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Dive into the multifaceted world of aesthetics with a podcast that encompasses it all. From cutting-edge plastic surgery procedures and dermatological treatments to the nuances of practice management, we've got you covered. Each episode offers a blend of insights into the latest treatments, tools, and technologies, along with invaluable tips for managing and growing a thriving practice. Discover industry trends, gain insights from key decision-makers and influencers, and uncover the secrets behind the most successful practices. With a mix of clinical expertise and actionable business strategies, this podcast is a must-listen for both seasoned professionals and newcomers eager to navigate the aesthetics industry. Whether you're honing your techniques or refining your practice's operations, tap into a wealth of knowledge that propels you to the forefront of aesthetic excellence.
Alison Werner (00:10)
Welcome back to the Plastic Surgery Practice podcast. I'm your host, Alison Werner And today we're wrapping up our series on growth strategies for plastic surgery practices with consultant Terry Ross. Over the past few episodes, Terry has provided insights into the state of the market, the key metrics practice owners should be tracking, expanding into wellness and non-surgical offerings, and the impact of technology like AI on patient engagement and practice efficiency. Now it's time to bring it all together with a focus on accountability.
Growth and expansion offer incredible potential, but they come with the responsibility to hold yourself accountable as business owners and to hold your teams accountable for their roles. Today's conversation is about making intentional choices, deciding if you want to build a thriving business or remain focused on clinical work, setting clear expectations and creating a plan that aligns your business with the life you envision for yourself now and in the future.
Alison Werner (00:58)
Again, Terri is the CEO of Terry Ross Consulting. With nearly two decades of experience, she specializes in helping medical aesthetic practices achieve sustainable growth through strategic business development, team training, and data-driven solutions, empowering providers to maximize efficiency, profitability, and patient outcomes.
Alison Werner (01:16)
Terry, thank you so much for joining me for this episode.
Terri (01:18)
Thank you, Allison. I'm really excited to be here as always and kind of pull all this together.
Alison Werner (01:23)
Yeah, okay, so over the course of this series, you've shared some really valuable strategies for growth, growth and success all come down to accountability. For practice owners, what are the first steps to holding themselves accountable to both their clinical and their business goals?
Terri (01:38)
Well, before I answer that, if you don't mind, I'd love to share and shed a little light when we're thinking about accountability. And there were some recent statistics I think that would be empowering to share. 60 % of aesthetic practices in 2023 said that they had inconsistent staff performance in implementing KPIs, looking at efficiencies. And when we're thinking about
Alison Werner (01:40)
Mm-hmm.
Mm.
Terri (02:05)
practice owners and spa actually said 68%. So taking a combination of medical spas, which most plastic surgeons have 68 % of practice owners reported struggling again to balance their roles as doctors and as business owners. And so this does prevent the challenge. But teams perform literally and profits increase almost 30%.
Alison Werner (02:13)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Terri (02:31)
and retention improves around 41 % when we hold people accountable. So I think the first thing to your question that business owners need to do is one, put on the entrepreneur hat, right? As a surgeon, you still have to be an entrepreneur and an owner and a leader. And the other is to really take a good, hard evaluation to say,
What are the traits, not even the skill sets, right? You can teach skills. I cannot teach somebody to be motivated and hungry and driven, right? We can't teach those traits. So what are the roles within the practice? We all know what they are, right? You're front desk, you're PCC's, you're providers, you're surgical staff, right? We're managers. And what truly are the traits that you're looking for for that role to be successful? And then the next would be
Alison Werner (03:08)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
Terri (03:27)
And I don't want to use a job description loosely, backing into what a job description is intended to do. It's not a piece of paper, someone signs that I'm just going to do these tasks. But what are you going to hold them accountable to? For example, a front desk should be held accountable to conversions.
Alison Werner (03:36)
Mm hmm. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Terri (03:46)
Right. And PCC should be held also accountable to conversions and surgical, right. Getting more surgeries on the books. Managers accountable to profits. Those are just a few things. So I think that's where we need to start.
Alison Werner (03:53)
Mm-hmm.
How should practice owners then approach setting and reinforcing clear expectations then for their staff?
Terri (04:07)
I love the question. Look, data doesn't lie. It's not emotional. It's not about feelings. I think a lot of people struggle with understanding the data. Well, in order to answer your question, you have to look at the data, right? How many new patients came in? How many were converted? What is the average spend per patient? What is the retention rates? I mean, what is our retail? And then we can say,
You know, think management should have morning huddles or morning team kickoffs, right? To get everybody setting the tone for the day. What are the expectations? What are the goals? Are we up or are we down? How are we going to hit it? One, something motivating. Two, are we having monthly meetings as a company?
Alison Werner (04:45)
Thank
Terri (04:51)
Right to talk about what's working, what's not go around the room. Have everybody be responsible, not talk at your team. Have everybody in their respective departments go around the room and talk about their what they're held accountable for. And then I think performance reviews are critical and a lot of practices just don't do them. And you know where you have your team rate themselves, you can really get a lot of information on how they feel they're doing. You read it and then you rate them and then have a conversation.
Alison Werner (04:54)
Mm-hmm.
Terri (05:21)
And I think any good leader is there to, again, coach people up or coach them out. But we have to give them an opportunity to do that.
