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In this episode, host Vicky Eldridge sits down with the insightful Vanessa Bird of The Aesthetic Consultant, to explore the art of creating unforgettable patient experiences and the importance of reputation management in the aesthetics industry. From personal stories like a car-buying experience that shaped her approach to patient care, to actionable tips for clinics on elevating their service, Vanessa offers a wealth of practical advice.
Vicky and Vanessa also discuss managing online reviews, overcoming imposter syndrome, and attracting male clients with tailored communication strategies. Whether you're new to aesthetics or a seasoned practitioner, this episode is packed with inspiration and expert advice to help you thrive in a competitive market. Tune in to discover how small touches can make a big impact!
Vicky Eldridge:
So I'm here with the amazing Vanessa Bird, The Aesthetic Consultant. Vanessa, thanks for joining us on the podcast.
Vanessa Bird:
Thank you very much for inviting me.
Vicky Eldridge:
Lovely to have you here. Now, making sure your patients leave happy, this is an important topic, isn't it? It's what everybody wants. Everyone wants to make sure their patients are happy. From your perspective as a consultant, what are your tips, your top tips for making sure patients leave happy?
Vanessa Bird:
This is a subject that I'm very passionate about and I understand that when practitioners are first thinking about how to make sure their patients leave happy, it is all based on safety and clinical results. But for me, when I'm working with somebody and advising them, I have to encourage them to broaden out the whole experience because although, yes, of course this is important for them being happy, it's the whole experience. How everything looks, touch, the feel of everything, how they're treated, how they're welcomed. So for me, it's more an experience. An experience that they can remember long after their results have worn off and perhaps they need to pay you another visit.
Vicky Eldridge:
Yeah, absolutely. And often it's these little touches, isn't it?
Vanessa Bird:
Yes.
Vicky Eldridge:
That can make someone feel really valued or really special. Have you got any examples or any cases where you've seen that that's made a real difference? I do remember you sharing your own story about buying a car and that experience of going into one place where they offered you something and another place something else. Can you tell us a bit about that? What happened?
Vanessa Bird:
Yes. So I have always been, obviously, a bit of a diva when it comes to how things are for our customer journey. But yes, when I was buying my first brand new car for a job that I was doing as a salesperson for Casey, actually, back in the day, and I was leaning towards, I had BMW in one garage and over the road, the next dealership was Audi. So I was looking at the similar cars like for like... And I went into BMW and they welcomed me and it was beautiful. And they, "Could I get you a tea or a coffee?" And they brought it to me in a china cup and they offered me some biscuits and it was just wonderful and a very laid-back, beautiful experience. Sat on a sofa, they brought me over, introduced me to the dealer that I was chatting to. So that was great.
Vanessa Bird:
And then I went over the road to Audi and there was nowhere for me to sit. And I said, "Oh, do you have a drink?" And he said, "Yeah, there's a machine in the corner," and pointed to the machine in the corner, where I had to go and get a plastic cup and dispense my own tea, which wasn't very nice. And I thought, "Do you know what? If they're like this with the small things at the time when they should be trying to impress me, because I'm new and I'm a potential long-term customer, then I don't really want to buy from them." I actually did tell them when they followed up, "Why didn't you buy from us?" I said, "Because you gave me a cup of tea in a paper cup, and it wasn't very nice." And I stuck with BMW and then I went to Mini. So I will not go near Audi.
Vicky Eldridge:
And it's so important, isn't it? All of these things that people perhaps say, "Well, that's the fluff," or "that's just the-
Vanessa Bird:
Yeah, and it doesn't matter.
Vicky Eldridge:
And it doesn't matter, but it really does, if you feel like you've been valued somewhere when it's so competitive as well, because there's so many clinics, aren't there? Out there.
Vanessa Bird:
Absolutely. And it's these little things that suddenly jar an otherwise perfect experience. So I could have a brilliant experience going into a clinic and everything's wonderful and then, like I say, they give me, I don't know, really cheap, something on paper or they don't have water, or just tiny little things and all of a sudden, that's the thing that I remember, because it stands out so much against everything else which is so much more elevated. And it's sad for the clinic because you don't want them to go away and just concentrate on the lack of water, for instance. It's such a waste of an investment, an opportunity.
Vicky Eldridge:
It's so true, isn't it? I've been left once before for just way too long with …
Vanessa Bird:
And you worry, don't you? You think, "Do they know?"
Vicky Eldridge:
And you just think, "Have they forgotten me?"
