By: Andrew Miller

Your Medical Spa made it through one of the busiest times of the year, the holiday season. Between planning for your holiday promotions and events and wrapping up Q4, the final few months of the year tend to be hectic for our practice owners.

We’ve made it to a new year, and you’re ready to hit the ground running, but how do we alleviate and plan for the first quarter when historical data tells us there is typically a slowdown in production after a fast-paced year-end?

Your November and December events likely included prepaid services by way of gift card sales and package sales and there is a good chance that during the first several months of the new year, they’re being redeemed. You may be thinking that your providers’ schedules feel busy, but revenue and collections aren’t following; this is due to the prepaid revenue (also sometimes referred to as “unearned revenue”) that we received in the prior months.

When forecasting our budget with our clients for the new year, we spend a little extra time reviewing and planning for a minor slow-down starting out. Here are three ways to plan for Med Spa lulls that come in January and February:

1. Budgeting Cash Flow – While January and February are historically lighter revenue months, it is also a time that we typically see the costs of treating patients increase, too! Cost increases in rent, insurance premiums, and you’ve likely already received communication from your medical supply vendors that prices will slightly increase. When we’re forecasting, we take this into account, and ensure we’re including the increase in costs to view how this impacts our bottom line. Due to the cyclicality of the Medical Spa industry in Q1, we typically don’t plan for us to off-set these costs until March.
2. Promote & Market Other Services – The start of the new year is typically the best time to actively promote and market laser services. Depending on location, the climate is usually favorable for laser services to shine during the winter months. Additionally, this is a great time to educate clients about the advantages of performing laser services prior to the Spring and Summer months. Likewise, with new years comes new year’s resolutions. A Forbes Health survey on New Year’s resolutions recently unveiled that 33.8% of respondents have a New Year’s Resolution to “lose weight”  – so any weight loss-related services can (and should) be marketed heavily as this is top-of-mind for many early on in the year.
3. Stagger Provider Availability – If we know that our appointment calendar isn’t at the capacity where it makes sense to have all of our providers active; we like to see clients stagger provider shifts so our practice is running at an efficient capacity.

Forecasting and budgeting revenue goals at a practice and provider level is our expertise. Allow Maven Financial Partners to take the heavy lifting of building your financial budget that is tailored to the goals and outcomes you seek for your practice.

We help you understand the financial aspects of your practice by reviewing your revenue and expenses while focusing on provider-specific data to ensure your practice is meeting your financial goals and running at optimum efficiency.

If you’re ready to take the next steps to learn more about how Maven can serve as your outsourced CFO, please reach out to us at hello@mavenfp.com for more information or schedule an appointment with one of our financial experts.

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