Laying the Groundwork for a Thriving Body Contouring Practice: UNIQUE MUST-DO’s

Learn why body contouring patients are strikingly different from any other patient and discover how to meet their needs, make them happy and turn them into your raving fans. The show notes go even deeper and are located here: Read Full Transcript No matter the category you fall - new start, adding to a medical practice or adding to an aesthetics business - to succeed in body contouring, you’re going to need to change some things in your current business - in both (1) your operations and (2) with your team.  And if you don’t have a current business and you’re just starting out, you’ll need to do these things to start out right.Body contouring patients are different from both your medical patients and from your other aesthetic patients.  They can have feelings of shame, disgust and ugliness. I can’t even tell you how many patients who’ve told me that they decided to come in because they were so tired of feeling disgusted with themselves and had to do something about it.  They won’t all verbalize this, but based on our years of experience, we believe they all feel it to a certain degree. And they definitely all come in feeling a loss of confidence.“Fat” is stigmatized in our Western culture.  It’s the thinner bodies that are characterized as our ideal, which is only accelerated by the bodies portrayed as beautiful by our media.  And as you know, not everyone is designed to fit that ideally thin image. An important note here, not everyone who comes in for body contouring is even overweight.  Some just want to trim some inches and improve their bodies. But nearly all of them still feel “fat” and suffer with all the emotions associated with being “fat.”Don’t worry.  We don’t intend to dive into a deep discourse about our societal norms and judgments. We’re simply bringing home our point.  Patients feel really bad when they “feel fat,” and whether we consider them as “fat” or not, they all require special care and handling - we believe different from all other patients.            So here are the things we suggest you consider.OperationsBe sensitive to their feelings and remain positive.  Express excitement and encouragement with their decision to consider body contouring.  Validate their decision as being smart.Support their decision and show empathy.  They’ve taken the first step.  Listen to them and nod in agreement.  Smile. If you’ve been through something similar, tell them so.  If you’ve struggled with body issues, share with them. Many times these patients feel that everyone who works at a facility that does body contouring has the perfect body; remind them we’re all human with our own struggles. We’ve had many patients at our medical spa comment that they felt so comfortable.  They were afraid they were going to feel intimidated but they didn’t. Through our communications and interactions, we showed them we were human with human faults.Handle with TLC.  Go into the lobby to approach them with a smile, handshake and a warm welcome.  Do not yell their name from the doorway.Watch your choice of words. Think carefully before you speak.  Could your choice of words be misunderstood?  Also, don’t mimic the patient’s choice of words as they may be hurtful coming from you.  Avoid saying ‘roll of fat,’ use ‘excess fat’ instead; avoid saying ‘hanging fat,’ use ‘unwanted fat’ instead.  And for the Team:TeamGet your entire Team “on board” with Body Contouring by doing these things:Each team member must grasp a thorough understanding of what the treatments do, how they work and why they are great...