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Med Spa Success Strategies
How to Build a Multi‑Location Med Spa: Memberships, Leadership & Growth w/ Dominique Waples
01:02:32
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- [00:02]
Ricky Shockley
Hey everyone. I'm your host, Ricky Shockley and this is the Med Spa Success Strategies podcast where med spa and aesthetics practice owners come to discover strategies and tactics that help them better market manage their practices so they can grow, improve profitability and have greater impact for their teams and their patients. I'm excited today to be joined by Dominique Wapels Trefl. Dominique is an accomplished entrepreneur, public speaker, and leader in the medical aesthetic space. After years as a prosecutor in the district Attorney's office advocating for survivors of family violence, she made a bold pivot into entrepreneurship, co founding Restore Medical Spa with her sister in 2011. Restore is more than a business. It's a mission driven brand that empowers women to reclaim their confidence and well being through esthetic and functional medicine. Dominique's journey from courtroom to C suite is rich with insights about reinvention, value led leadership and building a purpose driven company in a competitive industry. I think her story will resonate beautifully with you all and I'm excited to jump in and learn some from Dominique. Dominique, thank you so much for joining us. I'm always excited when we get to talk to people who have built really established, really strong, reputable med spas, especially with multiple locations. There's so, so much people can learn from you. And I think we could probably have this conversation for three hours, but I'll make sure we don't do that for your sake and the audience probably too. Nobody has that kind of attention span for the most part. But can you start by just giving us a little bit of your backstory? I was reading your backstory on LinkedIn. Can you just tell people how you got into the space and your backstory?
- [01:28]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Oh, gosh, yeah. So kind of a circuitous route, so to speak. I originally went to law school and my first career, I was a district attorney for seven years. But even before that, my sister and I, when we were in college, we were flipping houses. We, we were flipping houses. So literally doing construction. People at Home Depot knew our names. It was kind of hilarious, actually. But she went back to med school, I went to law school. We each had these independent careers, but also being women of a certain age, we went and got Botox in our early 30s. And it was, shall we say, transformative. And about seven days after those initial injections, I just thought, oh my God, this is it. I'm. I'm leaving law. I'm gonna go open a med spa. And hey, by the way, Dr. Waples, do you want to come with me?
- [02:40]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, that's, that's such A cool background. So it was that much of a switch that flipped for you?
- [02:44]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
I'm. Well, it was, and I just saw the potential. I mean, just. I think that medical aesthetics is. It's becoming more and more understood for what it truly is. But I think for a long time, medical aesthetics was looked at as like, you know, it's. It's purely vanity. It's basically plastic surgery. It's kind of this, you know, if you were confident in yourself, you wouldn't do this. You wouldn't need this. Why do you need this? You know, that kind of perspective on it. But. But it was immediately obvious to me the minute. I mean, the minute I sort of saw those. Those wrinkles fade away, I thought, you know what? I feel better about myself right now. I feel more confident walking into every room today because of this. And if I'm feeling that way, other women are going to feel that way too. And that's powerful. That. That is so powerful. So, I mean, it was another, gosh, maybe year and a half before we actually opened up the business.
- [03:50]
Speaker C
Right.
- [03:51]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
But the. The idea and the certainty and the power of it was that quick. It really was.
- [03:57]
Speaker D
Yeah. Wow.
- [03:58]
Ricky Shockley
Awesome. So you got her on board. You go, you decide, we're gonna do this. We're gonna open a location. I'm assuming this is restore started in the Denver area.
- [04:06]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
It did. It did.
- [04:07]
Ricky Shockley
And what year did. What year did Restore open, Dominique?
- [04:10]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Well, we opened in the fall of 2011, and in fact, we opened in November of 2011. And I will always be certain of that year because I also had my first child that month.
- [04:28]
Ricky Shockley
Oh, wow. That's a lot on your plate at one time.
- [04:31]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yes, it was quite a month.
- [04:33]
Ricky Shockley
So this is close to when I got into the space, roughly. And you came out of the gate as just a Med Spa in 2011.
- [04:40]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
We did. We did.
- [04:42]
Ricky Shockley
So you were really early on then with, like, being at the actual, like, opening a business that was categorized as a med spa. That's pretty early on from. From my recollection, you know, pretty accurate.
- [04:52]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
It was, I think. I mean, it was still a time when usually the first question, when I said, you know, you know, we, you know, we. We run Restore medical spa, right? We're making aging optional. People would say, oh, well, what's a medical spa? Like, what is that? And I would follow it up by saying, well, we're making aging optional through medical esthetics. Think Botox. You've probably heard of Botox, lasers, you know, medical grade skin care. And usually people had heard of Botox usually, but not everybody. And if they were getting it, they certainly weren't admitting it. You know, I could look right across the table at somebody like, I know what's happening here. And they're fully denying that they've ever heard of Botox.
- [05:38]
Speaker C
Right.
- [05:38]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [05:39]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
So things have changed quite a bit for sure.
- [05:43]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [05:43]
Ricky Shockley
I think like, even the celebrity class was denying that type of stuff.
- [05:46]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Right, right, right.
- [05:49]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [05:49]
Ricky Shockley
That's interesting. Cool. So. So you open the med spa now you like. So how did you build. Just to kind of recap the story from, hey, we have this idea, we're going to start a med spa.
- [05:58]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah.
- [05:59]
Ricky Shockley
To, to where you are today, which is obviously like a level of success that a lot of people are striving for. And obviously that's probably a long, complicated, winding path. There's probably a lot to that story. But just as an overview can connect those dots for us.
- [06:13]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Well, first of all, you are too kind. I mean, we are, we have certainly worked very hard, but. And we're very proud of what we've built, but we have got many, many more mountains to climb. But in, I would say the way we built Restore, we did it the hard way. We knew nothing. We learned our lessons because we made them and we made mistakes. And I mean, it was, it was painful. It, it was truly the entrepreneurial journey. We, gosh, we thought we were going to be profitable right out of the gate. I mean, that's how naive we were about what was going to happen. You know, we ran out of money. We were not profitable for the first couple of years. I mean, we hired the wrong people, we blocked, bought good equipment at bad prices. We, I mean, just everything you can imagine, we struggled with. I thought marketing was a dirty word. I didn't understand it or really have any. I mean, I, I avoided it mightily, actually, for quite some time, but just through dedication and dedication to really getting great results for our clients and through some very lucky and, and fortunate. I mean, I would say that probably the single biggest thing we, we finally decided to become a membership based practice and we tried out some different memberships and found ones that were very, very beneficial, both for the business and for the clients. And that really propelled our success and our multilocation openings.
- [07:55]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, I think that, I think that's a good segue. We've talked about that a lot on the podcast and loyalty programs versus memberships. And I know just from talking to people, it's something that people struggle with. They want to run memberships. They know that it's a Good idea. They dip their toe in it. They don't have a lot of people that are signing up for it. They struggle to market it, they struggle to communicate the benefits. I just know for a lot of people it has been a struggle. How have you all made that so successful in your practice? What were the keys to implementation that made that work?
