Latest / Beyond the Needle: The Aesthetics Business Podcast / Client Retention, Confidence and Clinic Growth with Courtney Le Borgne

Transcript

Client Retention, Confidence and Clinic Growth with Courtney Le Borgne · Beyond the Needle: The Aesthetics Business Podcast

• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Be on the Needle, the Aesthetics Business Podcast.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Each week, I'm here to share real, actionable strategies and bring on expert guests to help you level up, attract more patients, and build a standout brand.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Let's turn your passion into a thriving business together.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone and welcome back to the Beyond the Needle podcast.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: And in today's episode, I am so excited to be joined by the sharp, commercially switched-on Courtney LeBorne, founder of Hosted Aesthetics and the Hosted Leadership Summit, for a conversation that every ambitious clinic owner needs to hear.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Courtney didn't come up through aesthetics in the traditional way.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: She spent over a decade delivering large-scale award-winning events before stepping into this industry and deciding to do things differently.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: And in less than a year, she's built something that's not just another date in the diary, but a catalyst for growth.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: This episode isn't about events, it's about how to think.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about what most clinic owners are missing when it comes to strategy, sales, and monetization, why so many practitioners overcomplicate growth, how to stop being busy and start being commercially smart, and what it really looks like to obsess over your customer in a way that drives revenue, reputation, and long-term momentum.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Courtney shares how she listens differently, why she treats every conversation as market research, and how that mindset allowed her to move fast without cutting corners.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: We get into imposter syndrome, or rather her lack of it, and the power of confidence when you're building something new.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: We also dive into why curated rooms outperform overcrowded ones when it comes to real ROI, the commercial questions you should ask before investing in anything, how to think about time in clinic as currency, why sales skills and storytelling are non-negotiables if you want to grow, the numbers every clinic owner should know without guessing, and what clinics are often doing that looks productive but is quietly draining profit.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to grow faster, think clearer, and stop making emotional business decisions, this episode will challenge you in the best way.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited about this one.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get into it, please do subscribe to the podcast to get notifications when these episodes go live and do leave me a little review.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: I really do appreciate it.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's dive in.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Hi Courtney, thank you so much for joining me today.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's so lovely to have you on the podcast, and you've certainly been making a lot of noise in the aesthetic space over the last 18 months or so.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: So tell me a little bit about you and the concept of hosted aesthetics and what you're doing at the moment.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, first of all, thank you so much for having me.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: This is yeah, an amazing moment for me personally and for hosted to be invited on.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm Courtney LeBourne, founder of Hosted Aesthetics, which has only been going for 18 months, I think.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it all was born essentially to help established clinic owners grow their businesses through new events that deliver really premium experiences.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: So we have our hosted event, which goes to an international destination each year.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: This year we're going to Malta.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that's essentially a personalized shopping experience for established clinic owners.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then we have our leadership summit, which goes hand in hand there that you as a clinic owner, you should probably be going to both.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: And that's growth through education and inspiration.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's a conference.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And what has the experience of building hosted and building quite a successful business in a quite a small time frame?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: What has that taught you about people, decision making and actually what drives growth in this industry?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's a really good question.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think that really understanding your customer, who you're serving, and and almost just working backwards on that is the real like key thing.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: And having a vision, knowing how you're going to get there and how you're going to monetize it, right?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: I think that that that is a really big thing here.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what is your big vision?
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Who are you serving and how are you going to monetize it?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: And if that's your focus, you can get there.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: So when you looked at the aesthetic space from the outside, what gaps or frustrations stood out to you immediately that made you think that hosted would be, you know, a really viable business in this space?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because you actually spent, I think it was over a decade, delivering large-scale kind of award-winning events before launching Hosted.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So what did you see was lacking that you kind of what gaps when it came to the gaps that you wanted to fill?
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's actually really interesting because it's really changed over time.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: Hosted was initially launched because I had a life change.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: So the hosted concept was basically because I wanted to not basically go back to work because I'd had a baby and I'd moved away, and all of a sudden my commute was going to be four hours.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I physically cannot make this work.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I need to find a way to have the life that I want, right?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: That in its most simple form, I sat and spent hours and hours and hours obsessing over how I was going to pull myself out of a situation that I got myself into in moving away and not being able to get back to work.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I knew that exhibitions had started to deliver less for suppliers.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I knew that at the beginning there was an opportunity to deliver more for suppliers.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how it began.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: That I was like, well, you know, people are feeling they're spending quite a lot of money, maybe they're meeting the right people.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: So the concept initially was a supplier-driven event that I felt that maybe if I could do something in a bit of a different way, that I could add value to the companies.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: But once I started having the conversations, once I kind of got back into the market and started speaking to clinic owners, I then realized that there is this massive gap in their business knowledge and this real like fear complex over their business knowledge.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: And they all described themselves as accidental entrepreneurs.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: They all described themselves as wanting to grow their business but not really knowing how.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I I quickly realized that with every conversation I was having, they all had the same challenges, that there was far more to the hosted concept than I had really thought could be possible.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: And very quickly, the the kind of the hosted concept turned from a transactional event where I could bring buyers and suppliers together to this personalized shopping experience to help clinics grow their businesses, creating this ecosystem where it wasn't just about products and services.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: It was about bringing in amazing marketing people to help them with the questions they need answering, to bring in uh confidential consultants that they could sit to, you know, sit with and talk about their challenges.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then we introduced the leadership summit off the back of all these things.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like initially the concept was all about suppliers, but it very quickly, because of all the conversations I was having with people, I realized that this need was on business and business growth.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where the leadership summit side of things was born.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so it was, it was the the the whole concept of hosted, really.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, when we launched, when I started having conversations, people about hosted, any it was just any healthcare professional could come.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: It you know, there was no structure around applications.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: That that all developed because I realized that the gap was in the suppliers meeting the established clinic owners, and the established clinic owners weren't going to events.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I worked out, well, what what do they, what, why don't they like going to events?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: And what could we then build to make sure that they are excited about coming to the event and yeah, helping them grow their business.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then the leadership summit was just the most natural progression, was because every single person said they wanted to grow their business and they didn't know how.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I found that there are amazing business conferences in aesthetics.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: There's there's loads of amazing ones.