AI in Your Practice: Patient Communication,

BUSINESS OF AESTHETICS | EXPERT PANEL TRANSCRIPT

Transcript

Patient Communication, Automation, and What to Never Outsource to a Bot

AI adoption in aesthetic practices, patient communication, workflow automation, human escalation, trust and safety, AI tool evaluation, ROI measurement, front-desk efficiency, and preserving the human patient experience.

PARTICIPANTS

Don Adeesha (Host)

Full session transcript

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AI in Your Practice

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:00:20

Right. Sweet. No. Good evening, and welcome to the Business of Aesthetics expert panel. At the Business of Aesthetics, your success matters. Tonight's session, AI in Your Practice, Patient Communication, Automation, and what to never outsource to a bot. addresses one of the biggest shifts in the industry since the dawn of social media. The question isn't whether to adopt AI, it's really how to do it without losing the human trust that took you years to build. I'm your host, Dan Adisha, and alongside our three expert panel, We are going to build… your roadmap for AI adoption that actually enhances your patient care. Now, a few quick housekeeping notes to help you get the most of this hour. First, yes, we are recording. You will receive a replay link after the event, so you can rewatch and share with your partners. However, do not let that make you passive. The real value is happening right now, right here, live. To make the best use of your time, engage with us. Use the Q&A button at the bottom of the screen for specific questions you may want me to ask the panelists, or else, use the chat to share your thoughts with your colleagues here. I'll have my eye on both the feeds, and do my best to weave in your questions into the conversation as we go along, or else we might, tackle them during the Q&A session towards the mid of the event. No. I'd like to also give a massive shout-out to our Platinum sponsor and growth partner, ECHO Marketing, founded by Narin Arl Raja, the very same founder of the business of aesthetics community. Now, for nearly 20 years, ECHO has helped aesthetic practices owners across the globe stop being the best-kept secret in their town, and ECOR truly believes that great care deserves great visibility. And, here's a quick… tip on behalf of our team at ECWA, when it comes to, perhaps a patient in your area, searches for a treatment that you offer, maybe the costs of your, Morpheus 8 treatments, or else maybe it's lift fillers before and after. Is your practice the one that is found, chosen, and trusted? Now, with AI giving answers right on screen, search is a bit different than it used to be. But, with clear service pages and, of course, good reviews. Comes a great possibility for you to really enhance your, growth levers. And along the way, we have a great resource for you to figure out where you are standing in your digital presence, and figure out a roadmap that'll help you elevate your growth for 2026. So stick around, and we'll deliver it as we go along. Now, as we open our discussion, let's look at our roadmap, or rather, the key talking points for tonight. We're going to uncover where AI is already operating in your practice, perhaps without you even Not realizing it. And we'll separate the tasks that are safe for bots from those that stay fully human, and we're going to look at real ROI, not just shiny objects, and we'll wrap up by identifying risks and building your 90-day roadmap for adoption. Now, this is a journey from uncertainty to operational excellence, so, let's figure out who are going to guide us through this discussion. Our first guest believes that in the age of automation, intention is your only insurance policy. against irrelevance. Leslie Tracy is the founder and CEO of Diamond Hands Media, where she helps the top tier of medical aesthetic leaders turn their operational success into industry-wide influence. As an author and host of the Diamond Hands podcast, she has spent over 6 years embedded in this industry, proving the Authority is built on one authentic conversation at a time. Tonight, she's here to help us ensure that your AI strategy doesn't just save time, but actually builds your brand's soul. Leslie, welcome to the panel.

Leslie Tracey 00:05:13

Thank you.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:05:15

Great. And our next panelist understands that aesthetic world from the treatment table all the way to the executive suite. Bridget DeBrino, CEO of Belvara Collective, has built her career on the belief that systems should make people feel seen, and not just processed. After leading operations for two thriving practices, she now manages the complex back-end logistics for aesthetic entrepreneurs across the country. She is a master at creating systems that support providers so that they can focus on what matters most. Exceptional patient care. Bridget, welcome back to the panel.

Bridgette DeBrino 00:05:57

Thanks, Don, I'm happy to be here.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:06:00

Great to have you here. And rounding out our panel is a systems architect who brings a clinical heart to the high-tech infrastructure. Audrey Campbell is an MPH-trained operator and the founder of the Audrey Aesthetic, a leading thought leadership platform dedicated to AI implementation in medical aesthetics. With a background that spans 3 years of med school and 8 years in… infrastructure. sorry, plastic surgery and wellness operations. Audrey doesn't just talk about AI, she builds the infrastructure that makes it work. She is here to show us how to translate complex technology into practical tools that your team and your patients will actually trust. Audrey, welcome to the panel.

Audrey Campbell 00:06:50

Thank you for having me.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:06:52

Great to have you. With that being said, let's dive into the main Q&A. Right. So my first question is to you, Leslie. What signals show a practice is already using AI in patient communication or marketing before leadership has formally acknowledged it?

Leslie Tracey 00:07:19

Well, I mean, I… I first want to say that, you know, basically, of course, happy to be here, but AI should really improve, you know, efficiency and consistency, and I've talked to both Bridget and Audrey about those things offline, and… but I really believe that a human remains really responsible for that relationship touchpoint. But I do know, I don't think any practice can really use AI without having it, green-lighted, because you do need to, actually, like, you know, if you're bringing on a software, they're going to tell you when they're selling to you that there is AI in this, whether it's how they do the charting, or if they're, you know, before and afters, or if they're using some sort of, like, lead app in order to generate things. So I don't think any practice can really be using AI without it being something that's known by leadership. Where it may happen is if an employee, is using AI to generate emails or something like that to, You know, patience. Or if someone is doing an unauthorized use of creating, you know, treatment planning software or something, and they're saying, oh, let me put together a treatment plan with AI and not let my medical director know that I'm doing this, or what have you. So, I mean, those types of things can slip under the radar, but I don't think in most cases that practice leaders have AI in their practice and they don't know about about it. Except for, like, incidental things, where someone's using it to compose an email, or something like that.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:08:56

Right, and now when they're composing emails, whether using ChatGPT or something like that, Are there any risks to the practice from a liability perspective?

