What You Missed at the ASPS 2024 Annual Meeting

Announcer (00:06):
You are listening to the Aesthetically Speaking podcast presented by Nextech.

Tyler Terry (00:13):
Hey guys, welcome back to the Aesthetically Speaking podcast. I'm here with the amazing Robin.

Robin Ntoh (00:19):
Hey Tyler. So excited to be here today.

Tyler Terry (00:22):
Me too. It's been a great day.

Robin Ntoh (00:25):
Oh God, it's been fabulous. By the way, let's stop, tell the audience where we are.

Tyler Terry (00:29):
We in beautiful San Diego, one of my favorite cities. I mean, how do you not love San Diego? Amazing weather, 365 days a year, but we're in San Diego and we're at the ASPS meeting.

Robin Ntoh (00:41):
Absolutely. And they opened today, and this booth, when they first opened this place was crazy. I mean, there was a lot of people on the floor like, okay, we know Covid is over and people are back in business, but I haven't been to a meeting in a while where I've seen this many people, so I'm pretty excited about it. Pretty pumped.

Tyler Terry (00:59):
There really was a buzz. I haven't seen this buzz at ASPS for probably five or six years.

Robin Ntoh (01:03):
No, totally, totally agree with you. We've got a special guest with us today.

Tyler Terry (01:07):
Yeah, we do.

Robin Ntoh (01:07):
So let's bring her on to tell us what she thinks. So Anna Browning, she is here. She's our VP of Aesthetic Sales. So super excited. Anna, what do you think about the show?

Anna Browning (01:18):
Thank you for having me today on this, Robin and Tyler.

Tyler Terry (01:21):
Of course.

Anna Browning (01:22):
Today has been very, very fun and very informative.

Tyler Terry (01:28):
And wait, Anna, so you've been with Nextech for how long?

Anna Browning (01:30):
I have been with Nextech for 12 and a half years.

Tyler Terry (01:34):
12 and a half years. And you've been to this meeting countless times, right?

Anna Browning (01:37):
Yeah. I don't know if I have counted how many times I've been here.

Tyler Terry (01:42):
So what do you think, what's your gauge on this? Do you feel like there's a good buzz? Is there a good energy?

Anna Browning (01:47):
Good buzz, good energy. What I have been liking is our ability to engage with a lot of our existing customers and hear about what's going on in their practice and sharing with them all of the new and exciting things that we're doing.

Robin Ntoh (02:01):
Yeah, that's right. I did notice a lot of people were coming in the booth asking, what's new? What are you doing these days? And it was nice to be able to talk about some of those new things like embedded payments and surcharging and ACH. A lot of cool things that we're doing right now. So it is exciting.

Tyler Terry (02:15):
It is. And our booth looks great. We have a big giraffe, right? San Diego Zoo right?

Robin Ntoh (02:22):
Six feet giraffe. Yeah.

Tyler Terry (02:23):
It's huge. It's huge. People are getting pictures with it. They're stopping by.

Robin Ntoh (02:27):
Yep.

Anna Browning (02:27):
I think that we're giving away two tickets to the San Diego Zoo. There's an auction of sorts, a raffle.

Robin Ntoh (02:34):
I mean, we're bringing out the animal and everybody, let's face it here. Okay?

Tyler Terry (02:37):
I even saw some stuffed animals too that we're giving out, so we're all in on the giraffe. I like it.

Robin Ntoh (02:42):
Yeah, totally. I think we've probably got the coolest thing going on. What else I've been seeing is people from other societies that are checking it out, looking at what they're doing at this meeting, what kind of energy they're bringing in. So that says a lot for what they're trying to do to kind of almost reenergize what's going on in the meeting space. So different vibe. Good vibe.

Tyler Terry (03:06):
Yeah. It does kind of feel like we're kind of crossing specialties a little bit. A little bit, a little bit. I will say I don't think anybody else has three booths here though. We have three booths. We have our podcast booth, we have our TouchMD booth, and we have our Nextech booth.

Robin Ntoh (03:21):
Right. They can't miss us. Right? For sure. For sure. No, I think it's good. And we've got a lot of leadership here, our new CEO, he's in the house, right?

Anna Browning (03:32):
Our new CMO.

Tyler Terry (03:33):
Right. First time I've met both of them. They've been awesome.