Alison Werner (05:30)
Okay, so that's how to hold the team accountable. How does the doctor hold themselves accountable?
Terri (05:38)
Yeah, think that, yeah, yeah, I love it. look, and I say this from a humble place, but from a place of working with a world renowned plastic surgeon, Renato Saltz, which everyone knows, we started our own conference to fill this exact gap because you're a surgeon, you're amazing at your craft.
Alison Werner (05:41)
or the business owner hold themselves accountable.
Terri (06:02)
But there is no you're not taught the business side of medicine. So it's hard because you can be super busy right and have a thriving practice money in the bank. But yet there's like a lack of leadership and culture and and that's to no fault. It's just that that's what comes out in every survey. So I would say. Reflect on reflect on why you started your practice in the first place.
You know, it's one thing to say, want to write, I want to provide good patient outcomes and good results and be a caretaker. That is great. But that if you chose to not work in a hospital and own a business, there is a side of you that really has to kind of be vulnerable a bit.
to say, OK, well, what kind of leader am I? Am I motivating? Am I encouraging? Am I lead by example? Or am I dictatorial? We teach this in the 4S Conference. So who are you as a person? Why do people want to work for you? Why are they loyal to you? And if you struggle in that area, I think then, look, many people have life coaches, business coaches, mentorships.
and or, you know, our conference out. So I think there's ways to improve it. And that is really the only way you're going to build that culture of unity and leadership that you want.
Alison Werner (07:18)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. You know, a lot of doctors, if they decide to become a business owner, it's because they want to have a certain lifestyle or they want to have a certain future once they leave their practice. When looking at the lifestyle they want both now and when they retire, how can a practice owners ensure that their business goals align with those personal aspirations?
Terri (07:50)
Such a great question. I'm always, and if you guys know me now, I'm always gonna tie it back to data because there's only so many hours in a day, so many hours in a month, right, to do surgery or to see patients.
So in my opinion, and my strong belief is really understanding what kind of practice do you have and how much revenue can you maximize out of the place. I think that's really important to right? To know what that potential could be. And then it's about saying, okay, well, right, what is my family, my personal lifestyle? Are my kids in school? Are they in sports? My wife? And making sure you can set goals that are achievable to hit.
Or not, maybe we're operating at 70 % capacity, whatever that might be, right? Or revenue, whatever that might be that you're comfortable with, but that you also have a quality of life. And when you know those two things, there's no rat race. We're not chasing money or wondering why one month was great and then one month wasn't great, or why some team stays, why do they quit? Like why some thrive, some don't? Well, what have we, what training have we provided them? And then what-
Alison Werner (08:39)
Mm-hmm.
Terri (09:04)
What are you as an owner, your expectations? And then when we can draw those together, it's just facts and not emotional.
Alison Werner (09:11)
Yeah. If practice centers feel overwhelmed by that balance between clinical and business growth or clinical work and business growth, what support systems or resources can help them stay kind of committed to both?
Terri (09:26)
I believe and I speak for myself. I'm just a lifelong learner. I constantly am involved in coaches I've had, still have, mentorship again that I belong to. When you're surrounded by a team of people, a tribe, a Materious Tribe, a community, you thrive together. And I think there's this space is evolving so rapidly that I would encourage everyone again, if they're not suffering, please, you know.
Alison Werner (09:30)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Terri (09:55)
look up our 4S Summit or seek out someone with expertise that you don't have.
Alison Werner (10:02)
Okay, so my final question for practices that have listened to the business owners that have listened to the previous episodes and they're thinking about taking on one of these expansion opportunities. What's your final message for them in terms of doing so successfully?
Terri (10:17)
Yeah, I love it.
Make sure that the decisions make sense for the business and that your team is bought into it. You know, have transparent conversations about why. I'm always going to go back to the why. Like, what is the purpose? How is it going to affect your business? Who is going to be involved? Right? Who's responsible? Who, what, when, where, why? I think those things really matter at the time. Does your, does your market demand it? Does your market demand it? Do the patients, are they going to come for it? Have you surveyed them?
Alison Werner (10:43)
Yeah.
Terri (10:51)
And then is it going to be profitable for you, whatever that expansion services are? Is that the right thing for your service mix? The last thing anyone wants is to buy a piece of equipment or bring on a new treatment and it sits there or it flops. So just get everyone involved, get everyone bought in, identify who's responsible for what, seek information from your patients and.
make sure it makes money and that the execution of anything is such that you can track progress.
Alison Werner (11:25)
Great. Well, Terry, if anybody wants to get in touch with you, to work with you, or to learn more about the services you offer, what's the best way to do that?
Terri (11:32)
Thank you so much. Yeah, please visit terryrossconsulting.com is my website. My Instagram is also Terry Ross Consulting. And then the conference that we have is the 4S Summit. Thank you, Allison. I've been so honored to be part of this amazing podcast that you're doing. So kudos to you and the team for really giving back to the industry and putting out such great information.
Alison Werner (11:55)
Great. Well, thank you again, Terry, for all your time and for your expertise on all these issues. thank you. All right. Perfect.
Terri (11:58)
Yeah. Thank you, Allison. soon.
Alison Werner (12:03)
Thank you for checking out this episode of Plastic Surgery Practice podcast. Be sure to check out PlasticSurgeryPractice.com to keep up with the latest industry news. Until next time, take care.