Season 4, Episode 8: The Attractive Future of the Medical Aesthetics Industry with Audrey Neff

Evelyne: Me too. We’ll be talking about the medical aesthetics industry today in the growing trend of integrative and functional medicine providers offering aesthetics as part of their practices. We’ll also be talking about how to incorporate a supplement nutrition program into your practice. And with the launch of Designs for Beauty and the whole Practice Inside Beauty Solution, I thought this would be the perfect time to have you on. So Audrey, before I read your bio, what is lighting you up this week?

Audrey Neff: Oh gosh. Well, I just returned. I’m South Florida based, but recently this past weekend I was attending an aesthetic conference. It’s called Aesthetic Extender Symposium, and it was probably one of the best events I’ve attended in a year. So I have kind of an energy high from coming back from that.

I was on main stage speaking on day one. It was around 700 people in the room, so it was so much fun. It was all on … Yeah, it was a big, big crowd, which fuels my fire. It’s something that very much I’m passionate about, as you guys know, is just educating in this space.

And so I talk a lot about generational aesthetics, particularly the millennial generation. And so I had a full continuing medical education course I taught that was around 45 minutes at that event, and it was just so much fun. It’s so great to connect with industry professionals that are dedicated to growth, and mindset, and continuing to pursue their careers and refine their craft. And it definitely fuels my fire at the end of the day. So I’m in a very good mood this week, coming back from that conference, and it’s great to be here with you Evelyn, today.

Evelyne: I absolutely love that. I love your energy. I also, when I go to conferences, I am high, high on life. I love conferences. I’m totally in my element. I do notice that I crash after, though, and I don’t know how you do so many conferences per year. I can handle a few.

Audrey Neff: Normally I do crash a little, but since it was a drive for me because I’m in Boca Raton, since it’s only an hour drive, I feel like I bypassed that. If I hop on a plane, though, usually there’s a crash.

Evelyne: Yeah. Audrey Neff currently serves as the senior director of marketing strategy for PatientNow, which provides practice management solutions for more than 5,000 aesthetic and wellness businesses worldwide. She brings a decade of experience in elective medicine and medical aesthetics with a strong passion for helping practices achieve maximum success in their business. She’s an international speaker, award-winning peer-reviewed author, frequent industry contributor, and has held faculty positions for more than 28 medical associations, societies and conferences across the globe. Wow. So how did you get into this industry, first of all?

Audrey Neff: Yeah, it’s funny. I broke into the industry. I was around 22 years old. Very young, and it was not intentional. So somehow, and it’s been, yeah, 10 years now, going on 10 years. And so it was not intentional, broke into it in the marketing realm and instantly just fell in love with the industry.

Over the years, I’ve been blessed to have a really amazing mentor for me as well. And through his mentorship and just learning a lot from him, I was able to kind of expand into other components of the industry, such as public speaking and things like that. So it’s been around nine, 10 years now, going on 10 in a couple of months. And it’s definitely an industry that I will never leave. I have so much passion around it. The people in the industry are amazing. I think it’s so amazing that it’s just an industry fueled by, for the most part, small business owners. Still, at the end of the day, only a small amount of the industry has been consolidated. And it’s just a really fun and exciting time to be a part of aesthetics.

If we look at … And the same goes for the wellness vertical as well. These elective medical verticals are growing exponentially year over year. So a lot of people are trying to break into these industries now, and I just think it’s really amazing and exciting to already be a part of it. So it was definitely an unintentional move I made at a very young age, and then fell in love with it and just really what expanded my career in different things that I never thought would be a part of my life, and somehow it all worked out. So it’s cool to be here though.

Evelyne: I love that. I feel like I have a similar path, fell into the integrative and functional medicine field early, and I’m just so grateful for all of the opportunities that have come that I couldn’t even foresee. And now with Designs for Beauty going into this sort of different realm is really exciting. And you and I met in person at the Aesthetic show in Vegas, which was so much fun.

I loved it. It just had a different energy than the shows I’m used to attending and it was just a great time. So many practitioner types are beginning to offer, or have for the last couple of years, I’d say, started offering more of the aesthetics part into their practices, whether it’s the naturopathic doctors I work with, medical doctors, and generally medical aesthetics is growing like crazy, right? What do you attribute this to?

Audrey Neff: I attribute it to a couple of things. So one of the things I would talk about, and I talk about this a lot, actually. It’s a part of a lot of the courses I teach, is innovation. So innovation is obviously a huge driver of growth regardless of elective medical vertical. When we look at the aesthetic landscape for instance, I mean, the innovation is continual. There are constantly new products, injectables, devices, technologies being introduced into the U.S. market. And I speak a lot internationally as well.

And for those of us who are familiar with the global aesthetics market, there are other parts of the world that are about five years ahead of the U.S. So the U.S. is actually a little bit behind if we actually start comparing it to the European aesthetic market and things like that. But innovation is definitely something that is continuing to fuel growth absolutely.

Another thing I always love to talk about is economic resiliency. So nothing is recession proof, nothing. But I find this industry of aesthetics or wellness, too, I mean the two go hand-in-hand. It is when a business is built the right way, these types of practices can be very, very resilient to macroeconomic factors. So it’s not recession proof, but it’s a very recession resilient industry.

And I think that’s another reason why we’ve been seeing a lot of investment community interest and private equity money starting to flow into these spaces is because they see that. They see an industry growing double-digit compound annual growth rate. They see an industry that is continuing to innovate. They see an industry that is very economic resilient. So those are some reasons. And then the other reason, which is a topic that is near and dear to my heart, I speak on it a lot.

I have a lot of peer reviewed research on it as well, is the millennial patient adoption. This is, right now, the biggest driver of growth in the industry in my professional opinion, because it affects the industry on a global scale, not just in the U.S. And to put it just briefly, the millennial generation is the only consumer group with full purchasing power expected to gain market share moving forward.

So the other two consumer groups with full purchasing power, which are Boomers and Gen X, they’ve already reached their peak, let’s call it in aesthetics, and their market share size is decreasing now, whereas millennials will be increasing. And then if we go below millennials, Gen Z, Gen Z does not have full purchasing power. So I don’t like to spend too much time on Gen Z because right now the millennial generation is really the driving force of the industry.