Leslie Tracey 00:09:07

Well, I'm not a lawyer, so I'm going to say first that everyone should consult with their attorney if they want to ask those types of questions. You know, my background is in finance, so I'm very, very clear about what I have scope over and what I do not. So what I would say in regards to that is, you know, I would say do not put any identifiable information about your patient inside, any AIs, because that can… you know, we don't know… it's too… it's still too new to kind of know what can happen? What if someone… I don't know, hacked the whole entire AI system, and there's all this information in there. Who knows? But, you know, I would say if they're using it for those types of things to draft emails, just make sure they're not putting identifiable patient information inside there, you know, so that they don't have any problems if someone looks back later during an audit, if AI audits become a thing, and those… that can become a thing in the future, we just don't know yet.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:10:07

Okay. Now, Leslie, how do you handle a team member who might be using AI to hide their own lack of productivity or skill?

Leslie Tracey 00:10:16

That's an interesting question, in regards to what?

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:10:20

In regards to… well, since AI is most often, we are talking about here, communication or marketing, so communication-wise? Front desk, automations.

Leslie Tracey 00:10:30

I don't think it's, so, I don't think, if someone's using AI, I actually don't think it's a lack of productivity. I actually think it's a 10X-ing of productivity. So, I think if a business owner sees their team member. proactively using artificial intelligence in their workflow, they should be commended, I would say. And they should say, hey, what are you doing here? Can you actually take the reins on this for our practice, and kind of be the cheerleader to go in on this and that and this and that. So I don't think, you know, if you're a clinician, for example, it's just like, it's only going to audit what you're doing. I know that, you know, clinicians now can… my sister is a doctor, her and her husband, and they use AIs that transcribe their… their, what they talk to about their patients, and it transcribes their soap notes, right? So I would say, if you do see someone using AI, and they're using it in a good way. Yeah, my time's up. Using it in a good way, that they should definitely say, this is cool, let us know what you're doing, and then they could be a champion of it, and maybe pay them a little bit extra to be that AI champion in the practice, so that they're accountable for that process in the practice, so…

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:11:45

Check, check. Of course, AI, let's take it in that way, and I really appreciate you, Leslie, opening up with that note, to really align ourselves with AI and to champion those users who adapted early on in the practice. Now, Bridget, where does automation most often damage patient trust, when introduced too quickly into, perhaps, scheduling, follow-up, or front desk communications?

Bridgette DeBrino 00:12:13

I think all of us can relate to the experience of needing to get an answer or getting insight into something that we need help with, and we just have a computer talking at us, right? And it's like, no agent. Agent. Agent human, give me a human! So the last thing we ever want to do when we're talking about an aesthetic community that is elective is put a patient in a position where they're screaming at a phone to talk to a human. So, I know that in the earlier days of AI adoption, we got excited, and people wanted to implement it, and they were trying to be efficient, but ultimately, if they didn't sit down and go through that process themselves, and really diligently see what it was like, and where it was working, and where it wasn't, that's the very first way you could lose patient trust or interaction. I was talking to a provider today, and we are discussing how different treatments and services can be Oops, sorry, did I freeze? Okay, we're good. Discussing just how different platforms could make or break a moment. If you have their attention for 30 seconds online while they're trying to book something, and then your software stops working, you've lost that person. So, I think it's just really important to make things as seamless as possible, and we shouldn't be so focused on making it fancy right now, we need to just make it efficient. And easy to use and understand.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:13:35

Can you give us a trust test, like, the specific scenario where an owner should run through their automated systems to really feel, you know, if it's too robotic?

Bridgette DeBrino 00:13:47

Yeah, I think it's actually great to have a few people run through the basic process of booking and scheduling and checking out, just to see what that's like. Have everybody within their department run through it, so if somebody's more focused on the injectable piece, do that. If somebody's front desk, have them run through all the steps that happen when you're onboarding a new patient, or a new appointment is being booked, or something to that nature. If you have the experts that are in your team evaluate what an interaction is for things that they were doing or engaging with on a day-to-day basis, you'll get honest and direct feedback, and I think it's… So important to make sure that everyone understands, like, we're asking for this feedback so that we can make your life easier, better, and more streamlined. It's okay if something isn't going right, it's okay if something isn't perfectly executed upon, we have to know that so we can make it better. We know it's a little more work up front, but it's going to save you a lot of work on the back end. So just explaining that ultimate goal and why we're bringing it in, I think, will make a huge difference.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:14:50

Absolutely. Now, what if… it breaks. So, if trust is broken by a bot, what is the human script to, you know, that you could use to repair it immediately?

Bridgette DeBrino 00:15:04

Well, we like to hope we're gonna know that it broke, right? And that's really one of the biggest fears in this circumstance, is that something may happen, you just may not be aware of it, and so, I think you need to have a couple things built in, and I know Audrey's a champ at this, so she'll discuss more of this later, but you do need to have checkpoints built into the system so that you're really able to be able to see if something is falling through the cracks at some point, and then very quickly get ahead of it. And then if something does fall through the cracks. hey, we're human. We're gonna make a mistake. Hey, that's an AI. It's gonna make a mistake. Like, technology's great until it isn't. Just own it, acknowledge it, be like, we're doing everything to make this better for you, I'm sorry we had a hiccup. Let's figure out how we can move forward. Is there something I can do to turn this experience around for you? I think just honest and direct communication is typically always, you're gonna be your best friend in these types of circumstances.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:15:58

Thank you very much for that, Bridget, and We really do to have an honest and, you know, relationship-building conversation, bypassing the AI. But where AI is used, screening is… seems to be the best way to go for now. So, Audrey, which common AI use cases feel safe to automate early on, but tends to create this hidden risk once real patient interaction begins?

