10 Reasons Why Medical Spas Succeed

I speak to numerous medical spa owners each week.  Many of them are experiencing great success.  With the ever increasing demand for minimally invasive cosmetic procedures you would think that all Medical Spas should succeed but they don't.

What creates success?  How can you insure success at your Medical Spa?

Below are my top 10 reasons I have seen Medical Spas succeed.  This is based upon review of hundreds of medical spas nationwide.  The first 5 are in order of importance and then the last 5 are all equally important.

Location
Capital
Passion & Drive
Experience
Sales & Marketing Program
Concept
Differentiation
Quality
Staying on Trend
Fair Business Practices


Location

This is the number one most important decision you will make as a Medical Spa Owner.  Once you have selected your location and built it there is no opportunity to change your mind.  There are so many critical factors to insuring a successful location that include: proximity to your market, accessibility to your location by your customers, visibility to increase marketability and the competitiveness of your market.

Capital

This is the second most important reason why Medical Spas succeed and the number one reason why they fail.  It is critical to have sufficient capital (money) to support your business as it makes its way to profitability.  This includes fully funding your marketing program, having a complete staffing plan and of course paying all overhead expenses.  Successful Medical Spas are not bootstrapping their openings and first 6 months of operations.

Passion and Drive

Opening a Medical Spa is hard work; you must have a passion for the business and a drive to succeed.  Startup businesses take long hours of intense work to make them successful.  Without passion or drive those long hours will be grueling but with it they will be memorable.

Experience

Medical Spas are complicated businesses combining the practice of medicine with a sophisticated service business.  You, your management team or consultants need to bring to the table the experience and knowledge to successfully execute your business plan and then consistently operate day-to-day.  Once you have a location and the capital, you need to then have the people that will bring it to life.

Sales & Marketing Program

Successful locations don't open their doors and have the clients walk in wanting to buy.  Successful locations have savvy sales and marketing programs that are implemented consistently.  The marketing program should be generating the leads and the sales program should be capturing the leads converting them to consultations and then to clients.

Concept

This may seem simple but it is important to have a Concept that is clear and understandable.  Oftentimes described in your mission your concept should identify the type of service program you are offering, who will buy the services and at what quality level.  Medical Spas that have identifiable Concepts are able to position themselves within the marketplace more clearly and thus be more competitive.

Differentiation

Unless you're the First to Market, it is critical that you differentiate yourself from your competition.  If there are 5 Medical Spas in your market, why will a client select yours over the other 4?  Without specific differentiators you will be lost in the clutter of the competition and it will be difficult to capture your fair share of the market.

Quality

As the Medical Spa world becomes more competitive you need to insure that the experience and services you provide are of the quality level that you communicate to the marketplace.  Your quality must match the expectations you build through your website and other marketing vehicles that communicate your location's message.

Staying on Trend

Every year new technologies and techniques are being launched to increase the level of results you can receive at a Medical Spa.  Your client is well read and is seeking what is best on the market to accomplish the results they wish to buy.  Successful Medical Spas are continually identifying new trends and implementing them as part of their program.  It is important to do this before the competition so you can't hesitate when launching new services.  It should be a competitive action not a competitive response.

Fair Business Practices

Whether building relationships with vendors, clients or employees, successful Medical Spas do this with integrity and fair business practices.  Negotiating fairly with your vendors, pricing fairly and consistently for your clients and managing consistently with your employees will create a long-term sustainable and succesful business.

By Fran Acunzo www.acaramedspas.com