Vanessa Bird:
Yeah. "Do they think I'm waiting for somebody?"
Vicky Eldridge:
Yeah. And I sort of wandered back into the... It was like, "Hello, is anyone here?" And the rest of the experience was really positive, but you do remember those small things, don't you? That happen where you think, "Oh, I didn't really feel..."
Vanessa Bird:
Yeah, that didn't feel-
Vicky Eldridge:
"I felt uncomfortable there."
Vanessa Bird:
Yeah. And you're a little bit disappointed and you don't want to go away with a memory that's a bit disappointing.
Vicky Eldridge:
Can you tell us about that experience and how you’ve applied it into the advice that you give now, to clinics?
Vanessa Bird:
Yes, of course. So when I’m encouraging them to look at their patient journey, and we assess it and we’re looking at things like, that’s a nice cup of tea, that’s a nice cup of coffee, that you’re offering in the clinic, you know it’s about how can we elevate that in some way. It may sound petty but could you do perhaps a drinks menu, you know, named after your clinic, with some really high end teas and coffees perhaps? It’s the same thing, but it’s a whole different experience from a patient’s point of view. Another thing I’ve learned, and I’ve learnt this from going into hundreds of different clinics, is, never point your patients somewhere – you know, “the waiting room’s over there, you need to go to the fourth door on the right”. No, please take me, escort me, walk with me, chat with me. It’s a further connection you can make. And although the treatment’s the same, in the same way that the car would have four wheels, the experience for me is suddenly elevated.
Vicky Eldridge:
Yeah. Now, another thing I know that you're passionate about and you've spoken about and you've written about for various industry publications is reputation management. And so I wanted to talk to you a little bit about that. When we talk about reputation, why does that matter? What is it really and why does it matter?
Vanessa Bird:
It matters in every industry, but especially in ours. Ours is still, although it's growing, still a small industry and we've been around for a very long time, although we don't look like we have and we know things about different people, we remember things that have happened. People don't forget gossip. People don't forget little racy incidents. People don't forget mishaps and so on.
Vanessa Bird:
And so I think it's far easier in my experience to protect your reputation, pull yourself back in certain, because the social and the work side of things often gets blurred as well, and protect your reputation that way rather than to firefight after perhaps for some reason you've had too much to drink one night, you get a bit lairy, there's a compromising photo, or you use something that wasn't FDA cleared or whatever it is. And people remember, your competitors remember. And you're forever trying to catch yourself up, fixing that problem, defending yourself against something which is usually something small and petty and should never happen. So for me, you've invested a lot in your medical career, you've put a lot of time, effort and money getting where you are to just maintain that. It's almost like an insurance policy that you should take out.
Vicky Eldridge:
Yeah. It's really important. But what about if... So say someone's had a negative online review or a complaint made against them and they're trying to manage that reputation online, it can be very tempting, can't it? To jump in and defend yourself, especially with, I think online reviews are a big one there.
Vanessa Bird:
Of course.
Vicky Eldridge:
If someone's given you a negative and you feel it's unjustified, have you got any advice there for managing that online reputation if things start to get a bit out of hand?
Vanessa Bird:
I think we get very protective of our reputations and so we do have a lot of emotional response. So the first thing I would suggest is not to reply straight away, because that's always the wrong thing to do. And if you are working with somebody who is perhaps a step back, a little bit calmer, it could be their role maybe to deal with this. I have had practitioners mention that in passing, "Oh, we've had this really bad review." And a lot of the time they say, "We have no record of this patient. We think it's a competitor. We think it's done on purpose." And in those instances, I think the best responses I've seen is where they actually respond and say, "Thank you so much for your feedback. We have checked our clinic records and we don't seem to have any record of you. We'd love to be able to discuss this with you. Perhaps you'd like to reach out." Basically, making the world know-
Vicky Eldridge:
Because people see it.
Vanessa Bird:
Yeah, people see it. You actually do not exist, you didn't come into our clinic, but we're saying it in a very professional way. You can't get everything taken down. And I think there is a side to certain people and they will report negative things about you and say negative things about you and spread negative rumors about you and write negative reviews. It's a side effect of success and professionalism, really. I think we have to be grown up about it, control our emotions.
Vicky Eldridge:
Take a deep breath and accept it.
Vanessa Bird:
Take a deep breath.
Vicky Eldridge:
And I've actually heard that people don't believe if all reviews are five-star and positive. People don't actually believe that. So as much as it might be uncomfortable to read a bad review about yourself, people find it more realistic if there's 90 positive reviews and...
