There are no ugly women, only lazy ones

By ERNIE WRIGHT

It was terribly un-PC when she said it 60 years ago, but business magnate Helena Rubinstein’s famous quip “there are no ugly women, only lazy ones” has taken on an almost self-evident status among Brits these days.

Against all the odds we’ve become a nation of Hollywood smile narcissists who are increasingly willing to spend money and effort making ourselves look better.

Britain’s top 100 dentists hauled in a record average of almost £10m each last year thanks to vanity work on their patients, new figures reveal.

Finance provider LDF found turnover by this elite group was up 22 per cent since 2010, with laser whitening, computerised smile analysis and straightening among the top selling treatments.

And the appetite for non dental vanity work is also up; the 10 most popular cosmetic surgery procedures increased by at least 12 per cent from 2013 to 2014.

Facial surgery procedures are the most common and constitute half of the top 10 cosmetic operations bought in the UK. In order of popularity they are eyelid surgery, face lift, nose job, brow lift and ear correction.

Dentists are naturally seen as the authority in facial cosmetic treatments so, added to the surge in dental cosmetics, what an incredible time to be a dentist!

Five tactics to get in on the cosmetic boom:

1. List the cosmetic dental treatments and their prices in your area and read all available patient reviews online.

2. List the cosmetic surgery procedures and their prices in your area and read patient reviews.

3. List the beauty treatments and prices in your area and read patient reviews.

4. Formulate a menu, making no distinction between dental and non-dental cosmetic procedures, with prices that correspond with your brand and positioning. Do not affect a different brand for these offerings.

5. Add a ‘facial cosmetics’ page to your website and move all your dental cosmetic treatments here, so that eyelid surgery and tooth whitening occupy the same space. This will subtly emphasise that all facial cosmetic procedures are the natural realm of you, the dentist, as opposed to the motley collection of local charlatans who only do bits and bobs.

Get in touch if you’d like help on broadening you cosmetic proposition.

Best wishes

Ernie

0845 299 7209

ernie.wright@breathebusiness.co.uk