Why You’re Not a Million-Dollar Med Spa Owner – And How to Change That
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Daniela Warner
Welcome to Spa Marketing Made Easy, a podcast for spa owners who want to step up their leadership and business skills and step into the role as spa CEO. I'm your host, Daniela Warner, CEO of Atto Aesthetics and founder of the Growth Factor Framework program where we teach, coach and guide spa owners in scaling their spas to the next level of growth and unlocking freedom in their life and their business. I'm so glad you're here now. Now, let's dive into the show.
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What if I told you that the only thing standing between you and a million dollar med spa is you? That's right. Most spa owners don't hit seven figures.
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Not because the industry is declining.
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We're actually seeing quite the opposite with private equity just really flooding into our market.
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No, they're not hitting seven figures because.
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They'Re making a few cracks, crucial mistakes.
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And today on the Spa Marketing Made.
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Easy podcast, we're going to talk about exactly what those mistakes are and how you can fix them, starting right now. So let's just first zoom out and take a look at the medical spa market, which as of 2023 was a $15 billion market right here in the US and that market is continually growing approximately 15 to 20% on an annual basis. Now, for those of you that love to do your own research, we grabbed these numbers from the AMSPA website. We'll be sure to link up their website at the in the show notes of this episode if you're wanting to head over there and do some of your own research now. Also, according to AMSPA, the annual revenue per med spa was about 1.98 million in 2022. A single location med spa sees roughly 283 patients per per month, with an average spend of $536 per visit. So that adds up pretty quickly over a year. And the cool thing is it's common.
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For even small med spas to gross.
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Well into the seven figures. So there was actually a industry survey that showed that most med spas generate over 1 million annually. So why, if we're seeing this average 1.98 and the majority of these med.
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Spas generating over 1 million, why are there so many that struggle to hit.
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That consistently and profitably? We're seeing the examples of these spas that are doing it, but there's so many that are still struggling. Well, that's what I want to address today. If that is you. If you are a med spa and you're like, gosh, I look around and.
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Every med spa I see is doing 1 million, $2 million in revenue.
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What am I not doing? Well, mistake number one is you don't have a recurring revenue model, AKA memberships. All right, so the spas that scale.
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Fast and sustainably, they are not starting.
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Back at zero every single month. They have recurring revenue. They have predictable cash flow that helps them to take bigger risks. That helps the spa CEOs to sleep.
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Better at night when they know that that money is coming in predictably and consistently.
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Okay, so spas that use membership models see 65 to 70% of revenue coming from repeat clients. You guys, that is huge.
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That decreases your client acquisition cost.
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That helps you have that predictable cash flow. Depending on where you live in the country, there's ebbs and flows. You know, there's certain parts of the country where people leave in the winter to go somewhere warm, and also vice versa. There's ebbs and flows in every kind of micro market. And when you have memberships, you're able to really stabilize those ups and downs. So memberships can be around maintenance treatments.
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Whether it's a facial or a chemical peel or something along those lines.
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If you're doing medically assisted weight loss.
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Hormones, there's ways that you can do memberships around that.
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So lots of really great ways. But absolutely, you want a recurring revenue model in your practice. All right, mistake number two, you're not pricing your services correctly. Are you pricing for profit or are you just covering cost? And so often, as spa CEOs, we have this insecurity in us and we're worried about, you know, you know, the 20 other med spas that are within 10 miles of us that, you know, we've got to compete, and so we just lower our prices and discount and do all of these things. That really is such a downward spiral. When you're pricing your services, you've got to make sure that you are really analyzing the client experience, that you are covering your cost, and you're also including profitability. When we teach this inside of our apa, we actually just did a masterclass on this around pricing your services for profit and experience. And the first thing that we do is start out by looking at the cost of treatment and profitability tracker. So we're actually on a granular level.
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Breaking down what are the consumables.
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And I'm talking, like, if you're doing a dermaplane, you're like, dividing out and.
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Knowing that that single dermaplane blade is.
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Going to cost you 39 cents.