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: But if they're typically taught by aesthetic professionals, then there's a a huge group of people that aren't being taught at all.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: And again, it was that kind of realization that made us think that the leadership summit is the right thing to do.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I do think it's so important and it does fill such a crucial gap because, like you say, a lot of people really want to grow their business, but they don't know where to start with it.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, for a lot of practitioners, you know, they're coming from the NHS, they've never had to think about growing a business before at all in their career.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then suddenly they're thrown into this world and they're doing something they love, you know, in terms of treating their patients.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: But the growing the like the business side of things, the marketing, the finances, the you know, all of the admin side that comes with it, growing a team doesn't come naturally to many people.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I do think it's such an important thing to focus on more and talk about more.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: And also, like what we really found was even the ones that are doing the teaching, that are teaching in the business conferences, they were the ones that were like, we're a little bit quieter this year.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: This year's actually been quite challenging for us.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: Or we're really struggling with developing a team, and it always seems to fall back to us.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: And the more I started talking to people, and luckily, you know, my my kind of black book are the only people I really knew were the speakers of the conferences, because that, you know, they were the people that I would know.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: They were the people I would speak to.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, So if these people are, if they've still got challenges as well, yet they're the ones that teach that yeah, there's that there's this massive gap here, you know, who's teaching them?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Where does that information come from?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd ask them, they would say podcasts, books, or external mentors, you know, once people get to a certain level, they then find a mentor.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought there must be something in this to bring, you know, to bring in those people and kind of not mass market it, but a much bigger opportunity for a lot more people.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Bring in, you know, that's bringing in people from the business space, but not necessarily like having links to a cessics, but they have, you know, those areas that clinic owners tend to struggle with.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: One thing you've said yourself to me when we spoke is that you don't tend to struggle with imposter syndrome.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that's something that holds a lot of clinic owners back, particularly women.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: That almost everyone kind of mentions when they speak to me on here, or even like, you know, the people that I work with day to day.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, where do you think, you know, your confidence comes from and how has it helped you kind of move faster and grow hosted the way that you've grown it?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's such a it's such an interesting one.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it's something that I didn't used to like talking about because I felt like it's quite an unlikable trait.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like not many people say that they don't suffer with imposter syndrome.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: I I just don't.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so I really tried to unpick it in the last couple of years because it's something that people ask me quite often, and I think it really all goes back to my childhood.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it's funny that I actually told some of these stories in my wedding speech about my upbringing.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it was quite unique.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I was involved in everything as a child.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: My mum and dad would get me to do everything.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: I would cook with my mum, I would fix things with my dad.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: At like the age of three, he'd be like, Go and get me the Phillips screwdriver, you're doing it this time.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd be like three years old trying to work the screwdriver, and he would just say, Let me do it until I got it right.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd think, or I would sit and I would be like, Oh, I can't do this, dad.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: And he'd say, Yeah, you can, you just haven't worked out how to yet.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: And we had this really like figure it out attitude that it didn't matter what it was, as long as I spent enough time working on it, I would just work out how to do it.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's part of it that I've just always been encouraged to just try.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't like that's a boy job, that's a girl job.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: It was like, come on, you can do it at the age of like three.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't matter if you get it wrong enough for the first time, you have to try again.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Get it right.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: You keep going.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: You'll get there sometime.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you've you've grown a bit this this time.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: And the other thing, I remember this so vividly, and my nana still does it to this day.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: She would literally like get down on her like knee and like look a stead in the eye, and she'd be like, You're not better than anyone, but no one is better than you.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: And that like real like core belief that no one's better than me has really served me well.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Because I genuinely don't think anybody is.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: I might think that somebody is more experienced, they might have better grades, they might be doing really well in something.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: I can look at them and think, you're amazing.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't feel like to my core that they're better than me.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: I don't walk into a room and feel like I don't belong there.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that that like just real belief that, you know, and and also understanding if I just, you know, if if I spent as long at school doing that, then I could probably do that as well.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's you know, it's that like real rationalizing of the situation, but I never really feel that someone's better than me.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I also just sometimes feel like the way I perceive it is I'm just out of my depths.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think that all the time.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, I'm really out of my depths in this room.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: But I quite enjoy it.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: I look around, I'm like, how cool I've managed to get into this room.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Not like, oh my god, I don't belong here.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: And at the leadership summit recently, like, let's face it, I'm not a natural host.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: I probably wasn't ready to host the leadership summit.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: I certainly wasn't ready to start interviewing Mike Baxter, and I probably didn't get out of the conversation what somebody else could.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: But Jo and I went over and over and over and over who should do it.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: And we promised the industry that we wouldn't just have the same faces on the stage.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I couldn't go to one of my, you know, amazing community and say, could you please lead this event because it just wasn't the right thing to do.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't particularly want to pay for somebody who was like a business speaker to host it because they don't know the industry.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: So what makes them be able to deliver it?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: So we kind of went back over and over and over and we were like, it kind of I do need to be the one doing like I've literally thought this up in my head.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I've but it was terrifying, like getting up on stage in front of all these people and hosting that day.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: I was so so scared.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I spent such a long time like preparing.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: I scripted everything I wanted to say, I rehearsed, I like did all the things in the mirror, and on the morning, like I was I was utterly terrified.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I like did the whole thing.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: I like went into the bathroom, did the old power posing, like gave myself or talking to in my head, and I was like, just think what you're gonna feel in 12 hours' time.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: And with that, once you throw yourself into something, you never really mess it up that bad, do you?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what's the worst that's gonna happen?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna flutter some lines.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then I and I always say that to myself, I'm like, and think like when you open this door, what other door set's going to open?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: Just like focus on that.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it all comes down to mindset, doesn't it?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't, and I think you're never gonna, especially if like in that situation where you were hosting a leadership summit, you're never going to probably feel like you're a hundred percent prepared or it's gonna be a hundred percent perfect, but you just have to do it.