- [08:25]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [08:27]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
So, first of all, I would say you cannot just dip your toe in membership. You were, you are either in or you're out. It is either something you talk to every single client about in, you know, over social, in email, when they're in the office, at the front desk, when they're checking out, when they're checking in, in the treatment room. Right. You do it, you do it all the time. You do it in staff meetings, you do it in huddles. You do. Like, it's either, it's, it, it, it, it frankly affects the way people are paid. Like, it's either all or nothing. The reason that we have been successful is because we went all in on membership. And I would also say, I remember that when we first launched it, you know, you can't, I think we, we often think, like a launch is like, I'm going to tell my staff, I'm going to tell them in a meeting and then that's great.
- [09:23]
Speaker D
That's it.
- [09:23]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
That's all I need to do.
- [09:24]
Speaker C
Right.
- [09:28]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
We, I still remember when we launched it originally, we had a meeting a week for two months, just about membership with the staff.
- [09:38]
Speaker D
Yeah, right.
- [09:40]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
I mean, it takes. And that's basically, that's eight times we told them about it, really. You know, and they say seven is the key to learning. So we just did eight. Just drive it home.
- [09:52]
Speaker C
Right.
- [09:53]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And, and honestly, our, our memberships are, I mean, in fact, when we first started our memberships, they were too good. They were so easy to sell. I mean, we, we started it as a Botox program, you know, and it was just super cheap Botox and you couldn't do anything except spend your money on Botox. Well, that was a terrible idea because Botox is the least profitable thing we do. And everybody signed up and you're.
- [10:21]
Ricky Shockley
And you're selling it now to discount to people that were probably buying it at the regular price previously. And that can be a challenge.
- [10:26]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Well, and they would ask, you know, can I use the money in my bank for a laser? And we're like, no, you can't. Can you imagine what a terrible business decision? It was so bad. And I mean, we fixed it.
- [10:38]
Speaker C
Right.
- [10:38]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
We had, there were a couple iterations I mean.
- [10:41]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [10:41]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
First started membership, our problem. So everybody signed up and we actually became less profitable than we had been.
- [10:49]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [10:49]
Ricky Shockley
It's a risk.
- [10:50]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yes. Whoops. I mean, these are the mistakes you make, right? As an owner, or at least we did.
- [10:58]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah. And it makes sense too. Like you're thinking like, I'm thinking like, like a golf course. It's hard when you have like intermixed business models. Like there are golf courses that are private communities and it's membership based and there are public golf courses, which is just pay when you play. And that's the entire business model.
- [11:14]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah.
- [11:14]
Ricky Shockley
But when you're kind of dabbling back and forth and you don't have a focus, I can imagine just from a model standpoint, that can be a challenge. So the decision to go all in on memberships, first of all, I guess what, what I, I do have talked to plenty of practices that aren't super membership heavy, that are successful also. What was the decision that you all made to say, we really wanted to go with this model. We think this is going to be better for our business and our patients. What was that? What did that decision look like?
- [11:37]
Speaker D
Why?
- [11:38]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Well, I think many offices struggle with this idea. You know, it's like, well, we're slow in the summer, or, you know, we're slow in February, or, you know, it's a, it's a. We are a seasonal industry to some degree.
- [11:51]
Speaker C
Right?
- [11:52]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [11:52]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And how do I get people in when I'm slow? How do I. If I don't have appointments on the books, how do I know that people are still coming back? I know I'll do a discount.
- [12:01]
Speaker C
Right.
- [12:01]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And so what happens is you get into this like, discount trap where every month or maybe every two weeks you're sending out these like, buy it now, buy it now, 20% off, 30%, these crazy things.
- [12:14]
Speaker C
Right.
- [12:14]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And really all you're doing is you're training your clients to just wait for a sale.
- [12:18]
Ricky Shockley
A million percent.
- [12:20]
Speaker C
Yeah.
- [12:20]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And. And so what we realized when we started with membership is all of a sudden we had the ability to still give really great pricing and special, you know, offers and opportunities to this select group of people. But it was the select group of people that had committed to us. And that was the single biggest thing that encouraged us to say, like, okay, this is really valuable. Like, this is, you know, we appreciate your loyalty.
- [12:47]
Speaker C
Right.
- [12:47]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
That was the message with membership. And so we just double down on that.
- [12:54]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [12:55]
Ricky Shockley
What, what is the current membership structure, if you don't mind sharing, like, roughly what does it look like, is it, is it your banking dollars? Essentially, they're applic for any service that you offer other than product.
- [13:05]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah, exactly. It's a beauty bank. And the more you bank with us, the more that you save. And then we also have a variety of incredible VIP offers and things that happen throughout the year that are available to members only. And the way that I look at it, some people say, like, okay, so I have this membership program, right? And there's certain things that are included in membership. And we kind of go from the opposite side. We say you can use your membership dollars on anything you buy at Restore. Anything, you know. And so anything that we add into our practice, any, any procedure, you know, anything at all. One of the first things we do is figure out how it fits into our membership tiers. And that includes now, you know, wellness and HRT and all of those things.
- [13:51]
Speaker C
Right?
- [13:51]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Because this is a marathon, not a sprint. It's like going to the gym. You don't go to the gym, workout really hard for six months, get those abs and then stop going and expect to still have them. So every single thing that we do, we assume that you're going to be a client for a really long. Until you don't care anymore, right? Until you don't care anymore. And so our average lifetime for our members is roughly two years. And, and that's just, that's the average. I mean, there are people who sometimes I think, oh my gosh, I remember her when she used to come into our first location. She's still coming.
- [14:27]
Speaker D
That's cool.
- [14:27]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Oh, it's so cool. It's so great to have those relationships with clients.
- [14:31]
Speaker D
Yeah, yeah.
- [14:31]
Ricky Shockley
So it's a lesson with this is if you're going to do memberships, you want that to be embedded into your practice. It's going to be an incentive to create stickiness and retention. I think that beauty bank option is the best because it's, there's, it's not hard to explain. You're basically going to spend this money anyways by signing up for the membership program, you're going to get a discount and all these other exclusive access points. And I think that's a really, really good way to do it. One of the things you mentioned on LinkedIn and I went through, I told Dominique, I went through some of the LinkedIn posts because she has so much good stuff on LinkedIn. Not a lot of people have great stuff on LinkedIn, but. And there were so many cool little posts that I was like, this is, would be a perfect point of Conversation. So you all have an amazing reputation. You know, I'm looking thousand plus reviews, probably more between the locations and to be maintained. Like a 4, 9 rating. Yeah, that's really important. How do you think about maintaining your reputation and how critical that is to the success of your business, especially in a very competitive landscape like the med spa space?