Audrey Campbell 00:16:27

Thanks for leaving that up to me, Bridget, as well, too. It's like, just gonna talk about that. So, the safest thing is, you know, the retention, the rebooking, and the review, automatic communications that go out post-visit. Love those. You should have them in every practice. But, God forbid you have that one person that has a vascular occlusion. And they mark the appointment as closed. The next day, they get a review from you. They get a rebooking. That's the last Communication that you want to go out to anyone that has to be escalated, maybe didn't have a great experience, or had a medical complication. So, there needs to be a flag. You need to talk to whatever EMR or communication system you're using, and make sure that there is a flag that you mark that no communications are going to be sent out to this patient post this appointment. And you also need a point person. You need to designate someone that's going to always do that. Or be on it, because it, you know, if you're dispersing the, charge of it, especially if it's a provider, they're a little stressed out, medical director. You need to have someone that's gonna go in immediately and mark that and trigger it not to send any retention, review, any post-communication to that patient, or to anyone that's been escalated or needs a follow-up and a human touch. they don't need a review the next day. Hey, leave us a great Google review.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:18:00

That's right. Now, how should a practice sandbox a new AI tool before letting it interact with live patients?

Audrey Campbell 00:18:09

kind of going off what Bridget said, too, that you need to test it, you need to book yourself appointments through there, and you need to close the appointment, get those text messages, give it feedback. The AI should be learning what's working well, and what's being opened, and what's being ignored, but you need everyone to be testing it for all your different appointment types. Any company that you're working with should be able to send you a A couple of what they're starting with, you know, sample text messages. Emails, communications, and even voicemails that are going out. And you need your whole staff to experience it. We want, you know, friends and family, say, we're bringing this on, you need to go through testing, and you want to see also that it's learning, and learning what works well, instead of just being an automated reminder text that goes out. You want the AI to be learning what works well for your clientele.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:19:02

Learning what works well for your clientele. Now, vascular occlusion. How do we maintain HIPAA compliance when these safe use cases involve patient health data?

Audrey Campbell 00:19:14

Yeah, so anything that's gonna be going out automatically, or anything that has HPI in it, if you're gonna obviously not send it over text or anything like that, anything that has to do with a medical complication, those should always be flagged to not send out any automatic reminders, anything like that, until it's turned back on, but definitely not putting any HPI in automatically. reminders in AI, or using that to communicate. I wouldn't tell the AI, hey, they had a vascular occlusion, don't send them out. This decks, I would mark it. There's many ways, like PIPO, Mevo, they all have ways to flag something for no communications afterwards, but you, as someone that's buying or investing in it, need to make those safeguards up at front when you're evaluating, and go over every single situation where you think that someone shouldn't be receiving any communication from you, that's automatic. Anything that needs a human touch Especially if an escalation should not be coming from your automatic EMR or CRM.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:20:20

Check. So… We need to assign a point person for this, as well as ensure that we are flagging it manually, to ensure that, we are not going overboard with HIPAA compliance and giving everything to AI today. Thanks, Audrey. Now, Leslie, how do you decide between faster automated responses and slower human replies when patient reassurance, or the brand tone, is at stake?

Leslie Tracey 00:20:55

Well, yeah, So, I… so, going back to what Bridget and Andre has been talking about, it's like, you do have to test your AIs, right? Because if you don't, you're going to have a problem. And so I do also think that we have to separate… so we just have some context, you know, there's the generative AI, so there's four things. There's the generative AI, obviously, and we know, I love me some mid-journey, or whatever, I… I create nonsense there. Not professionally, just for fun. And so that's when you're, like, generating music now, we have things that generate, pictures, all these type of things, and you can find so many platforms. And we have conversational AI, and it's not always agentic, so conversational AI will just be, like, you kind of program it with what you want to say, and when you go onto the chatbot, onto someone's website, you're like, hi, I'm looking to book an appointment, and it's going to say, hello, I am Michael, you're chatbot, or whatever it says, and then you kind of go back, and it's kind of like. Predetermined answers, but it's not agentic. Then you have, like, obviously predictive AI, and this is more like what Audrey was talking about. It is going to learn as you go along, so it kind of understands, oop, these responses, when we said these things, people tended to say this or that, and again, that comes down to the software that you're using for that. So, like, if you're working with a web developer, you're going to want to ask them these questions, like, is your chatbot predictive, or is it, just conversational? Those are two different things. And if you don't know that, then you're just going to have people talking to a bot. That doesn't learn anything, that doesn't flag someone to follow up with you, so you have to be very, very careful. when you're choosing, you know, a provider to build your website or anything like that, that you understand what that is. And then, obviously, you have Agentic AI. I use that for… I have a personal assistant, personally, but I also have an AI assistant that works a lot with her sometimes. And she'll check my email. I call her a her. Her name is Mona, leave her alone, okay? But Mona checks my email 3 times a day and flags things. She says, hey, you have, you know, these things, I think you should get back to this today, whatever, whatever. And so, kind of gives me a synopsis. So… When you're looking to… Can you repeat the question? I almost forgot it.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:23:18

No worries. How do you decide between faster automated responses and slower human replies when patient reassurance and brand tone is at stake?

Leslie Tracey 00:23:29

Yes, okay, so yeah, so I was going in through those different things to let you know that, you know, if someone says, I I, you know, the side of my face is feeling badly or something. The agent should know that is time to flag a human person, and then whether that flagged note goes to the, you know, the medical director, or it goes to the lead nurse, maybe you have someone that's on call after hours. That needs to be a thing, because what is going to happen more and more as people… because we have people who are falling in love with AI now. You have people that are, you know, talking to AI more than therapists now, you know? And so people are going to think, if I can talk to my Claude like this, or my chat GPT like this. I'm going to be able to take whatever stream of consciousness into this chatbot, and it's going to be able to understand me. And that is going to be, unfortunately, the expectation I think that's going to come in the next few years, and they're going to expect that immediacy, from whatever you have on your website, right? So, I do think that you have to differentiate. If someone's unhappy. So it has to understand sentiment. If someone's unhappy, if someone's saying something bad about the practice, if someone's talking about a health condition, it should be immediately flagged and in that process to someone's phone who is responsible for that. And they're going to, you know, respond pretty much immediately.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:25:00

checked. So, really, we need to have that point person, and also, I really appreciate you, Leslie, taking the time to really distinguish between these four different types of AI, because a lot of the times, we just put it under a blanket term, and then we might get an chatbot, thinking that's more of an agent or a predictive AI, but… That chatbot is not going to flag these, you know, escalations and send it to the point person, so you gotta make sure you know, what kind of AI you're bringing in to your brand. Right. Thanks, Leslie. So, Bridget, what decision rules have helped you, Separate tasks that can be automated from those that must stay fully human under daily operation pressures.

