Episode Transcript
Key Takeaways
- Identify what your practice can excel at and ensure it aligns with market demand.
- Avoid the trap of chasing the latest trends without strategic alignment.
- Distinguish between strategy (the what and why) and tactics (the how).
- Inaction and lack of strategic focus can lead to failure.
- Choose strategies and tactics that align with your long-term goals and values.
Introduction
Welcome back to another episode of Practice Perfect. The title of today’s episode is Stop Chasing the Silver Bullet and Get to Work. Understanding strategic and tactical objectives to get things done.
The Pitfall of Inaction
Now there’s a lot of ways that you can grow a cosmetic practice, but there’s only one way you can fail at it. Not getting shit done. That’s it. I see doctors make this mistake over and over.
“Not getting shit done. That’s it.”
They go to conferences and they come back and they dump everything that they’ve learned on the desks of their employees. They’ll come back with all kinds of tactics and new tricks and new tools and, you know, the greatest and latest offer that they can use to grow their practice. And they try to make it somebody else’s problem. And the end result is that really nothing ever gets done.
The Myth of the Silver Bullet
Here’s the thing about the latest shiny object. And here’s the truth about growing cosmetic practices. There is no silver bullet. There’s no magic wand.
“There is no silver bullet. There’s no magic wand.”
There’s no secret tactic that you can use. Nobody’s reinventing the wheel here. Nobody’s coming up with anything so revolutionary that it will catapult your practice into the stratosphere. It just doesn’t exist.
Strategy vs. Tactics
So let’s discuss the difference here between strategy and tactics. I think we’ve discussed tactics and strategy in previous episodes but I think it merits going over them again.
Strategy is the what and the why. What do you want to do? I want to take the beachhead. I want to have the largest skyscraper in the world. I want to have the biggest Botox practice and non-surgical practice in my city. Okay that’s what you want to do. Why do you want to do it?
The Importance of Action
If you have tactics and strategy without action you’re also destined to fail. So I want you to understand that this paralysis of analysis, this coming back with a thousand different tactics and not knowing why you’re implementing them. Running around in the circle is not the same as running forward.
“Running around in the circle is not the same as running forward.”
I’ve mentioned this before. I mention it in my book. Activity doesn’t equal progress. You’re after progress here. In your practice you want to move forward.
Growth Strategies
So let’s go over some of the possible growth strategies that you can use to grow a cosmetic practice. And understand that really you should be doing some of all of these. But I have grown practices using just one of these and I do have clients right now that are using a single strategy and it’s working just fine.
The first one would be social media. The second one will be direct to consumer advertising. The third one will be content creation and SEO. The fourth one is reviews and influencers. And the fifth one is public relations.
The Cost of Tactics
What I want you to understand, no matter how you look at this, is that there is a cost to any tactic. It can be financial, it can be time, it can be emotional and spiritual. And what I don’t want you to do is I don’t want you to jump on the latest bandwagon just because it looks free and cheap, right?
“There is a cost to any tactic. It can be financial, it can be time, it can be emotional and spiritual.”
Because the fact of the matter is that you still have to go and put in the work. So even if you pay your staff or you have a company do it for you, you still have to pay.
Conclusion and Homework
The most important thing you have to do is stop getting ready to get ready and get something done. So I want you to go out there and make the moves that are necessary for you to achieve your dreams. Thanks for listening.
As always, you can find these podcasts at thinkpastas.com or iTunes. Any links or anything that I’ve talked about in the podcast will be in the show notes. And if you’ve got any specific questions that you’d like me to address on future podcasts, don’t hesitate to go to thinkpastas.com and just leave a message on the live chat over there, and we will make podcasts for you. And I’ll try to find experts, or I’ll answer your questions myself. And I will see you on a future episode. Stay tuned.