There’s nothing static about success

Life is good. You’ve spent years building and branding a business to be so compelling that clients don’t even think of going elsewhere. They are coming in at a steady pace.

Or are they?

Perhaps that last report you ran didn’t quite match up with your projected outlook, and you’re not sure why. You’ve stayed on top of the latest and greatest; you’ve got the right products and procedures to help your clientele.

In our case, we know how to improve every aspect of a man or woman’s face – because that’s our business is our clients’ requests: Make me younger. Make me tighter. Make me look more revitalized. We like to think we’ve “got this.” But do we?

Yes, we think we're the best at creating and maintaining beautiful skin, eyes and lips. But is what we’re doing good enough to grow our business, to reach new audiences, to stay ahead of the curve and even strive to be the pioneers in our field? Maybe we’ve relaxed and become complacent. Maybe we are static.

Could be you are, too.

The brutal truth is that our practice got into a comfortable groove, diagnosing and managing what we know – and know well. However, our clients began to educate us, to let us know we weren’t doing enough.

“What about the rest of me?” they said. “Can you do anything for these love handles? And I don’t want a surgical procedure!”

At first, we kept doing what we do best: We firmly stayed the go-to for the visible aspects of appearance – face, neck, chest and even hands – with our arsenal of tools to help, from chemical peels to laser resurfacing. If we can’t personally achieve a client’s goals, we send them to our in-house surgeon, whose focus has also been on the face for 20-plus years. Between the two of us and the rest of our highly specialized staff, we solve the perceived problem.

But clients kept asking for more. Finally, it occurred to us: Change. You must change. You must change and adapt to the market to thrive as a business. You must innovate and reinvent in order to not just grow markets but to serve our existing ones.

In our case, body contouring – high-end, proven, truly state-of-the-art was the avenue we looked to pursue. After much due diligence and work to ensure that whatever we brought on board delivered to our clients the very best treatment and results, we landed on SculpSure®, a light-based treatment that reduces fat in problem areas like the abdomen or love handles, leaving clients with a slimmer appearance – with no surgery, no downtime.

It was not a move lightly taken. What if no one wanted it? What if we invested not only in the technology, but the training, the due diligence, the research, the time and the heart to make it a viable and extraordinary element to offer our clientele. Bear in mind, this is clientele we’ve treated and taken care of, often for years.

We would not afford to fail in this “switching up of our game.” Mistakes can be costly in business. Anyone who’s owned and run a business knows this only too well.

But other, growing businesses served as examples of change-makes-for-great. Starbucks, as an example, was not satisfied with just being a coffee shop. The business added dozens of beverages to their coffee line-up. Then they gave us food. Then they gave us alcohol. They changed, and it worked.

The bottom line is this: Your business, like the face, is not static. It should be an evolving source of excitement, information, education and services for your clients. The only constant should be the care and attention they get as they come through the door.

Is our switch-up working? Yes. Little did I know that I was the only one hating my chubby bits to the point of distraction! What comfort I have taken from clients I have worked with for years, as they confide in me that they too would like to have their clothes fit better.

The excitement that’s hit our company culture over this new procedure offering has spilled over into our clients who, heretofore, thought we worked on face and skin – period. Those devoted clients are happy to see not just this addition, but the care and dedication we bring to our excellent factor: We deliver only the best.

Our business is growing. We are growing. Sure, we’re a little nervous to move from the face to adding a body contouring solution, but the reception has been overwhelming. Little did we know that the clients we’ve worked with for years – and who are thrilled with their faces – are now bringing that zeal and happiness to us concerning their body shape. The phrase we now hear most often is, “Why didn’t we do this before?”

Indeed. What are you not doing yet – that you could, that you might – that perhaps you should?