- [15:26]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
That is a great question. You know, reputation is everything. I mean, it takes forever to build one. You know, it's like trust. I mean, it is trust, right? And you can lose it in a heartbeat. I. I read a book, okay, so here, this is one of my. Like, if you haven't read this book, go read this book. Like, buy like 10 copies. Because once you read it, you're gonna want to give it to everybody. Okay. But it's called Crucial Conversations. Have you heard of it?
- [15:58]
Ricky Shockley
I have not, but I'm going to jot it down now.
- [15:59]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah, jot it down. It's how to have conversations when the stakes are high and opinions differ. And I think that having a great reputation, whether it's with, you know, a friend, a colleague, a spouse, a client, any of the. A vendor, so much of it can come down to how do we have conversations when they're hard and at restore. One of the things that we train everyone in, like the front desk, you know, client, concierge, our providers, it's like one of our values is professionalism. And professionalism to a large degree is how you handle conversations when you don't want to have them, when somebody's angry.
- [16:48]
Speaker C
Right.
- [16:49]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
When somebody feels they have been ignored, or maybe when their results aren't what they expected.
- [16:55]
Speaker C
Right.
- [16:57]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And I would credit our success in a large degree in this area to the degree that Dr. Waples especially has trained, has really just pounded into the clinicians. You never sit on a complaint. You never. You. You immediately reach out to that person and you handle that conversation, you handle that problem.
- [17:22]
Ricky Shockley
And amazing.
- [17:25]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
It's not, you know, it's not like the thing that, like, immediately your revenue shoots up. It's not that thing. It's that. It's a reputation over time, you know, little by little, bit by bit. And I think it's one of the most important things we've done in this practice.
- [17:43]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, I was just talking to somebody about their Google reviews the other day, and it's like this. It's easy when you have nine out of 10 clients that had a great experience and don't have any issues, and they're not frustrated about anything, they're not concerned about the results. Those are Easy conversations to have. But that's really interesting if you. If you emphasize professionalism when it's time to have the harder conversations. Being proactive, making sure that you're handling those appropriately, that's how you mitigate the risk of those negative reviews popping up.
- [18:09]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And I'll tell you, there are a lot of options with review softwares, you know, where you can basically try to, you know, not post bad things.
- [18:19]
Speaker D
Yep.
- [18:19]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
We don't do that. We. Every single person who comes in for an appointment at Restore gets an email with a link. We. We do. You know, obviously, we also do NPS scores and a variety of other things.
- [18:32]
Speaker C
Right.
- [18:33]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And we are. But we are. It's like the problem is there whether you hide it online or not. Like, let's. Let's deal with the problems and run a great business and do the very best things possible for our clients.
- [18:44]
Speaker C
Right.
- [18:46]
Ricky Shockley
The pro of that, too, is you do up your response rate. If you go through these tools that are trying to filter out reviews. Yeah, you're putting. You're making people jump through an extra hoop. And so the people that were going to go leave a good review, you now have fewer of those, too. So if you're confident that, all in all, you're doing a great job and that those are going to be minimal, I think that makes a ton of sense.
- [19:03]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And we, you know, occasionally we get a bad review, and it's like everybody. Yeah, we try, and now we immediately respond to that.
- [19:10]
Speaker C
Right.
- [19:10]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Because it's the same thing as the conversations. You know, it's like if you made a mistake, admit it. You know, say you're whatever it is.
- [19:18]
Speaker C
Right.
- [19:18]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Don't. Don't come unhinged. I mean, have the conversation like an adult.
- [19:23]
Ricky Shockley
Professionalism in your review replies. Yes. Hey there. Wanted to briefly interrupt the episode to make a quick ask. If you're a podcast listener, it would mean the world to us if you leave a word review for the podcast, whether that's on itunes or Spotify. It's something I hadn't really remembered or thought of asking for, but it does help us show up more frequently so that we can reach more people with the information that we're providing. So it mean the world to us if you'd leave a review on itunes or Spotify. If you're listening on audio, if you're watching on YouTube, make sure to hit the subscribe button so you're in the loop for future videos, and you don't miss any of the content that we're putting out. All the other things you mentioned here on LinkedIn. Looking back at Restore, there were three pivotal decisions that completely changed your trajectory. I don't know if you remember that post or what those three things were.
- [20:10]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
I know that's one must have been membership, because, I mean, I'm sure.
- [20:14]
Ricky Shockley
Okay. Membership.
- [20:15]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [20:16]
Ricky Shockley
Or what Those handful of things that, like, you, you know, you started this business, you struggled out of the gate, you learned a lot of these lessons the hard way to where you are now. I know, again, hard to nail down, but are there a few things that really stand out in your mind, like membership transition? Sounds like it was a big one. Anything with team hiring, culture, sop, scalability, anything there that stands out, that you're like, hey, these were. This was kind of a turning point where we figured out what we're doing, we gained confidence, and we started to figure out, hey, we can really turn this into something.
- [20:44]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah. So hiring is. Is huge. I mean, you know, anyone who has a business, I'm certain, would agree with that.
- [20:50]
Speaker C
Right.
- [20:50]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
It's like, it's. The business is not the inventory you have on the shelves and the machines you have in the room. It's the people. It's. It's the people. 100 always. So figuring out, I mean, so that's easy to say, right? Everybody agrees with that. But then, okay, great. Well, then how do you do it?
- [21:09]
Speaker C
Right.
- [21:12]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Here's. Okay. Would you like another book? I. I love these books. These are. This is like, these are the core books that I love.
- [21:19]
Ricky Shockley
The book recommendations, we'll make sure they're in the show note links too.
- [21:22]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Okay. Okay. So this one, it's a written by Jeff Smart. It's called who solve your number one problem. Are you familiar with that one? I'm not, no. Okay. It's such a quick read. It is hilarious. It will keep your attention. You could literally just read it like a novel if you wanted to. But it is. We follow the hiring method in who like to a T. And the concept is, you know, we're all trying to hire a players. All right, so this is the funnel, if you will, for hiring a players. And, well, just making sure you got the best people that you can afford on your team who want the job. And I was an attorney, right. I was a trial attorney before I opened the Med Spa. So I knew how to interview. And I thought because I knew how to interview, I would be good at this. And guess what? I wasn't. Because I didn't know what I was interviewing for because I hadn't sat down and made like, here are the top three things that will lead to success in this role. And my questions certainly were not targeted to that either.
- [22:38]
Ricky Shockley
What was the switch. What was the switch there that you feel like was like a discovery that change the way that you screen an interview?
- [22:43]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah, well, I read that book. It's, it's a, it's like a four step hiring process and it walks you through creating like here are the things that are important in the role. And then also here's another. I'm just the tips and tricks today. So a couple years ago we started using Culture Index. It's a personality assessment. And that also just because as we have grown and as our reputation has grown, one of the problems that we now run into is the number of like the candidate flow is overwhelming. When we post a job, there are hundreds if not thousands of responses. So you know, you can't interview everybody. And even at that level, you really can't read every resume even. Yeah, you know, so there has to be something that allows you that's fair to both sides.