Robin Ntoh (03:36):
Yeah, they're loving it. They're checking things out, learning about this space. Exciting.

Tyler Terry (03:40):
Dr. Patrick Basile.

Robin Ntoh (03:41):
Yep. Dr. Basile's here, one of our KOLs. He's in the booth hanging out with us, giving a lot of interaction, I think with the customers, which is great.

Tyler Terry (03:49):
Yeah, yeah. Anything exciting that we're seeing out there? Anything that's unexpected or new?

Robin Ntoh (03:56):
I don't know that I would say new. Again, I've only hit half of the exhibit hall so far. But I keep running into a lot of people that have been around for a long time. You see the energy, you see the excitement, and that in and of itself says a lot about what's going on in the meetings. Seeing the consolidators, so we've got Arsa that's next door to us, big consolidator out of New Jersey, and so they're here. So their presence is noted and they're starting to, those fellows and residents are getting out of school, they're looking at where they want to go. So some of them going into private practice and some of them are getting out there and looking at the consolidated area and thinking about, well, I want to work for a much bigger company. So breast implant companies, obviously they're here.

Tyler Terry (04:40):
Yeah, Motiva. Motiva. I see they're here.

Robin Ntoh (04:41):
That's right. Yep.

Tyler Terry (04:42):
That's interesting. I remember seeing them before they were actually in the US market, so it's interesting to see them here having a presence.

Robin Ntoh (04:49):
Totally. And we've got the usual suspects. They're here, like your injectables, definitely instruments. Those are always the most popular booth. I mean, everybody being, we're next to Black & Black, seeing them, they tend to be three people deep sometimes, so that's always a fun place to be.

Tyler Terry (05:06):
It is true. They're busy. It's kind of in and out over there, so

Robin Ntoh (05:09):
Yeah, I know. Well, those doctors, they love their instruments.

Tyler Terry (05:12):
It's true. I would say from a couple of the interviews I did today, it definitely seems like this is the meeting that they come to network.

Robin Ntoh (05:18):
Yes.

Tyler Terry (05:18):
They know that their friends are here, their people that they went to school with are here. This is the networking meeting based on their feedback.

Robin Ntoh (05:26):
Well, and it's a little earlier than it usually is, so I mean, we're still in September. Usually the meetings don't kick off until October, so we're a little early. I'm sure there's economics around that, considering it's a major election year. Do we dare say that, bring that subject up a hot topic in and of itself?

Tyler Terry (05:43):
It's true.

Robin Ntoh (05:43):
Yeah. So I mean, Anna, think about it. I know that there's hesitation in the market. What are you seeing?

Anna Browning (05:49):
Yeah, we're seeing a little bit of a lull right now, a little bit of a slowdown, and it's actually reassuring to hear that as talking to physicians while we're here, that just spending and the practices is down from the patient perspective and therefore that's the providers are not spending, and we're hopeful, again, having been at Nextech for 12 plus years, I've seen this play three times and post-election, we're all looking forward to it rebounding and coming back full force.

Robin Ntoh (06:21):
Yeah. Event I did last week with Karen Zupko, and we had I think 12, no 15 practices present, and very much the same story. There's a slow down, there's a lull. People that have booked surgery are pushing off, uncertainty. But as you said, we have seen this, we've seen this many times already. Am I stating how old I am? Because I just said that?

Anna Browning (06:44):
No, you're still safe.

Robin Ntoh (06:46):
I was gonna say, I hope I didn't just give that away. However, I mean thinking about it from a presidential election perspective, this is not something, we talk about this all year. We warn, we say it's going to happen, it's going to happen, it's going to slow down. And then when it happens, everybody's like, you didn't tell me that was going to happen.

Tyler Terry (07:01):
Yeah, why is this happening?

Robin Ntoh (07:02):
Yeah, right. I'm like, no, we've talked about this. But yeah, no, they had all said the same thing. And again, it's like it's going to come back. It's going to happen. And it does usually it doesn't matter who, it's just that it's over.

Tyler Terry (07:14):
Yeah.

Robin Ntoh (07:15):
It's just that it's over. Yeah.

