AesthetiCare MedSpa Grows Relationships and Revenues with Sciton

Competition is a given for Medspas. “It’s true around any large city,” says Matt Taranto, owner of AesthetiCare MedSpas, located outside Kansas City. However, according to Taranto, there is no reason to fear competition if everyone in the business stays focused on the most effective treatments, high-quality customer service, and the education essential for skilled staff and informed clients. These are the most important success factors. These are the core elements that will win customers for life.

Taranto founded his first AesthetiCare clinic in 2001. With a background as a Certified Laser Trainer and owner of a skincare product distribution business, he understood the potential benefits delivered by the equipment he was selling. He’s demonstrated that potential through 16 years of double digit business growth. He has expanded from two staff to a staff of 30. Now operating in two locations one in Leawood and the other in Lawrence, Kansas with a total of 22 treatment rooms. Taranto has firmly established the foundation of his business on Sciton lasers. He is committed to client and staff education, and to outstanding customer services as essential elements of his business success.

Practice Overview

AesthetiCare is one of the largest aesthetic centers in the country. Serving Kansas City since 2001, they have achieved continuous growth and success by providing the most effective treatments available, performed by highly trained staff, all delivered with consistently excellent customer service. AesthetiCare is also a
national training center for Botox, dermal fillers, laser treatments, and general aesthetics. Board certified plastic surgeons provide medical direction and staff includes four registered nurses and five licensed aestheticians. Using advanced technology AesthetiCare offers a comprehensive menu of services delivered with knowledge, passion, and care.

Deciding Factors

• Sciton delivers the best BBL™, fractional, resurfacing, and Women’s Health lasers
• Rapid return on investment with long-term revenue assurance
• Sciton technology advances, product quality, and business relationships
• Simplicity

The Challenge

Building any successful business requires courage mixed with experience, effort, and vision. In 2001, with experience in skin care, laser technology, and sales, Matt Taranto opened a nonsurgical aesthetic center outside of Kansas City. He’d been managing his own distribution business, servicing plastic surgeons and dermatologists in six states. Now he wanted a place where he could use the products he’d been selling. The intent was to gain direct experience to more accurately and ethically represent equipment and treatment capabilities. He measured success in patient satisfaction and long-term loyalty. The challenge was how to most effectively and profitably achieve his objectives.

The Solution

It started with a single location and two employees in 1,000 square feet. Matt’s business strategy emphasizes education, customer service, and building long-term relationships. To be effective, he knew staff needed to be well trained. They needed to understand the treatments and the technology, and he needed to equip them with the best available. His industry experience told him the best
was Sciton.

“If you do this right, investing in new equipment shouldn’t be a concern,” said Taranto, “you’re buying equipment that creates happy clients.” Taranto wanted a staff who could teach clients how skin ages. Every treatment room has a poster displaying a cross section of skin. The staff at AesthetiCare truly understand skin and utilize these anatomical charts of the skin to thoroughly educate  their clients. Having treatments on a regular basis means that the staff can speak from experience about BBL and HALO™ laser results. They become their own best testimonials.

To sustain business growth, AesthetiCare invests in a range of marketing programs. They launch new products and treatments through a mix of marketing channels. That can include everything from traditional print and radio to social media, web promotions, and SEO enhancements. “We also look for opportunities to package treatments,” said Karen Naugle AesthiCare’s Marketing Director.
“For example, our “Stay Forever Young” program packages HALO with other treatments, and they’re sold together at a discount. These packages include multiple visits over a period of months and are a great way to create long-term customer loyalty.”

“Sciton has defined itself above competitors by a large margin. In
four areas Sciton is by far the best technology. Their light source BBL,
easily the best on the market. Their fractional HALO, best on the market.
And I want to offer the best.”
– Matt Taranto
Owner, AesthetiCare MedSpa

“Every new or prospective client hears the great story about Forever Young
BBL and HALO. No matter their age, our belief is that these two treatments
are the best ways to get everyone’s skin in amazing shape and keep it that way for life.”
– Matt Taranto
Owner, AesthetiCare MedSpa

AesthetiCare has also created programs that extend business through marketing partners and community influencers. They create reciprocal relationships with local businesses – a gym, hair salon, boutique or media outlet – and provide them with at-cost or complimentary treatments. Marketing partners become advocates. They’re invited to participate in AesthetiCare events and are provided
with promotional gift cards to distribute to customers at their own events. Over time this has become a vibrant community of shared business interests that promotes and sustains a loyal customer base.

