By Andrew Miller, Maven Financial Partners

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 practice owners.

You’ve made it to a new year, and you’re ready to hit the ground running, but how do you 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’ll be 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 is received in the prior months.

When forecasting a budget for the new year, spend a little extra time reviewing and planning for a minor slowdown starting out. Here are three ways to plan for medical spa lulls that come in January and February:

1. Budgeting cash flow – While January and February are historically lighter revenue months, they are also when we typically see the costs of treating patients increase. Costs will increase in rent and insurance premiums, and you’ve likely already received communication from your medical supply vendors that prices will slightly increase. When Maven is forecasting, it takes this into account and ensures it is including the increase in costs to view how this impacts your bottom line. Due to the cyclicality of the medical spa industry in Q1, Maven typically doesn’t plan to offset these costs until March.
2. Promote and 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 the new year 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 you know that your appointment calendar isn’t at the capacity where it makes sense to have all of your providers active, consider staggering provider shifts so your practice is running at an efficient capacity.

Forecasting and budgeting revenue goals at a practice and provider level is Maven’s 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.

Maven helps 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 at hello@mavenfp.com for more information or schedule an appointment with one of Maven’s financial experts.

Small business owners are hands-on participants in their businesses. That doesn’t give them much time to track and sort financial data, let alone use it to make financial decisions. Meet Maven Financial Partners. Maven’s team of experts take a monthly deep dive into your financial data to understand what’s driving your business. They break down services by profitability, revenue by provider or expenses to prioritize in your budget. Consider Maven your on-the-ball CFO, empowering you to make the best decisions for your business.