Episode Transcript
[00:00:21] Speaker A: Hey, this is Lacey with Smartcast, and I'm here today with my friends at BTL. Micah is our practice development manager. What is your official role these days?
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Official title is practice success manager.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: Practice success manager?
[00:00:33] Speaker B: Yes, ma'am.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: And you are doing the marketing videos for BTL?
[00:00:40] Speaker B: Yep, I am. Official title is social media manager. Okay, so create all types of content for BTL. As you know, we're big on social media. Yes, content, video, photo is.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: You were here for our bus tour.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: That's right. So this is Jack Ciperle, but within the BTL ranks, he's known as Jack Spielberg, given his cinematography directorial skills. Yeah, he's the guy. He's the social media guru.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: Love it. Well, it's definitely been a lot of fun partnering with BTL over the years. I think you guys go above and beyond on your partnership with the practices that you do business with. I think that that really just takes everything to another level. Whenever you really are giving that marketing piece, I think a lot of devices come in, sell your devices, and they promise you all of these different marketing tools and helping you be successful with your devices, and they just kind of, like, give you a bunch of paperwork. Here you go. Good job.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: But it was printed on hardstock, right?
[00:01:38] Speaker A: Yes. But you guys go the extra mile, you come and you actually partner with us. You show up for bus tour events. We've had some really successful bus tour events in the past.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: You guys have had some very successful bus tours.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: I think we have done four or five now, at this point. We actually purchased the m face immediately after last year's bus tour event. My mom got to demo it on the bus tour, and we had clients that were wanting to try it out, and my mom was like, no, no, no. I'm sorry. I have to get this. I have to try this out to make sure that I want to buy this, because you guys know that we spend a lot of time, like, doing our due diligence and making sure that before we bring in any new technology, we test it out ourselves. And it has to be something that we would want, we would pay for. We would have experienced the downtime that comes along with it. And so we just really make sure that we spend a lot of time educating ourselves and demoing things ourselves. Like, recently, my mom blew herself out to south Florida to try a new device before we decided whether we were gonna purchase it or not. So we're very serious about our dedicated to the cause. We are dedicated to the cause. So you guys have had a busy day today already.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: We have. We have. We've been here and there and everywhere.
Jack and I are currently working on what we've. What we've dubbed tour dabama.
We're doing four stops this week. Okay. We did one on Tuesday. We did one this morning. We get to wrap up our day with you very excited, and then we have one more Thursday.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:16] Speaker B: And, yeah, it's just an opportunity. Like you said, we really enjoy partnering with you. Lacy, you and your mom have been fantastic to work with. You always welcome us with open arms. And, I mean, I'm gonna brag on you for a quick second. You're like, top one or two users in the state of Alabama. And if we were to break it down by region, you're still like top five easy. And I think it's because all the time and experience you guys have invested with, like you said, all the other different devices, you've seen what's out there, you've seen what works. Your people, your. Your team is phenomenal.
[00:03:49] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: I don't know that I always. I always tell people like my new. So as a practice success manager, I get to work with folks on the back end. They've purchased the devices, we're partnering with them. And one question that almost everyone asks is like, hey, what is the differentiating factor? And I think it's got to be buy in from your team. And you guys have cultivated a phenomenal team. They buy into everything you do. They help push the envelope, move the needle however you want to break it down. And so y'all have just been easy to work with.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: Well, you have to believe in what it is that you have, or it's going to sit there and it's going to collect dust. And we don't have. We have over 35 different treatment modalities and we utilize every single one of them.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: And so that's a lot of continued education. That's a lot of training for our staff. We're sitting here in our training center that we use for ongoing training. And, you know, I don't. I don't know if most people know this, but getting clinic, like, paying our staff and taking off time, that's all very expensive, but it's totally worth it to us because it's so important to us that they be fully trained and fully confident in everything that they're doing. Every single esthetician that we have and every single front desk staff member that we have are clinically trained and certified on every piece of equipment that we have.
[00:05:07] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: Which is completely unheard of, for us being able to have that level of training behind every single one of our staff members, we have over 20 staff members, sets us apart, I think 100%. So instead of us just saying, hey, go sell this several thousand dollars package, good luck, let me know how it goes. They can sell it and they can educate on it because they believe in it and they get it done themselves and they understand what it feels like and they understand the outcomes that they should be receiving and they know how to talk about it because they eat, sleep and drink it. They love it.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: I think that's something I have recognized and noticed within your team. You would be, maybe you would, maybe you wouldn't be blown away at the number of practices that you might call and ask for a specific service, not just BTL related, but any kind of service. And the number of times you could hear people say, oh, I'm not sure if we do that anymore.
Ever. A concern of mine. For anyone calling it a smart skin. I know that the front desk, left, right, top to bottom, backwards forwards.
[00:06:19] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:06:19] Speaker B: And again, that, like you said, that's an investment that you and your mom have made in bringing up your team members, making sure that they do know left, from right, top to bottom, backwards forwards.
[00:06:28] Speaker A: And if it's something that we don't have, we can give them a recommendation of something that we do have that would be similar to that type of technology.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: Well, exactly. An understanding of the industry as a whole. Like, you guys have done a really good job training your staff and keeping them up to date.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: Yeah, we try.
They're a lot of fun. They've been really easy to coach because they are excited about this industry and they're so cute. They make their own, like little TikTok videos and all their own little marketing. They post it on their pages. And so it's really refreshing to be surrounded by people that really enjoy what they do and love to make a difference in other people's lives. So one of the things that I hear a lot when I'm at other conferences about BTL devices specifically is I think sometimes they get confused about how to position it. Or they'll ask me like, how are you so successful with this? How are you positioning it? And for me, and what's worked best for our client base is getting down to the basics of this is an overall wellness device. This is, you're not going to look for your little six pack of abs to pop out first, you're going to want to notice that you're is better, that you're sleeping better at night, you have more energy. You feel like. You just feel like, overall, a more well rounded kind of end result. And then once you get those results, then you're going to notice the other fun side effects, that your skin is tighter and you're maybe losing a little bit of inches, and you're getting some abs, and then you got such a great result from that that now you want to do your booty and. Or now you want to do your flanks or you want to do your arms. We've done tons of arms and gotten great results.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: I love it. And that's. It's funny, because before I was on the practice success side of things, I was on the sales side, face to face with business owners like yourself and doing that side of it. And that was a point that I always made when I was talking, introducing people to BTL. Like, yes, we are under the aesthetics branch of our overall company, but in reality, we're talking about health and wellness. When you're talking about emsculpt Neo, burning 30% fat, 18% of which is visceral, no one else without a, you know, suture and a knife is getting to the sub Q and then simultaneously building 25% muscle, that's quality of life. And like you were saying, after that internal business is handled, you will see the external body composition. Like the thing I used to always tell people when it comes to. When it comes to msculpt Neo specifically, it wasn't always about weight loss. It's about body composition.
[00:09:01] Speaker A: Right.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: Because muscle and muscle weighs more than fat. And when you're talking a 30% reduction in fat and a 25% gain in muscle, it might not really see the difference. But teamed with some of the lovely things y'all do in weight loss, it's just gonna keep everything. Like you said, it's about body composition and health and wellness. So I love the fact that, you know, you recognize that and you're pointing that out to your customers and your patients that are coming through the door, because it is. It's something to be recognized.
[00:09:27] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and something that my team learned, what just recently took them to Nashville to a BTL conference that you guys hosted for education for our team, which we also greatly appreciate those opportunities. And not only is it surrounded by education of your BTL devices, but just information in the industry overall and ways that they can integrate other treatments that we have in with our emsculpt devices or M face and Xion and all of those different modalities. And so one of the things that we learned too, was that the M face is actually helping with bone density.
[00:10:00] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: Which is huge. I mean, that's like, that's the structure of your face and the fact that it can create new bone density. I mean, that is.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: It's impressive.
[00:10:11] Speaker A: Very impressive.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: Yeah, we.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: Especially for the people that think the EM face is just like a tens unit.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: Right?
[00:10:18] Speaker A: Oh, you know, that's my favorite.
[00:10:19] Speaker B: That is my absolute favorite. I'm like, well, you play with the tens unit, and we'll go ahead and do some before and afters, and then you come see us for.
[00:10:26] Speaker A: Yeah, we'll do a side by side comparison. You know what? If you think so, we'll treat one side with your in face and one side with the tens unit, and we'll see how that turns out for you.
[00:10:35] Speaker B: Be a little lopsided.
[00:10:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: So, yeah, this is, again, what you guys are able to do and the way that you've integrated. I mean, because how long have you guys been partnering with BTL? I mean, you guys have been doing your thing for far longer.
[00:10:52] Speaker A: Yes. So we've been in the business for over 25 years. My mom started the company. I've been here for 15 of those. And then we actually. Fun story. Have had BTL devices since, like, way before we even started with, like, new BTL. We have the original derma wave aquapheresis, or we had the original derma wave aquapheresis, which I'm sure you have no idea what that is even is. It's no needle.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: I've seen that manual, and you.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: It's no needle mesotherapy. And there were custom formulated powders and a gel, and you would mix the powder in the gel, and it had a little screw in with an electrode, and then you would do the settings, and then, you know, it would be no needle. Like, it would drive it as deep as an injection with no needles. So that would help with tone, texture, elasticity. And they had different, like, serum formulations that you could do with it. They also had ultrasound therapy. So a lot of that was going to not be on the aesthetic side. It was really more on, like, even the pain management side of the company that we were utilizing for aesthetic purposes before people were using it for aesthetic purposes. Like, ultrasound was used originally in wound healing research centers for burn victims and an equine therapy, and we were using it for skincare.
[00:12:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: So we were like, well, if it can heal burnt skin, imagine what it could do for the overall healthy skin quality. So we've been doing ultrasound for aesthetic purposes for 25 years. That's what my mom started with, aside from microdermabrasion, we also had the exilus at one point. We had the vanquish at 1.2 of.
[00:12:33] Speaker B: The big legacy devices.
[00:12:35] Speaker A: But the first device that we got with you guys was emsculpt in 2020. And we were scared to death because it was the most expensive piece of equipment that we've ever purchased.
But we were able to get that taken care of. And then I. The world shut down right when Covid happened, and we were like, great, congratulations.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: On your new purchase.
[00:12:59] Speaker A: Yes, but our patients are so fantastic. While we were shut down for two months, I was coming up to the spa and I was doing, taking phone calls, I was answering text messages, I was doing curbside service, I was doing at home schoolwork with my kids in the back. But I just wanted our patients to know that, like, we're still here. We're gonna be here when we come back. Like, no one's, like, dropping the ball. I'm not out, like, just taking a hike. That's the only thing you could do during COVID But our patients were so sweet. They were texting us and, like, checking on us to make sure that we were doing okay. And they all, the majority of them kept their memberships active to support us because we allow rollover credit with our membership program. And then we also offered, for three months after we reopened to allow for them to use their credit towards skincare as well, to give them something extra and to give them, like, just an extra. Thank you for being supportive to us during that time. But they were purchasing msculpt packages online from us while we were closed during, like, one of the most unsettling times of our history. Just because they wanted to support us and because they knew they weren't going to be able to go to gyms when everything opened back up. And it felt safe and it was in a clean, sterile environment. And so it really put us in a position that we've never been in before. It took our business to a completely different level of where we had ever been before. And at the national conference, you know, I told Brad, yeah. That now anytime that we purchase new equipment, we can pay cash for it.