Tyler Terry (07:17):
That's a great point. So two things I've heard today, two services that it seems like many plastic surgeons are adding, semaglutide and IV therapy or IV hydration. I've heard IV hydration multiple times today in terms of pairing that they're pairing it with not just injectables and fillers, but more of this experience. We have the waiting room experience of patients sitting and we have a coffee station, but also having an IV hydration station as, Hey, when you come into our practice, this is part of the experience, whether it's part of your membership or it's just, Hey, if you choose any of our surgical procedures, we're going to pair this drip with it, this cocktail with it. So interesting. I've heard that three times today.

Robin Ntoh (08:00):
Well, I mean, Anna and I were just having lunch with a practice administrator, CEO, and he was talking about, was it regenerative medicine? Yeah, no, I think that it's relevant, definitely. They're starting to think about, he was talking about it from the perspective of how they're expanding, but also not just that they're offering, but there's just generally a demand. People are starting to really request it, and so either you react and add it on or you find yourself left out the cold, I guess is what he was thinking. So they're exploring it, but I thought that that was interesting to think of it from that perspective.

Tyler Terry (08:34):
Definitely. Anna, what are you seeing with your team on the nonsurgical side with the plastic surgeons that they're working with? How are they adopting the med spa side of their business or the nonsurgical side of their business? Do you feel like most of them have med spas?

Anna Browning (08:49):
I don't even know if I could put a percentage on it. We've got plastic surgery practices that have separate med spas. I would maybe say it's 20% of our business, if that. They're either attached to one or they're interested in opening a separate one.

Tyler Terry (09:06):
Something I heard that was interesting today was these private equity companies, when they're looking at acquiring a practice, and in this case, let's say a plastic surgeon, many of them will start off and they'll open five med spas in a geographical territory, but let's just say it's a metro area like Las Vegas. They'll place five med spas there, and then they'll go and acquire a plastic surgeon and then they'll feed the med spa patients to that surgeon. It's the first time I heard that, and I thought, brilliant, in my opinion.

Anna Browning (09:35):
Yeah.

Tyler Terry (09:35):
I've never heard, I've always kind of segmented surgeons being acquired, med spas being acquired, derms being acquired, but this kind of cross pollination, it's the first time I heard it curated that way, which I thought was interesting.

Anna Browning (09:47):
Yeah, I think that the plastic surgeons want to do those higher dollar procedures and focus on that versus the other non-surgical procedures. That's what they went to school for. That's what their joy is, and they want to focus on that. So I think that is genius.

Robin Ntoh (10:06):
Well, it makes sense. I mean, so often I'll talk to a surgeon, I do not want to do injectables. It's not what I enjoy doing, but they recognize that that is, again, something that feeds into the surgical business, but it also helps with retention. So not a new story there, but again, something that they just don't always think about in their career until they get to the point where they're like, I'm losing business. And then they start to grasp that concept of, okay, I should have been doing this, or now let's start doing it. How do I do it? And do I have the right software, or the right tools, or even the right team in place to do that? But we are seeing different approaches to how they do that. And kind of like what you were just saying, thinking about that, the feeder system, that cross-referral all within that network, it just makes sense. Also, we've talked to people before as guests, and we think about not just from what they are in their career right now, but we think about that long-term component of eventually they may not want to do surgery anymore, and so this just continues to feed their business, and then they can kind of slow down the surgical side of it or bring in a junior partner to do that. And we all get older, and as we get older, we find ourselves not wanting to do some of those heavier, more intense things.

Tyler Terry (11:17):
I asked a question today on how a surgeon is differentiating himself, and it was very old school and I loved it, but it's actually different than what everybody else is doing. Everybody else is trying to optimize, which is great, you want to optimize the experience from A to Z from the time the patient calls in to the time they're treated and when they leave. But for him, he's owning that entire patient experience where he's doing the consult, he's doing the surgery, he's doing the post-op, and he wants to own as much of that as he can. And the number one thing he said, his main thing was being kind. I'm going to be kind to my patients and I want them to know that I'm there for them anytime they need me. And it's not even anything crazy. It's not a crazy concept, but just the fact that he cares and he wants to be a part of all of it. That's how he's differentiating. So it's like everyone else is going left, which is great, and he's like, I'm going to go right and I'm going to own the whole thing.

Robin Ntoh (12:11):
Well, I applaud the fact that he actually recognizes that as a differentiator and that he's leaning into it because a lot of people just don't even try or don't even know what their differentiator is.

