For Your Best Self

The For Your Best Self Brand Discussion with Dr. Novo and Dr. Saluja

• multiple • Season 4 • Episode 55

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In this episode, we delve deep into the evolution of our brand "For Your Best Self," exploring how it shapes our patient experience and reflects our core mission. We discuss the importance of synergy, culture, and operational excellence in creating a trusted and welcoming environment.

• Exploring the significance of a strong brand 
• Understanding our mission and its impact on care 
• Highlighting the role of synergy in our healthcare services 
• Discussing the Four Agreements as a cultural foundation 
• Emphasizing sensory details in enhancing the patient experience 
• Analyzing operational strategies that streamline patient interactions 
• Encouraging adaptability and open communication with patients 
• Commitment to continuous improvement and feedback-driven care 

Reach out if you have questions or if you want to share anything about your experience. Reach out to info@foryourbestself.com.

For more information, visit our website http://www.foryourbestself.com and sign up for our monthly newsletter .

Speaker 1:

welcome back to the for your best self podcast. It's dr novo and dr suja very on brand.

Speaker 1:

Talking about branding, I would say this is a topic we're extremely passionate about and, to kick off 2025, we're actually going to go back 10 years and start talking about some of our foundational things, of how and why we created the brand and the way we did it and why it still matters. When you talk about creating a strong brand, the why is mainly because it's while everyone brings their unique talents and personalities to the table. Having a strong brand is really the only way that you can have a process in place to create a consistent patient experience, which is what we do day to day. And there's certain pillars of brand that we're going to talk about, but primarily, brand. A strong brand becomes that universal language that unifies a team where you can always go back to. Am I on brand? And we're going to talk about what things that makes us on brand.

Speaker 1:

For us, and while a brand can evolve and we've never truly rebranded which is also okay in the real world I just worked through that with my sister-in-law and it's fun and exciting if you do need to do a big pivot but what I've seen over our 10 years is we come back at least once a year and we, I would say we evolve and we kind of refine and tweak our brands, um, maybe in shifting in that direction, towards our vision, which I think is really fun for both of us. So here we are with our 2025 version of our brand, which is pretty similar to where we started, but we'll go through some of the evolution of that, and one of the first biggest pillars of brand is your mission, or our mission. So if you want to explain our, for your Best, self mission, I'd be happy to Hi everyone.

Speaker 2:

Dr Saluja here, our mission is as follows For your best self, we are a committed, informed and smiling team delivering skillful, safe and synergistic care. So really think about smiling, knowing your material, knowing your stuff. So skillful, safety considerations and being synergistic and I'll come back to synergistic in a minute. But we also want to have a first-class patient experience and we synergistic and I'll come back to synergistic in a minute but we also want to have a first-class patient experience and we're going to talk about that a little bit more soon.

Speaker 2:

Our care includes expert assessment. So we again have to start with the assessment before we can come up with procedures and products and prescriptions, and all of those rely on the assessment. So we really want to have an expert assessment. We want to customize our treatments. Somebody who may want lip filler may want enhanced volume, another person may want hydration, another person is looking at fine line improvement, and so those treatments are different. It's not one treatment of lip filler, it's really customized to what the patient would really like. And then outstanding service. So the patient experience is also about service.

Speaker 2:

So we want treatment results, knowledge, assessment, service and we want you to enjoy your journey with us because, at the end of the day, life is short and you're coming in for your best self.

Speaker 2:

Short and you're coming in for your best self and if we can make the visit with us enjoyable, then for your maintenance treatments you're going to be happy to come back in again, versus delaying maintenance, and with so many things, maintenance is important, including with the work we do in dermatology and plastic surgery, and so we really want you to enjoy the journey and we hope it's a lifelong journey where each of us is helping you and our teams are helping you during that time.

