Symmetria Health and Beauty Clinic attracting the right people and making effective use of them is an essential part of creating a successful business formula. This is a long process that includes several considerations. But at the end of the day, it is the team you will rely on, and it is also their job to keep your patients happy. The appearance of your staff is key to your patients’ experience, so do not underestimate the importance of a polished image. Choose your staff outfits carefully, and do insist that everyone wears the clinic outfit every day. If you sell cosmetics as part of your services, provide free of charge access to what you sell for your staff. They will learn to appreciate each aspect of your products through their own experience and thus become trusted ambassadors of your brand. Having stressed the importance of people, it is equally important to stress the importance of high end technology equipment. You may have in mind things like lasers, the new technology for facial rejuvenation, weigh loss and skin tightening; and clearly that is all important. But in my opinion, maybe the most important equipment for your business is computer software for your data and customer relations management. This system will be there to provide all the marketing data you need in order to reach what might be the most valuable target group of consumers – the patients that have already visited your practice. I have deliberately left the aspect of a tailor made marketing plan for the end of this contribution, as this is an extremely complicated task to perform and obviously you will require a dedicated team to do so. The challenge we are all faced with is that in today’s complicated market, with all consumers having the ability to act as media correspondents or marketers themselves, thanks to the tremendous rise of social media, it is very hard to rely on a single marketing strategy. So, while you need to take into account everything your marketing team suggest (e.g. the physical and obviously the digital aspect of your presence, including your website, e-newsletter, social media channels) perhaps the best advice I can offer is to try out new tricks and learn from the mistakes you have made. At this point, I would like to turn to the invaluable lessons offered by the Swedish Professor Ksell Nordstrom, who teaches that in today’s environment, everything competes against everything. Our potential clients have an amount of money to spend and they are free to choose perhaps having a facial treatment, buying a designer handbag or flying away for the weekend. Thus the marketing approach is essential – and this is true for a surgeon as well. An element of business understanding that does not overshadow the medical ethos and methodology is, I believe, key to surviving in today’s competitive world. Ultimately, we are medical practitioners and what we mostly rely on is the establishment of relations of trust. Trust is key to our relationships with patients. Trust is also key to building a successful and sustainable business approach for your practice. And long-lasting relationships based on trust and respect help create word of mouth testimonies by happy patients that forms a strong base for growth and expansion. pmfa news aesthetic focus Correspondence: Dr Nikolaos Metaxotos, c/o Maria Fola, Email: mfola@wownowuk.com Declaration of competing interests: None declared. THE SMART CHOICE in clinic management software Streamline admin Maximise patient revenue Targeted marketing by email & text Graphical reporting tools Quote PMFA Call to book your free demo now 01274 530505 | e-clinic.co.uk | in *Offer ends 28 February 2015 for 10% off* volume 2 issue 3 I 17