Year 2010 Special Offer was too good not to share with anyone visiting our Blog.  I promise I won’t make a habit of presenting special offers and promotions in the future — FXA

Need to Increase Sales?

Receive 3 Complimentary Online Video Press Releases* ($1900 value) when you sign up for Acara’s Business Boosting Program. (These releases have a great deal of impact on your websites visibility. They create instant in-bound links to your website. View a Sample This press release has had over 150,000 headline impressions and over 1,500 full page reads.)

Interested in Opening a New Medical Spa or Aesthetic Practice?

Receive a Complimentary Business Plan* ($10,000 value) when you sign up for Acara’s New Medical Spa or Cosmetic Practice Development Program. (Acara has created business plans that have raised over $75 million dollars in financing for spa and medical spa projects)

What are you waiting for?

Contact Sandi Unkrur (916) 425-5493 or sunkrur@acarapartners.com to schedule a complimentary consultation with Acara CEO & Founder, Francis Acunzo.

*Special Offers – expire Jan. 22, 2010

What our clients said about us in 2009.

Acara’s Top Ten Aesthetic Practice & MedSpa Business Tips for 2010

To jumpstart 2010 I had the Acara team analyzed the collection of business tactics we recommended to our clients in 2009.  The goal of the exercise was to identify which tactics achieved the greatest impact on client revenue and profits.

As I mentioned in a previous post, 2009 was a very successful year for our clients.  Many of them including dermatologists, plastic surgeons, non-core physicians and non-physician owned medical spas experienced strong increases in their sales and profits.   The top ten list of business tips below represent the tactics that had the most impact in the shortest amount of time.

Top Ten Aesthetic Practice & Medspa Business Tips for 2010

1. Follow-up – Follow-up – Follow-up
Your team needs to consistently follow-up with leads, unclosed consults & existing clients.  Top aesthetic practices are very good at managing their sales pipeline.

2. Stick to the Plan!
Develop and implement a bi-monthly marketing plan with a budget.  Be disciplined with this business practice, without a plan you will not achieve your sales goals.

3. Capture All Leads
Your reception team needs to document the name, phone number and e-mail address of each individual that calls interested in your services (a lead).  In addition, every lead needs to be asked, “How did you hear about us?” and the information diligently documented.

4. Set Goals
Establish yearly and monthly sales & operating goals and track them through your monthly financial statements with budget comparisons.

5. Hold Monthly Events
Hold a monthly educational seminar open to the public (this is not a party it is a selling activity) either at your location or, if you expect a crowd, off-site.

6. Maximize Your Website
Search Engine Optimize (SEO) your Website and insure it has a lead capture form, phone number on every page, customer testimonials and before & after images

7. Staff to Market Demand
Staff your business according to customer demand specifically on the best days of the week and times of day.

8. Distribute Online SEO Optimized Press Releases
Once per month write, search engine optimize and distribute an Online Press Release that includes logo image, before & after photos and video tied back to your YouTube account.

9. Market with R&R
Implement a repeat & referral program, eventually it will help reduce your monthly marketing spend.

10. Prioritize Your Business Decisions
Ask yourself the following question prior to spending time or money on any new business initiative, tactic, medical procedure, technology, program, etc.  “Will this make money for the practice and increase customer satisfaction?”  If you answer yes to both parts of this question, then make it a high priority.  If you answer yes to only one part of this question, then make it a lower priority.  If you answer no to this question, then stop and do not allocate any company resources.

To hear me review and discuss these Top Ten Tips in further detail join me online January 26^th at 1:00 p.m. EST as I present our Top Ten Aesthetic Practice & MedSpa Business Tips for 2010 during a live Webinar.

FXA