Opened less than a year ago, The Face skin clinic has already achieved significant success. FIONA VLEMMIKS finds out how it attracts and upsells clients

Clinic Profile

While the one-stop-shop approach is a popular industry business model, the focus on specialisation at The Face skin clinic in Billericay, Essex, is paying dividends. Run by lead clinician Christina Cope, the clinic, which opened in December 2017, focuses solely on facial skin health and enhancement through a range of aesthetic and skincare therapies.

“Our business model was clear from the start”, says Cope. “I wanted to offer facial aesthetics in a clinical, medical setting as opposed to a spa. We briefly considered treatments such as laser hair removal but decided instead to focus on the face. Our clients don’t necessarily want to look younger, they want to look fresher and enhance their appearance, so our main goal is to create harmony and a natural look.”

Full package

The Face encourages all clients to engage in a skincare routine “so it’s not just the case that they come in and have injections and that’s it”, says Cope. “We can inject someone but it might not look great if their skin quality isn’t good, so we try to encourage people to think about their skin as a whole.”

Before she launched The Face, Cope, who is also a dentist and has been an aesthetician since 2009, ran an aesthetic clinic alongside her dental practice from her home. As demand grew, she found the perfect location to launch a new venue, close to busy Billericay train station.

The initial treatment portfolio included wrinkle injections, fillers, mesotherapy, microneedling, Profhilo bioremodelling, thread lifts, and the protein-rich plasma (PRP) therapy, commonly known as the “vampire face lift”.

“We achieved significant growth and, in June, I decided to employ two skin therapists, who have been extensively trained in services to complement the aesthetic therapies, such as milder skin peels and skincare regimes from ZO Skin Health and AlumierMD.”

The only missing treatment in the clinic’s repertoire was an effective solution for combating double chins. In a timely development, Laser Lipo launched The Strawberry Lift in June, which now has celebrity ambassadors such as singer and actress Samantha Fox.

Lift off

“A lot of my clients had been asking how to treat the saggy area under the chin, which, if I am honest, was the area I struggled most to treat”, reveals Cope. “I saw the Strawberry Lift at the 2018 Aesthetic Medicine show and it really appealed to me. Not only did it target this area, the results looked fabulous, with minimal downtime and pain.”

Cope and her team analysed the efficacy, safety and complications risk of Strawberry Lift and soon decided to go ahead. The non-invasive laser treatment works by penetrating the skin to target fat cells, while ultrasound technology tones the jawline, causing the tissue protein to coagulate and produce new collagen. Results are permanent, but due to the natural ageing process, maintenance treatments may be required. A course of four treatments at two-week intervals is recommended.

“The other thing that appealed to me was that you could take the machine on a licence fee as opposed to buying it outright. When you’re just starting up, cost is a major factor”, she explains. “I started charging an initial discounted price, but even with that, the profit potential is certainly comparable with other treatments that we charge a similar price for.”

At present, the treatments are advertised at £500 per single treatment or £1,500 for a course of four. So far, Cope estimates that she’s carried out around 80 treatments – with excellent feedback.

“The customer demand was immediate. The people behind Strawberry Lift have been very supportive and are doing a lot of marketing at the moment, so with their agreement, we piggybacked on that, sharing their information across our social media channels. We received enquires from both locals and people fairly far afield – we haven’t even had to do an official launch and we’ve been so busy.

Wide appeal

Another outcome has been an upturn in male clientele. Though clients range from 18 to 86 and are of both genders, the majority of customers were previously women in the 35-65 bracket. Now, Cope says 20% of her customers are men.

“A lot of men who wouldn’t normally come to an aesthetics clinic have been interested in Strawberry Lift and have then gone on to try other treatments that they might not have previously considered”, says Cope. Though there’s intense competition in the local area, Cope says The Face’s customer focus and emphasis on expertise gives it the edge. “It’s a very saturated market but our philosophy is not to undercut or undermine what anyone else is doing, but offer our clients a professional service with highly trained staff”, she says.

“We’re clinician led and it is important for me that our clients know that, if anything adverse should happen, we have the knowledge and equipment to deal with it safely and effectively. I also have a great team who are highly motivated and thoroughly trained. We ensure client privacy but it’s a friendly environment and people comment about how approachable we are.”

Looking to the future, Cope says the clinic is always seeking new innovations. “If our clients come to us with new issues that need tackling, we’re always on the look out for the best ways to resolve them.” PB