Speaker 2:

So when I talk about synergy, what do we mean? And with synergy we are talking about working together, and working together matters because, especially this day and age, I feel like there's so many places that we do this and we do this and we do this and we really all have our areas of expertise. But it's most exciting when we come together and we work together so that our combined effect is greater than what each of us could do on our own. So we really want our sum to be greater than our individual efforts, and it doesn't mean that we're not giving individual effort. It just means that we're working together in your journey or in your plan so that we're combining things like dermatology and plastic surgery or health and aesthetics to really give you more holistic care, and it's really exciting for 2025.

Speaker 2:

We have a third site, launching just next week, on Monday, in Vieira, on the sort of the side of Vieira Hospital, opposite of Wickham Road, on a new road called Vadena Drive, and we are partnering with Forefront Dermatology on that site. It's a collaboration where we hope synergy shines, where we have a center that's more dedicated to medical dermatology and skin cancer surgery so that we can offer that full scope of dermatology and plastic surgery care that includes insurance-based medicine, which we currently do, but we expand on that and in turn, that allows us at the For your Best Self current sites to expand on the aesthetic care that we're delivering, the anti-aging and the wellness care. So that's our mission. For your Best Self. We are a committed, informed and smiling team delivering skillful, safe and synergistic care with a first-class patient experience. And now I want to transition back to Dr Novo to talk about another pillar of the brand, which is culture.

Speaker 1:

Perfect. When I met Dr Sulu-Jun, we started talking about brands. I had not heard of the Four Agreements. It's a brilliant book, as is she, and it's a brilliant recommendation to really I would say that formed our foundation for our work culture. Also our personal culture. If you're not familiar with the Four Agreements, life-changing book by Don Miguel Ruiz Toltec, wisdom and basically personal life development. This is our foundation. We have the posters in our spaces. It is a daily reminder because it takes daily effort and work, and reminding yourself to live the four agreements. The shapes by upholding the four agreements. This truly is our guide to shape and maintain our work, work culture.

Speaker 1:

So, number one easy. Well, I'd say the easiest, because it's a commitment to yourself. I, trusting yourself, I will always do my best, right? I think a lot of us have the mindset what can I do if I could show up 0.1% better tomorrow than I was today? What does that look like? And look at my trajectory if I'm doing that every day, right? So a commitment to always doing your best. That's how we feel. Good at the end of our day, that you gave it your all. Number two I won't make assumptions. You gave it your all. Number two I won't make assumptions. What does this mean? I'm going to trust and communicate, clearly giving the benefit of the doubt towards your teammates, trusting your teammates. I think this one is essential to a healthy work environment, to a healthy work environment. So, and I would say, this one takes a lot of practice as well.

Speaker 1:

I like that one from a standpoint of asking questions and being curious too, and not to assume so if you don't know, ask.

Speaker 2:

That's important. Don't be scared to ask questions and even if it's, you've been there, you've been working with us for six months or a year or five years. Ask questions, be curious. That's huge Instead of assuming or.

Speaker 1:

Right, I love that word curious too, because it's very non-judgmental and you're opening up yourself to, you want to learn more and it's not embarrassing or you know no one's judging you. We actually value that curiosity. That's huge, thank you. I am impeccable with my words, so be truthful. You'll notice, part of our brand is language and language matters. Of course, 90-some percent of communication is physical body language, but it shows you that the last few percentages, the words, matter. So I think we're always evolving our language and coaching each other. You know, I challenge my team to never, never, to try not to say only or just right.

Speaker 1:

We'll say exclusively or, you know, using words that don't minimize but elevate. We don't say free or discounted, right, it's a gift or complimentary, special. So we are very particular in our words and our language, and I think that conveys a thoughtfulness and respect to whoever you're interacting with. And then, finally I will not take things personally I would say this is maybe the hardest one for everyone on a human level, but this is creating a culture of seeking growth, seeking feedback. That's the only way we do indeed improve on a consistent basis.

Speaker 2:

Anything you want to say on that one, I think it's really hard to give feedback if it's not solicited so, and it's really hard to push growth on someone if they're not asking, and that doesn't always mean growth in position.

Speaker 2:

Um, for example, leaders don't need a position, can be a leader, and we're a lot of leadership is just doing things and working together and inspiring others to also work together. So I think that I think not taking things personally when I work with teammates that are like that, it's very helpful because we're all able to communicate more freely and openly and get better, or at least one of my goals is to tell our team that I've been in this 20 plus years. You've been a physician for how many years? So many years.