- [23:32]
Speaker C
Right.
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Dominique Wapels Trefl
That allows you to pick the people who are most likely to succeed, succeed in the job just from the beginning. And Culture Index is that tool for us.
- [23:41]
Speaker D
Cool.
- [23:41]
Ricky Shockley
Culture Index, that's a neat one. Yeah. We were just looking into Test Gorilla because we have like the same kind of thing where there's a bunch of people that apply for a job. You have no idea how qualified people are. And if they're going to have the skills and trying to figure out some way to filter out the people, like you said, that have the best chance of success.
- [23:58]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
That's, that's interesting. We use Test Gorilla for a while as well. I thought it was a good skills assessment, but not. Yeah, you know, I mean, I always start with personality. I mean you have to have both.
- [24:09]
Speaker C
Right.
- [24:09]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
You have to have the skills and the right personality. So yeah, that, that mix, boy, that's a good one.
- [24:16]
Speaker D
Yep.
- [24:16]
Ricky Shockley
For sure. Another quote that you had here. One way we built our culture is through the hiring process. In first interviews, you ask candidates, what are you not good at? I'm looking for honest assessment, not lines like I work too hard. And you found that people that can acknowledge their genuine limitations are often the same ones at Excel at asking, can I improve?
- [24:36]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yes.
- [24:36]
Ricky Shockley
So the mindset for constant improvement, is that kind of one of those questions that you found to be critical in the hiring process?
- [24:42]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah. Well, so first of all, we have. There are four values that we live by at Restore people. First, constant improvement, Celebrating excellence and professionalism. So constant improvement is key. To who we are. And that is 100% the question that I think tells me whether people treat. Because if you just ask somebody, well, do you want to improve? Do you want to grow as a person, as a professional who's gonna. Nobody's gonna say no, you know.
- [25:11]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [25:12]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
But when you say, well, what are you not good at professionally? Like, what are you not good at professionally? Please don't tell me it's delegating or working too hard.
- [25:20]
Speaker C
Right.
- [25:21]
Ricky Shockley
The other one. There's another one I hear all the time. What's the other one? I hear all the time, I can be too hard on myself.
- [25:26]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Oh, I'm too hard on myself. And I always say, well, you know what that sounds like? That might sound. You know, that might be a personal problem, but a professional strength. Like when people tell me, like, I work too hard or. I mean, basically the way. The way that I preface it is this. I say, listen, you know, I am building a team. And I fundamental, fundamentally believe that a team, like a group, a great team, is going to beat a group of individual superstars every time. And that's because they know how to work together. Like, great teams know when to pass the ball. So.
- [26:04]
Speaker C
Right.
- [26:04]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Because if someone's just hogging the ball the whole time, that team is going to lose. So when do you pass the ball?
- [26:11]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [26:12]
Ricky Shockley
Do you. How do you think about cohesiveness in your team? Sorry, Dominic. Was there something to add to that?
- [26:17]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah, well, that's just. That's just how. Usually that'll get people to tell me the thing. They're really. Then they're like, okay, right, that's right. This is a team. This is important. Like, the right person reacts to that and goes, yeah, okay.
- [26:27]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, I guess a couple of questions on this, because I think this is so important. I couldn't agree more. Like, your people are going to determine your access to success to a large degree. People in process. And when. When it comes to people, how do you attract a players? Is pay part of that? You have to make sure. How do you think about, like, pay structure, compensation? How do you make sure that you're able to recruit people that you think are going to be top talent and serve as the differentiators on your front line?
- [26:54]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Well, to be very frank with you, when we were new, we couldn't. Because what? Look, if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
- [27:02]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [27:03]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Okay, so, I mean, so is pay part of it? Yes, but for the very best people, you know, you want to pay the very best people so that they don't have to worry about money, and they can focus on what they really care about, which is dedicating their time and energies to their career and this business. Okay. So that's the way I think about it. I think. I mean, the brand has really attracted a lot of interest as the brand has grown and as our locations have grown, we have gotten more people interested in working here. I will also say that leadership makes a big difference. I spent years not. I mean, just like, I can't even believe I was doing this, but, like, sort of like almost sitting in a back room, you know, having these dreams and ideas for Restore and not telling anybody. Well, you can't.
- [28:03]
Ricky Shockley
Not sharing those with your team.
- [28:04]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah, not sharing them with my team. Not sharing them in any. Like you mentioned, you've mentioned LinkedIn a couple of times. You know, like, just not sharing them anywhere. And a couple of years ago, I just, like, a switch flipped for me and I thought, well, this is. If I want. Listen, I can't do this by myself. Nothing great is accomplished by one person. If I want people committed to this and committed to what we're growing, then I've got to get over this fear that I have and put it out there. And so this is what it is. We will have. Restore will have 20 locations in five years. Okay. And that's everywhere. That's something we talk about in our meetings. It's something I talk about in interviews. I put it in job postings. I. It's like. It's just like, if you want to be a part of this, come join us.
- [28:54]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [28:54]
Ricky Shockley
I think there is definitely value in people feeling like they're part of something that has an aim.
- [28:59]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah.
- [29:00]
Ricky Shockley
Just intrinsically, like having an aim and being part of something that has. That you're actually on a mission. You're trying to accomplish something. Clear. I just read. What was the book that I just read? The Hospitality. Unreasonable Hospitality.
- [29:11]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
I've heard of it. I haven't read it. Okay. I'm not writing that down.
- [29:14]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, I thought it was. It was a. It was honestly, like a really good story, and it was compelling in terms of the story, but I think the business takeaways were actually pretty light. But it was a good read. I'll say it was a good read. But the business takeaways were relatively light. But I thought that was kind of interesting is it did seem like the culture in the restaurants that they were building, it's like they were chasing a mission. The Michelin stars.
- [29:34]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah.
- [29:35]
Ricky Shockley
They're like, can we actually truly become a great restaurant? And the Buy in from the team with. Without necessarily having to have, like, clear financial incentives or not, that you don't want to build those things in and be creative to make sure that people have some sort of a. That they're winning. When you're winning, I think that's really important. People were winning when you're winning, that is. But just to know that you're on a mission, you're on a mission trying to accomplish a goal, I think is really cool. So. So how do you instill in your team that they have an incentive that aligns with your growth goal?
- [30:05]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Well, we do.
- [30:06]
Ricky Shockley
That can be hard.
- [30:07]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
This does flow through. I mean, is this reflected in compensation? Yes. I mean, I have actually. You know, it's so interesting that you say, like, you want that alignment with your team. I always say, whenever, whatever we do, it has to be good for the clients, it has to be good for the employees, and it has to be good for the business, you know, because if anybody is rowing in a different direction than if it's not good for clients, I mean, obviously you just don't have any clients. Right. If it's not good for employees, they're going to leave. Leave. If it's not good for the business, eventually it's going to shut down. And, you know, the employees and the. And the clients are going to have to find somewhere else to go. So those things must be aligned and we do our very best. I mean, that starts with, like, when we start thinking about a procedure to bring on.
