The Event Strategy to BOOST Revenue without Giving Away Tons of Discounts (or Losing Your Sanity)

Summary

Med Spa CEO Podcast Summary

Title: The Event Strategy to BOOST Revenue without Giving Away Tons of Discounts (or Losing Your Sanity)
Host: Heather Terveen
Release Date: April 23, 2025

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Introduction

In the episode titled "The Event Strategy to BOOST Revenue without Giving Away Tons of Discounts (or Losing Your Sanity)," Heather Terveen delves into a transformative approach to in-person events for med spa and aesthetic practice owners. Heather challenges traditional event models, presenting a strategic framework designed to enhance profitability, reduce reliance on discounts, and maintain the sanity of practice owners.

Traditional In-Person Events: The Status Quo

Heather begins by outlining the conventional approaches to in-person events within the med spa industry:

1. Annual Large-Scale Events:
   These events are typically grand celebrations such as holiday parties or anniversary milestones. They often involve extensive discounts, numerous specials, and attract a broad audience, including personal acquaintances of the business owner.

2. Product or Technology Launches:
   Events centered around introducing new devices or technologies, usually supported by manufacturers aiming to generate buzz and visibility.

Heather's Observation:
"Historically in our industry, in-person events haven’t been hyper-focused on any sort of topic. They’re just kind of celebratory in nature." (02:30)

While these traditional events can be financially successful, Heather points out their limitations:

• Sustainability: They are often exhausting and difficult to replicate more than once or twice a year without significant team support.
• Discount Dependence: Frequent reliance on discounts can condition clients to wait for the next big sale, undermining regular sales efforts.

Introducing the Strategic Quarterly Event Model

Heather introduces an alternative: the Strategic Quarterly Event Model. Unlike traditional events, this model emphasizes:

1. Focus and Specificity:
   Events are centered around a specific theme or solution tailored to a distinct patient avatar. For example, a "Summer Body Sculpting" event targets clients interested in body contouring and weight loss.

2. Boutique Style:
   These events are smaller, more intimate, and designed to be held quarterly, making them manageable and sustainable.

Key Advantages:

• Higher Profitability: By focusing on specific services, practices can generate more revenue with fewer, high-value offers.
• Enhanced Expertise Positioning: Team members can showcase their expertise on focused topics, establishing the practice as an authority in specialized areas.

Heather's Insight:
"These events are highly focused, boutique style, are smaller, more profitable, and they are very much more high value, problem or solution driven." (07:15)

Implementation Using the SPA Framework

Heather presents the SPA Framework to effectively implement the Strategic Quarterly Event Model:

1. Solution (S):
   Choose a specific, high-value solution that addresses a particular problem for a defined patient avatar.

   Example: A "Clear Skin Event" targeting clients struggling with acne.

2. Positioning (P):
   Brand the event with premium positioning. Position it as a specialized, high-end experience rather than a discount-driven affair.

   Heather explains:
   "Think of it like when you are choosing a restaurant that is like a Michelin star restaurant as opposed to going to like the Cheesecake Factory." (18:45)

3. Activate (A):
   Engineer the event to present two to three specific offers that encourage attendees to take action, preferably through value-added propositions rather than discounts.

   Example: Offering a bonus product with each package purchase instead of discounting the service.

Heather's Recommendation:
"Use the SPA framework to ensure your events are solution-driven, premiumly positioned, and effectively activate attendees to take meaningful action." (21:10)

Client Success Story: Transforming Event Strategy

Heather shares a compelling case study of a client who transitioned from traditional large-scale events to the Strategic Quarterly Event Model:

• Previous Approach:
  An annual holiday event with 11-12 different specials, attracting a large but less targeted audience.

• New Strategy:
  A summer event focused on contour and lifting with only two to three specialized offers.

Results:
Despite having a smaller RSVP list, the client nearly tripled revenue compared to the previous holiday event by focusing on high-value, specific offers.