Evelyne: Very interesting. So can you talk a little bit more about how practitioners can better market to millennials?

Audrey Neff: Yeah, yeah. It’s something I love talking about. So in the course I teach, which was the one I did this past weekend too, I talk about the core values of millennials, and then the core four strategies. So when we look at the millennial consumer as it sits today, they have five core values that they basically … that are a part of their DNA when they are researching providers.

And this goes hand in hand, whether it’s wellness, whether it’s functional, whatever it may be, or whether it’s medical aesthetics. And then obviously we’re seeing the coupling of the two a lot now. But the core five values are convenience. So it doesn’t mean that millennials are lazy. A lot of people still have the … or think of those negative stigmas attached to millennials. And I’m a millennial, and it doesn’t mean that they’re lazy, and it really just means that they have unlimited access to content.

We have social media. We have our phones. We have Google. We can get all of this amazing information at our fingertips in a matter of seconds. So when it comes to convenience, a part of the course I like to talk about is just making it really easy for a millennial consumer to find you online. Because regardless if it’s a direct referral, if my sister Kendra says, “Audrey, you need to go to my provider.” I’m still going to go do my due diligence online.

I’ll go to their Instagram. I’ll look at photos, before and after photos. That’s a huge thing. Google reviews, I’ll read reviews. If I’m spending thousands of dollars on something that is elective in nature, but it’s medical, I’m not just going to go anywhere. I’m going to do a lot, a lot of research. So from that standpoint, those are some things I cover.

Another core value is choices. So this is something that some practices, they just think that they can, let’s call it, hang a shingle up, and that people will just magically show up to their practice. Unfortunately that’s … While we wish that, that would be very ideal for all of us opening up practices. It’s not the reality of the world we live in. So how do you actually differentiate your practice and create a unique value proposition that your entire team is totally 150% bought into?

So choices is another thing. How do you stand out? Because millennials will research more than one provider. The other core value is experiences. And this ties back to just what millennials value. They value having really personalized, genuine experiences with their medical providers, whether it’s aesthetics or not. So ensuring that you go the extra step and you do little extra things that a lot of times may take an extra 20 seconds of work on your part, but they make really, really big impacts on the patient side.

So experiences is another thing. And statistically shown, millennials will spend more money with the provider if they trust they’ll get a better experience. So while millennials still have all these negative stigmas of being, “Oh, they’re always trying to find the best deal or the cheapest provider,” that’s not true.

Are there people out there that are super price conscious and that’s just how they’re going to operate? Yes, but for the majority of consumers in the millennial generation, which most of them are probably entering prime earning years now since the youngest millennial is now 28, and it goes up to 43, they value those. And then the other two are authenticity and relatability, which I bundle together a lot. But when we are speaking to millennials, when we are marketing online, when we are posting on Instagram, whether it’s a reel, a post, a story, you name it, millennials want to be able to relate to you, and they value authenticity at the end of the day as well.

So between those core values, I dive into different strategies. And then the core four strategies I talk about from those core values are connectivity. So I just go through how do you connect with them online. O stands for optimizing the follow-up. So we have to have a really tightened up follow-up practice in our business. If a millennial patient or prospect calls us, how are we handling the phone call? Are we getting contact information to follow up with them? What does our follow-up process look like in the practice?

Because we need to ensure that when they are ready to make a decision, we are top of mind. And then R stands for relationships. And E stands for experiences, which is of course one of the core values. So I go through a lot of different things. I know it’s probably a high level answer to answer your question, because it’s something I could talk about for five hours. But those are some things that … Practices just need to be mindful of.

Evelyne: I love that answer. You covered a lot there, and I just want to go through them. So it was values and strategies, right? Because I feel like for anybody listening, whether they’re in this medical aesthetic space, or in integrative or functional medicine, you can take a look at your practice and think about how am I acting in all of these areas? So for values, you said convenience, choices, experiences, authenticity and relatability. And then, was it strategies?

Audrey Neff: Yeah, And then the core four strategies, which are how I break down the course. So I talk about the core values, so we understand the consumer, and then we go into the … It’s like four sections of the course, which is connectivity, optimizing the follow-up, relationships and experiences.

Evelyne: Relationships and experiences. Yeah. And I love that part about optimizing the follow-up. Because, I mean, it’s something that I can always optimize in my job too with practitioners. And I think just tweaking those little things or just for anybody listening, looking at how you can optimize that in your practice can make such a huge difference.

And I know that I always appreciate when I get some sort of treatment, whether it’s acupuncture, or chiropractic, or whatever, when I do get a little text, “How are you feeling today?” Or, “How are you feeling after that?” And I know that sometimes we get busy, but it’s great to also automate some of those things. And I don’t mean automate automatic text messaging, but just like that you have that system that’s automatic to you. So I don’t know if you want to add anything to that.

Audrey Neff: Yeah, definitely. And I totally agree. Something I preach that providers should be doing a lot is just having day after follow-ups with patients where you personally call them and just ask them how they’re feeling. Even if it’s a really simple treatment like a facial, it still means a lot to them, even if you catch their voicemail and you leave them a voicemail and then there’s some type of customized and personalized text message sent out of whatever practice management platform you’re using. Those little things go a long way.

And something else, I was actually just recording a podcast episode yesterday on my podcast, and it was all around managing patient complications and adverse events and aesthetics. And a way to get ahead of that too is just having a follow-up process in place post-treatment. So following up, asking them how they’re feeling, if anything is freaking them out a little bit. Because a lot of patients when they first come into the marketplace and they receive their first aesthetic treatment, let’s just use HA filler as an example.

I remember the first time I ever had lip filler years, and years, and years ago. I was freaking out the next day. You’re bruised, you’re swollen. You’re like, “What is going on?” Even though it’s totally normal. So just having little processes like that, just like you said, Evelyn, that are more automated. It’s built into your internal processes in the practice. Those things go a long way. On the personal note as well, keeping patient notes.