- [30:53]
Speaker C
Right.
- [30:55]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
It's totally. It's a completely siloed experience. Right. So the first thing that happens is Dr. Waples will make decisions about the technology that she thinks. And by the way, she's not in the treatment rooms at all any more. Really. Okay. So she'll find the technology that she's like, this is the. These are the technologies I want to look at.
- [31:14]
Speaker C
Great.
- [31:15]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Now we're going to have some demos with some various things. Great. Okay. And then she will give me basically a short list of, like, these are the great technologies. These are the things that I will be proud to offer to our patients. And at that point, there has been no conversation about cost. Like, literally none. Because every time it starts to come up with the rep, she's like, I really, I appreciate you, but we're talking about medicine. You'll get to talk to Dominique later. Yeah, right.
- [31:41]
Ricky Shockley
I like that.
- [31:42]
Speaker C
Right.
- [31:42]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And so. And then. And then the second analysis comes in, and I already know, like, any of the three or four or five things I have on the list are going to be great. And then we start the, you know, the cost analysis and that who's going to be a great partner for us.
- [31:58]
Speaker C
Right.
- [31:59]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And then those things just wrap into the compensation plan for employees as well. And it just, any one of those things is a no go.
- [32:09]
Speaker C
Right.
- [32:09]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
If you're not, it's not a great product. If it's not viable, profitable for the business, if it doesn't also benefit the employees, it's just not coming on board.
- [32:17]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [32:18]
Ricky Shockley
And the beautiful thing about this is a lot of times those things do align. What's best for the client generally is going to mean it's better for the business. And if it's better for the business, you have more opportunity for your team. So like totally makes sense.
- [32:29]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
I agree.
- [32:31]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [32:32]
Ricky Shockley
In terms of operations and scaling. So going from one to two locations can be a challenge because you maybe have this core team, you've got somebody in office, you feel good about what you're doing as long as you have hands on everything. As you start to grow and scale beyond one location, what are the things that are really important to create a consistent experience for location 2, 3, and for you, inevitably, location 20 and beyond.
- [32:53]
Speaker C
Right.
- [32:54]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Well, first of all, location 2 with. That was the most. That was a scary, I mean, that was scary. Boy, you just, you don't know if it's gonna work. We opened our second location in the middle of COVID That was, that was really fun. It was a new build. So the building itself was three years delayed. Three years, yeah. So you just, you learn a lot. I mean, I think we were very, we were very lucky in that from the first day that we opened for business, we did so many things wrong. Right. We made so many mistakes. But one thing that we got right was from the very, very beginning I made the decision that all of our software was going to be in the cloud. And now we take that completely for granted. But in 2011, that was not the standard actually, even for point of sale softwares. And I remember like we chose, for example, our very first point of sale software was mindbody and we chose it because it was in the cloud. And I really, that was so important to me because even then, like we spoke earlier, I'm in Montana right now, my family is from Montana. And spending time in Montana is important to me. And I knew that I would want to be able to have visibility even when I wasn't sitting right in the office.
- [34:24]
Speaker C
Right.
- [34:25]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
So in some ways going to two locations was, I don't want to say it was Easy. But we had the system set up because our inventory systems, for example, were all available in the cloud. We used slack to communicate. And so we, all of us were able to. We're all communicating every day, seamlessly, even though we weren't in the same location. We use huddles, you know, video huddles, so that we're all having communications every morning. And it's the same thing. We're on the same page because that's what it's about.
- [35:00]
Speaker C
Right.
- [35:00]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
It's like, how are we on the same page? How does management know that certain things are happening when they're not there? And, yeah, that. So we, we had a lot of systems set up that worked well. I think the system that we did not have was a launch system, because that's a completely different one. That's not just about the ongoing operations. That's like, people don't know you. How do they, how do they get to know you? How do you order all the things that you only have to order once every, you know, time you open?
- [35:30]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, that's probably snowballs too, right? Like the second location. It's like a whole series of learning lessons. Now you figured that out. Third location becomes a little bit easier and you start to systematize it to where it starts to. To be a little easier to snowball.
- [35:43]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
It was actually, I think number three was where I kind of got myself caught up and realized I have to hire some higher level operations people in the business.
- [35:50]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [35:51]
Ricky Shockley
Because is that a good. That in your experience, that third location is when, like, hey, I need to start building a, an infrastructure at the top layer of the business because now there's just so many moving parts.
- [35:59]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah. For me, definitely. I mean, I kind of. I, for me personally, I recognized I will not be able to continue to do this. Like, I will burn out. I just get very angry at people, which isn't fair.
- [36:10]
Speaker C
Right.
- [36:11]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
When I start to get angry at people, I have to stop, especially my employees who are wonderful. I really have to stop and say, all right, Dominique, what are you upset about? Actually? And if it's. You're upset because you're overwhelmed because you haven't hired the right. It's always my fault.
- [36:27]
Speaker C
Right.
- [36:27]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
It's the owner's curse. Everything in the business is your fault. You either did it, hired it, or allowed it to continue. Right. So, yeah, I turn back around to myself and say, all right, well, you need to get a new job description out there.
- [36:47]
Speaker D
Yeah, yeah.
- [36:49]
Ricky Shockley
So not allowing yourself to be overwhelmed, knowing when it's the right Time to like, scale and bring on additional help and build that infrastructure at the top of the business. What about like SOPs or anything that goes into like just the operations as you scale. What do you think about or what are your thoughts on. On that type of thing?
- [37:08]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Well, we. Have you heard of Trainual?
- [37:12]
Speaker D
Yeah. Yep.
- [37:14]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
So this is so funny. So I. So Chris Bronzio is the. He's the founder of Trainual. I met Chris through Entrepreneurs organization probably maybe 10 years ago. I mean, it was quite a while ago. Tranial was just a. It was a tiny little baby. We were little training was. So we started using Trainual very early on. And so the documentations, the documentation of our process through SOPs and videos and everything else, we have quite a repertoire in Trainual and it's something we live by. It's sort of a, you know, when people come in, they. They go through a pretty rigorous training. And then whenever we bring on a new. Whatever it is, a new process, new system, a new machine, whatever it is, we put it in Trainual and then have people go back in and learn it through Trainual. So it's. We couldn't do it without that, to be frank.
- [38:15]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, that's a cool tool. I think I've heard a lot of good things about it. We're, we're. I think half our stuff's just in Google Drive, but I know Train is a really good way to do that. That's awesome.
- [38:24]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah.