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: And things that don't go as well as you wanted, like as in with any area of business, you know, you you'll you can do better next time, you'll learn from that and apply it differently next time.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: But you sometimes you just have to do it and throw yourself in.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and if you don't, then it's a slippery slope because if you can make an excuse one time, you'll make an excuse next time.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I honestly think confidence is just a series of like achievements.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because you never you're never ready, are you?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: But the more you throw yourself into things and the more you're comfortable being uncomfortable, you're like, well, what's the worst that's gonna happen?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: No one's gonna like if I fluff my lines, I'm not at school, no one's gonna laugh at me.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: And if they do, I'm probably gonna be laughing as well.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just laugh at yourself.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like what actually the worst thing that's gonna happen, like just get up there and just give it a go.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that can be applied to so many areas of business.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I do think it's as well, is like it's like building that trust and confidence within yourself.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because I heard, I can't remember who it was, but I've heard someone say before on like a podcast, but like it was like Mel Robbins or somebody, that if you say, like, you know, take the example of getting up tomorrow and filming some content for your social media, if you say to yourself that you're gonna do that, and then on the when it comes to it, you make an excuse and you don't do it, you're breaking that trust with yourself.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: And in turn, you're like, you know, you're damaging your confidence in your ability to do things, then the more you do that, the more the the like less self-esteem you're gonna have when it comes to it.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I think you just have to kind of throw yourself out there and just do it once.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like you say, what door could that open for you once you get up on stage and do that?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I mean, hosted in the leadership summit, they've both been really, really successful events.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: If we can apply what you've learned to clinic owners, what do you think most people overcomplicate when they're starting out something new?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's the wanting to get it perfect before you start.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that people really obsess over trying to have everything like finalized and 100% ready, where actually you learn as you go.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's like the the Red the Lean startup, that's fair concept.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's like just start and learn as you go and pivot and you know move on.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what we did with Hosted, that I had a website, but I still had a go-no-go.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like if I didn't make enough money, I was I I wouldn't have progressed with it.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: So even though we'd like launched and we're telling the world about hosted, we were still evolving with every conversation.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm I mean, my first conversation, I remember it so well.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: It was Laura from 4T Medical.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Lore.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I was so rusty, and the conversation that I was like pitching to her, I'm sure if she came to hosted, it would be nothing like what I was saying.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because for you, from each conversation that I had, I learned what an objection was.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: I learned what people liked about the concept, I learned what people kind of were confused about what I was saying.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: And with each conversation I had, we we evolved that concept.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: The reality is, hosted has been the same since the day I decided to do it and the day we delivered it.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_01: The the minute by minute didn't change, but the story that we were telling changed so much.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that having that understanding that what you're going to launch isn't going to be the same.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's actually better to start and just get going and learn and move and be, you know, on that journey than it is to just stand still.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, you'll never get anywhere.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: No, and you won't learn.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like you need to just know what your customers really want.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: You might know what a pain point is, but until you dig a bit deeper and and you know, show them your solution, do you know how you can really help or how it could be helping more, or what you know, what breakoff opportunities might come from it?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Until you do those things, you just don't know.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's so, so important.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you talk a lot about obsessing over the customer.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: What does that actually look like to you?
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: And how do you think clinic owners can like make the most of that?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think if you're just literally nothing about your customer, you can have a really slick HR department or a really click marketing department.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: But if you don't have your customers and you don't understand them, then you really don't have anything, you don't have a business.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I think how I see it, I think that my brain is a bit of a database, and with every single conversation I have, I'm storing information.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: And quite often I'll see common themes.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, well, this person said they feel burnout, and this person said they feel burnout.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I've probably had about 20 people in the last couple of weeks that have specified burnout as a challenge.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: But why is nobody talking about burnout?
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because that is clearly a massive problem for them.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm not feeding them this information, I'm not telling them what other people are telling me, they're telling me that.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, what how we kind of obsess over our customers is that all of that information, every conversation is almost like market research.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: And we are storing that and we're we're generalizing and we're building themes within that feedback, and we're then serving that community based on those pain points and those challenges and constantly thinking of how we can help those people.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: That is how we do it kind of in a nutshell.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, what's the problem and how do we help?
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then we also like I try and remember everything.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'll ask people about their children, about their new job, their, you know, I I just I personally love people.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I think really focusing on those things, it it just really makes a difference to your business, I think, if you treat everybody, you know, and make them feel very special.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Make values, yeah, rather than like they're just like in in terms of a clinic owner, rather than they're just like a another patient, you know, feeling you know them on a personal level.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: How many, how many patients do clinics have?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Hundreds, yeah.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: But even like the biggest clinics, they're not going into like thousands and thousands of patients.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not like we're a massive clothing brand where you don't really know your customers, it's very difficult to understand your customer.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's like we know these.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: People.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: We've you know, we they're in our rooms all the time, and it's a lot cheaper to look after somebody and win them back than constantly find new people.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: So just absolutely obsessing over what what their problems are and and that experience and and ensuring that they see the value from you and your business is far easier than it is to constantly find new people.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think it goes a long way in in terms of retention.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: If people feel like they're connected to you on a personal level and they're less likely to go to someone else down the road just because they're offering the same treatment that they have with you at a slightly cheaper price.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: I went to my first ever strategic sales talk, I remember it so vividly, and he was like, Do you know what you just need to remember?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot harder to shaft someone if they like you.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, or or it's a lot harder for them to shaft you if they like you.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: If you can keep them on side, even if you're not delivering a good experience, yeah, there's still loyalty there.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: And and I and I just always remember it.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's like it's so true.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because also, like, you know, if this year we deliver a bit of a dud hosted, which we won't, but if we did, because those people trust us so much, they will sit down and say, You didn't do this, you didn't do this, it didn't deliver this.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: But we like you, Courtney and Joe.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: We like you guys, we want you to do well.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: So these are the problems, and how are you going to fix it?
