Beauty and the Biz Episode 100!
The Top 10 Surgeon Takeaways from 27 plastic and cosmetic surgeon interviews that Catherine has conducted over the past 2 years of the Beauty and the Biz podcast. These are the golden tips that you need to hear and implement in your own practice today! 📖 Get a Copy of Catherine’s FREE Book 📲 Schedule a FREE 30-Minute Strategy Call with CatherineHello and welcome to my 100th special episode of the Beauty and the Biz Podcast.
I started this podcast 2 years ago because it’s no longer enough to be a great cosmetic surgeon.
Good marketers often beat out excellent surgeons – at least in the short run so this podcast is to keep you on track and remind you of what’s important.
The industry has evolved with different rules and strategies so it’s time to up your own game.
Because if you really want to be successful, you have to Adapt to Change.
It’s about staying nimble in your thinking because:
The marketplace has changed
Attitudes about cosmetic rejuvenation have changed
The marketing channels have changed
The patient preferences have changed and how they choose a service provider have changed.
So, you need to change with them, or you’ll get left in the dust.
For this 100th special edition, I compiled the Top 10 Surgeon Takeaways I learned from the many plastic surgeons I interviewed. BTW, I named them in the show notes.
These surgeons have been in practice ranging from 4 months to 46 years.
A majority are in solo practice, some are in practice with a partner, and some have multiple partners.
So, to celebrate this 100th episode, I reviewed the interviews I’ve done with 27 plastic and cosmetic surgeons around the nation, and in Lebanon, to give you my top 10 take-a-ways of what they are doing to succeed:
Let’s get started:
Surgeon Takeaway #1. They have a Growth MindsetThey believe their abilities can be developed.
They are open to growing as a person, surgeon and business person.
They are passionate about growing their practice and always striving to be better.
They are willing to push the envelope, learn, evolve and change.
They stay open to life and opps that comes their way
They think positive and are optimistic about their future
They have resilience and see change as an opportunity to grow
They believe their efforts determine their abilities and growth.
They are open to new technologies, marketing trends and surgical techniques.
Surgeon Takeaway #2: They learn new skills
Many surgeons have decided they are good at surgery but not good at managing people or business or marketing.
So their minds are shut down to learning
Maybe because they spent so much time as a student, they are done.
Or business wasn’t taught in medical school so they are closed to learning new skills.
The successful surgeons open their mind and learn the business of plastic surgery by reading books, joining masterminds
They study and believe the sayings:
Earners are Learners and Leaders are readers
They believe they can learn to do anything and like to try new things vs. sticking to what they already know.”
Surgeon Takeaway #3: They know their numbers
They manage their money.
They watch their expenses and know their ROI on their SX and non-SX procedures as well as their marketing efforts.
They have goals they are trying to hit, and the staff knows them as well.
Rather than abdicate their responsibility, they take full responsibility for knowing what’s happening in their practice.
They have a bookkeeper and accountant to do the work, but they review the work and numbers regularly so there are no surprises.
They review the bank statements and ask questions, so staff knows they are watching the numbers.
Surgeon Takeaway #4: They treat their team like an asset rather than a liability
Staff is not an overhead expense
They know they can’t do this alone and need a team supporting them
They meet with their team regularly and get their feedback from the front lines
They have a trusted right-hand helping them keep the business side running smoothly
They Have a Team Concept
They respect the staff to be professionals but still….they Trust AND Verify
They build a culture of a team with a purpose
Philanthropic efforts to give back are a key part of their culture
They meet with staff regularly to lead them and keep them in the loop.
They set up a culture of excellence and offer good pay, team bonuses, free additional training to better the staff so they grow as well as incentives and appreciation including team parties, food trucks and in-house masseuse to keep it fun.
And, they hire slow and fire fast if someone does not fit with their culture.
Surgeon Takeaway #5: They have a “patients for life” mindset
They see their patients as friends and family and treat them with respect
They understand that these happy patients can be patients for decades and refer their friends and family and return for more
They know it’s far easier to KEEP these patients coming back so they offer comprehensive services to include all stages in life.
Actually, Dr. Grant Stevens reported on average cosmetic patients have 3 SX over 22 years for a value of $80K-$120K.
They attract more sophisticated patients who know you get what you pay for vs. catering to the price sensitive who don’t value skill and experience as much as saving money.
They go above and beyond to take care of their patients by offering their cell phone and one surgeon even did house calls.
