Jenni Gilbert A smart approach to nutritional advice may tip the scales for your body-shaping clients – and your bottom line.
However effective the treatments you offer for body shaping, fat and cellulite reduction, if a client has a poor diet it’s defeating the purpose. There might be impressive short-term results but the bulges will inevitably reappear. Unfortunately, that could have a rebound effect on you – humans after all, have a tendency to point the finger of blame when things don’t work out. An adjunct to your business offering dietary education and a support program for these – indeed, any – clients could be a very lucrative investment.
Your business doesn’t even have to offer body-shaping services. Australia’s growing weight problem, if you’ll pardon the pun, makes these services highly sought after. In the aesthetics industry, you have people coming through your doors who are willing to spend what it takes to look and feel better. You already have your target audience.
“Investment is high in weight loss and detox,” says SPA+CLINIC’s Kirien Withers, “so we are crazy not to be making our industry a one-stop-shop for weight loss systems, exercise classes and activities.” She believes it’s possible to get your clients engaging up to a few times per week.
“If clients come to expect a range of in-demand spa, beauty and emotional and social wellbeing services and products within our doors, this broadens our client catchment and deepens our roots.”
When choosing a system to align with, look for a way to provide clients with a solution combining weight loss with proven health benefits and nutritional counselling that is sustainable and economically feasible for lasting results. Many such programs exist but one that has captured our attention is Ultra Lite.
“Our company has been able assist a number of top spas, salons and fitness centres to break into the huge growing wellness market,” says Ultra Lite owner and CEO, Malcolm McLean.
“It is a very profitable business model with the support of 12 health funds. He cites the following reasons that salons, spas and clinics are ideally suited to embracing this concept:
- Clients come with the expectation that they are to pay a fee for a treatment.
- Solutions such as Ultra Lite will provide full training and support without the need to employ extra, specialist staff.
- Gyms are focused on memberships; pharmacies are busy trying to manage their PBS obligations and on selling product. Spas, salons and clinics are focused on ongoing client service.
“This is where the aesthetics industry can focus on genuine fee-for- service to bring about body transformation, improved health outcomes and long-term weight and health management.
“Existing staff can be trained – provided that they have the passion to take the journey with their clients. Training takes two days with one of the Ultra Lite licensed trainers.”
Ultra Lite is based on a ketogenic diet. The concept is not new – it has existed in many forms and has similarities to popular diet regimes such as the Atkins, South Beach and Paleo. The majority of kilojoules are derived from good fats and protein, which forces the body into a process called ketosis, where fats are burned instead of carbohydrates for use as energy.
“Ultra Lite is not product-driven with meal replacements and pre- packaged foods,” says Malcom.
“We focus on education and empowering the Ultra Lite trained practitioners to have the confidence to provide sound advice, and to be remunerated for their knowledge rather than just products. This has proven to be a real differentiator in the marketplace.”
According to Megan Flux, the owner of First Things First Wellness Centre in Townsville, “our first attraction to the program was that it was based on real food and was adaptable to all lifestyles. The second was that it educated clients for long-term results. It was also affordable for them, there was health fund support and it was backed by naturopaths.
“We adopted the program in 2009 and it has generated around $500,000 in revenue over the past five years. We spend just 30 minutes with our clients initially to give them an overview of Ultra Lite and the conversion rate has been a staggering 85 percent, with incredible results.”
Victoria Fox, owner of the Shrinc Clinic in Melbourne which specialises in non-invasive skin and body enhancement with systems such as Velashape, says that a holistic approach equates to improved results for clients.
“Skin and body health is about more than external treatments,” she says.
“Many practitioners in the cosmetic industry promote a low carbohydrate nutrition program in combination with cosmetic treatments, but a diet rich in essential fatty acids helps provide the skin with the nutrients it needs to better respond to medical aesthetic treatments. Among other things it promotes collagen production and skin cell growth.”