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas if we wouldn't treat everybody like they were special and look after everybody and make them feel like we we're building a business to help them, they would just be like, No, we just won't come back next year, sorry.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: And they probably wouldn't even say to you why.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: They would just they would just smile to your face and move on.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: Smile to your face, move on, exactly.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's so so true.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: When it comes to that market research side of thing, where where you, you know, you've said that every conversation you have, you're like storing the information that people are telling you and thinking kind of how can you apply that to your own business?
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: How do you think clinic owners can do the same thing?
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because clinic owners like must be hearing, you know, hundreds of things a day when they're like speaking to their patients in the treatment room that they could be learning from and kind of applying to their services and their business in one way or another.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I think having a like, what are you trying to get out of this conversation?
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: Mine's so intrinsic in how I do things.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm always trying to find out what are your big challenges in running your business and how can I deliver some sort of event to help?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: So like I I know what I'm doing.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: I suppose clinics need to understand like what are they trying to extract from those conversations and actually using every single patient as an opportunity to gain information and also potentially an opportunity to sell something.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, they might be thinking, right, we want to introduce a laser in six months.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what conversations should we all be having right now to A, understand whether it's the right thing to do, and B start to drip feed that story so people get excited before it's anywhere near the clinic.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: So by the time it's coming, you know, by the time it's actually coming, you've got a waiting list.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: You've got people that are so excited, you've got people that are putting money aside so they can afford it or whatever.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that each each conversation is is huge.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like people people fixate so much on marketing, but conversations are just as critical because they're in front of you.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like every single conversation I have with a clinic owner, I'm extracting information, but I'm probably also trying to sell them either the leadership summit or to apply for hosting.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: In one way or another, yeah.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: In one way or the other.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm I'm telling them about what we're doing because I want them to come.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because you think they genuinely benefit from it.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I it's exactly the same, I think, in in the treatment room when you're speaking to patients a lot of the time.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: And also it's like I think it's I think a lot of practitioners get really stuck on new treatments they should be offering, or they see that some like lots of people have brought in a new product or device, and should they be thinking about bringing in that device to, or they don't know are they going to get left behind?
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: But actually, I think if you actually speak to your patients and find out what they really want and what they really want to see or what they're really struggling with, that would give you a much more, a much clearer picture of what would be valuable for you to bring into the clinic.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Do you recommend like writing these things down and like logging things that come up in conversation or anything?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Rapid.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: If you have like a like a clinic software or CRM, whatever you call it.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: I would make all of those notes.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: But when I started out in sales, every conversation, I'd make a note.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: A little headset on, and I'd make notes after every conversation, and then before I spoke to that person again, I would look at the notes, look at everything we said, and then I would make sure that you know that conversation, there was a personable angle at the beginning.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's like building that rapport.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's the same thing, isn't it?
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I would definitely be making notes, and I would also have a structured process where I was testing things.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, there might be an incentive with your team for a couple of weeks where you say, right, every conversation you want to be having, we want to understand.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, are people looking for skin resurfacing?
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: How much would they pay?
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Have they looked into it with anybody else?
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: Are they Googling things like that?
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: Or what are they Googling at the moment that they that you're not serving?
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: And just have like an incentive where you're where everybody's extracting this information after each conversation, they're plotting it into a spreadsheet.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then at the end of the couple of weeks, you've got hundreds of bits of feedback.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: Love that.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: What can they make decisions?
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's what we would always do whenever we had a new idea.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: We'd be like, right, let's go call hundred a hundred people.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: And get their thoughts.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's get this information, see how viable this really is.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and actually, I think those conversations can open up so much for people because it's not just learning, you know, future treatments and services that perhaps you should be offering in clinic, but it'll give you ideas for content to create for social media and what you should be talking about in your videos and the types of like subject that you should be talking about in your email newsletters and your blogs because people are literally telling you directly what they want to know and what they're struggling with and what's going to help them.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think there's anything more valuable than that, so I think that's a really good piece of advice.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing that you're really open about is loving sales, and that probably comes across like in some you said.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Why do you think because I do think sales has quite a bad reputation in aesthetics where a lot of people feel awkward about it, and I guess it again that probably comes from the fact that a lot of practitioners have come from NHS backgrounds, they've never had to like talk about money or you know, sell anything really.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so why do you think it has such a bad reputation in aesthetics?
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: I actually don't even think it's just an aesthetics thing.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you say sales, people think like used car salesmen, don't they?
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: And they think it's like wide boy, like oi oi, come up, come up, like yeah, you know, we've got this to sell to you.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: That that's actually just what everybody thinks.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it I just think it has a bad rep everywhere, and I think there are some very, very terrible salespeople.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I think the like the the the core thing of sales is just it's the exact same as marketing.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like you you build your brand story in marketing, and people are so confident on that.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: How are we going to tell our story?
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: How are we gonna speak to people?
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: How are we going to like you know, drive interest here and build connection here?
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's what marketing is.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: Sales is the exact same thing, just you get to the end point a hell of a lot quicker.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that if you can hone those skills and ensure that kind of every single conversation that you have, you're getting to that bottom of what might take you months in marketing.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: How is that a bad thing?
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: How do you think practitioners can reframe sales so that it feels more aligned and less uncomfortable for them to be doing?
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think like if I think to how I speak to people about the leadership summit, like I'm not saying I've got this ticket for an event.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's probably one of the most expensive events you can come to in aesthetics.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: There's no one there, you wouldn't know any of the speakers, by the way, like, but they're really good.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: But if I positioned it that way, it would be quite salesy, really bad.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: And people would be like, What is she doing?