Speaker 2:

Maybe, also 20. How long?

Speaker 1:

20?. I can't reveal my age, I'm just kidding, I've been in the practice for 10, but the training was another. You know another 12.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so 20 plus years same and I'm still learning and I'm still going to seminars or conferences or collaborations or boards or even one-on-one sessions where I'm asking for feedback or and those little little refinements or little changes help to this day. They're priceless, so we all can benefit from not taking things personally and and soliciting to get better one of my favorite quotes is an expert is a beginner who didn't give up.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so that everyone starts somewhere. But the expert keeps seeking that improvement, keep seeking feedback. Yeah, there, and that's for all roles. Right, there's, there's answering the phone.

Speaker 2:

There's an art to answering the phone there's an art to cleaning and organizing and storing an exam or treatment room storing things in an exam treatment room. There's an art to updating our paperwork, there is expertise in how to deliver instructions so that patients hear them. So there's so many roles in our practice and they all matter and all of those responsibilities under those roles matter.

Speaker 1:

So between the mission and culture that has really set the foundation for our product, which is patient experience. So we're going to start talking about some of the nuances, the other layers of patient experiences. There's two main bundles of that, I'd say the tangible and the non-tangible. So when we talk about the tangible, that's more your senses, what you see, feel, hear, and then the non-tangibles, which are more operational, equally paramount, equally important and essential, and everything works together to create this consistent picture that people want to come back to. So that creates our goal ultimately loyalty, which is really long-term relationships with our patients. Right, we're about the journey. We're not, you know, we're not the Groupon, we're not the, you know, most expensive, we're not the least expensive. We're right there where we're approachable Provide value, provide value. We're going to attract the patients that see that value which speaks to our mission.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to go through some of the tangible senses which really should be consistent. You know, if I close my eyes and I say, okay, I'm going to walk into this space, they say that the first thing of your senses is scent. So we have a consistent scent. It's clean, it's not too masculine or too feminine, so it's a very inclusive, clean, fresh scent scent. You know we're constantly getting feedback. It can't be too strong, you know, because that will be too much for some staff and patients. So we're always refining this. I mean, it seems like the smallest detail, but it's almost a daily conversation. So scent is important, that you feel that awakened.

Speaker 1:

And when you walk in as a team member, I'm sensitive, so they always are worried I'm going to be upset over food. It's like, well, patients shouldn't smell food. So we do work on these things. Consistently. We're using white tea, white tea, okay, yeah, white tea by hotel. So once that scent welcomes you and embraces you, you're like yes, this is somewhere I want to be, this is somewhere I want to spend time. Right, when it smells good. Right, if it smells bad, you're like I got to get out of here. That's like your first gut instinct. So we've welcomed you and encouraged some place that you want to spend time.

Speaker 1:

Secondarily, you're going to look around. We're not quite Apple, but our goal is minimalistic. Right, it's not cluttered, it's welcoming, it's I would say it's. It's welcoming, I would say it's luxurious without being pretentious. Right, it's elevated without being exorbitant. So it's refined, clean, not cluttered. We've had some upgrade. We're constantly evolving our art, things that we like Plants. You brought in some beautiful living plants. Yeah, we knew green was good, but we did have artificial for a while, so we upgraded in some of our spaces with some living plants.

Speaker 2:

That's been wonderful and I think it's interesting because we're very we have a lot of traffic we have a lot of clinics have 30 to 40 patients a day and we have multiple clinics and multiple a day, and we have multiple clinics and multiple sites or in the same, even the same, suite, and so I think you know there are things we have to do to keep things clean and materials we have to use, so sometimes we may not be able to use a white fabric because we want to provide for longevity and cleanliness, and so I think we do a pretty good job with with the combination of beauty but still being a medical, clean space right, I agree it's.

