Grow Your Aesthetics Practice From The Inside Out

Grow Your Aesthetics Practice From The Inside

If you find yourself investing more and more on marketing your aesthetics practice with little return, maybe you need to take a step back and look inward. While external marketing is necessary for building your brand and acquiring new clients, internal marketing via client referrals and loyalty is an investment that will garner greater returns on time and money than just about anything you can do externally. However, "raving fan" type loyalty is only achieved through the development of a culture that is memorable and focused on making the client experience beyond exceptional.

Organizational culture is one of the critical attributes of a high performing practice. Time spent nurturing the development of a client centric organizational culture can pay great dividends toward long-term and sustained growth. A practice’s culture not only reflects the values and beliefs of the organization, but it also communicates to the external world what the practice deems most important.

If You Don't Someone Will

If leaders and managers do not spend time focusing on the development of the organization's culture someone else will. Every organization has a culture, whether it happened on purpose or by accident. Accidental cultures can lead to accidental success. However, many times accidental cultures lead to the end of a business or someone's career. Rarely are accidental cultures reflective of what the founding members of the organization intended. If leadership is not focused on ensuring the culture reflects the values and beliefs of the organization then the culture will become representative of the values and beliefs of the strongest personalities within the organization, positive or negative.

Run It Like a Family

In a family, values and beliefs are nurtured and passed down to children from their parents. Parents lead their children to behave in a way that is reflective of those principles. These parents also understand the importance of time spent holding their children accountable for adherence to those shared family values. Parents that have instilled a strong commitment in their children and nurtured the development of those beliefs tend to have children who reflect the high behavioral standards of the family.

Parents that have not taken the time to do this are most likely the ones bailing their children out of trouble and watching them struggle their entire lives as they try to succeed in a highly competitive and, for the most part, value-based world. Sure, there are stories of children who come out of terrible family situations to overcome the odds but those are relatively few and far between and usually include a rough start.

An Entrepreneurial Culture

A great culture can be developed over time. However, it does take time. It's not too dissimilar from losing weight. The weight gain didn’t happen overnight, and it can’t be lost overnight either. Like weight loss, culture development takes effort, time, thought, accountability, and constant nurturing. Culture requires that leadership focus on the little things that can matter as much, if not more, than the big things. If your organizational culture is not where you want it to be, reflect on the points below and ask yourself where things stand with you and the team.

• Leadership must walk the talk - You can’t say you want one thing and then do another. Everyone is watching and most of what is believed is seen. If you, as the owner or practice manager, do not model the example you will send a mixed message and confuse the team. This is also a credibility and integrity issue. Do what you say you will do and practice what you preach.

• Focus on the little things - If you say you value the opinions of others, then give people a forum to safely express their opinions. Don't cut them off in a meeting, belittle them by discounting their ideas, or make them feel uncomfortable when sharing.

• Hold everyone accountable - The values and beliefs of the organization apply to everyone. If respectful treatment of one another is a value, then it is a value for everyone to demonstrate to everyone associated with the organization. If showing up on time is a value, then it is a value for everyone. Don't play favorites. If your star injector is late for a meeting, hold him/her accountable just as you would the person who answers the phone. Again, you place your integrity and credibility at risk when you don’t.

• Observe, manage and lead - Look around and determine if the culture is reflective of the organization's true values. If not, then map a plan to get it back on track. Don't ignore what's wrong. NASA did that with an O ring issue and we all know what happened to the Challenger Space Shuttle. Ignore something long enough and it will become normal. Let people disrespect others once, twice, three times and before you know it disrespect is the new normal. Nip it in the bud as soon as you see it happen and hold your team accountable for the same.

• Give authority and responsibility - Let people make decisions and give them the authority to see their decision through. Most people are prideful and therefore strive to make the best decision possible. No one wants to make a mistake or fail. When you let people make decisions and see their decision through, they take ownership for the result and are more motivated to succeed. They also become more productive and more of an entrepreneurial thinker.

Time Well Spent

There is no doubt that spending money to market your business is necessary to effectively reach a new audience and keep your practice in front of those you've acquired as clients. However, marketing is designed to do just that. It is not designed to keep those who have blessed you with their business. Culture keeps clients loyal. That's because culture includes all those little things that make the experience unique. The little things that matter most.

It is true that spending time on things you do not see an immediate return is very difficult. But, just like the person that spends time exercising and eating healthy in hopes that they achieve their health goals one day, time spent on those things that are most important will result in a big payoff over time. In a world where everything seems urgent, there is little that is more important than spending the time necessary developing a culture that will ultimately achieve the results you desire for your practice.

Randy Stepp is a principal with Renaissance Leadership Group. RLG is a full-service medical aesthetics practice development firm driven by Purpose, Passion, and Strategy and the ultimate goal of helping entrepreneurs realize their vision.

Visit Renaissance Leadership Group at www.renaissanceleadershipgroup.com to learn more.