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: What I'm doing in each conversation is telling them why Hovested was born, what kind of need I was serving, how the leadership summit stemmed from that, from having all of those conversations during the interview process where everybody was telling me that they wanted to grow the business and they didn't know how.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then, oh, you know, it's the established clinic owners that are actually struggling the most.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that, well, if they're busy teaching everyone else, then who's teaching them?
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, start to really like tell this story about how it's come around, what we're trying to achieve, how we're doing it, by the end of that conversation, people are like, Why don't I sign up?
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: And conversation, I probably think I have about a 70 to 80% conversion rate from conversations, which is much higher than a marketing email or a social post.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like you don't really get that much from them.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: But I know that if I can get in front of someone, if I can go to an event and talk to 10 people, I'm probably going to get about seven, seven to eight tickets off of it.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: I I think repositioning it in that way that you're just telling your story in a really structured way means will do what you need to.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: And in a way that people can resonate with and connect with, right?
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're saying to them, like, you know, the busiest or the most established clinic owners are telling me that they're struggling, but who's teaching you?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, you know, actually, yeah, who is teaching me?
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I do need to know, I do need to go to this.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I do need to.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love you.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I am burnt out.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: I am like, I have hit a wall, I don't know where to go anymore with with the business.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I do need to go to this.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it's all in that, it's all in the way, you know, it's it's it's like with marketing, isn't it?
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's about the language that you use and making sure that you're connecting and resonating with people in times of the pain points that they have, the problem and and also their goals, what they want to achieve.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: And if they believe through what you're saying that you're going to help them overcome those pain points and achieve their goals, then it doesn't feel salesy, it just feels like that's a natural next step for them.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why wouldn't they sign up?
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I don't think if you ask everybody that I've had a conversation with about the leadership sum, I don't think anybody would follow up they're being sold to.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, they're like Courtney's just sold all of my problems.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, like Courtney really gets me.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: Love that.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you were running a clinic tomorrow, how would you assess whether a treatment device or a service was actually profitable before watching it?
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good question.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not a clinic owner, so I haven't got this experience, but I think that I'm very, very curious.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: All things numbers.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: I love nothing more than like crunching my numbers over and over and over again to see what the best scenario looks like.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: But if I increase my price by this much, what would that mean?
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: Would it mean that I bring in less people?
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, is that even worth it?
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: What if I reduce my price by this much and increase the amount of people?
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: What does that actually look like?
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I spend a lot of time crunching the numbers to see is the juice worth the squeeze, basically?
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is this actually worth it?
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: Is it going to make me enough money?
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I think if I was a clinic owner and I was looking at whether something is actually financially viable, I would crunch all of those numbers.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'd work out like what's my most profitable hour?
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: What would this, what would this uh new introduction, like, what would my profit margins of that hour be?
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because if I can make, I don't know, a thousand pound profit doing injectables an hour, but only 500 pound profit from doing uh something else in the hour, well, I know which one I'd rather do.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I've only got a certain amount of hours in the day.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it so it's but then it's also looking at, well, if I'm losing customers because I'm not delivering this service, skin resurfacing, for example, so I'm you know making people structurally amazing, but I'm then not not serving their skin like I should be, then maybe that is worth it because it's adding of adding value, it's adding an opportunity to my service.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: And also there's the whole point about like, does it align with our ecosystem?
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: Are we going to take away from something else if we introduce this?
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: We've only got X amount of patients at the moment, and we don't particularly want to start investing in loads more.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: Are we just taking away from something else that they would be doing already?
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: And what's a profit margin look like in that?
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that I would be literally sitting for ages and ages and ages, fiddling around with all these numbers to see what those scenarios look like.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I would also, I would also look long term.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: Short term's only one thing, but I will always, when I think of an idea, do like a three to five year plan on what that actually can deliver.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: So short term, it might do this, this, and this.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_01: But if we then had two people doing these treatments, they bought in this, what would that actually look like?
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I think I would just be crunching the hell out of these numbers to see what is actually the best thing to do for the overall business.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then also having a bit of a structure in place to know where, like what you need to be doing in order to take it where you need where you want to go, like with that five year, where do we want to see this device, this treatment?
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like what does what has it done for the clinic in the next five years?
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's really important, really good advice.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: Is there anything that you see clinic owners doing a lot that looks busy but isn't necessarily like commercially smart?
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think everybody's just different, and I think that what people spend a lot of time focused on is like what their competitors are doing, what other clinics are doing.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that I don't do that at all.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: I you know, I know what they're doing, and I'm like crack on, I'm doing it this way because I know my customers, and I know what I'm trying to achieve from my customers.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, you like do your own thing, this is a big one, and so I think that there's a lot of like keeping up the Joneses, there's a lot of people talking people into having to have this new thing because it's going to change their business, and I think that you just need to be so laser focused on your customers and how you're going to deliver that experience for your customer.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: And if you are just obsessed with that, then I think you will probably waste less time.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: I see this a lot, and also it holds, I see it holding a lot of people back from showing up and like being visible in their marketing and going on social media because they're constantly looking at what everyone else is doing and comparing, then they lose confidence in themselves and they, you know, and I just I say to people so much, yes, this person might look like they're doing great because they are growing a lot on social media, but you know, you don't know what their actual day-to-day business looks like.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: And also, like like you say, if you say laser focused on your on your all and serving your audience on social media, it doesn't matter whether you have 20,000 followers like that practitioner, or your posts get 500 likes like that practitioner does.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: If your content is serving your audience and your audience coming to you off the back of it and inquiring, and you know, it's getting you bookings, that's the real goal.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think a lot of people get super focused on what everyone else is doing and get like FOMO, you know, if if they're not also, you know, I think it's like with industry events, you know, where they see everyone going to an event, it's like, oh, I'm missing out if I'm not going to it.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: If they see treatment, am I missing out if I don't even with trends, if like all practitioners start hopping on a certain trend, am I missing out if I don't hop on it?