This is something everyone should be doing. And believe it or not, not everyone does it. And it’s mind-boggling me, to be honest. Even this past weekend I was speaking in front of 700 people and I asked everyone to raise their hands, “How many of you all keep patient notes in your practice management system of all your patients?” Maybe like … Obviously, there’s always people that will never raise their hand.

So if I am generous with this number, I would’ve put it maybe max 15%, maybe 20 if there are a lot of people not raising their hands.

Evelyne: What?

Audrey Neff: Unless people are just lying and they’re not raising their hand. But there were not a lot of hands up. And it’s not just that event. It’s most events I speak at. I ask this poll, and I typically land on this for a little bit now because … And I want to talk about why. And it’s so, so critical because especially with millennials and especially that we value experiences and building relationships with our providers, it will take an extra 20 seconds, 30 seconds of time. So when you walk out of the patient room, let’s say, “Okay, Susan was … She just moved into a new apartment. She just got a new puppy named Sammy, and she’s planning her wedding.”

I don’t know, whatever the notes are. So when Susan comes back six months later, you’re probably not going to remember Susan, but she doesn’t need to know that. You take a quick glance at the patient notes, you walk in the room and it’s like, “Oh my gosh, Susan, it’s so great to see you. How are you feeling? How’s your apartment? How’s your puppy, Sammy?”

All of these little things that don’t take a lot of time on the practice end, but they have a huge impact on the patient side. So I talk a lot about patient notes, remembering patient names when they’re checking into your practice. We know, “Okay, we know Susan’s coming in. We know her typical beverage she likes to have while she’s waiting in the client lounge area.” And I dislike the term waiting room. I think we should throw that out of our vernacular.

If we’re cash pay medicine, it should not be a part of it. Client lounge. So just little things that we can do. So I touch a lot about that. And it all goes back to just making everything as personal as you possibly can. And to add on that too, before and after photos is another topic I preach a lot about.

And it’s something that, once again, a lot of practices struggle with. And it’s a really, really easy fix on them. But when it comes to building better relationships with your patients, having a really strong photo process in place so that every time Susan comes in, whether it’s her first appointment or her 10th appointment, you have a process of snapping photos in a consistent area. I recommend having designated area or areas in the practice so that you limit variables of lighting, backgrounds, things like that.

You want everything to be consistent. But then using those photos as … Or creating a protocol, even, of every three months, we’re actually going to sit down with our patients and we’re going to go through their photos with them in the room. So that they can see how their treatment plan is helping them. Because we all have a lot of difficult patients in this industry I want to also say. They’re like, “Well, I don’t see a difference.” The only way to combat that, to be honest, is photos. And it’s something a lot of practices tend to neglect. And so that’s something else I could talk about for a very long time. But hopefully that answered your question. I know I kind of tend to ramble on, but …

Evelyne: Yeah, no, that’s great. So with the patient notes, you weren’t referring to the medical part of it, which has to be documented. You’re just referring to the little things that they tell you? Okay.

Audrey Neff: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m talking about personal patient notes. Obviously, I’m not a clinician. But medical notes, yeah, you need to have those, absolutely. But beyond that, just adding personal notes about the patient so that when they come back, you can act like you remember everything that they told you, even if you didn’t.

Evelyne: Right. Totally. What are some other things that you think that people should know about the medical aesthetics industry in general? What does the landscape look like in terms of numbers and growth? And also, just, I mean, you obviously speak on stages, you go to a ton of conferences. You have a podcast yourself that’s very successful, and you talk to a lot of people in this industry. What are some of the other trends that we’re seeing?

Audrey Neff: Yeah, first thing I want to add is if we look at the landscape of aesthetics, a lot of people are trying to get into this industry right now, and there’s two reasons. Or there’s two reasons that I think aren’t fully thought through. The first is people want to get into the industry because of money. They see, “Oh, it’s growing. I want to make a lot of money. I’m going to open up a practice.”

If you go into something and money is the only driver behind it, you will not be as successful as someone that has a full purpose and passion behind it. So that’s something first. I want to add, a lot of people see this industry and they see money or dollar signs, and that’s the driving force behind their decision. And that can only go so far. And then the other thing I see is there’s a huge exodus of nurses and mid-level extenders coming out of the hospital setting, and they want a better work-life balance.

They want to be happier, they want to treat patients that feel good about themselves, where you’re making patients feel so confident, and amazing, and you’re dealing with happy people, not sick people. It’s a very, very different dynamic shift.

My younger sister, for instance, I have two younger sisters. She’s an oncology nurse, and I have been trying to convince her for years. Like, “Madeline, you need to leave the hospital setting and come into aesthetics.” So we’re seeing this huge, huge exodus of nurses trying to break into the industry. Learn how to inject, and then either, A, open up their own businesses, or get hired as an inspector in another practice.

So what I have seen as some of the biggest challenges in the space would be realizing that it’s not a one-size-fits-all type of business model. So we all see that competition is everywhere. I mean, I’m in Boca Raton, I can throw a rock and hit 20 med spas. They’re everywhere. So it’s like we need to figure out what you as a business, what you as a practitioner, a clinician, an entrepreneur, what are you going to do differently in your practice?

Because at the end of the day, we’re all, typically … All med spas are offering the same type of injectables, have similar devices, similar skincare products, similar wellness services, whatever it may be. So that’s typically not the differentiation. You have to go beyond that. So when we go beyond that, that’s what … You need to sit down and figure out what is your unique selling proposition or your unique approach that you’re going to take to the application of aesthetics, wellness, nutrition, whatever it may be. How are you going to treat patients? What are some little things you can do differently?

And once you do a really good job at that, you can typically charge higher prices. I have so many clients I work with that they’re charging probably around 30% higher pricing than other practices in their local market because they have developed such a unique brand, and niche of patients, and their ideal customer profile that they want and attract that they can. And they’re booking out for weeks. So I think you need to figure out what value you’re going to put on yourself.

We’re constantly thinking about competing on price, or what your competitor on the street is charging per unit of whatever is a race to the bottom. Being the lowest cost med spa, wellness practice, whatever it may be, there’s nothing unique about that. So price cannot be a part of the factor. So you need to figure out what you’re going to do beyond that.

