Focus on the
Future
Guest
Predictions:
Carolyn
Severo
Guest Predictions is a
regular feature in which we ask leaders in a
number of professions a set of questions that
affect us all.
Carolyn
Severo,
Owner and/or
Managing Director, Aesthetica Cosmetic Surgery
& Laser Center; Radiance Salon &
Medi-Spa; Medi Weightloss Clinics;
Empire-Building Business
Development
Carolyn operates multiple
businesses whose focus is to help women be their
best selves. Carolyn began her professional
career in the insurance and investment
industries. While in her 40s, Carolyn developed
her passion as an entrepreneur. She earned her
MBA at the age of 50, and she looks forward to
hitting her full
stride.
Q: What
do you see as the key emerging uses of the
Internet as an
Entrepreneur?
A:
We live in a world of instant
gratification, led in large part by the
Internet. Clients expect to be able to schedule
appointments at their convenience, from wherever
they are, so it’s a smart business that
integrates their point-of sale (POS) systems
with the Internet to accommodate that need.
Those companies that don’t will lose more and
more clients to those that do.
Q: What
surprising applications of the Internet have you
found in your field?
A:
Using a POS and the Internet, a
business can send an advertising email to a
specific target market within their existing
client database, rather than to their entire
client database. This results in ads reaching
only those who may be interested, which in turn
reduces the number of clients who will
“Unsubscibe” and “Spam” your
email.
Q: What
have been the "Best Uses" of the Internet for
you?
A:
Using an online concierge, such
as DemandForce or Smile Reminder, integrated
with your POS allows you to solicit your clients
for reviews immediately after their
appointments. These online reviews appear on
your website and help your SEO ranking.
Additionally, these reviews have integrity
because they were solicited from clients that
actually received services; they were not
written by disgruntled former employees or
competitors.
Q: What should be
avoided when dealing with the
Internet?
A:
The person managing a business’
social media should not cut and paste text or
pictures from the Internet to their Facebook
posts without crediting the source by providing
the source link. Within Facebook, posts should
never be cut and pasted but rather “Shared” to
avoid copyright infringement. In fact, almost
everything on the Internet is protected by
copyright.
Q: Which
next steps might you recommend for all of us to
take?
A:
When a new client says that
their referral source was your website, you need
to know how they got there. To do that,
receptionists need to be better trained to track
referral sources. The receptionist should ask if
they were doing a generic search (i.e., Botox
Leesburg) or a specific search (Dr. Smith
Leesburg). If they were doing a generic search,
then a search engine, corporate partner
(vendor), or portal was the primary referral
source. But if they were specifically searching
for “Dr. Smith,” they had already heard of him.
Whatever motivated them to do a search for “Dr.
Smith” is their primary referral source.