- [38:24]
Ricky Shockley
Cool. Thank you for sharing that. In terms of leadership, what do you feel like? The character traits, what's required to be a good leader? If you had to boil it down to a few things to make sure that you are developing a culture where your team is excited to be on that mission with you.
- [38:45]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
There's so many things, but if I had to say just one or two, I think great leaders, they have a dream and they have a vision and they can communicate it. Because if you can't communicate it, you're not leading anybody. And really great leaders care more about the success of the people they're leading than their own personal recognition. And if you have both of those things and then you can also hold your people accountable. Now you're a great leader. Yeah.
- [39:31]
Speaker D
Yep.
- [39:32]
Ricky Shockley
There's the delicate balance. Making sure that the people are like that, you're supporting them, that you want them to win, but also holding them accountable.
- [39:40]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yes.
- [39:41]
Ricky Shockley
Any tips on that? Because I know that can be a challenge and I know for any business owner, any manager, you want to be there to support your people, you want to Be able to encourage people. You don't want people to be scared, but you also do need to have accountability. And everybody knows that a players want to work with other A players. And if you let things slip where people aren't held accountable for performance or living up to standards, that, that can be a challenge. How do you balance that?
- [40:05]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Well, I'm sure you've heard the saying, you know, praise in public, correct? In private, I think that's very true and very important. I think it's also true that everybody struggles with this. And I, you know, everyone struggles with this. But you gotta fire fast. When somebody isn't a fit, you know it. You don't even know that often, you don't even know the damage you're doing until you let a person go. And you. Because you left them there, right? That's. You and I, I definitely were. That. That's something that even to this day, I mean, we, we. I let a person go this last spring that even, you know, I probably left them sit there a month too long.
- [40:47]
Speaker C
Right.
- [40:48]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
So it's, it's something, it's something I'm still learning.
- [40:51]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [40:51]
Ricky Shockley
And I know that's a delicate balance. And I know, I know one of the things that people can struggle with is if you have somebody that you know is putting in the effort and you feel like it's not a lack of trying, but they're just not a high performer. Maybe they don't have like the ability to communicate properly with patients. Maybe they struggle in terms of actually providing the service. How do you walk that line?
- [41:13]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
You let them go easier.
- [41:14]
Ricky Shockley
When people are, it's like a culture and a values thing, it's easier to just say, you know, hey, this isn't, this isn't a fit. You're not living up to the standard, you're not doing clearly what we asked, you know, but it becomes just a performance based thing.
- [41:24]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
I, I really think I used to, I used to. I remember the first time I heard this, okay. And so what I heard was that, you know, firing somebody when they are not performing or when they're not a good fit or for whatever reason, like that's a kind thing to do because they know it. They know they're not achieving and they deserve to be able to find a place where they are achieving. And by not letting them go, you're holding them back from that. And I thought, oh, isn't that nice? You know, you're kind of like letting yourself off the hook or letting a person go. But I've actually become I mean, the longer I do this, I think, you know, that's really true. There is a, there is a place for everyone. And if it's not restored, then, you know, if I'm like, I'm a, I'm a, I start things right? That's one of my, like, I, I, I will get it started, I will push it over the edge, like faster than it should be.
- [42:16]
Speaker C
Right?
- [42:17]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
But that's one of my strengths. And even in firing, it should be that way. Like, if somebody's like, well, it's okay, I guess it's fine, I don't love my job. But, you know, whatever, like, they deserve to be in a place where they love their job. So. And the only way that's going to happen is if you just let them go and set them free.
- [42:35]
Ricky Shockley
This episode is brought to you by Med Spa Magic Marketing, my agency. We help Med spas and aesthetics practices grow with more effective marketing strategies. And I know that's a vague phrase, right? It's a vague claim. So I have an offer for you. I offer this to any new prospects if you're interested in exploring any of them, another marketing option, a new agency, or just getting into Facebook, Instagram, Google Ads for the first time. I'd love to show you why we're different, what we're doing for clients. And we can do that via a one and a half hour planning session where I'll outline a specific marketing plan and I'll give you all of the blueprints that we would implement if we were to do business together. Now you can take that, use that on your own, hire someone else to help you execute it or, or work with us. We really don't hold anything back on that strategy call. And I think you'll have a lot of confidence in how you manage your marketing investment moving forward. Understanding some of the nuances that can help you implement more effective marketing strategies for your business. So if you want to do that, you can go to Medspamagicmarketing.com on, on the topic of inject, like let's just say providers specifically, we had Mary Beth Hagan on the podcast. She talked about how challenging it is to hire providers, injectors, let's just say especially that already have experience and that she always found that it's easier to build people up. How do you all approach that? Is that, does that seem to align or do you have a difference of opinion on that?
- [43:57]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
We absolutely hire and train. I mean, not that we wouldn't hire somebody who had experience, but so we also, in Addition to Restore Medical Spa, we also have Restore Academy. It's a training institution and it is basically the, the whole, the, the goal of it, I mean obviously it's to train new injectors in great technique. But also, I mean we get the first look at people who are going to be great but just don't have the training yet. Right, yeah. So I would also say that Dr. Waples has found that even when you hire somebody with training, it's usually there are some so many holes that you end up having to go back and redo most of it anyway. So it's just you have to be, if you're, if you're a fast growing organization, you have to be a training organization. And especially in this industry, I think because there is so little in the way of real, I mean there might be training, but you know, it's training and then you have to get a little experience and then you have to do a little more training and then get a little more experience and then more training. Like our training process, really it's about a two year process, so. And in this industry there really is no other. You had. Somebody has to hire you in order for you to get experience because it costs money. This is a cash pay business.
- [45:12]
Ricky Shockley
Yep.
- [45:13]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah, that's where we come down on that. It, it was a bottle thing for.
- [45:17]
Ricky Shockley
A while and I think so many people feel like they're just looking for the quick fix. And it's like I need you to hire somebody with a book of business that already has experience. And it seems like the successful way to do this is like you said, to be a business that is like you training is embedded in part of what you do. Like you're going to have to have a system to bring people on, to get them up to speed, to do things right and to do them the way that you want to do them for you. When. If you said this training process is two years, is it basically like how, how long from when you see somebody through like your training academy to when they're actually providing service, is it basically they're going in and they're providing service, but training is an ongoing part simultaneously while they're providing treatment?
- [45:57]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah. So we'll train them on, you know, the first couple of procedures.
- [46:02]
Speaker C
Right.
- [46:02]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And they are in the treatment room within two to three weeks doing those procedures. Not on new patients.
- [46:10]
Speaker C
Right.
- [46:10]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Not on patients that don't already have patterns or already have medical records, but basic things on new people. And they're surrounded by talent, they're surrounded by the providers in the practice that have been there for years. And again, we talked about Slack a moment ago. Anytime they have a question, they can immediately get in touch with everybody up to and including Dr. Waples. I mean, like that, like they have immediate access to just this, this incredible structure which is almost unheard of in this industry, you know, because you have so many small med spas and we started small. I mean, everybody starts small. But you've got one or two people. Well, who are you going to ask when you've got a problem or a complication? You know, that's very challenging.