Rather than discount their surgery they added value instead. For example, facelifts came with skin rejuvenation laser treatments and lymphatic massage came with liposuction.
Surgeon Takeaway #6: They fail and learn from it
They see failure as an opp to grow rather than a limit on their abilities.
They know failure is just feedback and they try again.
They see challenges as a good thing vs. I don’t like to be challenged.
They stay curious and ask lots of questions
They take responsibility for everything that happens in their practice and they deal with it professionally.
They React Quickly to Issues that come up and think solutions.
For example, a practice was losing 30% of patients who couldn’t afford big surgical cases, so one surgeon started his own internal financing service.
And, During the COVID shutdown, many used that time as an opp to keep staff busy with training, improving their systems and fine-tuning their processes.
Surgeon Takeaway #7: They Don’t Care What Others Think About Them
They stay focused on what they are doing more than what their competitors are doing
They don’t care as much what their critics say about them as they do what their patients say about them then since they are the ones paying the surgeon’s bills.
They do care what their patients think about them and they learn from their bad reviews
They meet with their staff to ask,”Is there any truth to this criticism?” and How can we do better?
Surgeon Takeaway #8: They Spend Money to Make Money
They know money buys them time
They see marketing as an investment
Rather than focus on saving money – they focus on making money
They think abundance vs. scarcity
They know you can’t shrink your way to success – you can cut some expenses, but the real way to wealth is to focus on assets and income.
They are frugal with their time, not their money
They understand the opp costs of doing things that should be outsourced such as learning SEO and writing your own web copy.
They have win-win relationships with their vendors who help them succeed
during COVID , several surgeons doubled down on their marketing and cut deals with advertisers when everyone else pulled back. That allowed them to gain attention and market share.
They give money away. They donate to worthy causes because it gives their staff the “why” they do what they do and a common purpose for the whole team and it makes everyone feel good.
Surgeon Takeaway #9: They Keep Their Ego in Check & control their emotions
They are even tempered and treat everyone with respect.
They are opened to being wrong if it helps the practice grow
They see feedback as constructive vs. taking feedback and criticism personally.
They take responsibility and don’t blame staff, the competition or the government. They get outside help to discover what they don’t know that is holding them back.
They ask Questions vs. being a Know-it-All
They stay open to ideas and suggestions from their staff and advisors.
They are able to let go of control and micro-managing because they trust the people around them
They are competitive by nature and use that for motivation to grow
They stay curious by visiting other practices, attending conferences and talking with their collegues to learn what others are doing that’s working.
They are always honing their kraft to make them the best at what they do
When a challenge comes up, they focus on solutions, rather than running from it and hoping it goes away.
They eliminate practice drags such as draining staff and difficult patients.
They also delegate tasks they dislike doing to people they trust, but they also follow up to be sure it’s getting done.
Surgeon Takeaway #10:They think big
They grow uncomfortable being the only revenue-generator in the practice. They look for ways to leverage their reputation, experience and staff.
They figure out how to scale by working ON their practice rather than IN it.
They see they could do more than just surgery.
They look at other streams of income rather than work harder and longer which leads to burn out and ineffectiveness.
They spend more time finding, managing and mentoring key players in their practice who become major revenue generators so the surgeon can focus more on the business side such as
adding more surgeons, injectors, aestheticians and locations.
And there you have it!
The Top 10 Surgeon Takeaways I got from the surgeons I interviewed.
You may want to listen to that again since it contains lots of pearls to consider when creating your own roadmap to success.
And, Of course, please contact me if you could use guidance.
Just leave me a message on my website or DM on Instagram.
Ok, that’s it for now and please do me a favor and subscribe to Beauty and the Biz and I’d love a good review.
Take care!
Here’s a BIG THANKS to all of the industry experts who shared with me their most successful tips and advice: Get a Copy of Catherine’s FREE Book 📲 Schedule a FREE 30-Minute Strategy Call with Catherine 👁 DON’T MISS THESE INTERVIEWS 👁 ➡️ Robert Singer, MD FACS – Former President, The Aesthetic Society ➡️ Grant Stevens, MD FACS – Former President, ASAPS ➡️ E. Gaylon McCollough, MD FACS – Former President, AAFPRS, ABFPRS, AACS ✔️ STAY UPDATED! ✔️ Website • Blog • Podcasts • iTunes Subscribe • Videocasts 🤝 LET’S CONNECT! 🤝 Instagram • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn
