Growing up, Black Friday was the day my mom and I went into the city with our “gift notebook” and power shopped for professional and personal gifts. It wasn’t because it was a day for sales; rather, it was a day off from her busy law practice and my school, training, office, and there was no other “family stuff.” My brothers enjoyed a day of play. For Dad it was a busy general dermatology weekend at work because all the kids he saw with acne, eczema, and psoriasis were home from college. Mom and I approached it like a military operation, maneuvering through crowds, laser focused on finding sales people as we performed seek and find missions.
There are many stories explaining the origin of “Black Friday”—the financial crash of 1869, deals for slave traders in the 1800s (a myth that briefly spawned boycotts), suburban crowds overwhelming Philadelphia in advance of the annual Army-Navy football game in the 1950s, retailers moving their finances from the red (debt) to the black (profit) at the launch of holiday shopping season. By the late 1980s, retailers and customers embraced the last explanation and outings like mine with my mom became the routine.
As anyone with an email address or social media account knows, Thanksgiving weekend has evolved into a 24/7 bonanza of sales: Black Friday, Small Business Saturday/Sunday, Cyber Monday. For the organized shopper, a season of gifts—electronics, homeware, toys, clothes—are available at some of the lowest prices of the year. (The disorganized can break the bank on things they’d never buy otherwise.) It’s good for the economy, especially in a year like this one. So why is this a topic for #heideas?
This year I noted that almost every aesthetic physician I follow on social media was offering sales this weekend. The offers went far beyond cosmeceuticals and spa services. Black Friday: Buy one syringe, get two; Small business Saturday: Skin tightening 40% off; Cyber Monday: Special pricing if you bundle a bleph with resurfacing. The posts advertising these specials were indistinguishable from all the sponsored ones popping up from retailers.
It’s true that aesthetic practices are indeed businesses, and for many of us, they are small businesses. (Who can forget the stress of applying for PPP loans in March and April?!) Why not take part in what are now traditional business practices to bump profits? One word: Commoditization.
Lots has been written in this journal and others about the risk of commoditization to us, board-certified core cosmetic physicians. Patients question why our fees are higher than the doc (or non-doc)-in-the-box down the street or walk-in “Injection Bar” a town over. We speak about competing on value, not price. We aren’t selling product; It is our training, knowledge, skill, expertise, and experience that draw patients into our offices. I stick to the word patients rather than clients to emphasize the unique care involved in the physician-patient relationship. Your Dior salespeople may bring you champagne in a private room to create a special experience, but they don’t go home worrying about your outcome. We do!
Joining the Black Friday/CyberMonday sale frenzy makes us no different than every other retailer. It encourages price comparisons. Who has the best sale on that day? That isn’t to say we should never have special discounts, but let’s make them specific to our practices and patients. A few years ago, I started my annual “Heidifest” as a “party favor” for patients in honor of my birthday, and my only injectable special. Some of my Derm Diva sisters hold incredibly successful annual “Sparkle” parties with special prepaid discounts on products and procedures—virtual this year with equal success. Timing can be around an office anniversary, practice relaunch, new staff or procedure. The key is making sure the timing is related to that practice and outside the scope of the rest of the retail world.
The more we pick up their practices, the less distinguishable we become from them.
“Breaking from the herd is better than getting lost in it.”
—Matshona Dhliwayo
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