Anna Browning (12:21):
But think about the customer journey with that, same face, same voice, hears me from start to finish. That makes for a really good, and I would say better, customer experience if they've got the time to do that.

Robin Ntoh (12:36):
Well, think about it from an old school perspective. There's people that appreciate that a physician actually spends time in the room with them, especially if you think about those patients that have never been in an aesthetic practice and they go in there for the first time, and their idea of what that patient journey looks like may be only what they've experienced at their general practitioner, their PCP. So a different experience, a different way to think about it. And if he's going to talk about being kind, applaud that all over.

Tyler Terry (13:05):
Yeah, he kept saying that with my patients, but also with my staff. And I asked him how his staff would describe him, and he is like, being kind, but also I'm a perfectionist.

Robin Ntoh (13:14):
But on the inverse, there's those physicians that feel like they can still deliver that high quality and that great patient experience without having that one-to-one throughout the entire journey. And I think that that goes back to what are the tools you're using? And as you were saying that, I'm thinking TouchMD, TouchMD, TouchMD. And I keep thinking that because we so often forget about what are those things that bridge the gap, that smooth away, that really give people the autonomy that they want. And there's a lot of people that are like, I don't want to sit in the waiting room. I don't want to be in the office for a lot of time, but if I can go home and consume it at my own pace, that to me makes sense. Because then I can sit back in the own comfort in my home, really understand the procedure, get more understanding and perspective about it, and then send in my questions. Then I want my surgeon to answer them. I don't have to have an hour with them. But to me that's more convenient and I can understand it at my pace. But again, I think it goes back to practices have different ways that they solve for this, but it doesn't mean that they're not differentiating. It's just what is the most critical way that they're doing and does that meet that patient's needs?

Tyler Terry (14:18):
And there's not a right or wrong way, per se, because there's things that this doctor's doing that I love, but that another doctor's owning and that's his or her differentiator that he doesn't do. I love that. One thing too is when you talk about for him, he wanted to own the consultation and he wants to own the follow-up, but that you brought up TouchMD. If practices can realize that, hey, I can duplicate and replicate my consult experience and I could teach four or five of my staff members to give a very parallel experience with the consultation as what I'm doing, well then I could trust that that's going to happen if I'm on vacation or if I just don't have the time or the bandwidth. Great, they're getting this high level consultation and patients are watching videos or whatever it is. I'm using the drawing tools and the slider. But being able to replicate and duplicate, that could be a way to streamline and to ensure that everyone's getting a high quality consultation.

Robin Ntoh (15:16):
Anna and I were just having a conversation. We have a women in technology group at Nextech and we were just meeting, what was it a week ago, what we were talking about?

Anna Browning (15:25):
Personal branding.

Robin Ntoh (15:26):
Personal branding, yeah. Similar, very similar concept.

Anna Browning (15:28):
Like differentiating yourself.

Robin Ntoh (15:31):
How do you brand yourself or present yourself, I would say. Right?

Tyler Terry (15:36):
Well, I just want to say, well, number one, I think it's cool that we have the women in technology. You both know that I'm a girl dad and I genuinely admire both of you as female leaders who I look up to personally.

Robin Ntoh (15:49):
Thank you.

Tyler Terry (15:50):
Seriously. And I think it's cool because you've trail blazed for not only the women at our company, but just women in general, even for my two little girls, to see that and to know that their dad has leaders in his life that he respects that are knocking it out of the park. So shout out to you guys.

Anna Browning (16:08):
Thanks. Robin's engagement with Women in Tech just recently has been really a really cool thing to experience. She did a session on when traveling, what to do versus what not to do. Things that you don't even think of. Like, Hey, take the bag in the trash can and put it on the remote, cuz those are dirty and not sanitary. And as we've been traveling, I'm like, wait, we forgot this one thing. We have to go back and tell everybody,

Tyler Terry (16:35):
Prep the room in a certain way. Don't do that.

Anna Browning (16:38):
Right. Hilarious. But she travels all the time, so no better person to educate the other women on safety when we travel and all the things that come with that. And the other session being personal branding. And women, I would say in particular have a hard time talking about themselves and it's an uncomfortable thing. And Robin just talked about it being completely normal and okay, and there were some very vulnerable moments of some women on our team bringing things up of why that's hard. And shout out to Robin for sharing her tips and tricks with how to brand yourself.