- [46:57]
Ricky Shockley
So you said that was a bottleneck at some point in the business. What, what was that transition when it went from like, holy cow, we need more help or we lost somebody and we're freaking out because now we need to fill that spot to being in a position where we always have a bench, we're always developing a bench. What did that look like for you? Also, what do you recommend people are doing? How do you get to the point where you always are developing that bench? How far ahead do you hire? Do you hire before you have the need? What does that look like?
- [47:21]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Well, have you, you know, you've heard of abc? Well, it's not abc, but always be hiring.
- [47:27]
Speaker D
Yeah, right.
- [47:29]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Always be closing. Always be hiring. Like, I mean, for, for us, it really has gotten to that point. Like, we never, we always are interviewing because you just never know and you need to have great people. That's your promise to your clients, you know, so, yeah, like every other lesson, we got to learn this one the hard way. A couple of times I mentioned that, you know, I had a child the first month we were open for business. The next year Dr. Wakeles had her first child. And then the next year I had my second. And then the year after that she had her second. Right. So it was just baby.
- [48:05]
Ricky Shockley
At least you staggered it.
- [48:06]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah, that was entirely intentional. We just felt that way, you know, but at that time when we were very new, she was still in the treatment room.
- [48:16]
Speaker C
Right.
- [48:16]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
She was still providing services. And we had had a couple of circumstances where, I mean, she was obviously pregnant.
- [48:23]
Speaker C
Right.
- [48:23]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
You know, and we lost a couple of providers like right after she gave birth. And it became this. It was an incredibly difficult situation because she ended up coming back almost immediately to fill that spot.
- [48:40]
Speaker C
Right.
- [48:41]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Like, when you're an owner, you do what you have to do.
- [48:43]
Speaker D
Yep.
- [48:44]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And it was just such a wake up call for us. Like this. We have got to solve this problem. If we don't have the ability to find, hire and train great people and to have this bench, we're. Every two years we're going to have this problem. We'll never get out of this hole. Yeah, yeah.
- [49:06]
Ricky Shockley
And it kind of seems like this is a, this kind of ties into like you're either growing or dying mentality. Because if you're, if you're afraid that you're not actually on a growth path, then you will never want to, you'll, you'll never feel comfortable taking the jump to consider hiring as part of like something that's an ongoing part of your business. Because you know you're always going to need another person as you're continuing to grow. If you're stagnant and you're static, then you feel like, well, I don't have the revenue to support another person, so I probably shouldn't bring up another person on until I have the revenue. And by the time you have the revenue, it's too late. You needed somebody on the bench. So you have to have that mindset of growth, I think for this to make sense and to be in a position where this is comfortable.
- [49:43]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
You do. And, and also there's just like, if you don't have a way to find, hire and train people, there's just this feeling of utter desperation. You know, what if they leave? What am I going to do? And then you don't have a business, you have a jail. Like, I mean that.
- [49:58]
Speaker C
Right?
- [49:58]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Like you're just terrified and stuck.
- [50:02]
Ricky Shockley
So good, good segue on that too. Because one of the things we talked about in our, in our, you know, pre call interview was I, I mentioned a lot of people in the space, I think, have this fear that somebody's going to leave and they're all their business is going to go with them and our business is completely and utterly tied to the individuals. How do we actually build a business and a system that can survive a person leaving and somebody else taking their place. Could you share your thoughts on that a little bit? I know you said they've even maybe you've got an extra wrinkle since last time even we talked.
- [50:31]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah, well, I've thought about it because I've just been thinking about like, why is this different for me? Because as you know, as we discuss, I and at Restore in general, I mean, of course we love our providers and they are so incredible and we want this to be an incredible place to work for everyone. But we are not afraid of providers leaving and we are not afraid that we will lose our clients and Our client base and our wonderful clients when that does happen. Because, you know, I mean, people move on in life and that's okay.
- [51:06]
Speaker C
Right.
- [51:07]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And the business has to survive independently of that. And I think that when practices are smaller, you know, it's like a little wave will tip over a tugboat.
- [51:21]
Speaker C
Right.
- [51:21]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
But not a tanker. And when you're very new and maybe there's only two providers in the practice and one leaves, you are in a much worse position than if you have 10 providers in a practice and one leaves and you've got a bench.
- [51:35]
Speaker C
Right.
- [51:37]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
I will say, however, so understanding that.
- [51:41]
Speaker C
Right.
- [51:42]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
It is certainly more challenging for smaller practices and I don't want to make light of that, but I believe the correct focus is on the client.
- [51:53]
Speaker C
Right.
- [51:54]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Like focusing on the client is really, if any business that's obsessive about a great client experience gets to keep their clients, that's it.
- [52:05]
Speaker C
Right.
- [52:06]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
So clients, generally speaking, in our practice, they live within a 15 minute drive time of our practice. So first of all, they're close. And I know that we will continue unless they move. We will continue to be close for them. I also know that our membership program allows us to really track who is coming to our practice and who is leaving our practice. So I would say maybe, I don't know, seven or eight years ago I did this analysis. A couple of providers left. It was actually a very, another very painful business experience. I had a woman I considered a friend and a colleague. We were even considering having a joint, like sort of a joint venture together. And instead of what happened is a couple of our providers went and worked for her instead. And you know, I felt betrayed and terrified and all of those things that you feel when that happens. And of course there was this fear like, oh God, what if everybody leaves and the business falls apart? Because of course that, that was what they promised her, right? They retired whole practice. And instead what happened is for each provider, we lost about five members and about. So five people per provider followed this, these two over to another practice. And not to make light of that, members are our lifeblood. There are best clients. And at that time we only had one practice. And I think we had something like maybe 600 members in that one practice. But you know, five out of six, 600, it does not end the business. And what happened, you know, I tracked it for a while and after I realized, okay, it's been a couple months, about five people, that's it, I had the pleasant surprise that after about six months, half of those people came back. And as they Described to us. You know, I love Restore.
- [54:12]
Speaker C
Right.
- [54:12]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Restore has a certain vibe and a certain culture, and you hire great people. And we, of course, hired a couple more wonderful people who were able to provide, especially with the training that we offer them, that same level of service. And so it's the whole package. I think that some providers get in trouble because what they do is they. It's almost like they want the provider they hire to go out and find clients themselves and they don't take the responsibility of marketing. And when they do that, that provider basically has their own business inside of their practice. And so you know what? They probably should be scared when that provider leaves, because if that provider went out and actually got those clients, they're.
- [55:10]
Speaker C
They.
- [55:10]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
They might leave with them.
- [55:12]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, they came for that person, not for Restore, and then happened to work with the provider. Completely changes the dynamic.
- [55:18]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Completely changes the dynamic. So I would just say start with the focus. The focus should always be on the customer.