So that’s something I would add a lot is it is a competitive market, but competition is not a bad thing. A lot of people say, “Oh my gosh, the market’s so saturated. It’s so saturated.” If we look at industry data and I live and breathe data, the aesthetic market just in terms of facial injectables for instance, is less than 10% penetrated. And this is data from Allergan. So when we look at that, it’s like 90% of the market hasn’t even had an aesthetic treatment before.

So when you look at that data, it’s an under saturated market. We do have competition, but competition means that we’re in a really healthy industry. Competition is a good thing. And something beyond that too, and I could obviously talk about all of this stuff for hours is a term we use a lot in the aesthetic space as well, is community over competition.

So it doesn’t matter if someone’s competing with you down the street. Who cares? Because there’s enough patients to go around for everybody. Figure out ways where you could actually collaborate together. I mean, I have so many, for instance, my injector who’s a client and dear friend of mine here in Boca, she has a very specific way of injecting. If a patient comes to her and wants super giant lips or whatever it may be, she has a specific provider she will send them to.

So it’s obviously a competitor of hers. It’s in the same local market, but they have their own unique thing, unique approaches that they take to the application of aesthetic medicine. So you can really, in my professional opinion, with your quote, unquote, “competitors,” you can actually create a really strong community of collaboration and help everyone succeed at the end of the day.

So I also don’t like it when I run into people and they get really angry that, “A med spa opened down the road. They bought the same device because they saw I had the device.” It’s like, “Who cares?” That’s not how we should be thinking about it. We should be focusing on our business. How are we treating our patients? What is our unique approach that we’re going to bring to the industry? And then beyond that, we need to just make sure that we have really strong retention and loyalty strategies in place in our practice as well.

Evelyne: Absolutely. And I’m all about community and collaboration over competition. And I think that it elevates everybody, because you constantly have to hold yourself, lift yourself to a higher standard, right?

Audrey Neff: Mm-hmm. And then there’s also that saying too, it’s like, gosh, what is it? I see it on social media all the time, and it’s like …

Evelyne: A rising tide lifts all boats?

Audrey Neff: That yes. And I totally, I actually have an image of that in one of my courses, and it’s like the rising tide and there’s dollar signs and it has a boat on top. That one I love. And then competition happens at the bottom and collaboration happens at the top.

Evelyne: Ooh, I love that.

Audrey Neff: Yeah, I think that’s another one I see a lot. And I’m like, “Amen to that.” Because that is so, so true.

Evelyne: Absolutely. Let’s talk a little bit about how aesthetic practices, and I think this applies to anybody too, who maybe wants to make supplement recommendations and nutrition recommendations a stronger part of their program. When you work with practitioners, what are you advising them on to successfully implement these programs into their practices?

Audrey Neff: Yeah, definitely. And that’s a phenomenal question, and something I advise every practice to do is really comprehensive treatment plans or health plans. So whatever an initial consumer, especially millennials, they’re notorious for this or an older Gen Z, they typically come into a practice interested in one treatment, or one procedure.

They’re coming in because they’re interested in semaglutide. They’re coming in because they’re interested in Botox, or cheek filler, or something that’s very specific. They’re not typically coming in because they’re like, “I want you to look at my skin texture and do a full facial analysis, and take my blood, and run all these labs.” That’s not what they’re doing initially. They typically come in with a concern, or an interest on one or two specific treatments. So now the provider, instead, and this is a mistake I see a lot. Instead of the provider just being like, “Okay, you know what we can do? You’re interested in tox. We can do tox today. We’ll do it today. See you in 90 days.”

Instead of approaching it that way, there needs to be an expectation set up front. So this also trickles down to handling pre-consultation expectations with prospects and patients, is if you come to our practice, our unique approaches, for instance, we’re going to do a … If it’s skin related, a full facial analysis. If it’s health and wellness related, we’re going to take your blood and do panels, whatever it may be. So that we can actually create a really customized, personalized, comprehensive treatment health or wellness plan that will yield the best possible outcomes for you as a patient, because that’s how much we care about this type of medicine. Instead of just being like, “Okay, you want this? We’ll give you that, goodbye.” So I preach about it a lot, but it is so critical, and people talk a lot.

The pushback I get often is, “Well, it’s more expensive to do that. Our people, they only want to spend X, Y, Z.” And in my professional opinion, are there people out there that never want to spend money? Sure. But I think it really falls on the provider, and the clinicians, and the staff members on how you’re going to sell value versus price. Even if it is a higher cost, higher margin treatment plan, it all boils down to how you educate the patient or the prospect about it.

First of all, and this is how you overcome price objections as well. So for instance, if it is wellness, if it is GLP-1 medications, obviously you guys released a GLP-1 nutrition protocol. Right there, that’s a differentiator with every other practice that’s just offering GLP-1 medications. So if someone’s coming in and their initial concern is weight loss, you have an approach of, we actually will create this customized treatment plan, and then we have this nutrition protocol that will go along with it to combat side effects, increase your health while you’re losing weight, all of these other things.

And then on the aesthetic side, it’s the same. We’re not just going to do these types of treatments, if we want to address skin texture and all of these things, it’s actually a combination therapy approach. We’re going to do your basic injectables, perhaps we’re going to start you on some type of biostimulator, whether it’s Sculptra or Radiesse, whatever it may be, to actually help build back collagen and the foundation of your skin.

Maybe we have to do energy-based devices to address hyperpigmentation and skin texture, and then you need to be using at home skincare products as well. So whether it’s aesthetics, there’s also things you need to be doing at home, which would be retail products. If it’s wellness, if you’re doing nutrition, that’s something that you need to be doing at home. So all of these things also have a responsibility that falls on the patient of doing their side of things when they’re not in the practice or when they’re not in the clinic getting treated.

But the key to get buy-in for it is effective education. So once again, just having those talk tracks. If it is something physical, photos go a really, really long way. Before and after photos of patients that are just like them. So similar age, similar skin type, similar concerns, whatever it may be. And just tactics like that. So the consultation, you just need to have enough time. 15 minutes is not enough time. I typically suggest 45 minutes to an hour so that you can really get to know the patient, build a relationship, and develop a comprehensive treatment health or wellness plan that perhaps lasts six months, 12 months, whatever it may be.