Vanessa Bird:
Of course, and I think they get hung up and they go, "Well, I got four stars instead of five." Well, for the person who's giving you that review, that might be the highest review they've ever given anyone. They might think four stars is amazing and they might think five stars is for absolute perfection and maybe for whatever reason, one day somebody forgot their notes and they've marked you down for that. I think it's getting it into perspective, I think to put yourself in your shoes, if you were looking for a practitioner and you saw mixed reviews, you wouldn't not go just because they hadn't got a fifth star, would you?
Vicky Eldridge:
No. No, and it is a balance, isn't it? Between what people say.
Vanessa Bird:
Yeah. It is more realistic. And I remember it was Alex Bugg from Web Marketing Clinic, and I remember she said during one of her presentations once that, you're right, people don't believe this glowing five star, five star, time after time.
Vicky Eldridge:
No, that's the thing. Real... Yeah. Now, you had mentioned earlier that it can be really difficult to firefight if your reputation has been damaged, but do you think you can repair a damaged reputation? Do you think people can come back from the brink if things have gone wrong?
Vanessa Bird:
I think, in my opinion and from what I've seen, the best way to do this, and we can learn from politicians, is to take accountability, because everybody makes a mistake. And I think the most damaging thing you can do is to constantly deny, even when it's very clear that you were at fault for some way or you made a mistake. People are actually very forgiving if you just say, "Do you know what? You're right. I made a mistake. It was ill-advised, it was ill-judged. I've learned from that, I'm moving forwards." And you can actually turn it into a positive. I do actually believe there is a business opportunity for somebody in PR to bring a parallel business along that maybe does reputation management.
Vicky Eldridge:
Yeah.
Vanessa Bird:
That might be a good idea. But I think if we're doing it ourselves, we just have to take ownership and be genuine.
Vicky Eldridge:
And that's the thing, isn't it? Some people do have PRs, they're working with somebody who's perhaps giving them advice and that can be really beneficial, but a lot of practitioners don't.
Vanessa Bird:
No.
Vicky Eldridge:
And they do feel perhaps on their own or a little bit at sea when something goes wrong. And I think if anybody makes a criticism of you and your business or your skills or whatever that might be, it can be really difficult not to take that really hard. I'm somebody who takes it really personally. If I hear somebody said they don't like me or whatever, I find that really difficult. But as we know, not everyone always likes us. Not everyone's going to give us a five-star review. And it's putting that in perspective for all of the good things that you have got.
Vanessa Bird:
Yeah. And it's hard. For instance, today, I was having the same thing. I took something very personally and I think when you're passionate about what you do, it's like your baby, isn't it? So you are very defensive. And we do remind ourselves, you're right, not everyone can like us, but then there's that part of your brain that says, "But why not?"
Vicky Eldridge:
Yeah, I know. "Why not? I'm so nice."
Vanessa Bird:
"Why can't everybody like me?"
Vicky Eldridge:
I know, it's so true. Well, you've written about imposter syndrome as well, haven't you?
Vanessa Bird:
Yes, yes.
Vicky Eldridge:
And that comes into it, doesn't it?
Vanessa Bird:
Absolutely. And we all suffer from that. That's a high-achiever's thing. So we can all take solace in that, that we're all high achievers if we do suffer from imposter syndrome. I think if you have a trusted circle of advisors, friends, people you've known for a long time, with no agenda, use them as a sounding board. Ask them for advice, for reputation management, imposter syndrome, anything like that. We can't do this on our own.
Vicky Eldridge:
And it's surprising. I think a lot of people, you'll talk to them and you might see them up on a stage or you might see them and you think, "Oh, well, there's no way they're suffering from that." And actually, when you talk to people on a human level, often they are. They're going through the same things.
Vanessa Bird:
You'd be surprised. We've judged awards, haven't we?
Vicky Eldridge:
Yes, yes.
Vanessa Bird:
And a lot of the time, the finalists, amazing finalists and literally 99% of them will say at some point, "I don't feel I deserve this. I thought it was a mistake."
Vicky Eldridge:
Yeah. "I messed that up," or yeah, "I feel like I did wrong," when you're sat there thinking, "Wow, I thought you were amazing."
Vanessa Bird:
Exactly. We all suffer from it. Yeah, we're all human.
Vicky Eldridge:
Mm, that's very true. Now, if someone's getting started in aesthetics, from a business perspective, what advice would you give them? They're thinking about a career in aesthetics, they're out the gates, what would be some of your key things to think about?
