Dr. Rich Post-Covid Week In Review
Week of June 15th
Market Research Says "GO!”

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Dr. Rich: Hello everyone. Dr. Rich, Rich Castellano here the smile doctor with the week in review. So it's been busy in the office. My goal in this video is to share with you what we've been doing to get busy, to be busy, to kickstart your practice or post COVID. COVID is still here, but we're opening back up. But what's working? What are things like? What do you need to do to make your business successful, your team successful and have the best safety and the best treatments for your patients? So for this week, the thing that has been most impactful for me is the attitude of how patients are really ready to come and do services. And does your team really know about this? Do you really understand how ready patients are? So to highlight this, I'm going to talk about it. There's a report from Cynosure. You go to cynosure.com/COVID-19. It's a good report. They just came out with it. Or you can Google search Cynosure report COVID-19, and download this thing. It's 16 pages.

I'm going to go through some of the highlights in this report, and my feedback on their take, I think it's an excellent report. I think everybody should go through it. But I'm going to go through what I think is really important, what has helped us be as successful as we are, and we are growing. Things are going on the up and up. The economy is rebuilding. So let's dive right in. This is a very powerful report. And just to give you some perspective, so their goals, obviously to educate, understand what's going on, and inform their doctors and patients, and try and get a feel for the future of aesthetics. So they had an outside third party, Prescient, put this altogether. They had 1000, 3000 survey respondents from the United States, 1000 from the US, 500 from UK, 500 from Spain, 500 from Australia, 500 from South Korea. So all across the world. And 80% of these people had undergone aesthetic treatments in the past few years, and 20% are considering aesthetic treatment. So it's in our demographic, 80% female, 20% male.

And then they start right out with some of the key findings, which I think are very interesting. Of the patients that they surveyed. 85% of them, they're ready to come back and do treatments. In fact, 31% of those 85, 31%, they're ready to go back as soon as possible. 32%, maybe in three months, and then 22% in 6 to 12 months. Now, if you really understand how big the cosmetic market is, that's plenty. That's all you need to get started. If you're ever wondering, are there patients out there? And there's going to be plenty of people out there saying, "Don't do cosmetic treatments now. It's not safe. Don't do it. Why are you wasting time on that?" That's okay. You don't worry about those people. There's enough out there to go get them, go make them happy. We are an essential service. We're making people feel good, look good, feel good. It makes them want to do good.

So right here, the data proves that there's plenty to get started. What are the concerns people are having about starting treatments up? Now, these are the concerns that they say. 44% of people, they were concerned about affordability to have these things done, and 51% were concerned about, what about COIVD? So we'll go dive deeper into that. Affordability usually is an objection that most patients present. Well, I don't want to spend my budget. When they find what they're really looking for, you'll find that they will invest in it. And if they don't have the budget, now they'll find it. So don't worry so much about affordability. You can get patients into treatments that fit for them, but these are the key objections now, at this point. Affordability, and what about COVID?

So we'll talk a little bit more. We've talked in the past about PPE, making sure you've got a plan that you really feel comfortable, that you can go to sleep at night saying, "Okay, I've done what I needed to do to protect myself, protect my team." And we're going to talk more about that. And of course the patients want reassurances. Things that make sense, things that we're doing. All the doctors that I know that are opening their practices are doing this as well. Facial masks, gloves, no waiting reception area, bringing patients in from the car straight to the treatment room, and communication about disinfection practices. By the way, in this report, when you download it, there's a lot of infection protocol practices, how to clean devices and it's worth looking at to just review and making sure that you are doing everything that you can.

This was an important statistic that they brought up here is that last year, the people that they surveyed, they felt that they were happier with their appearance than they are now. Now that makes sense. A year passes or two or three, do I look the same? Hey, I'm looking better. I'm looking even younger. Well, no, we change, and unless we're investing in ourselves, we don't feel as good. So the feeling and the sentiment is out there. People want to look and feel their best, and they're confirming that with the data. So that's very helpful to know. If there's any objection or any limiting belief that should I get out there and do this now? You can just throw that to the wayside. They're ready. They've got the chance. You've got what they need. It's time to go.

