B2B Medical Aesthetics Desperately Needs a Digital Makeover

Brent Peterson welcomes two founders who are shaking up the way medical aesthetics professionals buy, learn, and connect with brands. Keri Concannon, CEO and Co-Founder, and Olivia Schmid, COO of Beauty Rep, join the show to talk about their platform and the massive inefficiencies plaguing B2B sales in the aesthetics industry. From fax machines still processing orders to sales reps spending only a fraction of their time actually selling, this conversation pulls back the curtain on an industry ripe for digital transformation. If you work in ecommerce, B2B sales, or healthcare technology, this episode offers a front-row seat to what happens when consumer-grade expectations meet a business world that hasn’t kept up.

Key Takeaways

Sales reps spend just 35% of their time selling. The rest goes to administrative tasks like manually entering orders, emailing marketing assets, and fielding basic product questions. Beauty Rep aims to reclaim that lost time by automating the busywork.
The average medical aesthetics practice now carries around 14 different brands. That translates to 16 or more sales reps a single practice has to manage. Centralized access through a single platform changes the game for smaller clinics that rarely get high-touch attention from reps.
Conversational shopping isn’t a future concept. It’s already here. Olivia Schmid emphasized that product detail pages packed with static information won’t cut it anymore. Beauty Rep is building AI-driven functionality that acts more like a small consultant for each practice.
Legacy systems are more common than you’d think. Some practices and hospital systems still fax orders and rely on purchase order processes that can take six months to onboard a new brand. API integrations are critical to bridging this gap.
AI is transforming more than just sales workflows. From creating virtual patient profiles for injector training to developing AI-perfected molecules in product formulation, artificial intelligence is touching every corner of the aesthetics business.
International brands now have a lower barrier to entering the US market. Beauty Rep gives scientifically backed brands from Europe and beyond a pathway into the American market without the expense of building a dedicated sales force.

Episode Summary

The conversation kicked off with introductions that set the tone for the entire discussion. Keri Concannon shared her 20-plus years in aesthetics sales, starting at Obagi Medical and eventually moving into executive leadership and brand acquisition roles. That hands-on experience revealed just how fragmented the B2B sales process had become. Olivia Schmid brought a different but complementary background, having worked at Amazon in ecommerce, practiced law in the US, and held roles at major injectable brands like Galderma and Allergan. Together, they spotted the same problem from different angles: “Marketing thinks very differently from sales, thinks very differently from education. And in the end, the actual customer or the buyer is forgotten,” Olivia explained.

Brent steered the conversation toward how Beauty Rep handles the tension between legacy sales reps and new technology. Keri addressed it directly, noting that her own reps inspired the platform. “I need an assistant,” they would tell her. “I need someone to help me place my orders.” Rather than replacing reps, Beauty Rep gives them better tools. The platform even includes approval workflows so reps can upsell before an order goes through, maintaining that human relationship while removing the manual bottleneck.

One of the more surprising moments came when Keri confirmed that yes, practices still fax orders in 2025. Large hospital systems in particular run on processes that feel decades behind consumer ecommerce. Beauty Rep is working on API integrations to make those transitions smoother for everyone involved.

The discussion turned to AI, and Olivia introduced their trademarked term “AesthetiTech” to describe the technology layer being built into the platform. She painted a picture of a future where a practice logs in, shares its profile, location, and patient demographics, and the platform responds with tailored product recommendations, relevant training materials, and pricing optimization. “It will no longer just be a product detail page with a bunch of information,” she said. “We all know conversational shopping is already here.”

Keri and Olivia also touched on industry trends they observed at the recent MCAS conference in Paris. The convergence of regenerative medicine, longevity, and wellness with traditional aesthetics is expanding the types of brands seeking a home on Beauty Rep. Supplements, GLP-1 products, and women’s health brands are all entering the conversation.

On the economic front, Olivia shared an optimistic view from Europe, noting increased investor interest and innovation momentum. Keri reinforced that the aesthetics market itself shows no signs of slowing down, regardless of broader economic pressures.

Final Thoughts

This episode makes one thing clear: the B2B buying experience in medical aesthetics has been running on outdated infrastructure for far too long. Keri and Olivia aren’t just building a marketplace. They’re building a smarter way for practices and brands to work together. As the industry grows and the number of brands per practice keeps climbing, platforms like Beauty Rep aren’t a luxury. They’re a necessity. So here’s the real question for anyone in B2B: if conversational shopping is already here for consumers, why should your business buyers settle for anything less than a beautiful rep-resentation of what commerce can be?

Connect with Beauty Rep on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beautyrep/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beautyrepofficial/

This has been produced in cooperation with Content Cucumber
https://www.contentcucumber.com/

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