What are the foundations for really building success in your practice? Number one, strong diagnostic skills. Number two, really understanding your patients cosmetic goals and their therapeutic goals.
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Hi, my name is Michelle Gellis. I want to thank the American Acupuncture Council for giving me this opportunity to present for you today on setting your cosmetic acupuncture practice up for success. Please go to the first slide.
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So cosmetic acupuncture practice is very much a growing field in our industry, and I have been teaching cosmetic acupuncture classes for well over 20 years. I am an author and have recently. Published a 500 page hard cover, full color book on treating the face. And I am on the doctoral faculty at Yoong University in Los Angeles.
And before that I worked at the Maryland University of Integrative Health for almost 20 years. I teach facial and cosmetic acupuncture classes internationally. Here are some of the classes that I teach, and you can check them out on my website, facial acupuncture classes.com. So as you can see, all of these classes have to do with treating the face.
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And one of the things that can happen as a student, as a practitioner is you take a training and then you want to incorporate it into your practice, but you’re not quite how to handle the. Maybe the aesthetics of the practice and the marketing of this new offering that you have. So that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
Oh here is my book and you can see all of the different chapters, and it is a comprehensive book, as I mentioned, full cover color. You can also check that out on my website as well. So when you’re thinking about so let’s say you’ve just taken a cosmetic or a neuromuscular facial acupuncture class, or maybe microneedling, red light therapy, facial cupping and gu sha.
What are the foundations for really building success in your practice? Number one, strong diagnostic skills. Number two, really understanding your patients cosmetic goals and their therapeutic goals. Because cosmetic acupuncture is not just about treating the skin. Also maintaining safety and ethics is very important, especially when you’re working with the face.
The face is very unique and in my book I have. Safety sprinkled throughout the book and ethics, and I teach individual classes on CEU classes on safety and ethics that will satisfy your requirements for your licensure. So investing in continuing education is really important. A lot of our patients are getting Botox fillers, having cosmetic surgery, lasers, and a lot of other procedures done to their face.
There is definitely a shift to more holistic beauty. People are tired of not looking like themselves, not being able to move. Their faces looking a little weird, and holistic facial care has become extremely popular. It’s all over social media. And what does holistic. Beauty mean? It means moving beyond just the aesthetics and thinking about the whole person wellness.
So when I perform cosmetic acupuncture, facial cupping, microneedling, any of these techniques, I always include a full body acupuncture treatment. This will work with the emotions which show up on our faces, which can leave wrinkles and make us look more worried, frightened, or grief stricken than we need to look.
Also sustainable. Natural looking beauty is very much in demand now by offering these services in your practice, you are gonna differentiate your practice from other practices maybe that are just treating pain or other sorts of disease. How do you get people to come to your practice? First and foremost is your online presence and your website should be a hub for information and connection.
Showing your services, your products, of course, your credentials. You can use videos and blog posts, testimonials, and in many places, not everywhere, but in many places, you can use before and after images as a way to show people the effectiveness of your treatments. And weave throughout all of the trainings that I do.
And again, throughout my book, I spend a lot of time emphasizing this because it really is very important. So what are some of these marketing essentials? You have to think about who your target audience would be that you’re marketing to. Of course. Clients. Maybe other acupuncturist and other professionals that you can partner with using your social media, your website, and blog posts or newsletters, and.
Having a consistent branding, so colors and aesthetics that will show up throughout all of the platforms that you’re advertising on. Having patient testimonials can really build trust and credibility those along with the before and after photos that are taken in the same lighting. In the same position at that really showcase how well the procedures you’re doing work can really go a long way.
And then perhaps having case studies, things that you can share with your patients, maybe in a binder in your waiting room. Or with other practitioners that maybe are just doing pain or infertility. They don’t wanna get involved in aesthetics, but they know you are the go-to person. Case studies can really help with your marketing and with your with your patients.
One of the things that I emphasize when I’m teaching is how to set realistic expectations, because you never want to over promise and learning how to look at the whole person, their lifestyle, their genetics, their health history. Falls from A TCM and a Western medicine perspective. How much sleep are they getting?
Do they smoke? What are they drinking? What are they eating? How much stress do they have? How old are they? How dark is their skin? How thin is their skin? These are all things that are going to play into what sort of results they will have Also. Educating them about timelines and realistic outcomes within a certain amount of time.
If someone comes to you and they say, I have a wedding next week and I wanna look like my photo from when I was 18 and they’re 58 years old, they have to understand that’s not going to happen. And part of this is experience, and part of this is going to be training. Documenting their goals and any progress that you’re making along the way.
Sometimes people don’t notice these things and it’s up to you to point them out. And then really, this all goes to building trust and not coming off as. Someone who’s just trying to sell them something, but really being professional, having good listening skills. When I was teaching at Maryland University of Integrative Health, I taught a full semester listening skills class as part of our traditional diagnosis class.
It was a whole section on listening skills. Really learning how to listen beyond the words. Additionally, what are the short-term results they can expect? What are the long-term results they can expect? And then looking at not just the cosmetic. Improvements, but their overall health, the way that I teach cosmetic acupuncture incorporates some auricular points.
I’ve had patients quit smoking, stop drinking sleeping better, so many other things, better digestion. Just calmer because. Of the cosmetic acupuncture that they’re coming for. So they get unexpected results and it’s important to point that out. Don’t just listen and say that’s great, but really point it out.
Pricing your services is going to be dependent on a lot of things. I see a lot of practitioners. Undervaluing their practice and you really wanna set pricing that reflects both where you are to a point. Because if you’re buying an iPhone costs the same in Idaho as a dozen New York City.
That is important, but not as important as you think your experience. Your knowledge, your training and your ability to get results is going to go very far when you’re thinking about how to set pricing for your treatments. Some states allow you to create packages and that can help to make it more cost effective for people and really don’t put yourself on the sale rack.
Communicate your pricing confidently and clearly. So there’s no, oh, I thought you said this or I thought you said that. Once your practice is started in order to grow your practice, you definitely want to develop referral networks. This can go from attending in person. Networking events, going to seminars, workshops maybe you’re going to offer a little happy hour, healthy happy hour where you do some red light therapy or having little classes where you teach your patients how to do their own cupping in gu and sell them a cupping in gu sha set.
And as I mentioned, collect those testimonials and case studies. Sending newsletters are a great way to stay connected, as I just mentioned, workshops, collaboration and storytelling. People love to hear other people’s stories. So in conclusion, the success of your cosmetic. Your neuromuscular facial acupuncture practice is going to be built on a strong foundation across audiences, people with acne, people with scars, people with aging, and all sorts of different neuromuscular disharmonies.
Affect their face, head and neck. Communication and setting realistic goals are key, and having a business strategy, not just winging it, but having a business strategy will ensure long-term growth. This is how you can find me on social media. I’m under my name on Facebook, and I also have a Facebook group.
With over 10,000 health professionals and acupuncturists full facial acupuncture on Instagram, you can find me under my name and my website is facial acupuncture classes.com. Thank you so much for tuning in and I’ll see you next time.