Bridgette DeBrino 00:25:54

I do think that this is a case-by-case situation, and the best thing to do is to just be very open to learning, and being open to, again, collecting as much data as possible to make sure that you are making the best decision for your practice. But ultimately, you want to take a look at I believe in setting aside time to optimize your practice. I know that can be hard sometimes for practice owners, for entire practice, it might feel like a waste to dedicate a day to sitting down and really discussing these things and ironing it out, but if you could give one day a quarter to optimization, I promise you that quarter is going to be more optimized. It's going to be more streamlined, people are going to be on the same track, they're going to be going in the same direction. So, in doing that, I would start with looking at what's taking the most time, and you may just need to start with a conversation. Talk to your team. Hey, what is occupying the majority of your day? Is there anything here that you really dislike doing? Is there anything here you really love doing? And then start building solutions based off of those responses. Because if you have somebody who's filling out maybe a sheet that needs to have all the patients' birthdays, and you have to make sure that it's, you know, prepared in time so that you can print out all of the different postcards that are gonna go out for that month's birthdays. Like, that is absolutely something that can be automated by AI at this point, and that's something that would be able to free up these people's time so that they could be doing things that they are more passionate about that help the practice in another way. And I think the most important thing that we collectively have said this evening none of us believe that AI is going to replace humans. We believe AI thrives with humans, and humans thrive with AI. We think that this is something that is bringing… we can bring this together, so we don't have to be afraid of it, we don't have to think that it's going to replace us or our job. It's understandable why some may have felt this way at the beginning, but I think it's clear that that's not the case. But, if you could do something in your job that feels more meaningful to you, if you could do something that is more exciting and more rewarding and more fulfilling, why wouldn't we want to take that opportunity by offloading these tasks that are just very, very, very monotonous? You know, it's just the same thing over and over again, repeating, and if we're able to get that done in a quicker way than a human can do it, why wouldn't we take advantage of that?

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:28:09

Can you take us through what kind of framework do you have on that one day per quarter? Where are you starting? What are you really looking at so that you can really optimize your workflows?

Bridgette DeBrino 00:28:24

It's a great question. It's gonna start from the top, and I think you have to look at it in a year. Let's sit down, what are your three goals for this year? And then you break that down into quarters. Okay, what is our focus for this quarter? How does that focus help us accomplish one, two, or three of our goals for the year? Then we bring it down to our team. Okay, team, you know, what are your goals? What are your priorities? What do we want to see? You want to make sure that you have everybody buying in at every stage of this process. And you want to make sure that you have clarity on who's feeling connected and committed, and who isn't. And if someone isn't, we shouldn't just assume that they don't care, or that they don't want to be there. We should start asking the important questions as to what is disconnecting you right now, because it'd be something so simple. It could just be the littlest thing. And I think an important piece to tie into this is goals that are going to benefit their personal life as well. So again, it's that team communication. Understanding the needs and the wants. If you meet this goal that benefits the practice, how does that benefit you personally in your career, and also with whatever you are going to receive from this goal being met within the practice?

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:29:31

Okay, thank you, Bridget. I think that's a very clear outline of… You know, a great place to start, really looking at how to figure out the goals that work both for your practice as well as the people that make it. Now, before we move on to the next question, I do want to remind our audience… there we go, let me stop that. I want to remind our audience members here. We're here live. Do make the best use of it. In a little bit, we are going to get to some of our registrants' questions. And, so please feel free to drop in your own questions into the Q&A section, down below. And, or else, if you'd like, you can raise your hand, and I will be able to unmute you, and you can ask your question that way. So, once we get into our live Q&A round in a little bit, we can do that. So, just giving you a heads up, so you can ensure that you're not going to walk away from this conversation saying, or rather thinking, I wish I had asked that. So, yeah, I just wanted to make a quick reminder on that. Now, Audrey, when evaluating AI tools, how do you weigh immediate ROI against workflow disruption risks during the early stage of adoption?

Audrey Campbell 00:30:58

So, when I'm evaluating any AI tool that I'm going to bring on to a practice, I do know with this that ROI and disruption are going to be sequential, and I have to define what I want my ROI to be. If I go in and I want to improve my rebooking rate, okay, here's my rebooking rate. here's where I want to be at, so I'm going to go in this, and I'm going to measure this. Is that gonna take 2 weeks? Probably not. You're gonna go through testing, you're gonna go through reviewing. It can be something at 3 to 6 months where you're really going back and looking at it and seeing that. So, when I'm evaluating any AI, and if I'm just getting into the industry and kind of evaluating those. What is plaguing your practice? What is the biggest thing you want to improve? Is that lifetime value? Is that provider utilization? How is this going to help me do that? And then, what am I going to measure as I'm going to really evaluate the ROI? Of course, there's gonna be disruption. I, again, would flag someone to be kind of your… person that they go to, let's keep track of how many, you know, escalations come from staff, from patients, from clients, and tracking that. I almost guarantee that your ROI of you know, a little bit of disruption is way more than the inaction of not having AI. Like, Leslie and Bridget were both talking about, those repetitive tasks that you're having your front desk do for retention, having all of them pull liabilities, having them send a text, hey, you have this membership balance. what could they be doing in that time? If your AI is already reminding people they have a balance, they have, you know, a package left, or anything like that, they could be planning and really contributing back to your practice in such a meaningful way that I think that outweighs any disruption that you're initially gonna have. You know, it's not just associated with AI. If you bring on a new EMR, if you bring on anything else, there's gonna be that disruption but they're going to appreciate that and, you know, speak to what they want to do. They probably don't want to be pulling all these, you know, member birthdays and sending out postcards. Maybe they really like the Instagram, maybe they want to learn more and, you know, do cute Instagrams or anything like that. So, I think the ROI on any of this is going to far outweigh Any disruption bringing on a… new AI tool.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:33:31

Okay. Now, how would you manage the shiny object syndrome, in a team that wants every new AI tool that they see on TikTok?