[00:14:32] Speaker B: That's so awesome.
[00:14:33] Speaker A: To where I used to have to lease it and, you know, or, you know, finance, finance it. And that's like 11% interest rate if you're not a physician, if you're in a. If you are owning a non physician owned medical spa and you have to get financing, it's. I mean, it's 1112 percent interest for that.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: I can add up very fast.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: I mean, I could buy a whole nother piece of equipment with that. You know what I mean?
[00:14:59] Speaker B: It's a twofer.
[00:15:00] Speaker A: So being put in a position that now we can make better choices for our practice because our finances are on a completely different level and we're able to do more for our staff and we're able to add in new technologies and we're able to do all of these things that we couldn't do before is because we made the choice to invest in BTL equipment and because our patients love the results. They buy multiple packages before with anybody treatments, you would see clients, some would do okay with the treatment and then there would be the majority of them that were like, eh, I can't really tell the difference, but we had probably 98% patient satisfaction with our mscult.
[00:15:42] Speaker B: That's beautiful.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: And they would purchase multiple areas.
[00:15:45] Speaker B: Were you all doing? Because I know right now, like, the hot thing that we've been seeing through a ton of the aesthetics industry is like everyone is really starting to hone in their skill and their focus on like, their before and after photos.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: When did you all start using that? And was that part of kind of getting people to buy into it, or were they. I mean, I know you guys had a ton of equity within your community because you guys have taken care of people for 25 years, but what role would you say the before and afters has played? Was it something.
[00:16:14] Speaker A: The before and afters were really big and especially my arms. Yeah, I sold more packages with my arm before and after.
[00:16:21] Speaker B: I've used your photo that.
[00:16:22] Speaker A: Yes, you texted me and you're like, whose arms are these? And I was like, they're mine. Here's your photo release form. But do you know that that was with the classic. So that was two. That was two treatments twice a week for two weeks. So literally two weeks later, that was my result. And when my brother saw the pictures for the first time, he was like, that's just the lighting. And he zoomed in. He was like, no, it's not. Oh, my gosh. He was like, it really hits your arms.
[00:16:47] Speaker B: I turned around and his eyes got biggie.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. So, I mean, you know, so before and afters. Before and afters have been huge. And then also just this community is very close knit. And so it's like you treat somebody, they get a good result. They're telling all their friends and their friends are coming in and they're all like, like hopping on it, on the trend. And so we just, we did. I think that I was, like, super. I'm always super competitive, but I was extremely super competitive because you guys had, like, a little tracker on the back of it, too, that would send a report that said how many we did and, like, where we were in the country and where we were in the state and the region. And so every month, I would call my rep and be like, did I win?
[00:17:32] Speaker B: Nice. You ever called me yet? And you're winning.
[00:17:35] Speaker A: Well, I'm always winning.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: I tracked that report.
[00:17:39] Speaker A: He was like, yes, Lacey, you're winning. And then sometimes he would just mess with me and be like, I don't know, this month you might not make it. I was like, don't mess with me.
[00:17:47] Speaker B: Don't you tease me.
[00:17:48] Speaker A: Don't you tease me. But so we were so successful with that, and so then we brought in Emcella and.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: God, that device, huh?
[00:17:55] Speaker A: Emsella is probably my favorite device in the entire world, because clients will do the imsella, and they, hands down, will give me more praise and more feedback and more appreciation for the results that they get from that. And I can't do a before and after picture from that.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: Right? You want to hear a fun statistic for McEla? This is one that I share with anyone that will listen. Mainly because in, as you know, in the aesthetics and device capital equipment world, this is just unheard of. But it has a 97% satisfaction rate.