Evelyne: I’m a little curious about some of the details of that. For example, if somebody wants to incorporate supplements and with Designs for Beauty, we did create these protocols that go along with the products. And there’s one for post procedure, there’s one for radiant hair, skin and nails. There’s one for women’s hormonal balance. There are a few others.

And so we want practitioners to ideally implement those, right, because patients are going to get better results. And that’s something that I talked about on the podcast episode with Dr. Mark Tager about beauty from within, and what are those specific supplements? My question to you is do you recommend that it’s sort of an all-inclusive package or how do you position it so that patients get their supplements as part of it? Is it an add-on that they pay for?

Audrey Neff: Mm-mm.

Evelyne: Or is it just, they pay for the procedure plus the supplements as one thing?

Audrey Neff: Yeah. I think there’s two ways you can approach this, and it typically boils down … Everyone’s going to know their patient base the best. So for instance, there’s a lot of practices I work with where it’s typically whatever they’re offering, it’s a pre-bundled package. So for instance, if it were some type of Designs for Beauty nutrition protocol that’s baked into any type of, let’s call it custom skin treatment plan, that’s six months, 12 months. We actually take this so seriously. We actually bundle in these specific nutrition products that we need you to be on, so that you can do everything to complement what we are doing clinically in office, so that you can do everything to complement that while you’re at home because you’re going to get … Let’s call it five X better the results or whatever it may be. So you can either bundle it in, and that’s how you sell it.

And a lot of times this can actually kind of almost be an aha moment for the patient too. Because let’s say a patient was, or a millennial consumer was maybe doing a couple different consultations with different providers. So they’re kind of shopping around, let’s call it, for lack of a better term, and they’re on their third consultation. And this provider introduces a nutrition protocol alongside of the aesthetic protocol. Now, as a patient, even though, yes, it’s likely a higher cost treatment commitment, now I’m thinking, “Why weren’t these other providers that I saw educating me on that if I want to address these concerns, I actually should be taking these specific supplements?” So from that perspective, now I almost have more, or I do, in my professional opinion, I would have more trust in that provider that educated me beyond just treatments I need in practice.

They’re educating me on the nutrition products I need to be taking at home. And I would couple that with the medical grade skincare products that they need to be using it at home. So I think for a lot of practices, if articulated the right way, and of course there is a process for that, you can actually increase your consultation conversions, increase your revenue per appointment, per hour, lifetime value, patient spend if done the right way. Because I think it can really be a unique value proposition or a unique selling proposition for practices.

So that’s one way. Another strategy I’d recommend people could implement if they really don’t think that pre-bundling something as one package together is going to be effective, I typically would advise having three separate, let’s call it options. So you have option one that’s going to cost X, Y, Z. And then option two, but the way I would word it is instead of saying the full price of it, so let’s say option one, I’m just going to use easy terms for easy math.

Let’s say it’s 500, 100, 1500. So for $500, this is option one. For $1,500, option two. Instead of saying it like that, you would say, and for only X amount of dollars more you can actually upgrade to this better treatment package. And then for X amount of dollars more or you can upgrade to our top tier package that will generate the best clinical outcomes possible.

And if you’re thinking of committing to this, it is a financial investment, of course, whether it’s health, or aesthetics, wellness, whatever it may be, it costs money. But if you’re already going to commit to this and you know it’s something that you want to do, if you … And people get uncomfortable with the word sales and selling. But if you sell it the right way, you will have a lot less pushback of getting patients to commit to the higher price treatment plan or treatment package. It’s how you present it, how you educate them about it, and then of course how you’re talking to them as well.

Evelyne: Yeah, I like that tiered approach. And I think as I’ve worked in this field for almost 13 years, I think working with chiropractors, or medical doctors, or acupuncturists who for example … And I guess medical aesthetic practitioners now too, who have not traditionally always incorporated nutritional supplements into their practice, it does take a little adjustment time.

And really it’s just educating the patient and explaining that this is just part of the treatment plan. Because I think that, yes, you can do all of these things without using supplements, but I think you can get there faster with using supplements. And if that doesn’t come across as salesy to the patient, they’ll really appreciate that because you are just trying to help them get their intended health outcomes faster.

Audrey Neff: Yeah, I cannot agree more, and it should be a part of every single aesthetic practice, in my opinion. You should be offering nutrition protocols alongside of that. I am a big advocate for that, absolutely. And I think for people that are listening, this is a chance for you to get ahead and be proactive with this. Because not a lot of aesthetic practices are offering nutrition right now.

Some are offering it, but I promise you in five years it will probably look very, very different. So if I were any practice listening, I would strongly suggest researching this and adding it onto your practice, because it absolutely can be a differentiator. It can increase your per patient spend. But because of this, because patients are going to be getting better results and quicker results because of it, you’re going to naturally increase retention and loyalty.

When you increase retention and loyalty a lot of things come with that along the way. Direct referrals. Better before and after photos. More Google reviews, outstanding reviews. All of these things have a trickle-down effect as well. So I think we need to really be not just thinking about in the moment what our present day-to-day looks like, and getting so caught up in the day-to-Day operations of our business. But sometimes we need to take a step back and be like, “Okay, let’s think about what are some additional things that we can implement in our practice that can dramatically affect the trajectory of our practice over the next five years, 10 years, 15 years, whatever that may be. And I think nutrition is going to be a really, really big part of it.

Evelyne: I love that and I agree, and it goes back to that’s your unique value proposition that sets you apart from other medical aesthetics practices. And it also goes back to the experiences, because you provide this additional experience that they may not get from another provider. And it was interesting being at the Aesthetics show, which was my first show in this field, and asking practitioners, “Do you incorporate nutrition into your practice?”

And a lot of them say, “No,” or some say, “Oh, I want to. My patients are asking about it. My patients are already taking supplements.” So it’s just such a good idea, especially right now, to get educated on all of this and to be able to offer that to your patients.

I’d love to talk a little bit more about the GLP-1s. We did do an episode recently with Dr. Latisa Carson, who is an OB-GYN and obesity medicine expert. And we talked about incorporating the functional medicine approach to using those. Do you see that this is also something that’s just going to keep growing in medical aesthetics? And do you think that they are the ones to provide that service?