Audrey Campbell 00:33:40

Yes, yeah, and they see, like, they'll come, all the salespeople always reaching out. So I always start with, what do you want to improve? What are your KPIs? Like, if you have a great rebooking retention rate, maybe that's the last thing. you know, the last layer. So I really evaluate what's plaguing your practice, where do you want to go there, and start with that, and start with one thing, and then measure that in 30, 60, 90 days, and then you can do a feedback, you know, this is what we want to change, but I wouldn't start with everything else, you know, offloading. Start with something that you really want to improve when you're looking at, and then find a tool for that. You can start to layer in everything else after that, but you really want it to show you an ROI, is the biggest thing. You want to measure how well it's doing. You would never bring on a new employee and not measure how well they're doing.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:34:33

That's right. So you are looking at AI as a new employee, is it?

Audrey Campbell 00:34:40

Yes, I guess so!

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:34:42

Amazing. It's definitely an asset, so just like any other asset, you do definitely have to track accordingly, and I really like this part about you mentioning having a champion, a point person, to really be responsible. track, measure, and just be aware of what's going on with your AI. Right. That being said… Now, I do have a quick message, from our team at Echo Marketing here. ROI isn't just about saving a few minutes of staff time. It's about whether that technology actually moves the needle for your growth. And as we talk about moving the needle, we have to address one of the biggest ROI leaks most aesthetic practices are facing today. Right. So, I've got a gift from, our sponsor, Echo Marketing, for everyone here tonight. A complimentary one-on-one marketing strategy meeting. Here's the question we'll answer for you. When someone in your city searches for Botox near me, Morpheus aid costs, lip fillers before and after, are you the practice that gets found, trusted, and ultimately chosen? by both the AI and the person searching. In your strategy session, you'll sit down with a senior marketing analyst who already works with thriving aesthetic practices across North America. You'll get a live audit of how you can attract more clients, build your reputation, and grow sustainably. The marketing analyst will actually spend several hours researching your online presence, your competition. your local SEO. everything. And they'll come to the call ready to walk you through custom recommendations just for your practice. This session is designed to help you answer those questions and fix anything that's not quite working. It's usually a $900 valued session, completely complimentary for you tonight. You'll see a QR code on the screen there, you can scan that with your phone to book your session, or check the chat for direct link. It'll take less than a minute to book. Now, availability is limited, since, as I mentioned, there's real research that goes into every audit, and into your local market. Perhaps here's… A way to think about offers like this. What's the risk if you say yes? Honestly, it'll just be your time, there's no obligation whatsoever, but… What's the risk if you don't? You might be missing out on something that could really help you grow your practice. So, I'll leave that with you, but truly, I encourage you to grab this opportunity, book your session with Tequa, it'll be time well spent. Right. Now, let's get into some of the questions from our registrants. Right. So, one of… The founders, have asked. how can solo location owners get comfortable with AI? Now, I'm opening this to the whole panel. Anyone can, Take a jab at it. We can start with Leslie.

Leslie Tracey 00:38:17

I mean, I would say it's like anything else that you're learning, and you're great at learning if you're in medical aesthetics, because you're an MP, MD, RN, what have you, so you're amazing at learning. So, I would take that, learning and do the same thing with AI. And it's like, you know, almost kind of… this is what I do when I want to… I nerd out, and I… like, a deep dive into, like, a subject, I actually create a curriculum for myself, so my studies didn't end in college. I still learn like that all the time, that I have books that I read, and everything. So, I would say. understand where, like Audrey said before, where you're having the biggest challenges, and what I have found when I have worked with, like, you know, a solo practice, and we don't do that anymore, we don't work at solo practices anymore, but when we did, I would see that someone would just be overwhelmed with sometimes charting. You know, they'd be like, oh my goodness, you know, I'm staying up until 10 o'clock charting, or what have you, and, you know, after seeing patients all day. And I didn't eat, and so they're just, like, flat out. So, maybe you start with some sort of assistant, or if you work with an EMR service that does have ambient charting, so when you're actually talking to a patient, it's actually taking down notes and putting it in your chart for you. Maybe that's a good place to start. And also, I would say… Use it for little things, like… you can say, okay, I offer, if you're smaller, I offer these treatments. Maybe you kind of plug it in and say, okay, if someone comes in with this, this is what we usually recommend. And so you can make a treatment plan, AI, or what have you. I know I worked… I did that, for one of our clients. It was just something that we were, like, beta testing. But, you know, so she was like, okay, person's, like, 25, and is presenting with this, and then would bring out all the things that she should do according to her treatment philosophy, right? So I would say start small, definitely, and start with the thing that gives you the most trouble. Don't overwhelm yourself, because I personally believe what's going to happen is that there's going to be a new subset of practices coming out saying. we don't use AI. And people are gonna go there. I do think, because I'm already seeing it with certain magazines and things like that, they're saying AI was not used in this process, and they're attracting a certain type of person who likes that slow type of thinking. So, I wouldn't overwhelm yourself, but Sorry, last thing I'm gonna say. There's something called Efficiency Trust, and there's something called relational trust. Efficiency Trust, those are the things that you automate. handling the first layer of intake, scheduling, reminders, maybe things, you know, those have… but relational trust, that could never be duplicated with AI, and that's just person-to-person, emotions, feelings, pricing nuance, all those things. So, if you try and outsource those things, you're going to be at a big. pickle from a human-to-human perspective. So, that's all I gotta say.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:41:21

Especially to AI. Bridget? Audrey?

Bridgette DeBrino 00:41:28

Yeah, I think that, you know, when you are on your own in a solo practice, that's all we really work with right now, with the exception… or very small practices in that capacity. I will say that the one benefit is that you don't have a billion hands in the automation that are trying to make it work, so you don't have as many factors. To consider as a practice that has, like, say, 10 to 15 different providers in different capacities. So, it's much easier for you to have a really good pulse on what's happening and how people are engaging and responding. You are, just by nature, going to have that more intimate relationship. Like, to Leslie's point, you can't replace that. Like, being able to talk to your patient, know them, know what nuances are going on in their life, and then tie that into your visit with them or your experience with them, that's huge. So, you're going to be able to see where you're able to fill the gap a little easier, and then you're gonna know quite quickly if those gaps are actually being filled, or if they're broadening, because those patients think that they're your best friend, and they're gonna talk to you like they're your best friend, and they're gonna give you that honest feedback, because they're used to a certain cadence. So whenever you change something, it will give them pause, and then typically it's just human nature to give feedback on what that is. But I think that If you can use it for… things that you have to remember, right? If you could almost think of AI like a checklist, and you could just take that mental load off of yourself, you know, when you think of a busy day, and you're like, okay, I gotta do this, and I gotta do that, and I gotta do that, half of the work is remembering all the things you have to do. So if you could even just find a way to help you streamline your brain. And put these things into more of a, you know, actionable list. That means it has the human elements, but then it also takes away some of that brain power that is so important for the other things that you have to do in your day-to-day.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:43:16

Yeah, why not use the memory on the computer to really augment all those tasks on your head? Audrey, any tips for our solo location owners?