[00:18:29] Speaker A: I 100% believe that it is the.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: One device that people. It's not the. It's not the. Although it does help with sexual wellness. It is not the sexiest device that we sell, but it's the one that is guaranteed to turn a profit because it just sells itself. And I mean, sexual wellness, we have the new study out about, you know, how it's improving erectile dysfunction for men. We have already known about the sexual wellness that it helps with. With women, then all stages or all forms, excuse me, of incontinence. There was also, I like to share with folks for our aging or our elderly patients. We did a study that there was a 47% improvement of people's gait from, I think it was three weeks of two treatments a week for, what is it, 28 minutes per protocol session? That's unbelievable. Again, health and wellness.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: Well, and Mary Margaret swears that it caused her to get pregnant both times.
And also our injector was getting ready to start infertility, and Mary Margaret was like, I mean, I can't make you any promises, but I'm telling you, if you do the mcell, you're gonna end up pregnant. And so she got pregnant, and another one of our clients that was trying to get pregnant got pregnant. So maybe do a study on that. I don't know.
[00:19:46] Speaker B: Well, we know the postpartum portion of pelvic floor therapy. I mean, it's an incredible device.
[00:19:54] Speaker A: One of our housekeepers gets on the imsela while she's here, too. And the first time that she got to use it, when she left, she texted my mom. She was like, Miss Carmen. Miss Carmen. I went for a walk with my sister, and I can already tell the difference. She was so excited. She was like, this is, like, an added bonus for my job here. So.
[00:20:11] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:20:12] Speaker A: The girls, our staff, we've had the imzella for several years now, and they still fight over it. Like, they're getting here early, and they're like, dang it, somebody's already on there, like, during lunch or after work or whatever. So, I mean, the Mcel is always running. You can always hear that, that click click, click, the click click click of that, and the click click click of the emsculpt neo. And the click of the m face. I'm like, it sounds like money.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: The new sound of a cash register.
[00:20:39] Speaker A: Right?
So we love that. And then, you know, like I said after the bus tour, we brought in the inface. And.
[00:20:46] Speaker B: And remind me, did you do the m face with the Xion platform?
[00:20:50] Speaker A: So we have both.
[00:20:51] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:20:52] Speaker A: We have an emphase platform and an Xion. We both at the same time.
[00:20:55] Speaker B: There you go. Double down.
[00:20:57] Speaker A: Yeah. So we're gonna be opening up our second location in Hoover mid October. That's what I was asking you about. Applicators.
So we'll be purchasing some new applicators, and we put keep one tower here and one tower in Hoover.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:21:12] Speaker A: And so that way, we can have at both places.
[00:21:15] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll need to. Actually, this is a really good timing, because I. Yeah, we can talk.
[00:21:22] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: We've got some stuff to talk about.
[00:21:24] Speaker A: Talk offline.
Yeah. But we love the Xion. The radio frequency ultrasound for the face and the body.
The radio frequency micro needling. The M film has just done fantastic. We previously had a vaviv, and they went under, and so, sadly, we weren't able to get consumables from them anymore. So it was, like, really great. That that's the purpose of why we ended up even bringing on the Xion platform is because we needed to replace the v and because we were able to have so many other treatment options on the tower as well. It just made so much sense for us. And we include the emsella. Exactly. We include the Emsella treatment with the MFEM complimentary, so that, that way they can get a really great balance and they're going to get a better outcome inside and out. I mean, for us, we just really want to provide good outcomes. We're all about layering our treatments together with our BBL, full bbl with our doctors, which is radiesse hyper dilute in the booty. So it's a liquid bbl booty lift. We give them a free package of Emsculpt Neo. Yeah, just because we want them to have a great result from that. And so at the end of the day, we just want our patients to be happy and to be excited about the treatment outcomes that they're getting so that they keep coming back whenever they need to treat something else. Where they need to touch up that specific area of where who we think.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: They think about again, too. Like, you guys have been in it to win it for a while, but everything that you're talking about, like, that's literally like the core to the floor. Like we had that whole core to floor. That's still something we focus on. It's still something we preach to newer, newer partners. You guys have obviously been doing this for a while, but it really is. I mean, we're talking about health and wellness. It's not just, I mean, you will see results, but you're going to feel the results. And it is, it's. It's exciting to see the ways that you guys have gotten creative with packaging, promoting and serving your guys community. And, you know, it doesn't surprise me that your people were still paying for their packages when they couldn't even come and see y'all. Yeah, they wanted you to be here when they could.
