From the medical spa basics class

Allan Share and Eric Light have kicked off a pragmatic and down to earth session on medical spa business strategy.

Says Eric Light. "Stop thinking about services and equipment, and think in terms of offering solutions to problems." Med spas obsess about technology at the expense of customers' actual needs  We're speaking different languages, he explains.

Eric is offering all the attendees of this session one year membership in the International Medical Spa Association for free.

Eric is sharing data from a study on medical spas, which shows that 21% of medical spas have annual revenue of less than $200,000 a year. As well, 42% of medical spas receive less than 10% of their sales from retail, or in his preferred parlance, "prescriptive home care programs."

He's a fan of Canfield's Visia system, which provides visual evidence for clients on skin care programs, as well as an analytical tool.

He cites Olay's $2B Regenerist brand as the real threat to medical spas, citing the tagline, "not drastic, just fantastic." Olay has positioned "good enough" results from an affordable product against the dramatic results of medical procedures. Light, who spent 22 years as a brand manager for P and G, exhorts spas to recognize where their real competition is, and to deeply understand what business they are really in.

Becoming a guide, educator and mentor is the only way to compete. If you are machine-identified, you are commoditized, he insists.