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: But like, is that actually true to your brand and your audience, or are you just doing it because you feel like you need to be doing it?
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: The same your personal life, isn't it?
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, you see those people and they've like got it all, they've got their Dubai trip and they've got their massive house and their new car.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, from the outside, you're like, Oh god, they really have it all.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then you know, the next thing you see, they're going through divorce, selling the house, and lose their job.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: You just you just don't know what's going on inside.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: So you just focus on yourself.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and also is that truly what you want, like to live and you know, have a nice, like that nice car, and like, is that really what your goal is in life?
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, everyone's dream life looks a bit different.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: So not having to look a certain way or do a certain thing just because everyone else seems to be doing it.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I do th I do think that's a really, really important one.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: Going back to numbers for a second, because I do think this is like an important area that a lot of people miss.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: What are the numbers that you think every clinic owner should know without hesitation that perhaps like a lot of people don't necessarily?
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I think again, if I think of like what I obsess over.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I do think there's probably more it to it than for a clinic.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's probably lots of things they need to be focusing on, and I can understand why it gets very overwhelming and why without being taught these things, that it is just quite a lot, but I think being really curious on everything is the first place to be.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like and constantly asking questions is is the first place to start, I think.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I think so.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: What I constantly do is I always understand what the big picture number looks like.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: So where the revenue, what I've got to achieve, where I'm tracking against it, what my break-evens look like.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: If I don't achieve that, what's my plan?
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: How do I cut the costs?
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_01: Because I don't want to not make money because I'm not currently.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm so I obsess over those numbers to make sure that I'm always business safe, that I can always pay for the things that I need to to deliver the experience, but I'm also not like bankrupting myself in it.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_01: So so I I really obsess over these numbers.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, where am I tracking?
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: What are my targets?
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: What do I do if I don't hit those targets?
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: Because that happens.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you set numbers, and sometimes things happen where you don't get to where you wanted to be.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what's your plan to ensure that you get there?
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I think I obsess over those.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I also would be obsessed over the customer numbers as well.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_01: So, what are my retention rates?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: How do I increase those each year?
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because, like we said a minute ago, it's a lot easier to just grow your business by keeping more customers than it is finding loads of new ones.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think I would always know my retention rate, how I'm going to increase that each year and set a plan every single year on how I grow that and what those people are spending.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we can call it lifetime value, don't we?
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what are they actually spending?
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I would also make a plan on well, how do I get more of those ones?
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why don't you go?
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, say I want to be in my clinic for seven hours.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I want to be making the most money out of those seven hours as I possibly can.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not going to be messing around with the, you know, like the small margin treatments.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: I just wouldn't.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I think knowing all of those numbers is really important to know how you're going to grow your business all the time and constantly have little, little plans in place on how you're going to build those things.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I also think constantly thinking as well in like where do other revenue streams come from?
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_01: And what can that added, how can you make more money with A not being there?
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's what everybody's talking about now.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_01: How do you make more money from not actually being in the room?
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: That is really important because that's how you get the best sell for your business in the future.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: Also, like the best actual, like, you know, work-life balance.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_01: And like, how can I just monetize things a bit better?
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I think wanting, I think people feel quite like they're not allowed to talk about monetizing things.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like they're, you know, they're medical professionals and they're delivering a service.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: And that is true.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_01: And the fact that they feel that way is brilliant because it means that they're, you know, they're great at what they do.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_01: But also wanting to make more money out of what you've already got is it's just smart business.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: They are allowed, you are allowed to feel like that.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_01: You're allowed to have a plan to retain more customers each year.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: And that might be by just delivering a better service, by remembering their kids' names a bit more, or you know, like it could be as simple as that.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: I do think retention is such an important one, and it and is probably something that a lot of clinic owners are guilty of not paying enough attention to until they're suddenly like, oh, you know, until they look at the figures or they're like, oh, where did so-and-so go?
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: I've not seen her in a while.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: Or they look at the figures and realize that their retention rate probably isn't as high as it should be.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I do think that's a good one, like you say, to look at yearly and think, how can we make it better?
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: What can we be doing to bring people back into the clinic, you know, more and looking after them?
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: In in events, it's the first thing you do.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: So your first thing is you deliver the event, and the first thing that you focus on is securing the people that came that year to the next year.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's your like baseline.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's how you get the confidence to commit to the venue for the following year.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's how you kind of, you know, you can only grow so many customers each year that in, you know, the reality is new business is a lot harder to win than it is repeat.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_01: So from a like how I do business is retention first, like retention first and foremost, look after everybody so much that they want to come.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: And they also then refer you, right?
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like then it's just word of mouth.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_01: Business is a lot easier if you have strong retention rates.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's so, so important.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: Are there any things that you think clinic owners could be doing, like easy things that they could be doing just to improve their retention rates?
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_01: I went to see a clinic a little while ago and I just thought she just had the very best like way of doing things.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I could understand why she was so successful.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought, but you would have been doing this long before you had a team.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like this wasn't the luxury of having a team, this is just you.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_01: And what she would do before every patient came in, she would look all their notes.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: She would be like, right, where are they coming from?
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: If they're driving from far away, she made sure that they had the hot drink of their of what they like ready for them.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_01: And she'd be like, I know that you travel all the way down from such and such.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got you your tea ready because you must be thirsty.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: Do you need to use the bathroom?
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_01: Let me take your coat.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'll meet you in the clinic room.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_01: And like little things like that that make people feel very special.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then at the end of each, at the end of each treatment, she would say things like, Look, I know that you like to pick the kids up from school.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not working in the mornings at the moment.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I just want to make sure that you get the time that suits you.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_01: So rather than going out there and looking through, should we do this together now?
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_01: She would ensure that every single person was booked in for them.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: So it wasn't like we need to get you booked in.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: It was uh, I know that you like this time slot.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: So should we look together to make sure we can get it in?
