Covid Cancellations By Nancy Abdou

ENSURE YOUR BUSINESS SURVIVES IN 2022

Welcome to my first article for 2022, in the Beauty Biz Dermal Section. 2021 whilst both challenging and rewarding, ended spectacularly with the fabulous recognition of 2021 ABIA Best Educator of Year. I couldn’t be prouder to be recognised and rewarded, during one of our toughest eras for our industry and am so thrilled to be educating, inspiring, and motivating you all in the years to come.

It’s a familiar feeling when the receptionist just looks at you horrified, as the phone rings these days… is it yet another covid cancellation? Books aren’t as full as they should be and times are still uncertain, looks like things may drag out further. You must have a strategy in place.

So, what are some of the most cost effective, easiest, and best ways to ensure you can still make a decent profit, with the number of cancellations that occur? There are several, but here are some of my tried and tested methods. After-all, I ran a number of highly successful skin clinics across Melbourne and had the chance to see what worked well during the GFC and helped many clinics stay motivated and inspired via education during the pandemic.

Apart from engaging a salon or clinic coach, which I highly recommend, you can implement the following strategies right now, not only just to survive, but also to thrive long-term:

Create a skin journey for your client

In other words, a treatment plan. Starting from skin prepping with products and selling your clients an LED membership, which offers them unlimited LED treatments a month. We all know, skin that’s prepared properly, responds more efficiently, renders better results, recovers faster, whilst reducing risks and side effects. Following on, skin needling is amazing at preparing the skin as it optimises cell function, down regulates melanocyte stimulating hormone, upregulates interleukin 10 (reduces inflammation) and restores dermal thickness, along with inducing collagen. Making it an amazing skin prepping treatment and segue to other aesthetic treatments, producing exceptionally better results, safely.

Value add & Combine treatments

Anyone who has undertaken any of my courses, knows that I love to combine treatments! Rather than discounting a treatment, you are far better off offering your client an add-on such as a free enzyme exfoliation, LED, treatment mask, etc - where the perceived value of that treatment may be between $30 - $90, but it doesn’t actually cost you either too much time, effort, or money. For example, instead of offering a discount of $100 on a full-face rejuvenation that is valued at $299, offer your client a free express microdermabrasion or epiblading treatment and LED. This way, you are still able to ask for $299, instead of discounting and losing $100 - the client feels like they are getting value for money, and you are achieving a better return plus accelerating results. Win-win! For even better results and returns, you can easily combine aesthetic treatments, on adequately prepared skin. Combining or layering treatments such as IPL, radio frequency, needling, HIFU, laser. This may seem daunting, but performed correctly, delivers remarkable results and even better return on your investments. Check out my recorded workshop on www.demalandlaser. com.au named “Combining Modalities”, to ensure you’re delivering combined modalities safely.

By Nancy Abdou

Cross promote

Often times when performing a service or treatment, therapist’s engage in small talk with their client - which may be nice, although not productive. Asking your client open-ended questions about their skin concerns or pointing out that your clinic offers other services, treatments, or skincare, other than what you are currently performing, ensures your client doesn’t go elsewhere and it also gives you the opportunity to showcase your skill, ability, and other services on your menu. Typically, therapists only focus on what the client has come in for and these other brilliant services are overlooked. So now is the best time to plant the seed, educate your clients and cross-sell yourself - you might be pleasantly surprised that they’re not aware that you offer those “other things”. Another option to consider, to combat the lost income of cancelled appointments, is to introduce services that offer a higher return per minute, such as HIFU or Plasma Fibroblasting. These services are priced at up to $1500 - $1800 for 60 minutes sessions. If your hourly target is $250 p/h, then booking just one of these services per day could see you meeting this target easily. Not to mention the opportunity for growth when booking these services regularly. If your appointment book had 5 HIFU treatments booked in, a few cancelled services may not hit as hard!

Refer a friend program

Word of mouth is the best form of advertising, so why not reward both your existing client, as well as the referred one? Just think, if all of your existing and active database/clients referred just one friend each - you could potentially double your database in no time. Simple! If you’re not sure how to create a campaign or buzz around this, again reach out to a business coach to help you. It’s worth every dollar.

Bring a friend for free treatments.

Very different to “refer a friend”, so don’t confuse these. Another quick and effective way to acquire a new client, is “buy a voucher/service and get one free, for a friend”. With Easter and Mother’s Day on the horizon, now is a good time to start promoting these gift vouchers. Ensure you present both gift vouchers in a luxe or pretty manner, so both can be gifted. The terms and conditions on the second one should be limited to a new client and valid for a short duration, with the value being the same as the initial voucher purchased. You may think giving a $200 or $300 voucher away is substantial, but think of the value of that client if they were to continue to be your client long term. Ensuring that your business survives and thrives by thinking laterally is essential during these times. Additionally, retaining a client is so much more cost effective than acquiring completely new clients. So, ensure you always work your database and don’t be shy or feel you’ll be rejected if you promote other services that you offer. People want to look good, which makes them feel good. And last but not least, what we provide is not beauty therapy, it’s confidence therapy - which is exactly what people need right now

For more information on how to combine modalities or how to feel more confident delivering results, contact The Australian Dermal and Laser Institute on 0476 880 311 or fill in the contact form via www.dermalandlaser.com.au