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So we are breaking this down in.
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Such a granular level, we're adding in payroll cost, we're really looking at where.
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Do I need my margins to be.
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To ensure that I am profitable. Okay, so having a poor pricing strategy or not knowing how to effectively price your services will keep you from hitting the seven figure mark. All right, mistake number three. You're not tracking the key metrics. Okay, so let's just talk about this in terms of membership, right? So you maybe heard mistake number one and we're like, oh my gosh, 65.
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To 75% of revenue comes from repeat clients.
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That's such a huge thing.
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Long term, I want that predictability.
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I want to get off the emotional roller coaster. And so you go in, you start getting people signed up for your membership, but you're not tracking Churn rate. Okay, huge mistake. Do you remember Pretty Woman? Those of you, my, my fellow children of the 80s, big mistake. Big, huge. That's what I think of here, not tracking key metrics. Okay, so when we're looking at membership, when we're looking at churn rate, we.
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Want to understand if we have a.
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Six month membership and then it goes month to month after that, what are we going to be doing to make sure that we consistently have touch points with our members and specifically at points where they are dropping off. Okay, so Churn rate is just one specifically connected to membership. You can look at retail to service, you can look at revenue per hour, per room, you can look at client purchase percentage, you can track profitability. I mean there's all different types of things that you can be tracking, but these numbers are helping you to truly.
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Understand the health of, of your business. We don't need any emotion brought into this.
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It's purely data to help us understand what our business is trying to tell us. Okay, mistake number three, not tracking key metrics. All right, so let's move into mistake number four. You're not leveraging your high profit treatments. So this happens. And look, I'm an esthetician.
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I get it.
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I haven't been practicing for a while, but when I was practicing, there's always the services that you love doing, right? And so I know your providers are like, oh, like I loved dermaplaning.
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I love the sound of it.
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I loved the like scraping. I, it was for me, so detail oriented.
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I needed to get every single hair off of there.
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I wanted to dermaplane every single person that was on my table. But if I'm and, and dermaplaning I guess is maybe not the best example because that does have a high profit. You can do it pretty quickly. But think, think about if you had somebody who really loved doing some of these specialty facials and, you know, all the love in the world for the specialty facials. There's a lot of them out there. They're an important piece of the puzzle. But I don't want to lead with something where my consumable cost is going to be so high.
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If I have a consumable cost, around.
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40 bucks, and I can only charge 150, 200, maybe $250 for this service, then that's not gonna help me grow as fast as possible if I'm doing another service that has a very low consumable cost, high perceived value. Okay, so when we're looking at, like, what are we gonna lead with? And we've got a great resource called the spa capacity calculator, where you basically plug in four different treatments and up at the top it says, hey, how many rooms do you have? How many hours are you open? How many weeks are you open?
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What's the consumable cost of this?
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What's the payroll cost of this? You plug in these numbers and then it basically pumps out specifically how much profit you would make if the only thing that you did was that service.
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So if I said, hey, the only.
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Thing I'm going to focus on is dermaplaning, I'm going to lead with that. I'm going to become the specialty spa for that. Then it would pump out. Here's how much profit you would make if literally every appointment was dermaplaning. And next to it, you could put specialty facial. Next to that, you could put micro needling. Next to that, you could put, like an energy based device. And it's going to show you very clearly pretty drastic differences in profit.
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Now, I know in the real world we're never going to do just one service.
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We're all using a multimodality approach for.
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Skin rejuvenation to help our patients reach their skin care goals.
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But if we led with the high.
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Profit services that we know are going to make a difference for our patients.
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We can increase our profitability on such a huge scale.
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So if you're not understanding that and.
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Leveraging that, you are missing out. Okay, so let's move into mistake number five. Failing to invest in marketing and sales funnels.
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Okay.
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If you build it, they will come. Is this another, like, 80s movie reference? You guys know Kevin Costner, Field of Dreams? Field of Dreams. That one liner, like, has influenced my life in such a big way. If you build it, they will Come we see this in spa where someone's like, if I buy this, you know.
