Successful Practice Management Begins With Specialization
Los Angeles cosmetic surgeon Dr. Alexander Rivkin shares how to successfully manage your aesthetic practice – through education and specialization.
The Aesthetic Show, one of the leading educational forums in the aesthetic industry, recently hosted THE Aesthetic Academy in Beverly Hills, where industry leaders and physicians gathered to discuss and share the latest in aesthetic medicine. American Health and Beauty had the opportunity to speak with one of the key speakers, Los Angeles cosmetic surgeon Dr. Alexander Rivkin on the topic of how to best manage your aesthetic practice, challenges that new aesthetic providers face and how to overcome them.
“The first major point discussed at the Academy for successful practice management is education for attendants: getting them familiar with what the products are and how to use them,” says Dr. Rivkin. Successful practice management includes promotions, which Dr. Rivkin says plays a large part in controlling patient flow and bringing new patients into the practice.
Second, in discussing what are the biggest challenges that new providers are facing in the aesthetic industry right now, Dr. Rivkin stresses the importance of differentiating yourself from the masses of aesthetic providers. “Things that new providers have to think about are How am I going to stand out? Why should people come to me when there are so many other providers around?,” says Dr. Rivkin, “New providers have to have those questions first and foremost in their minds, from the very beginning, and then tailor their practices to that. What are you going to do better than anybody else?”
Dr. Rivkin suggests finding a procedure to specialize in or to develop a new procedure – something that will make your practice stand out and unique to patients. For example, Dr. Rivkin describes, “The first thing that I’m known for is a procedure I developed, the non-surgical rhinoplasty – I perform these multiple times a day.” While other providers may now also offer a similar procedure, being the developer of the procedure, Dr. Rivkin says he is still considered “the national, if not world-over expert” on the non-surgical rhinoplasty, which he attributes to the fact that patients are flying in from other states and countries to his practice to get this unique procedure performed by him.
The importance of “owning” a procedure is what makes a practice stands out. In the case of Dr. Rivkin, he says “I don’t perform facelifts, I don’t perform traditional rhinoplasty, I only specialize in injections. So if a patient is looking for someone to do injections, they’ll come to me because I have the most experience with it because it’s all I do.” The aesthetic market has become so saturated and patients have become savvy and they know to search for the most experienced provider in the specific procedure that they are lookingg for.
A new procedure that Dr. Rivkin says is gaining traction in his practice is facial sculpting. Dr. Rivkin describes the procedure as the replacement of lost volume that happens in the face due to genetics or just plain time. “It’s replacement of volume in a way that looks natural and good – those are my two main objectives when it comes to facial sculpting.”
Many patients now come to Dr. Rivkin, who specializes in non-surgical procedures, for facial sculpting. “Patients want to straighten their noses, they don’t want to have dark circles under their eyes, they may want to fill out their cheeks a bit more,” states Dr. Rivkin, “Or they may want their chin to be in more proportion to the face. These are things that actual patients want and they don’t want it done with surgery, if it doesn’t have to be.” Patients research and read what they see on Dr. Rivkin’s website and they know that a lot of the things they’re looking for can be done without surgery and that is something Dr. Rivkin’s practice can provide.
A successful aesthetic practice requires not only education and specialization, according to Dr. Rivkin, it also needs to keep abreast of all the new technologies and incorporate them into their practices.
Source: American Health and Beauty, Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at http://www.americanhealthandbeauty.com/articles/?article=4398