Speaker 1:

It's a fine line of um being able to do the job that we need to do, but making it like I would love to have softer lighting, but I need white lighting for skin, yeah, skin exams, yeah, to be able to look clearly um, that's a good point, and people are in gowns or may not have clothing on, so we do need to have surfaces that are wipeable and and all.

Speaker 2:

So I think we're really taking into that safety consideration, the safety and health components and then, and then. Given that as a foundation, how can we make the space look good?

Speaker 1:

right. Um, and we both enjoyed that process too, the um, the aesthetic of it, uh, sound so from that warm welcome, that greeting, that hello you know, using names whenever possible is important um, so that warm greeting and then pleasant music. We definitely have specific branded stations, music that is. You know, I personally might listen to very different music in my car at home, but I know when I get to work it's a certain energy vibe that is really a little bit more universal, comforting, is really a little bit more universal, comforting, obviously not expletive, or it's a certain type of energy that we're looking for. That, yes, makes a fun work environment.

Speaker 2:

Right, music can change a mood, so we don't want it to be sad Sometimes it gets a little not too moody but not too up right and we have to change the station.

Speaker 1:

Yeah sometimes, right so we do have a set playlist and selections and that too is evolving, right so it's. You know, sometimes it's classics, sometimes we go back in time, right, fleetwood Mac, for example. But consistent sound is important as well, and also hushed tones. And while we're fun people and like to have fun, I'd say we're constantly encouraging. You know, laughter silliness obviously takes place at the break room or your lunch or your walk. We are sensitive to patients and what they're going through. You know the scope Not everybody's having good news, right. So we're sensitive to our work, voices being hushed tones or whispers outside of the patient room or when we're communicating. You know we're not shouting down the hall, or so I think we are conscious of our own voice and our collaborative voice volumes. Sound travels, you know, sometimes even through closed spaces. We've intentionally designed open spaces where we don't have offices. It's very open so that we can hear, have a, have a finger on the pulse of what is transpiring throughout the day. I like that.

Speaker 2:

It's not for everybody. I do as well. I learned so much by listening, yeah exactly so.

Speaker 1:

We are in a space where you can take in a lot, so you have to be conscious of how we all collectively contribute to that. Next is taste. We're going to provide consistent refreshment. You know, a nice bottled water, possibly sparkling and refreshment Dr Suluja is really good about those special treats an elevated small chocolate for some of your patient's events. Or, you know, we're going to have nutrition for our patients available if they're having surgery. Juice if they might have low sugar. So there's things at hand. Maybe there's a long wait time. Unexpectedly we're going to have some nutrition to offer.

Speaker 2:

I think some of our most surgery patients, because they're in the office for multiple hours having their skin cancer removed. We know they may need nourishment.

Speaker 2:

I like the greeting to include the Solutia MD hand sanitizer because, again, it has a nice scent and feel and it's clean. So it fulfills many of what we already highlight in our brand. Some of our patients are waiting for numbing medicine to work, so they might be there for 30 or 45 minutes while numbing medicine works, and then a blanket or a warm towel may be nice for them. Lowering the lighting at those periods of time so many of us don't get just a quiet space to rest with our feet up, and so we want to accommodate that.

Speaker 2:

Conversely, there's some patients that are working and want the light up and want their laptop out and their Wi-Fi connected so that they can get things done while their anesthesia is kicking in and so there's Customizing that experience for what it looks like.

Speaker 2:

So I would encourage communication both for our team to ask patients what they really want because at the end of the day, our goal is to accommodate them. Right, exactly, exactly and to make you happy right, right. If you're in visiting us to meet what you're and exceed your expectations, and communicating if you're a patient, communicating with us on what you're and exceed your expectations.

Speaker 2:

So, and communicating if you're a patient, communicating with us on what you'd like your visit to look like, Because that's, I think, along with curiosity one of the words I like is flexible we want to be flexible. So you want to work, we want the Wi-Fi. Let's do that.

Speaker 2:

You want to have relaxation time? Let's work on that. You want to come in and out of the visit and get your you know, your botox or your prescription refill? Yeah, let's, let's do that. You'd like to talk a little bit more about your skincare plan? Let's do that. But please communicate, because every patient is different and wants different things and we don't always know what you want on that particular day right, and I think that's important when you talk about brand.