I won't go into the different markets in different countries, what is most popular in the US. They talked about people wanting massages, laser hair, IPL, cosmetic dentistry, skin revitalization, and then noninvasive body contouring and cosmetic injections, and then of course, some of them want surgery. But that is a smaller percentage. What do patients want and need to feel comfortable coming back? This is an important way that they've put this data together. And as they found in their survey, patients want to feel a sense of calm about things. There's a lot of anxiety. They need to hear this from a sense of authority. And they need to feel confident about what they're doing. Seems to make sense. It's good to go over the fundamentals, and even if you say, "I know this already," how about your team? Does your team recognize these things? Do they really realize how important it is? It's good to emphasize the fundamentals and the basics.

Practitioner attitudes. Okay. Optimism for long term recovery. What about the second wave? What's going to happen? Not only are these patients ready, the economy is booming and growing. Have you seen what's going on in real estate now? Certain areas of the economy are really growing. So remember, you don't need to be a part of the whole economy. It's just your niche. So with practitioner attitudes, some are ready to come back sooner. Some are going to wait a little longer too, and that's fine. Do it at the pace that you want. But if you really want to build and grow your cosmetic practice, it's out there now. The data shows it. We show it because we're as busy as can be. And a lot of doctors out there are busy. Don't wait. It's there. You're here. Let's do this.

So we're going to wrap up here in a little bit. In fact, not only are doctors ready to get into it, you don't want to be behind. Doctors are getting back into the race. Doctors are thinking about adding new treatments and services. They're like, "Well, I like my portfolio, but what more can I offer?" So they're opening up, they're offering new services. They're reaching out to patients. This is happening. The data shows it, and just look around and you'll see it's there as well. So basic recommendations from their report. Staff considerations. Now of course everybody, we're putting up the signs on the door about, don't enter until you have your screen. We're checking temperatures. We're educating our team. Limiting access to certain areas. We don't have as many people in the room at the same time. All of these things are in protocols. Download the report and you'll see.

Of course, communication. Of all of these recommendations, communication, it's always about communication. So the bottom line is patients are ready. How are you reaching out to your patients? How do you want to connect with them? Are you making phone calls? Are you doing your social media videos? Are you going to start your advertising or marketing again? Are you doing webinars? Are you doing seminars? Put your plan together and reach out. If you need more details and specific to convince yourself, read the report. Do you and your team feel safe, honestly? Do you feel safe? Do you feel safe going home, saying, "I feel safe. I'm not transferring things to my family." What protocols do you have in place? If you don't feel safe, you need a protocol. Whether you're using face mask N95. Of course we took the plunge, we're doing the PAPRs. There's Optrel Clearmaxx PAPRs. I ordered four of them. They had them in inventory. They sent them in four days. Optrel Clearmaxx. So you can get PAPRs if you want them.

Then there's the half masks as well. So whatever PPE... I recognize it's not as easy to come by, but whatever you need to feel comfortable, even if you're defaulting to just face shields and masks, you got to have a plan that you feel good about, and if you don't feel good about that plan, reach out. Let's make a plan. Cynosure will help you as well if you reach out to them saying, "What can I do to build up my practice?" And of course all about social distancing and what I've found, actually, this is a great opportunity, with the social distancing, that you can really focus, once you get your framework and structure together. My team is more available. I can reach them via video. We're doing preparations so that way whatever's going on in the schedule, my team is aware, "Hey, let's make sure you're ready for this patient because I'm going to call you." But it's really nice that I don't have to go to a different room and I can bring them up on video. Or if they're not available, then I will just say, "They're going to video chat with you. It's going to be about 15, 20 minutes. They can do this at home." And patients are more comfortable doing video chats at home.

There are tons of possibility. The market has been disrupted. It is never going to be the same ever again, and it is a good thing for those who are ready to change, ready to grow. I just wanted to share with you this data. I found it to be helpful and it reinforces what we're doing. So if you feel any doubts, now's the time to get rid of those doubts. Download the report. It's cynosure.com/COVID-19. Lot of great information in here. If you have questions, reach out to us as well. Remember, everything worthwhile starts with the smile. Let's get that PPE in order. This is my weekend review, Dr. Rich Castellano. I'll see you in the next video.