Audrey Neff: Yeah, I think if you’re a medical provider, you want to be doing everything in-house. I think, ideally. That’s the ideal situation. Unless you have a practice you’re going to refer out and you guys have a really great cordial business relationship where you refer business back and forth, that’s great too. But I think, ideally, if you can keep the patient getting everything they possibly need from your business, you’re going to set yourself up in a really, really competitive position moving forward in 2024 and beyond. So whether it is, even on the topic of GLP-1 medications, I mean, it’s been crazy to see how much GLP-1 has totally disrupted the industry on the aesthetic side of things over the last couple of years. And actually it was according to one of the most recent American Medical Spa, State of the Industry reports. Around 50% of medical spas report currently offer them, okay?

Evelyne: Wow.

Audrey Neff: So it’s high. But when you look at that, when I look at that number, I’m like, “Okay, what is their application around this? How are they doing it?” Because I find that a lot of practices are just offering it because they see that it’s a trending drug, and people are asking for it, and they just want to hop on it and make some more money with it. And it’s a trend, “We got to hop on it because doing it.”

Versus the practices that go into it with more mindful intention, and a purpose, and actually building out more comprehensive plans for the patient. For instance, I have a client I work with and she will only take so many medical weight loss patients on at one time because she wants to give them very, very dedicated support, and there’s a very specific plan that they follow.

So once her programs fill up, you have to go on a wait list. So it’s like, “Are you going to be a volume-based practice where it’s just, “We just want to get as many patients on as we can because it’s more money for us.” Or are you going to be more mindful about it? Is that we take it so seriously, which means you’re going to be charging higher prices too if you’re being very selective about how many patients you’re putting on a program at once.

Those are two very, very different approaches. Obviously, with nutrition protocol, that’s something else right there. That’s a unique differentiator for your practice because most practices that are offering it, if it’s half of med spas, probably less than 10%, if that, have nutrition to go along with the GLP-1 medications. And then to take it another step further, we all know that when you’re on these medications, you’re losing a lot more lean mass than you would be if you were losing weight a natural way.

And we don’t want to lose lean mass. I mean, muscle and lean mass is the key to longevity. So when you’re on these medications, I think it’s like you’re losing two thirds of lean mass. It’s something very, very high. I don’t know the specific amount. But in my opinion, that’s a little concerning too. So what are some things that we can help with that?

Are we going to do, in conjunction with nutrition, coaching and nutrition supplements? Are we going to do macro coaching and things like that, where you need to be hitting this certain number of protein grams every single day so that you can at least try to combat some of these side effects that are going to be coming alongside with these drugs?

And then to build on that for med spas that offer it. Obviously, when patients are on these medications, they’re going to be losing a lot more volume and fat pads in their face.

That’s a common thing. We all know what the Ozempic face looks like now. Once again, when you’re building out those plans, you can bring in aesthetics as well to talk about the side effects that you are most likely going to experience once you are on these medications for X amount of time. And that we have some additional complimentary treatments and procedures we can introduce to be proactive and combat some of these side effects, with your face, for instance, as you are losing this weight. So I think there’s a lot of different approaches practices can take around the concept of adding in those medications. But yeah, when I look at 50% of med spas are offering it, I guarantee a lot of them are only offering it because it’s the trending thing right now.

Evelyne: Yeah, very interesting. I have another question for you. Just going back to memberships and packages, do you recommend that people do it based on time, or sessions, or how do you make recommendations? I’m sure it depends on who you’re talking to and what their practice looks like, but can you talk a little bit more about that?

Audrey Neff: Yeah, definitely. So there’s a lot of different types of membership models you can build in the practice. I have found the most success with, and I have a very detailed course I teach on memberships as well, so it’s something I love talking about. I have seen the most success with models that are typically a contract.

So there’s a contractual commitment and then there is a monthly fee. So whether that fee is an actual fee that they pay and because of that they receive VIP pricing and maybe a lower cost like complimentary treatment a month or something like that. Or whether it is a fee that is banked back, so it’s credited back, like a beauty banking model or something like that, some health banking, whatever we want to call it. It’s credited back to the patient’s account and they can apply it towards a certain select list of treatments and procedures that the practice can offer in that program.

Those are typically the two I see the most success with because it really creates stickiness and retention with patients. Obviously, there’s a contract involved. There needs to be a minimum amount of months. So whether it is a minimum three-month commitment, I would go six. If you can do 12, I think 12 is great. But if you typically are freshly introducing a new program, 12 months might freak some patients out.

That’s a really long amount of time. So there needs to be a commitment contract in place. And then there’s a credit card. They give you the credit card and every single month you’re charging it X, Y, Z dollars per month. And then you need to develop what treatments and services and products are going to be a part of those programs that they receive VIP pricing for. Something else I advise practices when building a membership program is stay away from words that minimize perceived value. The word free. The word discount. Those are icky terms, we shouldn’t use them, throw them out of your vernacular, right?

VIP. Okay, VIP versus discount. Complimentary verse free. Just being mindful of the language that we’re putting in the membership programs as well. So those are typically the two models I see the most success with. Obviously, when we’re talking about weight loss, that can either be a part of that or it could be a separate program since obviously patients are going to need these drugs consistently over X, Y, Z amount of time. But from the membership topic, overall, I typically find the most success with either a banking model that’s, once again, a monthly charge with a minimum commitment, or a monthly fee model where it’s not banked back and it’s just a fee basically that the patient is paying to be a part of this membership. Or if we don’t want to use the term membership, we could call it a VIP elite club, or we can get creative around it.

Something that creates more sophistication and luxury. I mean, these concepts are applicable to every business. Gosh, like, gyms, like fitness centers. The nicer the gym, the higher cost it is to go to the gym. So we can be very mindful of how we’re building these programs out too. And then if you want to do different tiers for a monthly fee, you could certainly do that as well to cater to different age ranges, patient income brackets, whatever that may be.

So if you want to do a three-tier approach, you could certainly do that as well. They just take a little bit more time and energy and effort and mindfulness to create. And then something I would also add is if you have a membership program, let’s say you’re just doing a one tiered approach, and I think the less complex you make a membership, the easier it is to sell.