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I like it.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_01: And she would every single person, but it wasn't like a pushy, let's get you booked in.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_01: It was all about looking after them.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: And making sure they got a time that suited them.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think just little things like that.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: So rather than thinking, I've got to book everybody in because I'm being told to, you know, be more salesy, and actually just making sure that you're delivering that experience for your patients.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then as well, she would do things like before people's skincare programs were over or running out, she would call them and just say, I really don't want you to like run out.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_01: We think it may be coming.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: Do you need anything from us?
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_01: And and leaving it very much like, you know, you don't have to say, Do you want your full plan renewed?
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is there anything you need from us?
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like are there any products that, yeah.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_01: Do you need to re-book or do you want to come back in?
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: Or, you know, just and just helping them because the reality is people are busy and people forget to do things.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_01: So as a as a good business person, you want to make life easier for people.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what she was doing so well.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if you just introduce tiny little things like this into your business and make it easy for people, you will just naturally get people back.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: It makes people feel cared for because they're like, like she must see so many people a day, and she remembers that I come from here and I pick up my kids at this time.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: And she even remembers that my cleanser's probably about to finish, you know.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: Makes people I will never go anywhere else.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'll never go anywhere else.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: And if they did, they'd probably feel, you know, like it it was nothing in comparison and come straight back.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's little service things I think make all the difference.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: I like that.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's really important, and I think it's such an easy way to well, improve your profit margins, really, because you're holding on to more patients over time as you're growing, and you're not constantly replacing lost patients with new ones or trying to patients with new ones.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, another thing you've spoken to me about is the fact that you're really passionate about storytelling.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: Why do you think these are quite, you know, such critical skills for business owners in general?
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think, like we just said about the leadership summit, like we basically sold all of those tickets from me telling the story, having that conversation.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I think you there's such power in influence if you can shape that conversation.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not easy, it's taken me years and years and years.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've done so much sales training, I've been in sales for such a long time.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_01: But I think actually now I don't even know why I'm doing it.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not like, right, let me go sell some tickets.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's not, you know, I I don't even feel that way anymore.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's just the conversations that I have, I naturally influence people so much.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_01: So it's just so in me now.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I believe to my core that if somebody comes to the leadership summit that I can help them grow their business from being there.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's the same, isn't it, with with with clinic owners in, you know, talking to people that are in their chairs.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you know scientifically that this new treatment you're bringing in is going to help them with their concerns, telling them the story in a way that is telling them about what they're doing to help them, you know, we're investing in this because so many people are saying exactly the same thing as you.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: We want to bring this in to help.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I think just being able to have that structure of a conversation and be able to influence people in a way that isn't salesy or isn't pushy, or it's just connecting the dots between this is your challenge and this is our solution.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_01: We're so passionate to bring you that solution.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's learning how to communicate that in the right way, isn't it?
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: Is there anything that you found particularly helpful when when learning, you know, those kinds of techniques or things that you would recommend for clinic owners to do if they like want to get better at storytelling and influencing without feeling salesy?
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think it's such an important trait to have, not just for in clinic when you're speaking to patients, but also to get across in your marketing when you're speaking on video, you know, it's the difference between someone being engaged by what you're saying in a video and switching off and scrolling on.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: Is there anything that you think is particularly helpful if people want to learn how to improve those those skills?
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think practice, I think you're going to like be confident in that you're going to fluff it up a few times and be okay with that, and just have like some little things that you want to achieve from each conversation, you want to learn from each conversation.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_01: If you take each conversation as a learning process and that it's not stressful and just keep getting better, I think if you just you know position it that way, that's one thing.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the other thing is like always being able to communicate, it's just telling the story, it's setting the scene.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_01: Build the rapport, set the scene, uh, make them understand like remember what their challenge is, and that there's other people that have that challenge and why you're introducing something to solve that problem.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_01: That is the most basic funnel of like having that conversation.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_01: And then just ensure that there's always a always a CTA, which is, you know, for from a sales perspective, it's what what is the close?
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_01: And you might not be confident enough to say, do you want to buy this?
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because then it feels a bit salesy.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_01: So don't say it.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't want to say that, don't.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_01: But have something that you're at least closing the conversation off with.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_01: Would you like to join the waiting list?
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want me to just opt you in for when we talk, uh, when we start announcing this information?
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_01: Do you want me to opt you in on the emails to ensure that you get it?
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: Even if there's just something that you're closing down the conversation and asking for it, you will start to build a, you know, you'll get used to asking and closing things down the right way.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, just like I think have a bit of a plan, get used to having these conversations and telling the story and then having some form of close.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: And the more confident you get and the better you get, the more you'll be able to have, you know, maybe tougher closes where you say, Do you want to buy a ticket?
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: Don't we send you the link?
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: You just need to build your confidence with it first.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, it being like having those sorts of conversations, if you start thinking, right, I'm gonna I'm gonna start selling something now.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's it is scary.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's not nice to feel salesy.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_01: So just don't just see it that you're just telling your story, they've got a problem, you want to help solve it, and this is how you're gonna do it.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's it's it's all about with sales and marketing, it's all about constantly thinking about the patient, the patient's needs, the patient's wants, the patient's struggles, and how and their desires, their goals, and how whatever it is that you're talking about in terms of a treatment or coming in for a consultation, whatever it is, is actually going to help them overcome those things and framing it in the right way that they really connect and resonate with it and they leave thinking, yeah, actually, she really gets me.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is what we need.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then it doesn't feel salsy at all because it doesn't feel like you're pushing it onto them, it feels like you're just selling them a natural solution to a problem that they have that they actively want to overcome.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, especially in the treatment room, you know, a lot of you know, as practitioners, you just have to remember that those people have books and come in for a reason they essentially want to be sold to because they've got a problem and they're there wanting you to solve it for them.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I think yeah, that's great advice.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if a practitioner listening wants to grow fast this year, what's the first thing that they should get bruisedly honest about?
