A Q&A Session with Dr. DeLuca-Pytell and Office Coordinator Hannah Spies, Hosted by Candace Crowe and TK Crowe
Delve into the world of plastic surgery as Candace Crowe Design engages in a revealing Q&A session with Dr. DeLuca-Pytell, a seasoned practitioner with almost 20 years of experience. Join us as she discusses her insights and experiences with BRAG book by Candace Crowe Design, providing a unique perspective on its impact in the field of plastic surgery.
Establishing her independent practice in Troy, MI, in January 2019, Dr. DeLuca-Pytell embodies dedication to personalized care. Board-certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery and affiliated with respected organizations like The Aesthetic Society and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Dr. DeLuca-Pytell channels her expertise into enhancing the well-being of her patients within her solo practice.
Q+A Session
Candace: Welcome Dr. DeLuca-Pytell and Hannah to our client spotlight interview! Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us today.
Dr. DeLuca-Pytell: Absolutely, I’m so happy to be here.
Candace: As a plastic surgeon, I know your time is precious so let’s dive right into the questions.
Dr. DeLuca-Pytell: Let’s do it!
Q1 Candace: I’d like to start out with how you are doing. I know it’s winter time in Troy, MI – how is the plastic surgery industry right now?
Dr. DeLuca-Pytell: We’ve recovered from a pretty slow summer, which I think was nationwide. Summers are pretty spectacular in Michigan so it’s always a slower time for us. I would say that slow times are a great time for us to maximize our internal marketing, specifically our in-office photography. As a matter of fact, we were just playing around with light bulbs to make sure we had the right lighting for our patients’ before and after photos.
Q2 Candace: Well, that’s a great segway into how you manage and use your before and after photos for your marketing. I know you are an early adopter, you found 4D-EMR, and decided to give it a try. How did you find BRAG book?
Dr. DeLuca-Pytell: When we started working with 4D-EMR, I found the integrations tab and started poking around to see what else we could do to maximize our efficiency. That’s when I found BRAG book and it just seemed like there was gonna be some photo magic.
Q3 TK: Your website company, MedShark, was very receptive to installing BRAG book on your website. Is your gallery the number one or number two most visited portion of your website?
Dr. DeLuca-Pytell: Yes. BRAG book always has the highest traffic and I get responses from patients that come to visit about how they love the before and after pictures and they love being able to see so many of them. I like that we can continuously add to our gallery on the go and then it’s automatically on the website. It’s great that we don’t have to go through our web company to get our before and after photos on our site!
TK: I know when practices send photos to web companies, there is some interpretation that they have to do and quite often things can be lost in translation. So, when you’re able to do it yourself there is a big benefit of getting the photos exactly how you want them versus relying on someone else. So thank you for saying that.
Dr. DeLuca-Pytell: I think that the need for perfection within the plastic surgery industry doesn’t lend itself well to letting other people do anything. This tool makes it so easy. It’s so great to have that overlay tool… It’s the best thing. To the millimeter, getting things to be just right is phenomenal.
Candace: Thank you.
Q4 Candace: Hannah I know that you do most of the uploading at the practice, can you talk a little bit about that?
Hannah Spies: I think the biggest thing is working with Jamie, our medical assistant, who handles most of the picture taking. We like to stay in constant communication about the before and after photos, especially when we get signed permission to use them in our marketing. There are instances where the after photos are great, but the before photos had a better angle. In such cases, we take note and ensure to capture a better angle during the patient’s next visit or delay uploading until we can precisely match the photos.
The seamless export into 4D-EMR has significantly improved our workflow. BRAG book plays a key role in refining our photos. Even though perfection doesn’t exist, I feel like we are very close.
Q5 TK: In regard to consultations, do you use the tablet app at all to show patients before and afters?
Dr. DeLuca-Pytell: We haven’t utilized it much. Sometimes I do. The flow of our consults is usually that by the time I get in with the patient, they’ve already viewed the pictures and they know what the before and afters look like. So by that point I’m going over the particulars of the surgery and cementing the process for them.
Candace: Yeah. Only about half of our clients use the tablet app, there are other ways to present your photos besides just this. We honor whatever works for your practice.
Q6 Candace: I see you have 5 MyFavorite Leads. 4 of them put together a collection of images they like. I’m wondering if any of those leads converted to patients and if you’ve done an ROI on that? If you haven’t, would you be open to doing that?
Dr. DeLuca-Pytell: I would definitely be open to doing that. I recognize one of them because they’ve come in to book surgery. I think one is still firming up her weight loss. And I’ll be honest, I don’t remember the other two but I’d be happy to do that with you.
Candace: Yeah it would be interesting. We want to make sure that BRAG book does right by you.
TK: The MyFavorites is an engagement tool on the website which a lot of galleries don’t have. It is something you can use in your email marketing or social posts if you’re posting your before and afters. You can add a little snippet in the caption about creating a selection of photos that you like. It’s just an idea to push traffic to your gallery and hopefully get more leads.
Candace: Several of our clients leverage the MyFavorites tool for communication during consultations. This tool empowers patients to create a collection of images that resonate with them, ensuring a more personalized consultation experience.