Heather highlights:
"She had way less offers, okay. And she had less people at the event, but she did almost triple the revenue as her holiday event with less offers." (13:50)

Benefits of the Strategic Quarterly Event Model

Adopting this strategic approach offers numerous benefits:

1. Sustainability:
   Managing smaller, quarterly events is less exhausting and more sustainable over time compared to annual large-scale events.

2. Client Engagement:
   Events tailored to specific interests or problems resonate more deeply with attendees, leading to higher conversion rates.

3. Authority Building:
   Focused events allow practitioners to position themselves as experts in particular areas, enhancing the practice's reputation and trustworthiness.

4. Premium Positioning:
   By avoiding excessive discounts and focusing on value-added offers, practices can maintain a premium brand image.

Heather's Comparison:
"Think of it like choosing a Michelin star restaurant. It doesn’t need as many people, and it helps you build a premium positioning." (18:30)

Conclusion and Call to Action

Heather concludes by encouraging med spa owners to adopt the Strategic Quarterly Event Model to increase profitability, attract ideal clients, and establish themselves as industry authorities. She emphasizes the importance of being hyper-focused and structured in event planning to achieve sustainable growth without the burnout associated with traditional event models.

Final Takeaway:
"Consider taking a strategic quarterly approach to your in-person events so that you can position yourselves more premiumly, attract the dreamy patients and clients you want, and ultimately become more profitable in the process." (25:00)

Heather also invites listeners to join the MedSpa Advantage program, designed to help med spa owners grow revenue and profits while reclaiming time and reducing stress. She provides a call to action for those interested to apply via her website.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• On Human-Centric Marketing:
  "You're building everything with a certain type of human in mind." (03:45)

• On Event Sustainability:
  "Traditional large-scale events are exhausting and not sustainable more than once or twice a year." (05:10)

• On Premium Positioning:
  "Shift to a quarterly event model helps you be able to actually get even more visibility and exposure for the certain types of things that you want to become known for." (19:20)

• On Value-Added Offers:
  "I prefer a value add as opposed to a discount." (22:30)

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By adopting Heather Terveen's Strategic Quarterly Event Model, med spa and aesthetic practice owners can revolutionize their approach to in-person events, driving higher revenues and fostering sustainable growth while maintaining a balanced personal life.

Transcript

[A]