Vanessa Bird:
I would say, it is hard work. And I think we are very keen, we're very passionate about what we do in this industry and it's very welcoming. And you will sit there and listen and people say, "This is a fantastic industry to be in. So many opportunities." And that's true, but you have to work so hard for that and patients don't just magically appear and come to you. You have to be prepared to not just invest in your medical side, your training, your clinical skills, but you have to be willing to either learn yourself and invest your time or hire somebody to do the business side as well. You need both of them. And I've noticed this more now than ever in the way that the economy is at the moment, you have to balance both of these things. And I think if you do and you walk before you can run, yeah, you should be on the right track.
Vicky Eldridge:
Amazing. Now, I know one of the other things you do is you do help clinics put together packages and help look at different demographics and how perhaps they can attract patients into their clinic and keep them. Obviously, that's important. So looking at the male market, because that's something that we're exploring at the moment. Is there any advice that you would give to clinics who are looking to attract more male patients into their clinics?
Vanessa Bird:
Yeah. I always encourage clinics at least once a year to analyze their demographics anyway, because as we change as practitioners, I'm saying I'm not a practitioner, of course, royal "we", our skillset changes, our treatments change. So we do need to re-evaluate. And the male market, yes, they have the same concerns, fine lines, wrinkles, sagging, aging, pigmentation, but they look at it in a different way. So you actually can offer the same treatments to the male market, but you do have to talk about it, package it, and even put it on your socials and your website in different language almost. It is like speaking to a completely different species, no offense to any of the men listening.
Vanessa Bird:
And one tip I give them is, "Okay, go to the supermarket, go to one of their big brands that does the male ranges that we all know and love, pick it off the shelf and read the type of language that they talk about." A lot of the time it's not about refreshing and rejuvenating, it's about energizing the skin. There's a whole different vocabulary surrounding the male market, and you need to be able to communicate directly with them in the language that they are comfortable with in order to get that emotional connection that they want to then think, "Actually, this treatment's for me, it's not a woman's treatment."
Vicky Eldridge:
Yeah, absolutely. Looking back on 2024 as we're almost coming to the end of the year, which is scary, have there been any highlights for you of this year? I know you've been traveling all over the place speaking, but any highlights from this year for you?
Vanessa Bird:
Yeah, for me personally, there's a few big conferences that I did speak at this year. IMCAS in Paris was incredible, and also AMWC Asia in Taipei. First time I'd been out there and I'll be at AMWC in Bangkok later on this year. So for me, the international side and the growth, not just professionally, but from meeting completely different people and especially more so in Asia, their approach to aesthetics, it's very refreshing, it's different. And I would recommend anybody who is feeling a little bit jaded, because we all go through it within aesthetics, and wants that bit of refresh, they're looking for something different, it's maybe branch out and go to a conference further afield than Europe and get some ideas, get some motivation, make some new connections. But for me, that and the contacts and the partnerships that I continue to have, the people that you always meet in this industry and how supportive they are. I sound like I'm a beauty pageant now, don't I?
Vicky Eldridge:
And world peace.
Vanessa Bird:
World peace.
Vicky Eldridge:
And what about for 2025? Anything you're looking forward to in the market? Any trends that you see happening or anything that you're looking forward to for the future of the market?
Vanessa Bird:
I'm noticing, and I'm not just saying this because this is what I do, more of a switch into soft selling and ethical selling. I think businesses and clinics are finally realizing the clinical skills are not enough. So they're now investing in their team in other ways, which I think is really important because we know sometimes it can be difficult to find good staff for clinics. And the way forward for that is this new investing in them, valuing them and what they bring to the table. And that includes other skills other than clinical. So soft selling. And for me, seeing the change that this makes in almost the patient's journey as well, the patient now feels that the clinic staff are communicating more effectively, that they understand them, they feel heard, and it's this whole new approach to aesthetics.
Vanessa Bird:
And also, one thing I think is definitely big for 2025 is loyalty schemes and memberships in clinics. It's big in America, definitely moving over here. I'll be talking about it next week in Greece. And I think it just helps lock in that long term relationship with patients, makes them feel valued and almost illustrates, this is not just a let's come and go for treatments. This is a long journey that we want to go on with you and we want you to invest in this. So definitely the membership side of things and the communication skills in a clinic.
Vicky Eldridge:
Amazing. Vanessa, thank you so much.
Vanessa Bird:
You're welcome. Thank you very much.
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