So we don’t want to overcomplicate things as well. So for the sake of this example, let’s just say I have a membership program, it’s one tier, and it’s for the wellness and aesthetic treatments I have. I would go a step further and I would duplicate that program and brand it differently for men. Men are … because even in the aesthetic space, they’re only like 10% of the patient demographic.

It’s really, really tiny. I think with the emergence and the coupling of wellness, and nutrition, and things like that, we can speed that up a little bit in the aesthetic space because men are definitely more attracted to wellness, and fitness, and nutrition, and things like that versus going in because they want Botox. That’s typically not what the typical man’s thinking about at age 35 or whatever it may be. Peptides, hormone therapy, IV therapy, all of these extra things that naturally will kind of attract males to your practice.

But when we talk about membership programs, I think I would go the step further. And even if it’s exact same program, just brand it completely differently. And say, this is actually our specific membership program for our male patients. And using that when you are with men in a consultation, or whatever it may be, or when … We all know women are very influential on their spouses, or friends and things like that. So if they are referring male patients to you, having that as a more tailored approach to talking to them and speaking to them, I think can really help just in terms of increasing the number of male patients in your practice as well.

Evelyne: So many great tips and business pearls. Thank you. I feel like I’ve learned so much today.

Audrey Neff: Absolutely.

Evelyne: Where can practitioners learn more about you before we get into our final questions?

Audrey Neff: Yeah, definitely. So I am on social media, so Instagram and LinkedIn are my two platforms of choice. So you’re more than welcome to connect with me on LinkedIn. You can search my name and then on Instagram, it’s just at @AudreyNeff_ and you can follow me. And most of the stuff I post is industry. So something I dedicate a lot of my career and life to.

Evelyne: Awesome. Here’s a question I haven’t been asking our guests, but I want to start incorporating it is what career advice would you give your younger self?

Audrey Neff: Ooh, that’s a great question. And the best piece of advice I would give my younger self would be embrace having imposter syndrome. The only way to grow and advance any skill set any part of your career is to do something where you feel like an imposter. And we all don’t like being uncomfortable, or in uncomfortable situations.

And I think the earlier in your career that you learn this is the more I push myself to do things I don’t know how to do, or to be around people that are 10 X smarter than me, and I feel like the dumbest person in the room, let’s just call it that. Those are the avenues, and those are the ways that you grow the fastest. So I think the sooner you can embrace that having imposter syndrome is a really, really amazing thing, I think those are the people that can get ahead of their careers. I’ve embraced that. At first it was very, very hard, public speaking. People think, “Oh, you’re naturally a good public speaker.”

And I’m like, “That is not how it works. No, everybody starts at the bottom.” If you do things a million times, you eventually get good at it. So constantly looking back on just my career in this industry over the last couple of years, the only way or the avenues I’ve seen the most growth or the years I’ve received the highest number of business opportunities, whatever it may be, came from me saying yes to something I was not fully comfortable with.

So I think that would be my advice to anyone that’s young in their careers is get really comfortable being uncomfortable, and growth and success will follow around the way, along the way. And then just being mindful of people that you surround yourself with. I mean, the people I surround myself with are … I learned so much from them. My closest friends are CEOs in the industry that have five practices. And they’re just people that I learned so much from.

I love being around them. I love when I am not the smartest person in the room. I love just being in this uncomfortable situation where I can just digest everything that I’m learning from people. And people that can give you business advice, and personal advice, and be a mentor to you. So that would be my piece of advice is be mindful of who you surround yourself with. You are the average of the five people that you hang out with the most. And be comfortable being uncomfortable, and embrace imposter syndrome.

Evelyne: I love that. I think even if you’re not young, throughout our lives, we have to embrace that imposter syndrome, right? To grow.

Audrey Neff: Absolutely.

Evelyne: Yeah. I love that. What is something that you’ve changed your mind about? And usually I ask to somebody who’s in clinical practice, but I think for you being in marketing, or just related to business growth and strategy?

Audrey Neff: I would say two things. The industry, regardless of industry, whether it’s marketing, whether it’s clinical, whatever it is, it’s always changing. So staying stagnant is never the right decision. We constantly need to be forever students of life, in my opinion. So just always being really, really open to learning new things and not because we have a lot of … Even on the clinical side too, or on the business side. Something new pops up in the industry, like AI. AI, for instance, it’s everywhere. And instead of getting really annoyed about it and be like, “I don’t want to implement AI, it’s an insult to medicine.”

You need to be embracing it and figuring out how you can use it to help your practice. Because the practices that jump on these things quicker are the ones that are going to reap the benefits. So I think just always having that growth, and growth mindset, and being open to new things along the way because nothing will stay the same ever. And just being really uncomfortable with … Or being very comfortable with constantly putting yourself in an area to learn more and to educate more. So that’s something I guess I would say, if that answers the question.

Evelyne: Yeah, I love that. And then what are your three favorite supplements for yourself?

Audrey Neff: Sure. So anyone who knows me and knows I am a health nut, I was an athlete my entire life. Ran cross country, did track and field, played soccer, played basketball. My mom was a triathlete, so she was running literally 25 miles every single morning. She was crazy. She won the New York City Marathon one year. She was like first place-

Evelyne: No way. That’s so cool. Wow.

Audrey Neff: … in the 40 years and up bracket. Yeah. So I grew up being around that, which was good. But I’ve always been very much into health, wellness, and fitness. So in terms of supplements, I track my macros most days, but now I can just do it in my head, because I know what goals I want to hit. Protein. Anyone who knows me knows if I’m traveling on a work trip, I have my protein supplements with me. So definitely a protein supplement would be for sure.

I use isolate whey. I do love collagen as well. And then you get extra protein from that as well. So I typically mix those two in the morning. I work out every single morning around 6:00 AM in the morning. I weight train five days a week, and I do cardio seven days a week. So I’m always doing movement every single day.