The actual RSVP list was less, but she did almost triple the revenue as her holiday event with less offers. Welcome to the MedSpa CEO podcast, where I teach you how to grow and scale your med, spa or aesthetic practice so that you can have the income and impact you know you were meant for without overwhelm, stress or feeling like you have to sacrifice your personal life and happiness to do so. It's totally possible for you and your business. Plus, simpler than you think. Keep listening to find out how by. Hello, my beautiful friend. Welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Today we are diving into a topic that I've maybe talked about briefly on the podcast before, but I wanted it to have its own special spot on my audio timeline, if you will. We're talking about in person events and my philosophy and how I approach in person events that is quite a bit different than how the rest of the industry approaches in person events. So historically in our industry, in person events have been, which, you know, these types of events have their place. Okay. Big annual events of sorts. Okay. So whether this is for an anniversary celebration, whether this is your big holiday event at the end of the year, these are big shebangs that like, are not hyper focused on any sort of topic. They're just kind of celebratory in nature. You might have all of your specials and discounts. For some of you who don't do, um, discounts and specials and promotions very often you might be like, oh, we do it once a year at this big event. It's everybody's invited, you're telling your, your brother, your sister, your friend, your girlfriend, and everybody comes to them. So th, there's those types of events that have been happening in the industry since I worked in the industry. It was first started in the industry in like 2006 or 2007. And the other type of event that's very common is when you are bringing something new. So your device manufacturer might help you actually build a lot of visibility and a buzz around a new device or technology that you are bringing in. Okay? And both of those events, I mean they can be done really, really successfully, meaning financially, give you a big pop, if you will. I'm going to be talking about a different type of event that I recommend all of my clients do. These are events. And then I'm going to be teaching you my SPA framework for really successfully implementing these types of events. So if you are, if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, if you've been in my world, if you're a client of mine, you know, that I really like to build everything with a certain type of human in mind. Okay. Now you may have more than one certain type of human that you're serving, but our marketing, our offers, our sales process, our in person experience, we can make these so much more elegant and just incredibly epic when we really get micro specific with who we are building our experiences, services, everything around. Right. That is not a new topic. So we're going to take the same type of approach when we are thinking about our in person events. So part of the problem with the other events that I mentioned is that those really are not sustainable to maybe do more than once or twice a year. Okay. Like you could have a big annual event and then maybe like, you know, have. You're not bringing in a new device or technology every quarter or six months. Well, hopefully you're not. And so with the type of events we're going to talk about today and the type of approach that I like to take to in person events can be done more often and are done with a certain type of human in mind. Okay. So we want to create events that are highly focused. So part of the problem with the other events is that they're exhausting. I mean, most of my clients, when I suggest to them that they do events every quarter, they're just like, you know, they're thinking about the big shebangs, the big things, the big events that they do annually and those just are not sustainable to maybe do once or twice a year unless you have a, you know, a significant team helping you throughout the year to do them. And so they're exhausting. There can really be discount focused. And so like a lot of you will build them around down a lot of different, you know, special incentives and what have you, which is fine. But again, like if you do that too often, you really teach your clientele or your patient base to wait for those types of events to get the specials or, or what have you. They tend to be focused on the deal, if you will. Like there's not much substance to what's happening to the event other than there might be swag bags, you might have a raffle, there's going to be special pricing, you might do demos, all of that jazz, which is fine and again, like I said, is fine to do maybe you know, once, once a year. But I really want to introduce you to a strategic quarterly event type of model when it comes to in person events for your SP spa practice, what have you. And it, you know, at a minimum, you could do this a couple times a year. But honestly it's very manageable to do them every single quarter because they are topic driven, boutique style events. They are smaller, more profitable, and they are very much more high value, problem or solution driven. Okay. So you are going to think about a certain type of human or a certain type of problem or outcome and then build the event around this topic. So I thought of some examples in the past that my clients have used. So a summer body sculpting event. I had a client actually who had a really successful get ready for summer event. So it was very specific and it was body sculpting, weight loss, and then they had laser hair removal as well too that they had at the event. I've had clear skin events where it's all about their acne patients and clients. And so the whole event is focused on that, you know, doing events around like collagen, even like a contour and lift event. So they're very specific and they outperform oftentimes. I had a client who she had been in business for like 16, 17 years and she had done her annual holiday event. So they had one event every year that was like their big holiday shebang, okay. And she had I think like 11 or 12 different specials at this holiday event. And so we had her take our system and our event in person event system and use it in the summertime for an event that was all about contour and lifting. Okay? So we took, she was like a facial rejuvenation focused type of aesthetic clinic. And so she was very, very nervous because we had her focus on just two to three special