Speaker 1:

It's not a script where everyone's robotic going through a specific play. It's a foundation that you're living, you're comfortable in that, but then it's fluid to adapt and then you know, we are a small, we're still a relatively small business, we're growing but we?

Speaker 2:

but we're humans and we work with humans. So people will call out or there might be somebody. It's their first week or first month that they're with us. So I think you know we're trying to teach and train while also seeing patients and having our schedule, and I think our schedule's not. You know our schedule's continuing and I think our schedule is not. You know our schedule is continuing and I think all of us having grace and understanding is helpful and communication goes a long way with that.

Speaker 2:

So we ask our training team to please say your training or, if we do have a call out to be understanding and likewise if a patient's stuck in traffic, I would love for us to be as understanding as possible and work with what you have going on in your situation as well Any point that you can minimize any point of friction for anyone your colleague, your patient really navigating those to make it as enjoyable as possible.

Speaker 1:

You closed it out with touch, all those things. The hand sanitizer the final sense, offering that hand sanitizer as part of our greeting. That is Dr Suluja's special formula, which is very addictive Warm towel to cleanse the face or hands, kind of like that. If you've ever seen someone fly in first class, that warm towel that they get offered. Luminosity oil is also your other amazing scent essential oils for the hands or the face.

Speaker 1:

We want to offer information. New patients should be offered a practice brochure which highlights our credentials as our practitioners. Every practitioner has a unique rec card which really personalizes their expertise and credentials, um, as well as a menu and any promotions that might be offered, uh, regarding skincare or special events, um, so really tying in that education, information, credentialing, um and through touch. The other pillar of experience is really the operations. You know what magic, what Disney magic? There's a reason why, like Disney is a branding expert. Right, they've refined their processes, so it's a very consistent experience. So the operations, I would say, is the behind-the-scenes magic which gets the work done at the end of the day. So we have some very specific first-class care must-haves from all compartments of the team front back and then everyone.

Speaker 2:

And I think, operationally, where it starts is pre-visit. So Clara is our patient messenger system. Our goal is we use Clara to remind you of appointments, to give you preliminary paperwork that you can fill and send back, to get financial information, to streamline the check-in and check-out process when you're actually in the office.

Speaker 2:

So using Clara to the fullest extent pre-visit helps with that patient experience and that's an operational item that allows technology to actually help us in the experience. I think likewise we record this podcast to educate on little pieces of the practice and big pieces of the practice prior to your visit. So if a patient's coming in for a softwave consult or a MyElevate consultation, coming to the podcast prior to the consultation allows that consultation to be that much more engaging and informative for the patient because they're getting some of the basic information prior. I love our website for the number of pages it has and the sheer volume of information and I think that's another resource and patients learn in different ways. So if somebody learns better from a website, that's available.

Speaker 2:

If someone learns better from social media snippets, that's available. The Instagram at Dr Saluja underscore Dr Saluja. If a patient learns better from podcasts, that's there. I think that we then, in our day, start with the daily morning huddle. The morning huddle is important for getting everyone on the same page, looking through the schedule, seeing if there's any special things we may need to be aware of for the day, setting an intention and or a goal for the day. I think we talked a lot about the patient experience from the patient's point of view for their visit. The patient's point of view for their visit, but from the operational standpoint, I think, leaving before or before you leave the room that you have your next appointment, you have any reminders entered, which we call recalls. I think those are important because I know once you get home, it's so easy to say I'll call back or I'll look at my calendar, and life gets busy and it's hard to make time for yourself, and our goal is that we encourage you to make time for yourself.

Speaker 2:

We help you make those appointments. So, what do they say? Get your important stones in your jar first, so then the sand fills around that.

Speaker 1:

And if we don't?