Audrey Campbell 00:43:28

going along with both Bridget and Leslie, you know, I started playing around with AI in my personal life. I'm like, what can I automate? She has her AI agent that goes through her email. I have the same thing. I also created an AI agent to sign up… sign me up for Pilates classes, because I was always missing out on those, and it was a big stressor. So I made sure I used those things in my personal life to, you know, staff a photo of my fridge. What can I make tonight? You know, things like that. And so, once I started using it and being comfortable and finding out what it can do for me and how it can give me my life back, then I can translate that into my practice. So, again, if you're spending late nights, writing out everything, or you're feeling like you're not getting that one-on-one during the consultation, you're on your iPad or writing, why not bring an AI scribe in? It's gonna be accurate, you know. There's so many options for it, and that can save you so much time, but also make you have that personal connection with your patient that's coming in, that you… are using AI. You don't have to sit there and type away and write away. You can really create that personal reaction, personal, connection. Also, with your staff, like, what is bogging them down? What is something that's repetitive? Anything that's repetitive, that doesn't need that human touch, like sending out automatic texts, everything like that is something that can Just alleviate you in your personal life, in your work life, and for your staff as well.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:45:00

And if I could just…

Bridgette DeBrino 00:45:00

build on that, too, real quick, because she brought up a good point, you know, things that are just repetitive and task-oriented and things along those lines, but also things that are heavily data-focused. Like, that is really where AI can shine. You know, we are just on overload, we are constantly getting data that we have to process on a regular basis, and the data is one of the most important things to your business and to your success as you grow and evolve. So if you can plug AI in to tracking patterns, to tracking numbers, to tracking how certain shifts that you're doing in your day-to-day are affecting your bottom line, those are things that AI excels at far beyond humans, in a much more efficient and time-sensitive way, because it's able to just pick up on these nuances, and you can ask, you can program it to what those nuances are, if it's something super specific. But that is one way that it really, really can shine for you in your practice.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:45:56

Absolutely. I was going to ask that question, because we had been circling back and back towards being very intentional on where to use AI, and figuring out what is the most troublesome aspect of your practice. I think we had great answers here on really where to look at, right? And we have, Justin in the chat, saying that, fantastic session, thanks. Is there anything that is really working for converting the leads that come through investment in SEO using AI? Anything from experience, any tools or solutions that's working? Justin. if I… if you don't mind, I really have a great tool for you, which is our sponsor's marketing strategy meeting. So, just to answer your question. when AI is being used in SEO efforts, you do have to be careful in that, since, you know, Google, with now their Crux UI, instead of using EAAT, It really depends, and they're much more… able, or they're much more efficient at figuring out AI content itself, and that flags your, well, you know, your SEO efforts, and, will… deter you from being ranked number one, or else being even recommended, when, AI is being used to figure out… the treatments that you are offering at your practice. So, Justin, I would highly recommend you to book that marketing strategy meeting with our sponsor, ECWA. They are working with over 500 healthcare, practitioners. And, they really have a lot to say about that. But I do want to open this to the panelists as well, so please, go ahead.

Bridgette DeBrino 00:47:51

I'll jump in on this. There are two companies that I really have enjoyed, and that I think are doing a really great job, and Justin, I hope I'm answering this in the context that you want, but it sounds like you're investing, obviously, in your SEO. You are using AI, but you're looking for something that's going to help you to convert those leads a little bit stronger. So. one thing that is coming out, and they're just in a very, very soft launch right now, but it's called Arcuit Health, and it was designed by two neurosurgeons, and then another partner who's very heavily invested in the aesthetic space, and they're doing a fantastic job at building psychology into this AI that is serving as a receptionist. The first, one that I have… oops, sorry, do we need to… Pivot, Don? Okay.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:48:41

Correct.

Bridgette DeBrino 00:48:41

first receptionist that I've seen that, has made me excited. They're doing a really great job, it sounds very natural, it's… extremely sensitive to learning, so to Audrey's point, I know she's brought that out a couple of times this evening, like, we need to make sure, and Leslie also did a great job educating us on the differences, so this AI is incredibly smart, but it's the first one, like I said, that I've seen that's really building in that psychology, which is important to you for your leads, because, again, going back to data, certain leads may have some measure of history behind it, where, say, for instance. somebody's coming in from Google at this time of the day, or on this day of the week, they may be more inclined to be converted easier, whereas somebody who's coming in at 3 AM from Facebook, we know that that matters for somebody who's scrolling and can't sleep, and they're not necessarily taking it seriously. This AI can get smart enough to understand those nuances, and then engage with these people appropriately. And then, InsightX, which I believe they just, redid their name to Lume, I hope I'm saying that right, but he, really built out a great platform that reads data from the software and the programs that you're using. So again, if you can gather data, gather points that are gonna make a difference in your practice, then you'd be able to implement those into making better decisions with your SEO and your ad spend, and how you're going to approach things. You can just get a lot more granular and less, surface level with it. So, I hope those help, but they're great teams, they're great people, and they're great, great products. So, I think it's definitely worth a conversation with them.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:50:13

Yeah, thank you very much, Bridget. There you go, Justin.