offers around the type of patient that was just interested in contour and lifting, okay. And so she had way less offers, okay. And she was nervous about this. She's like, the last event was really successful and you know, we had 11 or 12 different specials and what have you. And so she had, she hosted this event. She had a less people at the event than her holiday event, okay. Because the holiday event, I mean they had, you know, she had personal friends coming and all the things, right? So it was less. Like the actual RSVP list was less, but she did almost triple the revenue as her holiday event with less offers. And it's because, well, of course now she had a signature menu. And so two to three of the offers were more comprehensive solutions, but it was hyper focused. It was made for a certain type of patient that was very, very interested in learning more about contour and lifting, right? So there you're going to potentially have less people actually come to these events, which means that it's smaller group focused. It actually is less exhausting. And then you're going to have it. Yes, you can still have some fun elements to really encourage and entice people to come. You could still, I think she still had a raffle. She still had like Prosecco and, and apps and all those things. She still had some of her reps like donate things for a raffle and what have you. But it was all very hyper focused. Okay, so this is more premium positioning, right? The big sort of shebang events. Can you premium position those? Sure, there's, there's ways to do it, but oftentimes they're not really positioned that way because you're doing discounts and specials on your entire service menu and all your product lines as well too. And so when you shift to a quarterly event model like this, where you're doing more premium boutique style events, there's a lot of benefits. One this helps you capture. So say, say you've had your patients or clients who have gone through their initial consultation and let's just take the contour and lifting example, and they heard from one of your providers and they were recommended, you know, one of your contour and lift packages and they weren't quite ready for it yet. And then they decide to come to this contour and lift event where it reinforces for them why they may be a great candidate for the contour and lift package. Right. So not only does it help your current patients and clients become more informed about your unique expertise and certain things that they really might be interested in, but there's also a lot of benefit to you and your team actually presenting at these events as well, because it helps you and your team members have an opportunity to really position yourselves as authority and experts because I recommend that you have a designated time at this event where they know they're actually coming to learn about the thing that is the topic of the event. Right? And so it's hyper focused, it's boutique style, right. And so they aren't as big and exhausting as these annual big shebangs. So I want you to think of it like when you are choosing a restaurant that is like a Michelin star restaurant as opposed to going to like the Cheesecake Factory, right. When you choose like a very focused restaurant, it's more of a premium positioning, right? You don't need as many people. And so when you shift to this type of a model, it helps you be able to actually get even more visibility and exposure for the certain types of things that you want to become known for. And so I want to leave you with an acronym today to kind of take and just plant the seed and to really actually help you implement maybe incorporating a quarterly event, a strategic quarterly event planning process in your business. Okay, so the acronym is spa. Okay, so the S stands for solution. Okay, you want to have your event around a really specific high value solution that a certain, a specific patient avatar that you know that you love would be highly interested in learning more about. Okay, the P stands for positioning. You want to brand it with premium positioning. Now part of this is the fact that if you have been listening to this podcast for any time, you now have a signature menu of premium solutions. So this will help, right? But then we really want to position it for the certain type of person that you are looking to attract more of. And then the A stands for activate. We actually want to backend engineer that event to two to three offers that are very specific. And sometimes it's one offer, right? Like I've done this with clients who have like one acne boot camp. Now they have two different like levels of the acne boot camp. So you could say it's two offers, but they have one very specific acne boot camp that they position their entire event around. So it's one offer in that case, but it's two to three offers at the most that you are activating them to actually take action on at the event. And then yes, I'm actually okay with you adding in some sort of value proposition at the event for them to take action at the event on those two to three offers. I prefer a value add as opposed to a discount. So let's say it's some sort you're going to include the neck for everybody who actually takes action and purchases the package at the event or you're adding in some sort of a product as a bonus. So this is how we can take sort of my entire approach around really being hyper focused on certain types of patients and positioning yourselves as an authority and expert as what you do, even when it comes to your in person events. That is what I have for you this week, my friend. I hope that in 2025 and 2026 that you consider taking a strategic quarterly approach to your in person events so that you can position yourselves more premiumly so that you can attract the dreamy patients and clients that you want to attract more of and ultimately become more profitable in the process. Hey, if you're enjoying this podcast and you're a boutique, results driven med Spa owner who is looking to drive more sales profitably each month without hustling yourself into the ground to do so, then you should consider applying. Applying to Join us inside of the MedSpa Advantage. It's the only program designed to help you grow your revenue and profits while gaining back more time so that you don't feel scattered and drained while running and growing your business each month. To learn more about whether or not you're a fit for joining us, you can head over to heatherturveen.com apply to apply to get on a call with us to learn more. That's heatherturveen.com com apply to learn more.