Here is some of the feedback I received after my last article Are "Aesthetic Doctors not interested in buying devices right now"

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/aesthetic-doctors-interested-buying-devices-right-now-heidi-cfqlc%3FtrackingId=Fctec3eGQKG3E7dMXM5KcQ%253D%253D/?trackingId=Fctec3eGQKG3E7dMXM5KcQ%3D%3D

I wanted to do a recap of some of the private responses I had on my last article. These responses are more about what the reps are going through not responses regarding the interest rates.

#1 Q4 brought impossible goals. One person in the entire company made goal. A few of us were placed on a 2 week pip and lost our jobs. It’s rough out there. There are plenty of good people that these companies expect top sales from yet give minimal training.

#2 I took a job at a new company saying I would make 1 million as a Regional and now 80 some days later in talks about why we (my team) is not selling more. New company in the space, never been in this area, no marketing, no demo units but need to be putting up 12 million in Q4. Been hard on my self esteem.

#3 About rep turnover in the device arena. Here is what I see- First- the call cycle required to sell a device - from point of initial pitch to close in the best circumstance is 60-90 days even when the office is truly interested in the device. The 90 day mark is the jumping off point for field reps to begin their true ramp up. Secondly, competition and constant new device innovation. That's why we see heightened device renting and sharing.

#4 For two months and one week one of my connections went to (Company X - we'll call it that ) for their device launch against their better judgment. they stated "As you may know now, this device failed terribly". However, within two months and one week, this person sold four devices. Company X burns through talented individuals, in their opinion, and it is similar-it’s a frat house. This connection of mine was constantly double-teamed by their district manager and regional manager on phone calls. The stress was unreal and you have to give your list to your manager each night of where you’re going the next day. These are the metrics: run 5 meetings per day; in between the meetings, make 30 cold calls, and in between the cold calls, Make 20-40 dials.

***let's break this down***

Assuming you started your day at 7 am and finish at 6 pm that is 11 hours total.

**Run 5 meetings a day, so assuming you have 5 meetings, that is two in the morning, one at lunch, and two in the afternoon. The average meeting is 30 minutes. Usually longer, but if it is 30 minutes, that means 2.5 hours is now gone to meetings.

**Let's assume the meetings are each 20 minutes away from each other (again, highly unlikely. I live in Dallas, and I know that it can take 45 minutes to get from one part of town to the other with zero traffic) which means 1 hour 40 more minutes of driving. So now we are at 4 hours and 10 minutes of your day. Let's add in an extra 10 minutes per meeting and transportation for parking, getting out of your car - a meeting runs long, etc. Now we are at 5 hours and 10 minutes.

Now let's add in the 30 in-person cold calls. If you can get to 5 practices or call points an hour which is highly unlikely then you have now added 6 more hours of in person cold calling. Now you are at 11 hours and 10 minutes of your day.

In between driving to the practices to cold call on them in person - you have to call 20-40 more practices while using your navigation, getting phone calls, and acting like a professional while trying to leave as many phone messages at the front desk as you can. Constantly looking down to dial, and quite frankly, putting everyone on the roads at risk.

Have I mentioned you have not stopped to take a phone call from the practice, your boss, or a customer, eat breakfast, lunch, or snacks? Oh yeah, and I hope you didn't have to go to the bathroom at all this day.

Now you head home and stay in your home office for two hours on Google, finding the addresses and phone # numbers of all the locations of Aesthetic offices you didn't call that day so you can call on them tomorrow- remember you called on 75 total today. You better find 75 more tomorrow and the next day and the next.

This connection of mine said it is the intent of Company X's goal is to hire talent and when they burn them out, make them quit or put them on a pip plan. This employee was working 90 hours a week, busting their tail for a company that in their opinion, treats their employees exactly like they treat their customers. (I will not recap the exact phrase they used.) Many of their friends have left on their own or have been put on a pip plan. One of them got fired last week after they closed over $1 million worth of business. This connection of mine's personal dermatologist told them the other day that unless there is new technology that has been made with new FDA approvals, that is exciting. He doesn’t have to buy any lasers right now he already has $2 million worth sitting. He told me he would not be buying unless something catches his eye that is revolutionary. Company X was hands-down the worst experience of this person's career. Even left them going to therapy. Three months later they were still having nightmares.

#5 Patients have less disposable income these days and will always choose toxins and fillers over laser treatments. More predictable treatments, and they most likely have had a positive experience with injectables, so easier to make that decision. Accounts are tired of playing the laser game. They realize these systems cost typically 1/10th to 1/30th of what they are being asked to pay and they just aren’t going to do it anymore. Laser companies have run out of ways to reinvent themselves in my opinion and they have run out of accounts to pilfer. No one wants 100k coat hangers anymore and if an account truly needs a piece of laser tech, they will first look used or rental but even then it has to be a must have. Mark my words, laser capital equipment is on the trail end of its lifecycle.