Audrey Campbell 00:50:17

I would second a loomed, you know, it's gonna plug into everything, it's gonna give you that real-time dashboard of everything, so you can really evaluate. The other one, I just listened to a podcast by the creator is Market Storm. They're actually creating a SEO that is basically, like, before you're searching Botox in my area, it's linking to the psychology, like Bridget said. what are people searching before they even search Botox? We want to show them. We want to show up on all of their 18 devices, which I guess is the average for Americans, is to have 18 devices. So they're searching the psychology and doing the research and the learning of, before someone goes and searches before and after lip filler. they're already sending it to them. They're telling them what they want by what they're searching, what they're spending time on on TikTok, if it's skincare, you know, at-home treatments for that. They're already doing that, so I think that's, you know, an also thing, especially because you mentioned SEO, in Google, too, so that's one worth checking out as well.

Bridgette DeBrino 00:51:20

I've heard great things about.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:51:21

Amazing. I really like the options here we got going on for Justin. So, Justin, you got the options. Just figure out where you want to start. And, yeah, with that being said, thank you, panelists, for joining in on that round robin session. Sorry, that very organic registrants and live Q&A session. Now, let's keep it moving, let's see… We got, we got a few more minutes. Right. So… Okay. Back to you, Leslie. What are some of the observable behaviors that within 30 days shows that a practice is using AI with discipline rather than just layering tools onto existing workflows?

Leslie Tracey 00:52:11

Well, it goes back to everything we've been talking about. I mean, the main thing is that if I'm on the outside looking in. I'm going to notice that you're probably going to have some sort of interactive AI agent on your website talking to me, and you should be plugging that in with all of your treatments, all the things that you do, so the people who are scrolling, because I forget, I heard the stat, I was speaking at LAMCA a couple weeks back, and someone had said that people are booking at, like, 10 o'clock PM. I was like, that's crazy, I'm asleep, but… Any case, but, you know, because, you know, and so I would say that is the first thing you're going to see. The second thing you're going to see is… that is showing a more disciplined approach is that you're going to see some… you're going to see, like, automated reminders coming in. That's pretty table stakes now, though. Everyone gets those. And maybe you're having your pre-treatment, instructions coming, you know, automated. Maybe you're getting a review, a review note after you have your, treatment that says, hey, if you enjoyed your service, please leave a review on Google, and it's coming within 24 hours. So those are just, like, workflows that are built out, so… You're gonna notice that. And I think that's what you're really going to notice, because I don't think people are using AI in much more than those ways right now. It's just, like, workflow, like, how they're seeing someone coming in. The backend is something else completely. That's usually on… the backs of, like, whatever EMR you're using, or whatever marketing company that you're working with. Most of these companies are working on insulating you from Insulating their practices from having to deal with all that back end, because there's a lot of… Network science that goes into it that we can't even touch if we're going to be completely, 100%.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:54:05

Right.

Leslie Tracey 00:54:06

I would say, also. in your calendar, you know, if you have an AI in your EMR, your calendar system that kind of, like, tracks trends in how you're even booking your appointments, you're going to notice, less bottlenecks there, and cleaner scheduling flow, because it might say, oh, okay, if this person's looking for this, this is… it might automatically say, this type of appointment's 30 minutes, this type of appointment is usually an hour, so that, again, depends on The strength of your tech stack. And so, if you guys are trying to figure this out with, like, Claude and bots, please stop doing that. Just work with a company that is insulating all of… that's insulating you from that stuff, and, has those things built in. And, you know, with your team, you're going to notice that there's less repetitive things, and so they're going to be doing less repetitive things in the practice, and a lot of things, a lot of those things are going to be more automated. Yes, they still need to be overseen by a human, but if you see more of that discipline coming in with AI, you're going to be noticing that. People have a little bit more time now. And they're not sending out manual letters, or, you know, in the case of a practice that I was working with, she created a treatment plan tracker, what have you. She was like, oh, I sent out 10 treatment plans by the end of the day. She reviewed everything, but She just sent it out, and she felt so happy about that. So, so yeah, so that's what I would say. If you're going to see more discipline, that's what you will see.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:55:34

Check. Now, thanks, Leslie, for that. And now, Bridget, if a practice could pilot only one AI use case this quarter, how should they choose the highest impact starting point?

Bridgette DeBrino 00:55:45

I'm… what's gonna give you and your team time back, because then that's gonna implement, or impact so many other things. If you can free up some of that time and effort and energy, then you'll be able to put that into many other things. So, I would start there, and then build out.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:56:03

Okay, I think, I was just curious as to how would you prioritize? Because in the previous, answers we got, we've… you were able to give us, you know, where to really look for, but I would be really curious as to how would you prioritize that?

Bridgette DeBrino 00:56:22

how would I prioritize…

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:56:25

Yeah, where to start at.

Bridgette DeBrino 00:56:27

Where to start? again, let's go back to what the goals of the practice are, the three main goals for the year, right? Like, where are we trying to go? What are we trying to accomplish, and then we can take a look at the different AI agents that are available that could build into that. So, if one of the goals is to get another provider busier, okay, well then perhaps we could look into an AI that is going to help with pattern recognition and doing more reach-out. and doing more reminders, and helping to navigate what specials are performing better than others. If your priority is to try to make sure that you're running on time with your schedule, and making sure that you're seeing patients in an appropriate way, and minimizing the frustration, because I know that sounds small, but I can't tell you how many practices struggle with that. It is a constant problem, because you want the people in your chair To feel like they're getting the attention and the recognition that they deserve for this special treatment, but everybody will take any time that you will give them. So, to Leslie's point, finding a way to optimize the schedule and seeing patterns, like, hey, this patient books for 45 minutes, but she's always in here for an hour and a half. Like, if you can learn those types of things and then adjust accordingly, it can make a huge difference. You know, so just really honing in on what your specific goal is will allow you to then pick what agent, what AI agent or method or, products is going to make the biggest difference for you as you move forward.

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:57:56

Awesome. Thanks, Bridget, for that clarification. And now, Audrey, which single metric best shows that AI is improving patient communication rather than increasing edits, escalations, or internal confusion?