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_01: Is the juice worth a squeeze?
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_01: And what I mean by that is like, is it actually going to grow and help you as much as you think it is?
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_01: Where can you be, if you've only got a certain amount of hours in the day, where can you be laser focused to get the best results?
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_00: What mindset shift has had the biggest impact on your own success?
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think just get on with it.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_01: Sean, I'm just getting no, just you know, it's like if you think you can, then you're already halfway there.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_01: And just having that belief that you can figure it out and you can make it happen, then you will make it happen.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_00: You just got to believe it, you've got to see it.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because actually, I don't think we've touched on it on in this episode, and it's supposed to be quick fire, but I don't think we've touched on in this episode how much of a gamble you were taking when you launched Hosted.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I know you spoke to that, you know, a lot of financial risk.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know, I mean, I definitely wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I had all that pressure on me.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess it's the same with practitioners, you know, when they're leaving, like, or stepping back, I know not a lot of people leave their NHS careers all in one go, but like they're stepping back, they're maybe renting a space and investing in training.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: When it came to the risks that you took, how did you like, how did you push yourself to do it without talking yourself out of it, if that makes sense?
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really good question.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes the big picture is really scary, right?
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like you, you know, financially it's crippling.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like hosted was like the the fear of the financial, like it was crippling in hindsight.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we reserved 120 bedrooms at a five-star resort for three nights.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like that that amount of money was absolutely mental in hindsight because you know, we're from like normal working class families, right?
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_01: Our parents couldn't bail us out or anything if we didn't make that money.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that, but if you break it down into actionable, like what you need to do to get there, that's really important.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what I think what I'm actually quite good at is building budgets and plans that are realistic and being like, this is what I know I can achieve, this is how much we then need to spend.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_01: So that's my financial plan.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now, how am I going to get there?
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then I can break down my I need X amount of followers, I need X amount of people in my database, I need to speak to 150 people to sell 40 supplier spaces or whatever, and really break down how I'm going to get there.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then each day I always re-focus and have my full to-do list again, rewrite my to-do list, always in a notebook, and I will have two or three things each day that I have to achieve before I leave.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I will not rest until I've done them.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then just having this like daily thing where you're constantly moving the needle closer, you just naturally progress and just not fix too much on that big picture.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you continue to look at that, it's scary.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, so sometimes know when going, have the vision and have the plan, but break it down.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_00: Break it down into steps, like small steps.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_00: I guess you have to kind of work backwards, don't you?
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what like what is it that you need to be doing that's gonna help you reach that end goal?
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and each department is its own thing.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I knew I needed to make X amount of money to be able to afford it and pay myself.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that then breaks down into 30 suppliers.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, how am I gonna get 30 suppliers on board?
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_01: What events do I need to go to?
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_01: How many conversations do I need to have?
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, how what incentives do I need to create?
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what do I need to do and by when?
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, you have this plan, then you just have to make it happen.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_01: Same with marketing.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_01: How many emails do I need to send?
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_01: How many people do I need to speak to?
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: How many social posts do I need to be doing to tell that story?
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_01: Have this big plan and then just break it down and work backwards.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's such good advice.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you could leave clinic owners with one principle to operate by, what would it be?
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's is a juice worth a squeeze.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_00: Going back to that, yeah.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_00: I love I know I love that.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_00: I really love that.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's all I care about, the juice.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think people get really caught up in trying to do lots of things.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_01: I see it actually loads in like people want to run a clinic, then they're getting into training, then they're and becoming KOLs.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then, and I'm like, do you actually know what the best use of your time is?
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_01: So, where are you actually making your money?
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_01: Where are you actually growing your business?
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because the reality is you can't grow all of these things at once.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_01: You just can't.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like everything needs effort to grow.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_01: So is it really just because other people are doing it, like what is the best use of your time and which business is the best one to grow right now?
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that people don't necessarily always think in that way.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_01: And they commit equal time to equal things rather than thinking, well, this is my this is the thing that's going to blow up.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_01: So therefore, if I allocate more of my weekly time to this, then I can make more money much quicker.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_01: That can then actually bankroll this one that's going to be harder.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_01: But this is my passion project, and I want it.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I yeah, I think it's just really ironing out these things and knowing what works.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_00: And also looking at that end goal again, like you said a minute ago, and like what's actually going to help you get there, getting distracted by all of those shiny things along the way that you think you need to be doing.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's really important.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: Love that.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, for those who I mean, I'm sure a lot of people listening have heard about hosted aesthetics and the leadership summit.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_00: But if anyone does want to learn more about you or learn more about hosted, where can they find you?
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_01: So follow us on at socials, hosted at hosted aesthetics, and our website is at hosted aesthetics.com.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_01: The hosted, that's almost like complete.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_01: The hosted Malta event is almost the guest list almost full.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_01: But the leadership summit next year will go to Manchester on the Friday, the 15th of January, and tickets are already on sale.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_01: We've already sold so many tickets.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't believe it, honestly.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_01: Again, because I focus on retention.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, let's strike whilst the iron is hot, and the people that have had a really good experience, like let them book tickets right now.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, and then it gives us the confidence to choose the venue and all the speakers on board.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_00: Love that.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess a lot of people listening, if they do want to go to the abroad event, they'll probably be looking here because the applications are closed now.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, applications have closed.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_01: We're going through 120 interviews in two weeks.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_01: And all is wide.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_01: But we are considering where we've had so much interest, we are considering increasing the number of hosted events we do a year.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, we shall what we need to do is talk all the supplies into two events here, and then we'll do two events, yeah.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, everyone keep your eyes peeled because that could be coming.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll put all of the details as well in the show notes.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_00: So anyone that wants to go and find hosted on socials, just have a look below.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you so much for coming on, Courtney.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_00: This has been thank you for having me.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_00: Great value.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_00: No, thank you.