So those would be two. And then some other ones. I love magnesium. Who doesn’t love magnesium? Actually, the glutathione I love as well, which Designs for Health actually sent me some, and I am loving it. I think it’s amazing. Glutathione is an amazing, amazing supplement. And then something I recently added into my diet is colostrum as well. So I’m curious to see how that pans out, because … And, Evelyn, you and I were chatting about this, but for those of you guys who don’t know, I had a little bit of a … You can be as healthy as you can, but you can still have things that happen to you that come out of the blue.

So a couple months ago, I actually had a hemorrhagic stroke. I was at the gym and a blood vessel … It had nothing to do with the gym. That’s not how these things happen. A blood vessel spontaneously burst in my brain, and I was having a brain bleed, brain hemorrhage. I didn’t know it was happening at the time because I didn’t lose consciousness. I was just in severe, excruciating pain. And made it to the ER. I was under anesthesia pretty quickly, and they went up … One of the arteries in your groinal area and they found all the blood in my brain. So crazy story. I was in ICU for 16 days, neuro ICU.

Evelyne: Oh my gosh.

Audrey Neff: I still can’t believe it happened. It’s absolutely insane. The statistics on it are even crazier. Believe it or not, it’s only like 12-and-a-half percent of people survive them without brain damage. It’s a very tiny amount. It’s the deadliest type of stroke. When I was reading these statistics, when I got out of the hospital, I was … It was nauseating. I’m like, “How on earth did this happen?”

So there were some things I changed about my diet. Even though I’m very, very healthy. A lot of us are constantly, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. And we get so used to just constantly being so busy, having a million things on our plate, being stressed. I mean, everybody is stressed, but we need to figure out ways to manage it. And leading up to that, I was certainly in a position where I had been pushing myself way too much for probably 12 months. And I have no answers to why this happened. Every doctor has said, these don’t happen to someone as healthy as you. My blood panels are perfect, everything. But something I learned is your body knows you better than anyone else.

And if it’s telling you things, instead of blocking it out and powering through, maybe take a step back and be like, “Okay, I need to slow down. So certain things I did change diet-wise were … I was consuming a lot of caffeine to just keep myself going. I will only use natural caffeine sources now, so I only get my caffeine from tea or coffee. Even my pre-workout in the morning gets derived from green bean coffee extract. And so, any energy drinks and things like that. I used to drink Celsius. Everyone should never drink those again. I learned a lot about these things. They’re terrible for you. And I wasn’t drinking them daily, but I was drinking them around 5:00 o’clock if I needed to do another six hours of work.

Evelyne: Oh, wow.

Audrey Neff: So it’s like these things that you’re doing, because you’re like, “I need to be up and go get another hours of work done.” Instead of just being like, “My body says I’m done. I should just sit down, get up early tomorrow and try to finish it then.” So even though I am super healthy. Energy drinks, I did, I drank them. Like the sugar-free ones. But still, not good for you.

So I completely cut those out. I think that was … Yeah, and then just managing stress and knowing your body better than anything. I mean, obviously, I’m sure no one on this podcast will … Pray to God that no one has a hemorrhagic stroke, because they are very rare. But the kind I had was subarachnoid hemorrhage, because they’re two different types. But just, yeah … Those are, I guess, the only little things I tweaked about my diet. But it was definitely a wake-up call for me.

I’ve slowed down since. I’ve always been someone that traveled a lot for work, and I just was always that, if someone asks me, I’m going to do it. So now I’ve kind of been a little bit more mindful of things I’m saying yes to. If it’s something I really want to do, I’ll do it. So just always remembering that the human body can only take so much at one time, and to just listen to your body if things start to feel off. So I don’t know if that’s helpful for anyone, then … If it’s not, then oh, well, but just my insight on some things.

Evelyne: Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that. And I am just amazed that you are here today just sharp as ever, after having been through something so traumatic. Really. That’s insane. And I think you answered the question about your favorite health practices. But curious, have you incorporated any mindfulness type activities, or were you doing anything like that before?

Audrey Neff: Yeah, I mean, I’m a person of faith. And I’ve always been a grateful person. I’m always very blessed and grateful. Everything I have in life is something I’ve worked for myself. I’ve never had anything handed to me. Didn’t come from money, didn’t … Any of that. But when you go through a situation like this where you could have lost your life, or you could have had permanent brain damage and lost your ability to speak, or your ability to walk. I mean, I had to rehab myself to walk again. It was really, really tough getting out of the ICU. I could barely walk. I will say my perception on everything is just so different. I look at every little thing in a completely different way. And I will never stress about, or let stress impact my life ever again because I just feel so blessed and grateful to be alive.

So I think something … My piece of advice to people that have not had a, let’s call it near death experience, is your life can end at any day for any reason. You never know. And so instead of every day we get so stressed out, we’re like, “Oh, I have to go to the gym. Oh, I have to finish this project. Oh, I have to work late tonight.” I don’t know, whatever it is. Instead of saying those things, it’s like, “I get to do those things,” right?

So, “Oh my gosh, I get to go to the gym. I am able to go to the gym. I’m able to go on a walk at 5:00 PM, and get some sunshine and fresh air. I’m able to work.” All of these things. I think it’s a total mindset shift, and your mind will listen to whatever you tell it. So if you tell it positivity, and fill it with gratitude, and blessings, and things like that, that will come full circle around to you, versus being in a mindset of negativity and blaming the world for your problems. And being so stressed out, and complaining, and all of these other things. Like just be blessed and grateful that you’re alive and you’re able to do all these things, because there are people out there that are not able to do those. So that would be my little piece of advice for people.

Evelyne: Thank you so much. Audrey, this has been amazing. Thank you. You shared so many amazing pearls. I’ve really, really enjoyed having this conversation with you. So thank you.

Audrey Neff: No, thank you, Evelyn. It’s been a really, really fun conversation. So I appreciate it immensely, and I’m grateful for the opportunity.

Evelyne: Thank you. Thank you for tuning into Conversations for Health. Check out the show notes for any resources from today’s show. Please share this podcast with your colleagues. Follow, rate, or leave review wherever you listen or watch. And thank you for designing a well world with us.

Voiceover: This is Conversations for Health with Evelyn Lambrecht, dedicated to engaging discussions with industry experts. Exploring evidence-based, cutting-edge research and practical tips.