AesthetiCare Open House, September 2017

• Event promotion: $18,500
• Vendor contributions:$9,000
• 2,000 invitations
• 4-9 pm on a Thursday
• Live treatment demonstrations every 30 minutes
• Catered food, beer, wine under a large tent in the
parking lot
• Live Music
• Lots of drawings and prizes
• 20% nearly all services and products
• =$704,000 in revenue

“I believe that the easiest way to define yourself against your competitors
is by your level of customer service. And, my goal isn’t to sell you a skin
treatment. My goal is to impress you enough to become a client for life. We
sell through education, and we keep customers coming back by offering a
level of customer service that blows people away.”
– Matt Taranto
Owner, AesthetiCare MedSpa

The Benefits

The success of AesthetiCare’s business approach is borne out by 16 consecutive years of double-digit growth. To “do it right” Taranto budgets $40 – $60K annually for staff education, and “it’s the best investment return I will ever get,” he says. His goal is to have the most well-trained staff; friendlier, more knowledgeable, and delivering better customer service than any competitor. The model is proven in his continuing business success and growth: from 2 employees to 20, 1000 sq. ft. to 8200, three treatment rooms to 17, from one Sciton laser to seven spread across two locations. One eleven-year-old laser is still in daily use.

• Forever Young BBL launched October 2013 – 871 treatments in
the first five months(purchased a third system to keep up with
demand)
• HALO, introduced at a 2014 open house, pre-sold over
$100,000 of HALO treatments in one day – $260,000 revenue
in the first ten weeks
• 1,415 BBL treatments in 2016
• 325 HALO treatments in 2016, over 1,000 total
• Five-year minimum projected return per Sciton
JOULE™ = $775,000 (ten treatments/month)

“It’s easy to sell things we believe in and because my staff is well trained,
they’ll perform good treatments. If you perform good treatments, you get
happy clients. And happy clients equal referrals. Forever Young BBL has the
highest level of patient satisfaction in our clinic. I can’t think of a time
anyone has been unhappy after a series of Forever Young BBL treatments.”
– Matt Taranto
Owner, AesthetiCare MedSpa

“Earlier systems were a lot more painful, and treatments seemed to take
a lifetime. Now, Sciton HALO and BBL technology continue to advance.
We can advance with them and update our systems to take advantage. I  think that’s awesome.”
– Laura Madsen, LE
AesthetiCare MedSpa

What’s Next

“We will continue to grow if we do this the right way,” said Taranto. “The next 16 years will be even better. The technology has gotten better. We have gotten better. We understand the business, and are confident we will succeed.”

Advice to Practitioners

• Hire good people and invest in their sales and technical training
• Emphasize outstanding customer service
• Pay better than competitors
• Set monthly goals and have all share in achievement rewards
• Attend the Sciton summits to develop skills and gain maximum advantage from    your Sciton laser

“We work on the face, the most visible part of the body. When you are working on a client’s face, they want to know that you’re using the best equipment available. They don’t want cheap. They want incredibly great. I want to offer the best. A bit more expense is inconsequential. It more than pays for itself in a very short time. The best way to grow your business long term is by creating amazingly happy clients. They’ll send all of their friends and relatives to follow.”
– Matt Taranto
Owner, AesthetiCare MedSpa

“The time and money AesthetiCare invests in our education is significant.
It’s valuable to the business and each of us individually. It means we know
our equipment and the characteristics of every treatment. That makes a big
difference in our customer credibility. I’ve worked at other clinics that are
skeptical of education investments. They’re afraid staff will leave, eliminating their education value. I think the opposite is true. Education increases staff loyalty because the business is taking care of them. That improves staff retention. We need the education to stay current. Lasers have substantially changed, and Sciton’s BBL is a great example. It’s so easy to use compared to other systems. The technology is better. It’s faster. We can get more done for a patient, and we can treat more patients. That requires a change in approach and a full understanding of the advanced capabilities.”
– Laura Madsen, LE
AesthetiCare MedSpa

To learn more about the advantages that JOULE and HALO can deliver for your practice, visit our HALO treatment page https://scitondev.wpengine.com/physicians/halo/ or contact your Sciton representative at info@sciton.com