Successful Practice Management Begins With Specialization

Los Angeles cosmetic surgeon Dr. Alexander Rivkin shares how to
successfully manage your aesthetic practice – through education and
specialization.

THE Aesthetic Show, one of the leading educational forums in the
aesthetic industry, recently hosted THE Aesthetic Academy in Beverly
Hills, where industry leaders and physicians gathered to discuss and
share the latest in aesthetic medicine. American Health and Beauty had
the opportunity to speak with one of the key speakers, Los Angeles
cosmetic surgeon Dr. Alexander Rivkin on the topic of how to best manage
your aesthetic practice, challenges that new aesthetic providers face
and how to overcome them.

“The first major point discussed at the Academy for successful
practice management is education for attendants: getting them familiar
with what the products are and how to use them,” says Dr. Rivkin.
Successful practice management includes promotions, which Dr. Rivkin
says plays a large part in controlling patient flow and bringing new
patients into the practice.

Second, in discussing what are the biggest challenges that new
providers are facing in the aesthetic industry right now, Dr. Rivkin
stresses the importance of differentiating yourself from the masses of
aesthetic providers. “Things that new providers have to think about are
How am I going to stand out? Why should people come to me when there are
so many other providers around?,” says Dr. Rivkin, “New providers have
to have those questions first and foremost in their minds, from the very
beginning, and then tailor their practices to that. What are you going
to do better than anybody else?”

Dr. Rivkin suggests finding a procedure to specialize in or to
develop a new procedure – something that will make your practice stand
out and unique to patients. For example, Dr. Rivkin describes, “The
first thing that I’m known for is a procedure I developed, the
non-surgical rhinoplasty – I perform these multiple times a day.” While
other providers may now also offer a similar procedure, being the
developer of the procedure, Dr. Rivkin says he is still considered “the
national, if not world-over expert” on the non-surgical rhinoplasty,
which he attributes to the fact that patients are flying in from other
states and countries to his practice to get this unique procedure
performed by him.

The importance of “owning” a procedure is what makes a practice
stands out. In the case of Dr. Rivkin, he says “I don’t perform
facelifts, I don’t perform traditional rhinoplasty, I only specialize in
injections. So if a patient is looking for someone to do injections,
they’ll come to me because I have the most experience with it because
it’s all I do.” The aesthetic market has become so saturated and
patients have become savvy and they know to search for the most
experienced provider in the specific procedure that they are lookingg
for.

A new procedure that Dr. Rivkin says is gaining traction in his
practice is facial sculpting. Dr. Rivkin describes the procedure as the
replacement of lost volume that happens in the face due to genetics or
just plain time. “It’s replacement of volume in a way that looks natural
and good – those are my two main objectives when it comes to facial
sculpting.”

Many patients now come to Dr. Rivkin, who specializes in non-surgical
procedures, for facial sculpting. “Patients want to straighten their
noses, they don’t want to have dark circles under their eyes, they may
want to fill out their cheeks a bit more,” states Dr. Rivkin, “Or they
may want their chin to be in more proportion to the face. These are
things that actual patients want and they don’t want it done with
surgery, if it doesn’t have to be.” Patients research and read what they
see on Dr. Rivkin’s website and they know that a lot of the things
they’re looking for can be done without surgery and that is something
Dr. Rivkin’s practice can provide.

A successful aesthetic practice requires not only education and
specialization, according to Dr. Rivkin, it also needs to keep abreast
of all the new technologies and incorporate them into their practices.

Source: American Health and Beauty, Wednesday, April 27, 2011
at http://www.americanhealthandbeauty.com/articles/?article=4398