#6 One of my connections shared that he had a record breaking year of growth in financing device in this market. He also saw record breaking leads from Reps, so they don’t think doctors aren’t wanting to buy equipment or demand decreased. However they do believe the source for funding has decreased significantly and that I am correct the interest rates increase created pause or drawn out sales cycles. Also, they hear that procedure volume is down and the effect of economy has made the consumer Spending take pause which in turn is taking a pause with the purchase sales cycle. However the demand of the double digit 20-30% industry yoy growth rates are not being achieved as these factors aren’t taken into full Consideration as no one could Truly predict this. So bottom line in their view it’s not the rep, its not demand, it’s the current market

#7 the industry is overloaded with lasers and these lasers cost a lot of money any where from $30,000 - $200,000. As a result people don’t want to invest in a laser that will be “old” if you will in 6 months to a year. - financing is difficult for 3 reasons - 1. Offices can not get the financing even with good credit (depends upon who the lender is as each company uses different ones) 2. The interest is very high and not worth investing in. 3. If your newer to the industry - you get denied by a lender. - the industry is filled with a lot of laser companies who do not have a good follow through on their support and it’s starting to turn people off. - laser reps are looked at like copier sales reps now - a dime a dozen. - people are tired of the “love them and leave them” mentality. - laser companies are not offering any support or even ramp up time for sales team to be productive. It’s get them in expect 3 deals first months. They don’t care what the reality is. Overall no one is looking at the economics of where we are now and what it takes to be able to sell in this market with these expensive devices. Not to mention new people starting out do not have any money to purchase. Lastly, some of these devices that offices invest in - become a treatment that is too painful that patients don’t come back and the office has wasted money on an expensive device.

#8 From another one of my connections. Understanding, practices have not seen the same revenue growth that they did post covid, which made them nervous. Some practices believe that it’s due to higher interest rates, and uncertainty of the global economic environment. Others believe that one of the main reasons to the reduction in revenue is due to student loan repayments are due again, which reduces the spendable income among a large portion of the clientele. In terms of what we saw on the capital side, once someone was excited about bringing on new technology, two things stood out. 1. The credit window is much smaller, meaning that it’s really tough to event get approvals. Where traditionally most practitioners could get approved if they had 2 years in business, or just strong financials. One of our main financial partners saw a reduction from 85% in 2022, down to 60% in 2023. 2. The rates have been a lot worse. I think we’ve been spoiled with rates between 5-8%, whereas now rates normally start at 8 and go to 14%. Practitioners are almost insulted by these high rates.

#9 Connection of mine started with a new company in June to then be put through a month and a half of mandatory training by the company to then finally be released into my territory which they were hired into to cover 8 states. Immediately, the territory was cut to the 4 states no one had been working in the past 6-8 months and they no longer had a TM. They got in the field set meetings and started pulling practices through the sales process to meet objections that weren’t overcome-able after multiple attempts (ie interest rates, slow traffic in the practice, hard time keeping staff so no one to do the treatment, patient spend is down, “we need to upgrade X machine before we can purchase a new treatment, but we don’t even have the budget for that”). 2 1/2 months later and their territory got cut and absorbed by the company out of the blue. Leadership at these companies are more profit focused than ever and because of a few record years each company has crazy quotas and poor management resulting in mass exoduses of reps. They think another factor too in the market is the influx of new devices. They have seen at least 4 new device companies launching their companies in 2023 with portfolios of products. Combine that with the established companies adding new tech and there are almost too many options for the consumer which delays the sales cycle and eliminates those “impulse” buy behaviors we as reps have been taught to capitalize on.

#10 Another connection said, "In my opinion, last quarter was the slowest fourth quarter I have experienced in my five or six years of laser sales. The temperature of our practices is, definitely very hesitant right now, according to the injectable reps volume is down about 20% euro year. I think the combination of quotas continuing to go up, but with the industry having a slower year contributed to a lot of turnover. A lot of reps making less money than they were used to making, and, having extremely high expectations, put over their head. I do genuinely think that the economy played a big role in that, I think, as Christmas approached, practices expected to see a huge surge in their volume from their patients, but they just didn't – I think patients were really feeling the cost of inflation hit their bank account. To your point about interest rates, financing has definitely been a challenge, both with the interest rates themselves, and just with getting practices financed. We can no longer get credit approvals app only on almost anyone, we need a full financial portfolio. My lenders are telling me that these are the highest default rates they have seen."

#11 This is from another one of my connections. "Here is the deal that I see and what I’m hearing… - the industry is over loaded with lasers and these lasers cost a lot of money any where from $30,000 - $200,000. As a result people don’t want to invest in a laser that will be “old” if you will in 6 months to a year. - financing is difficult for 3 reasons - 1. Offices can not get the financing even with good credit (depends upon who the lender is as each company uses different ones) 2. The interest is very high and not worth investing in. 3. If your newer to the industry - you get denied by a lender. - the industry is filled with a lot of laser companies who do not have a good follow through on their support and it’s starting to turn people off. - laser reps are looked at like copier sales reps now - a dime a dozen. - people are tired of the “love them and leave them” mentality. - laser companies are not offering any support or even ramp up time for sales team to be productive. It’s get them in expect 3 deals first months. They don’t care what the reality is. Overall no one is looking at the economics of where we are now and what it takes to be able to sell in this market with these expensive devices. Not to mention new people starting out do not have any money to purchase. Lastly, some of these devices that offices invest in - become a treatment that is too painful that patients don’t come back and the office has waisted money on an expensive device."