What Business Are You In?
by The Aesthetic Blueprint posted in Aesthetic Practice, Business
At our seminars, I’m always amazed at the responses I get to the question “What business are you in?” The answers are often very clinical or shallow in their assessment. Yet, understanding what business you are truly in is the first and most important business decision that you will make toward creating an extraordinary practice.
Successful corporations across the globe know exactly what business they are in and they build their entire organization around it. It is deeply rooted in the culture and dare I say the very fabric of the company.
Let’s take, for example, Zappos. On the surface, Zappos is in the business of selling shoes online; a premier online shoe store. But if you speak with Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh, he will quickly tell you that his company is in the business of delivering happiness. Now if that sounds odd to you, think for a moment what you’ve heard about the customer experience with Zappos or perhaps your own personal experience. Zappos’ single business focus is to make their customers happy by creating an “addicting” shopping experience for them. When I ask audiences to describe Zappos, I often hear “free shipping” or “big selection” or “full refunds”, which are all completely true but frankly any online shopping company can offer these features. However, Zappos built a business that goes well beyond these features in that their entire culture focuses on creating an unparalleled customer experience. At Zappos, customer service isn’t the department; it’s the whole company. There is a wide range of stories that speak of Zappos employees sending flowers to elderly customers, hand-delivering shoes to a distraught groom who’d forgotten his, and even sending pizza to customers who said that they were hungry. What do any of these things have to do with selling shoes online? On the surface, nothing; but at the core . . . everything. You see, Zappos understands the importance of creating raving fans. Raving fans are loyal to you. They are committed to you. They trust you unequivocally and importantly; they are willing to forgive you. Create a raving fan and you’ve got a customer for life!
How do you create raving fans? Get to know them better than anyone else. Find out the best way to meet their needs and deliver your offering in a way that’s beyond their expectations. Zappos is wildly successful because they deliver beyond their customers’ expectations – delivering happiness to the tune of a billion dollars!
What does all of this have to do with aesthetics? Examples like Zappos are directly transferrable to your aesthetic practice. Many of their principles can be applied to your practice, regardless of its size and stage of business.
The problem is that very few aesthetic practitioners spend time thinking about their practice as a business. Granted they think a lot about aspects of their practice but the focus, for the most part, is on things that have very little impact on the overall success of the practice as a business. In many cases, they anguish over things they can’t control. Don’t major in minor things!
So what business are you really in?
Answer that question and you are ready to build your brand—your aesthetic offering delivered in a way that goes beyond your patient’s expectations.
Answer that question and create an experience for your patients so extraordinary that they won’t be able to keep to themselves . . . Raving fans!
Answer that question and you are on your way to taking your practice to a whole new level of success and profitability.
This is all part of The Aesthetic Blueprint to your success. I’m a big believer that success leaves clues and studying success in other arenas enables one to create a success faster based on one’s specific goals and dreams. I recommend that you study Zappos and other extraordinary companies and learn from their success.
Stay tuned. More to come.
