It has been some time now since we have created our lists of active clinics in our areas and we have been following them on social media, as well as in the classic media.
What I have been noticing is that I can divide my list again in 2 categories: Professionals; and those who are clearly in it for the money.
With this I also notice a clear divide in the messages they put out to society as well as the equipment each category uses.
It is now time to step it up a bit and the following step we need to take is to start with consultations. We would like to get as much experience as possible in the consulting and sales process. In my mind the best way to start learning this is to be the client.
Apart from this, I would also like to meet these therapists in person to see if the conclusions I have come to during my previous research are right. As the newbie I would like to soak up the local industry ’culture’ and see how these people present themselves.
When we start booking consultations it is probably best to keep it as real as possible and therefore it is better to go for consultations on “problems” that we may actually consider treatment for.
Some of the things that I will be trying to find out about the therapists are:
- The training each therapist enjoyed?
- How long they have been doing laser treatments?
- The reason why each of them decided on this career?
- Is (s)he the owner of the clinic or an employee?
- Why (s)he decided on this specific machine if it was his/her choice?
In general I will be looking at:
- How the clinic is presented to the client (first impression)
- How the therapist presents him/her self and how knowledgeable (s)he is.
- Can I have a test spot done? (With this I would like to see how they treat their equipment. It is also the perfect opportunity to experience what treatments with the different machines are like.)
- What is my gut feeling about this therapist and set-up?
- Is this someone I will allow to work on my body?
- What is worth remembering to implement in my clinic as well?
- What is done here that I should surely not do in my clinic?
- I also want to get a complete price list from each.
Do not worry if you don’t have it as you want it after the first of second consultation. We all need to be open to learning as much as we can and adjust after each step we take where needed.
As we are more exposed to machines and treatments it is also of more importance to educate ourselves about the technologies and equipment. We need to learn to sift through all the stories that we will be told and extract the usable bits.
I recently had a discussion with someone who wants to open a laser clinic and will be targeting skin type 5 and 6 for 98% of her potential clientele. I was really shocked when she said that she thinks an IPL will suite her needs best. When I asked if she ever had any laser or IPL treatments performed on herself, her answer was no. Yet, she is willing to pay thousands of dollars for a machine that she knows nothing about.
Learn the difference between lasers and lasers and more importantly, the difference between lasers and IPL’s. If you take one thing away from this post let it be this. Do not even consider looking at equipment until you are sufficiently educated in the differences between technologies firstly; and secondly the differences between machines in the same technology.
In meantime it is good to start a list of all equipment suppliers that are locally active in your area.
With this I will conclude this post. We have a lot of work awaiting us. Remember the more you document at this stage the more information you will have in your library to fall back on and easier it will become later on.