- [55:25]
Speaker C
Right.
- [55:25]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Like we, we take care of our employees. Like our employees are so important. We want our. If our employees are happy, our customers are going to be happy. But I am not terrified of my provider, you know, and I shouldn't be because I want to be able to freely give our providers everything, all the training, you know, just all the experience. Everything, everything, everything. And then still not be afraid of our. Our members walking out the door if. If and when they leave.
- [55:55]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, I think that's awesome. I think that's something so many people, even successful med spas, strive for because they do have that fear and have. And kind of figuring out what it takes to have to get to the point where that's a diminished fear and how you're attracting the clients, having training, making sure that people do have a loyalty to the business because of what you represent and how you treat your clients. And that's. That's incredible. You mentioned the need to be. To be marketing. What are you all. What have been the most successful things you all have done from a marketing standpoint? What are your quick thoughts on marketing and advertising?
- [56:22]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Marketing? Well, that's. Well, we've been very lucky. I would, I would start by saying that we've been very lucky. Our, our best marketing is the fact that we produce a great product. You know, people are walking around every day. Nobody's scared. Most people are not scared any longer to say that they get Botox. They will tell their friends. So over time, our clients based, you know, over half of our clients come from referrals in an established practice.
- [56:52]
Ricky Shockley
Amazing.
- [56:52]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [56:53]
Ricky Shockley
And you have to do a great job for that to happen.
- [56:55]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
And you do.
- [56:56]
Speaker C
Right.
- [56:56]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Because it'll catch up with you.
- [56:57]
Speaker C
Right.
- [56:58]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Whatever you're actually putting out there will catch up with you eventually. And historically our focus on SEO and kind of the long SEO game has been much more successful than temporary. Sort of, sort of the quick paid ad campaigns. I would, you know, the world is changing and it'll be very interesting. I'd love to hear your thoughts actually on, on what's happening in the marketing world here in the next, you know, couple years. But.
- [57:33]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, I think the simple evolution is honestly like just with all of this stuff in technology and AI, it's just making the consumer purchase decision more transparent. Even Google Reviews were a version of that. You think about the world before Google Reviews. It was. I hope this place has a good reputation. Let me ask a couple people. Let me just look at their cherry picked testimon on their website. But the more data people have, the more transparent the decision becomes. And I think it just is, it's positioning, having a brand being sought after and doing a great job so that when people are doing that research and they're trying to figure out where to go, you truly look like the best, the best option in general or the best option for them for their specific needs and their vibe and what they're looking for in a practice.
- [58:18]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah.
- [58:18]
Ricky Shockley
And kind of finding your lane and like you can't trick people. Marketing is not going to ever be an effective way to grow a business. You're not going to trick people into liking you or wanting to do business with you. People, even if they're seeing an ad, they're going to go research your business. So you got to have the goods. I think that's with anything you have to have the goods.
- [58:34]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
I love that. Marketing is not about tricking people.
- [58:37]
Speaker D
That's.
- [58:38]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah, it's got to be authentic.
- [58:40]
Speaker D
Yeah.
- [58:41]
Ricky Shockley
Well that's awesome. And yeah, that's the place to be. Like if you're, if you're getting business from word of mouth referrals and people are finding you on Google and you've got great reviews. Like that's the gold standard. Nothing's better than that. You don't have a giant customer acquisition cost. When you get to that point, you build to that. So every day at Restore you get clients booking and calling that are finding you online from your Google reviews, their referrals from other clients and those customers are the best because you paid nothing in terms of acquisition cost to get them. I think that's the best place to be amazing. How many. Any last words of wisdom for people that are, you know, maybe. Maybe they're running a successful med spa, they're looking to get to the next level and they're trying to figure out what are the little things, what are the mindset things, maybe even a mindset thing to wrap. What do you feel like you have to do when things can get overwhelming and you're managing a business that's growing?
- [59:26]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
I think that for most med spas that are trying to get from, maybe it's just them, or maybe it's them and just a couple other people, and they hope to have multiple locations and really grow that practice. I would say the single most important thing you can do is really work yourself out of the treatment room. Because if you can't do that, you can't focus on growth. And it will be monetarily painful for a while, but you have to be willing to work through that to get to the next level.
- [59:57]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, you have to work on the business, not in the business. I think you hear people say that it can be a cliche and that doesn't have to happen all at once, but you have to at least be working toward it, because if nobody's working on the business, business is not going to work.
- [60:08]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
You're just you. And good luck trying to sell that one.
- [60:12]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, you're just a hamster on a wheel at that point, too. You're. You're just stuck in the treatment room. You don't even have time or energy to think about, what do I need to do to make this entity successful.
- [60:19]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah, exactly.
- [60:22]
Ricky Shockley
Thank you so much. This is a great interview. I appreciate all the tidbits. I'd love to do it again sometime. Where can people learn more about you, what you're up to? We'll make sure all these things are in the show note links as well.
- [60:31]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Absolutely. Well, as you mentioned, I am active on LinkedIn, so you can find me at Dominique Waples hyphen truffle on LinkedIn. So that's W A P as in Paul L E S T R E F I L. And of course, you can always visit us if you happen to be in Colorado or in Denver. Please come visit us at any of our three soon to be four and five locations in Denver. And you can find us online@restore medical spa.com.
- [61:00]
Ricky Shockley
And what about the training? Is that, Is that something that we want to share in the show note links too?
- [61:04]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yes. So that is Restore Academy. So you can find information about Restore Academy on our website. We do offer in person training and we also offer all of our, our internal training modules that we use for new injectors. We offer those on a subscription basis.
- [61:23]
Ricky Shockley
Amazing.
- [61:24]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Inside of Trainual. Yeah, inside.
- [61:26]
Ricky Shockley
That's really cool.
- [61:27]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Yeah. So as they get updated, they're updated for everyone. So if you're sort of a, a smaller med spa and you're looking for a way to have access and for your people to have access to some ongoing fantastic training, check us out. Check, you know, just look for Restore Academy and find the, the subscription options.
- [61:46]
Ricky Shockley
Yeah, what a cool share. Like I said, we'll make sure all those things are in the show notes. And I don't think I've ever told people you got to go follow Dominique on LinkedIn or the LinkedIn posts are solid. And if you're a med spot owner, I think there's so many things just tactic inspirationally that I saw on there as I was scrolling and prepping for the interview. So thank you, Dominique. We appreciate it and hope to have you back again sometime soon.
- [62:04]
Dominique Wapels Trefl
Thank you so much. Yes, that'd be wonderful. It's wonderful talking to you today. I appreciate it.
- [62:07]
Ricky Shockley
Great. Thanks everyone for tuning in. This podcast is a production of Medspa Magic Marketing. If your med spa or aesthetic practice is in need of digital marketing services, help with advertising on Facebook, Instagram, Google lead generation and booking more appointments, please visit Medspamagicmarketing.com.