Audrey Campbell 00:58:13

So I think… for going back to why are we bringing on this AI? What's the tool, what are you starting with? What are you going to measure? that's the first thing. Going back to that. So, especially if it's about patient communication, if you have a low rebooking rate, if your lifetime value, or you have a lot of liabilities, I'm obviously gonna judge that. Also, having that one person that is kind of gathering all the information, if there's anything that needs to flag, the biggest thing is that your time is back. Back to what Bridget is saying, how much time are your front desk, are your managers spending just with patient communication that is repetitive? There's… if anything needs to be escalated, or it's clinical, of course, that needs to be human, but everything that we want them to do to create a synonymous, great, thriving med spa is not the repetitive task. That's not what you need them doing, and they have so much other time to make your practice better, and thrive as well, too, so that I would say, again, with the ROI of it, what are you losing without the Automating these as well, too, and you have more time. I would say if you're looking at rebooking rate, but tie it back to why you're actually bringing this on, and measure it, and then keep, you know, the company that you're hiring on humble, but how much time is it going to save you, and how much time is it going to save your front desk staff when they can be doing so many other things in your practice?

Don Adeesha (Host) 00:59:45

I really like that, you know, not the repetitive tasks, but rather the white glove service that really makes the med spa industry what it is.

Audrey Campbell 00:59:53

Yeah, I mean, no one wants to come in the front desk, and they're on the phones, because they just got in 20 leads the next day, and they're, you know. hanging up, hanging up, leaving voicemails. You want them to give that white glove service, that 5-star service when they walk in. That's my pet peeve, is when I walk in and someone's on the phone. Like, imagine if someone was just handling all your leads, and they could give the one-on-one time, come around, happy birthday, how are you doing since your past, like, son's wedding, or anything like that. They have more time to pay attention to that. I've already pulled up your next, skincare up here, so nice to see you. Instead of you're on the phone talking to all the leads, rescheduling, anything like that, it just creates a better atmosphere in that luxury service that I'm sure Almost all practices are looking for.

Don Adeesha (Host) 01:00:41

Absolutely. Now, we are here at the top of the hour. In 30 seconds, I would love to go around the horn one last time. What is the most important thing an owner must do tomorrow to start their AI journey safely? Leslie?

Leslie Tracey 01:00:58

I would say just, you know, evaluate the software stack that you have right now, your EMR, you know, that's where it starts, your marketing company that you're working with. Just, you know, for web design is what I'm saying, marketing overall, but web design, just make sure that they, front-end and back-end, are kind of doing those repetitive things, and they have an AI agent, and that when you're with your EMR, our service that you're looking for things that do track trends on the back end, so it's not just front-end stuff, it's back-end stuff. And, you know, the last thing I'll say about this, and what I always say, I just really think that the practices that are going to win are not going to have every AI stack in the damn world. They're going to be showing up in person. they're going to be connecting with people in their community, because that is what's going to win, because everyone's going to start looking the same. And I've already seen it. People are looking the same, talking the same, their captions are the damn same. It's terrible. And so what's going to happen is that you need to be going back in person, and you need to cultivate your voice, and your team's voice, and your community presence. And that's more important than any of all of this, in my opinion, but still use AI, but don't forget that we're humans. It's time for bed. Nope. Alexa just told me it's time for bed.

Bridgette DeBrino 01:02:16

You put.

Don Adeesha (Host) 01:02:17

Right.

Bridgette DeBrino 01:02:18

He just gave it all! That was great!

Don Adeesha (Host) 01:02:23

Right on time. Bridget? What's your, key takeaway here? Go ahead.

Bridgette DeBrino 01:02:29

Building on that, so after you do what Leslie said, because I'm in full alignment with everything that she just shared, then I think you bring it to your team, and you really talk to them, and you ask them, where do we need the help? Where do you need the support? Where can we streamline? Where can we simplify? What's gonna make you most excited? Because at the end of the day, if you bring a fantastic tool in, and the team is not buying into it, it will not matter. A tool is still a tool, it needs humans to work with it. So I think find that great tool, vet it, make sure you have something that's working amazingly, but then bring that human element back to it, and make sure that they are committed and excited about it as well, and then you can take it from there and continue to expand.

Don Adeesha (Host) 01:03:08

There we go. Audrey?

Audrey Campbell 01:03:11

I'm gonna piggyback on what Leslie said. Tomorrow, call your CRM, call your ERM, and see what they already offer. They probably have a lot of AI options. You know, when you're doing that, get the information, go back to what's important to you, go back to your team on repetitive tasks, what they feel they could do with that time. what do you want? Go back to what do you want to improve, and then go back to them and, you know, start one by one, because they all have a lot, but also set those times and just let them know, hey, I want to meet in 30 days, every 30 days while we're implementing this to give you feedback. I want to make sure that it's learning and doing better, because if you're not, you know. if it's not learning, it's just an automated text, you know, anything like that. So you want it to be learning, and also have that human communication. You need to audit everything. You should be able to see the workflow, and you should experience exactly what your staff and your clients are going to experience as well.

Don Adeesha (Host) 01:04:10

Check. Love that. Really appreciate these wonderful, key takeaways, and I really do hope that our attendees and our listeners on, on-demand view These, and you know, put it to good use starting tomorrow morning. Now as we wrap up the session here, I do want to make a quick reminder to our audience that the future isn't about AI replacing you, as resonated with a lot of our panelists here tonight. It's about you becoming more human, because AI is handling the heavy lifting. And, don't forget to secure your marketing strategy meeting with Echo Marketing. The link is in the chat. They'll help you figure out How you can really automate those repetitive tasks that'll get you the high-value patients that you desire to serve, with that white glove service. So, allowing you to do what you do best, take care of your patients while they get the patient for you. So, figure out how that goes by booking that meeting. The link is in the chat one last time for you to have a look. Now. We have covered everything from under-the-radar adoption of AI to the single metric that determines success. Leslie, Bridget, Audrey, thank you so much for your mastery tonight. To our attendees. Please take 30 seconds for the feedback survey as you exit. It'll help us deliver even better events for you. And panelists, do stay on the line for a quick debrief. With that being said, I'm Don Adisha, and this has been the Business of Aesthetics expert panel. Good night, everyone.

Bridgette DeBrino 01:05:56

Thanks.

Don Adeesha (Host)

Oh, it seems like we will have to get the debrief, via email, so, this session hasn't turned on, unfortunately. So, panelists. I will have to bid you adieu, and until next time, take care.

Leslie Tracey 01:06:16

Alright, take care. Bye, guys.

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