Spencer Kobren invites Joey Brown, Executive Vice President of SmartGraft, in studio to discuss the vision and mission of the company, as well as the issues that surround selling devices like this to poorly trained and unskilled physicians.  While SmartGraft is certainly one of the most sophisticated small footprint, FUE extraction devices being manufactured today, remember it's just a tool and is only as good a the hand that wields it.  

Joey Brown: You know Spencer, at SmartGraft, we truly put our customers first. And our customer is not just our physicians. It's not just the people that buy our product, it's the people that have the procedure by our product. Our customer is ultimately the patient. The patient is going to be the billboard if you will, a walking, living billboard for SmartGraft. And they are the one, ultimately the patient is going to say, "I had a SmartGraft procedure."

And so people are going to look at their hair. And their face and their smile and their confidence. And say, "That represents SmartGraft." So to that end, I want the best possible outcome that I can.

Spencer Kobren: Well, listen and I certainly understand that point and that is what anyone in this field who really takes this seriously want. They want the end result, the patient, to be happy with the outcome of their hair transplant.

The problem is, when we're dealing with all device manufacturers, and I understand the reasoning, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a business man, I'm a capitalist. I know how to earn. And I know what it takes for a company and the important of a company branding itself.

Joey Brown: Yes

Spencer Kobren: But, all device makers, including SmartGraft, are at the mercy of your customers meaning they're at the mercy of the physician you sell this product to. And if those physicians, even if they say they give a shit, if they don't give a shit, if they have the wrong staff, if they have the wrong ... you know, someone is having a bad day, if they don't understand the nuances or are able to control that surgical procedure, then they're putting your brand at risk. 

 And I think that's something, and I'm hoping that SmartGraft really understands and you know, as opposed to some other companies out there, really take the time to educate or do their best to educate their customers. The physicians who are utilizing their device to hopefully help people's live.

Joey Brown: Well, Spencer, rest assured, your concerns are ... they are legitimate and they are not falling on deaf ears at SmartGraft. That's why we align ourselves with some of the top and in my opinion, some of the best physicians within the industry, they are industry leaders, they are key opinion leaders. People like Alan Balman, people like Doctor Glen Charles, people like Doctor Craig Ziering, I'm in LA today because I was with Doctor Ziering yesterday in his clinic. We did a SmartGraft procedure on a celebrity.

Doctor Ziering, I've known for many, many years. I watched Doctor Ziering painstakingly draw a hairline for this person and discuss it, educate him on it, photograph it. They looked at the photograph of the rendering from so many angles. He redrew it, he tweaked it, he fine tuned it. 

I watched Doctor Ziering draw a hairline on a person for probably 45 minutes until he and the patient were absolutely convinced that it was exactly what the person wanted and exactly how they wanted it, from every single angle we could look at it from. And that was in the consultation process. You know, in the procedure planning before anything else had begun.

Spencer Kobren: That's the whole point, Jerry, is that these guys what they're doing.

Joey Brown: Correct.

Spencer Kobren: They understand their craft, they have the right staff, the right team to, you know, once that hairline is drawn, once that design is made, once those grafts are extracted using whatever device, then it's up to the team to handle those grafts and to place those grafts. And every, and again, I repeat myself, nuance of that surgery, every step of that surgery dictates the end result.

Patients aren't aware of that, patients are deciding to have surgery based on a product name now or based on a procedural name whether it's FUE or FUT. They're not basing their decisions, in my view, at least the guys who aren't really doing their due diligence on understanding that every step of the surgery counts.