Speaker 2:

appointments are part of those stones right. Your best skin or your best self doesn't happen without having your appointments, so that's important. Operationally, it's important, when we are transitioning between the in-room to the checkout, that we do a handoff so you know what products you may need to pick up or how your handoff looks. One of the things I like talking about as part of the brand is comfort. There are so many measures for comfort these days. I don't want our patients to feel discomfort, or at least to minimize it if we can, and that may include relaxing nitrous oxide or a sublingual dissolving tablet that helps with pain control, or topical anesthesia, or simply talking to somebody while we're doing the procedure and tapping their body for distraction, or using a cool roller to help with numbing. So I think that's an important aspect Taking high quality photos, because this is a journey.

Speaker 2:

So it's really lovely to see photos from before and after procedures or from a skin cancer diagnosis standpoint, to see what your skin cancer look like in photos, to have your treatment plan for the surgery and see your results at, you know, one week post surgery, but then also at one year post surgery, because the body improves over the year and it's nice to measure those results in photos. I think skin care is a really important piece operationally and experience wise and results wise. So we really want our patients to have a skincare plan and that's that's done at home, that allows you to be in control and participate in your health and your beauty as well.

Speaker 2:

So both skincare benefits, both health and and aesthetics, and then we want to be reasonable. So, like I mentioned earlier, if you are running late, then we want to be able to accommodate. You do have an event next week and you need to get in for your Botox or Dysport. We want to be able to accommodate. It may mean that you have to go to one of our other sites or you have to see a different practitioner than you usually do, but the goal is is that we're all working together synergistically for your best self and that's our, that's our brand and I think I think being open to the flexibility again is helpful and we want to be flexible to be able to accommodate.

Speaker 2:

Likewise, sometimes we can't do what you ask and I'll have patients come in with a full face of makeup and they want their cheek filler that day and I just can't do it because there are elements of makeup particles that are sort of getting embedded in the skin throughout the day and at 9 am that might be a very easy face cleanse.

Speaker 1:

At 5 pm.

Speaker 2:

That is not such a safe face cleanse, and so when we send instructions, please don't wear makeup or skincare the day of your filler appointment. I think it's important to follow those, because we are partners in your care. That means we're doing what we need to do, you're doing what you need to do. So instructions really do matter, and so I encourage anyone who's looking for a great experience to really read their pre and post procedure instructions as closely and carefully as possible and ask us questions on those, because there are times when we do turn away, even though that may not be the initial intention and I know it's disappointing.

Speaker 1:

But again safety comes into play. I think that segues also nicely to. We try to say no in any way possible, like we're going to always accommodate. But if it's a no it's for a very specific reason, which is usually safety.

Speaker 2:

If it's a no, it's for a very specific reason, which is usually safety, yeah, and if we are running or if the patient is at the wrong, showed up at the wrong time or the wrong day and it's a lengthy procedure. Again, safety right, we have to say here to accommodate where we can.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

If we can, safely and in consideration of the day. Absolutely Likewise, there are things where we run late, right, Because things come up. I may have someone who gets lightheaded or passes out hopefully very rarely. One of the reasons we don't advise going to beauty parties especially for injections is that there are risks, such as cleanliness and painting, and so we want to have the tools and the equipment and, obviously, the nice treatment chairs to make all of those things very safe and supportive in those scenarios In summary, are we ready for the summary?

Speaker 1:

Do we want to?

Speaker 1:

elaborate on anything. If you take a step back and put all of these things together, it creates for your best self. It's going to provide your best skin, best face, best body, the best team, because at For your Best Self, our first-class team is our most important resource and experience. Committed to our guests and patients, we hope to leave you with the best feeling, provide the best advices, learn and keep our skills up. So we are offering the best approach, which is often collaborative and synergistic, to give you the best results. We're going to use the best communication to get there and have our best health to all be our best selves. Thank you for listening. We hope this was helpful in your own experience or learning and we'll see you for listening. We hope this was helpful in your own experience or learning and we'll see you next time.

Speaker 2:

I think. Reach out if you have questions or if you want to share anything about your experience. Reach out to info at foryourbestselfcom. Perfect, and let us know we're happy to engage with you through our email.

Speaker 1:

Yes, thanks for listening. We'll talk to you soon, thank you.