Dr. DeLuca-Pytell: I’m actually gonna go to my website right now and check that feature out because people have come in with favorites, but I didn’t realize that that’s a feature they’re able to access from my before and after gallery. I didn’t see that before. Is that new?
TK: Nope, that’s been there actually.
Candace: A lot of people overlook this feature because they’re so focused on the before and after photos being perfect!
Q7 TK: I think I might have a clue but could you reiterate your favorite feature about BRAG book and tell us why?
Hannah Spies: Mine’s 100% between the 4D-EMR direct to BRAG book export tool and the lining up of the pictures. I can’t imagine doing it any other way. I’m lucky enough to do most of my uploads with the export feature from 4D-EMR.
Something else I appreciate about BRAG book is the ability to preview how the before and after sets will appear in the gallery. This feature provides a clearer vision of how our photos will look, even if we opt not to upload them immediately.
Dr. DeLuca-Pytell: The overlay tool is just phenomenal but honestly I’m overlooking all of the other great things like how you can crop the photos at the same aspect ratio. This makes all the pictures look uniform which makes us look more professional. I just pulled up all of our thumbnails and they’re perfect.
Candace: That’s awesome
Dr. DeLuca-Pytell: It is awesome. I just love that. And even though Hannah does the majority of our uploading, when I have patients in the office and they don’t think they’ve received the results they wanted, I can pull up side by side before and afters, bring it out to them, and say maybe you’ve forgotten what you looked like because this is an amazing result.
Some patients lose perspective, with BRAG book I can provide patients with a better understanding of what their results actually look like. It’s not only bringing new patients in, it’s also keeping our current patients happy.
I send patients their before and after photos after their visit and they love getting their own pictures. People are sharing things you’d never expect. I had one patient who showed her pre and post labiaplasty pictures! I don’t have them on my website but she showed them to all her friends. And you know, whatever floats your boat. BRAG book makes it possible to focus on telling the patient’s story through photographs.
Candace: That’s awesome, I hadn’t even thought about sharing the photos with the social post export tool. It makes it easy to send patients home with their photos.
Q8 TK: So just ballpark, how much time has BRAG book actually saved you?
Dr. DeLuca-Pytell: Before I started using BRAG book and 4D-EMR, I could have spent easily an hour on a single patient set. Now, using the 4D-EMR direct to BRAG book feature, I can do about 20 in the same amount of time.
Candace: That’s awesome. Good to know.
TK: Very cool
Q9 Candace: After being a client of ours for almost three years, could you talk about how it has been to work with us?
Dr. DeLuca-Pytell: Sure, your team is super responsive. I email you and I can expect a response almost instantly. We feel very important to you and it’s very easy to talk to you and TK. There is no wall between your product and you. I really appreciate it because that’s how we are here too.
I could tell you stories about the companies I worked with when I was out of school and out of residency that just didn’t get it when it came to my pictures. I would say “if you could just let me do this myself, I could do it so much better” and even that was still hours of uploading and waiting. That’s a big reason I think BRAG Book is so great.
Q10 TK: We always like getting feedback and we take user requests very seriously. Are there any features of BRAG book that could be improved to make your process easier?
Hannah Spies: I feel like I can email you at any time and be like “hey is there any way this can happen” and you normally get back to me in a week at the latest with the integrations. You figure it out fast, you provide me with alternatives, and you always give me the answers I need.
Candace: Thank you so much for your time, those are all the questions we have for you.
TK: We really appreciate you being a client of ours and using BRAG book as much as you do
Candace: Yup and if you’re ever in Orlando, feel free to stop by!
Dr. DeLuca-Pytell: We really love BRAG book. We can’t stop saying nice things about it because it’s all true and it’s made our lives so much easier. So, thank you so much!
5 Things We Learned from Dr. DeLuca-Pytell About Her Before & After Gallery
- BRAG book always has the highest traffic on our website
- Best features: 100% the 4D-EMR direct to BRAG book export tool and the lining up of the pictures (or overlay of before and after pictures)
- BRAG book makes it possible to focus on telling the patient’s story through photographs.
- Before I started using BRAG book and 4D-EMR, I could have spent easily an hour on a single patient set. Now, using the 4D-EMR direct to BRAG book feature, I can do about 20 in the same amount of time.
- Makes us look more professional
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Candace Crowe Design is a family-owned business that has specialized in marketing for the aesthetic industry since 1999. BRAG book is a proprietary before and after photo management WordPress plugin. BRAG book comes with tools for improving image appearance and automating search engine optimization. Practices can quickly build an impressive visual record of their work that will attract searchers and generate new patients. Contact: TK Crowe (877) 384-7676 https://bragbookgallery.com
4th Dimension EMR is a HIPAA-compliant practice management/EHR software built by a doctor for doctors. Its streamlined scheduling lets practitioners maximize workflow while having secure access to their charts, wherever and whenever, thanks to the cloud-based application. It’s clean and simple, yet powerful, so doctors can focus on running their practice. Contact: Robert Pollack, MD FACS (844) 878-2434 https://4d-emr.com