[00:23:30] Speaker A: Right. And then, you know, semi glutide is such a big thing now.
[00:23:34] Speaker B: I was hoping you were going to talk about that.
[00:23:36] Speaker A: Yeah, so we do a lot of semiglutide and we do virtual consultations too.
But with that, they have some new issues that they need to address with collagen loss and their skin is getting looser or whatever. And so we have a lot of things that we can treat to offset some of those things. And so they're getting these healthier lifestyles and they're learning to have better eating habits and all of these things. But now we need to address the skin laxity and their I. Their booties are sagging and all of that stuff. So they need to kind of like get that stuff in shape. And with our, especially with our BTL devices, we have a lot of options that we can help them with that. With the M face and the emsculpt Neo for the booty and the Xion radio frequency with ultrasound for the body.
[00:24:24] Speaker B: And the face, it's been crazy to see just, I mean, if you have a tv or if you're on the Internet, you're seeing like, the, the rapid weight loss that's taken the US and the world by storm is phenomenal. And it's great. I mean, it's really exciting to see what's happening. But there have been just, like you said, those, like, drastic side effects of ozempic face. Ozempic. But. And, yeah, like, to have the answer in your shop already, to address it and to do it in a way that it's an internal, holistic approach. You're working from the inside out.
[00:24:58] Speaker A: Right.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: And the other thing, too, for our patients and our customers that really like, and they love their injections, they love their toxins. It doesn't interfere. It just. It's an additional enhancement. An enhancement. It's complementary to what they're already. What they already like, what they already appreciate, what they already value. And then they get to see something that, and, you know, the zero downtime. I mean, there's nothing. And, you know, ozempic face. Let's talk about the reverse side of that. Like, you know, the submentum with the submitum applicator that we had that came out this year that has been a total game changer.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, we've done tons of them.
[00:25:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Buy a gobble gobble under the chin.
[00:25:33] Speaker A: I feel like every time I turn around, I'm, like, having to place a new applicator. I'm like, can we get this together? Because I have to pay shipping for this stuff.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: Can I get a Costco size order.
[00:25:46] Speaker A: A free shipping code? That's the real question.
[00:25:48] Speaker B: That's the real question. Let's see what I can do about that.
[00:25:50] Speaker A: Yeah, set me up on a recurring auto ship program with free shipping.
[00:25:55] Speaker B: We got a copy. Amazon's mode on that? Yeah, 2% off.
[00:25:59] Speaker A: Well, I know that we have a packed full afternoon, so I won't keep you any longer because we've got work to do. But thank you both so much for joining me on the podcast today and talking about BTL. I feel like this podcast could be dedicated to BTL. We talk about it so much, but I'm super passionate about our equipment with you guys because I use them all. I love them all. My mom uses them all, loves them all. Our staff does, too. And we we love BTL as a company and we think that your partnership is invaluable. And we appreciate you all so much. And I'm so thankful and happy to have you here with us today, too.
[00:26:34] Speaker B: Well, we love. We love having you. We appreciate your super hyper competitive nature because it is fun to see your name atop the list every month. You got to start calling me. I'll let you know. I'll re.
[00:26:44] Speaker A: Just give me my own log in.
[00:26:45] Speaker B: Yeah, there you go. There you go. But, no, we're glad to be here. We're excited to put together. I know Jack's got some great ideas. Very collaborative and creative of new ways to show you guys off. Very excited.
[00:26:57] Speaker A: Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you for joining us on today's episode of Smart Cast. And we'll see you next week.