Robin Ntoh (17:15):
It's funny though, I love that we as a company think about how we bring people together and build up the teams, whether it's doing leadership training, which is a great part of what Nextech does. We do a lot of leadership training courses and we invest back in our women as well as everybody in the group and actually everybody in the organization. We think about how we invest internally so that we have the right approach in teams externally. So it's a great way to think about where our company differentiates because we like to think about ourselves as a scalable company.

Tyler Terry (17:53):
I agree. There is something I thought of, Anna, something that I love that you do is you're really good at networking outside of work. Not networking to gain business or to close deals, obviously you do that as well. But networking with your friends, with people that you went to school with, with your MBA group, I think that is so cool. You have your two beautiful girls at home, your husband, you're knocking out of the park as a wife, as a mom, you manage a huge team, the aesthetic sales team at Nextech, you're VP of Aesthetic Sales, but then you'd make time to go and do that. So what would you say? How do you do that?

Anna Browning (18:34):
That's such a good question, Tyler. Number one, thank you. And I love that you always lift us up. It's buckets. I think about things as buckets. I've got my family bucket, I've got my work bucket, I've got my personal buckets, and I do my best to just feed the buckets and keep them as full as possible. I try to go to dinner with my EMBA team probably once every month, every other month or so. Part of my decision making with going back to school as a working mom and I had twin two year olds at that time, it was completely insane. I look back going, I have no idea how I did it, but part of my decision making was one, being a good role model and setting that example for my daughters, but two, networking. I can network with my family and friends and coworkers, but I wanted to cast a wider net. And I had the opportunity to meet a lot of really, really unique people within my class. And they assign us groups in my cohort and just the four of us have become best friends and we lift each other up and we talk about what's going on in their worlds. And it all relates, but it's a special relationship. But selfishly, it keeps my bucket full.

Robin Ntoh (19:49):
It's evident. I mean, 12 and a half years. And do you know how many people came up to the booth that knew her? Or I remember when, we don't always want to remember those remember when moments, but sometimes. But I mean, we had lunch with a physician that, I'm sorry, a practice CEO, that actually was one of the accounts you managed so many years ago and

Anna Browning (20:10):
12 years ago.

Robin Ntoh (20:11):
Right?

Anna Browning (20:12):
I said, you look familiar. He said, you look familiar. And I was like, I can't connect the dots, but yep, we figured it out.

Robin Ntoh (20:18):
Amazing. That's the great thing about it. So it's like you're right. Relationship building and she's very good at it. In the words of Anna woo woo.

Tyler Terry (20:25):
It's true. One of the best. I'll say this about Anna, nobody cares more about her people than Anna. And before I joined her team, I had probably four or five people tell me that. And I'm like, okay, that's amazing. And it was that times 10. So shout out to you, your leadership. I love the buckets analogy and how you're trying to fill those buckets and.

Robin Ntoh (20:46):
Got to love the worklife balance.

Tyler Terry (20:48):
It's true.

Anna Browning (20:49):
It's a work in progress always.

Robin Ntoh (20:52):
Well, I've loved this today.

Tyler Terry (20:53):
Me too.

Robin Ntoh (20:53):
I think it's been a great, great first day. I'm excited about what we're going to do tomorrow. And Anna looking me like, she's like, you're not pulling me back over here. She's like, who are you going to pull it tomorrow?

Anna Browning (21:04):
You guys are really good at this. This is not my jam.

Tyler Terry (21:07):
You've done great. It's been great. I was going to say, we'll see you tomorrow. That's your chair. I think it has your name behind the chair.

Robin Ntoh (21:16):
All right. Well, thanks for joining us today, and we hope to see you tomorrow on Aesthetically Speaking.

Tyler Terry (21:23):
Until then, have a great rest of the show and we'll see you tomorrow.

Anna Browning (21:26):
Woo woo.

Robin Ntoh (21:27):
Champagne up.

Tyler Terry (21:28):
Woo woo.

Announcer (21:33):
Thanks for listening to Aesthetically Speaking, the podcast where beauty meets business, presented by Nextech. Follow and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. Links to the resources mentioned on this podcast or available in your show notes. For more information about Nextech, visit Nextech.com. Or to learn more about TouchMD, go to touchmd.com. Aesthetically Speaking is a production of The Axis, theaxis.io.