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Several hundred thousand dollars energy based device, all of a sudden I'm going to be so profitable. No, no, ma'am, you are not.
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You need to seed that and let your patients know how excited you are about it and what it does.
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And then you need to launch it and then relaunch it and talk about.
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It for it to actually yield an ROI for you. Okay, so we've got to make sure that we are focusing consistently on marketing new devices, marketing new services, marketing new providers to make sure that we are attracting the right clients and patients for us. Now how do we do that? Well, the next piece of the puzzle is sales funnels. So. Sales funnels. And I always, you know, this, this is. I feel like it takes people a minute to really understand sales funnels. And if I actually go back, my girlfriend Tara, one of my very best friends in the whole world, love her, love her family. We actually met at a networking group for female entrepreneurs. I had just moved to the D.C. area, the first time that I moved here and didn't know anybody in the world, didn't have anyone to put as my emergency contact. It was really like, I was like, okay, I have got to put some effort into meeting some human beings that are actually like within the same proximity to where I live. So I went to meetup.com I found some entrepreneurial groups. I was really uncomfortable doing that, but.
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I went out there, I started meeting.
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People, and after a couple of months, the main lady who was organizing these groups actually introduced me to Tara because.
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She had lived in Hawaii before and she knew that I was from Maui.
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So there was this connection there. And you know, 10 years later, 11 years later, here we are, happily ever after. And Tara has been someone who helped me to generate millions in my business. We grew our businesses together, we were.
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Pregnant at the same time, had our babies together.
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Really, really beautiful story of what can happen when you put yourself out there. Anyway, one of the things that she helped me with was when I was first starting to market, and keep in mind, my background was always working in.
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The spa, in operations.
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And so I would be a provider and they would see that I had.
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Talent in the business side of things.
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And they would pull me up and I would go like from the front desk to the spa manager, or I would go from an esthetician to handling all the social and all the marketing.
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Right?
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Like, so, you know what I mean? The provider that gets pulled out and starts doing like 10 different jobs, that was always me. And so I did those things. And a lot of the things I was doing, I didn't realize that they had a name for them. And sales funnels was one of those. And so I asked Tara. I was hearing, I was doing all this research around marketing, and when I kept hearing everybody talking about funnels and funnels and funnels, and I was like.
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What are they talking about?
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Like, I just could not get it. It took me probably four to six months before I really had a grasp on like the landing page to the.
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Thank you page, to the email sequence.
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To the offer, all the pieces that go in there. She was the one that helped me with that tremendously. And sales funnels, they are a tactical piece of how you get new clients, new patients into your practice.
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Okay.
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And a sales funnel doesn't have to.
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Be the landing page, the thank you page, all of that.
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A sales funnel can be something even.
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As simple as saying, hey, I'm a solo provider and I actually have $0 to start out with marketing.
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And so I'm going to use Groupon.
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Everybody like, ooh and ah. Because I said Groupon. But like, if you're using Groupon as a client acquisition strategy, which a lot of people do in the beginning when they don't have marketing dollars, they are using that to get access of with a group of people that they're able to market to and bring into their business. So, yeah, you're paying for it through Groupon fees, but you don't have to put your cash out there.
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Now, a sales funnel would be running.
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A Groupon campaign, getting them in and then upselling them into adding add ons, adding all of these different pieces to recoup the fees that you paid to Groupon.
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Now, let me be clear.
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You will not build a profitable spa doing Groupon alone. However, I have met spa owners, more.
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Than one who have scaled into the.
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Seven figures using Groupon as an acquisition strategy. So they're using them to get to initially get that Kleiner patient into their practice, and then they're converting them into clients or patients of their practice through the different stages of this funnel, through building trust. All right, so important piece to remember there. And mistake number six, I want to spend a little bit more time on this one. So let me just recap these first five, because these first five are very tactical.
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Okay?
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Like input output. It's very much like here is the step by step way that you are doing something. So recurring revenue model, they don't have a membership mistake number two, they're not pricing things correctly. Mistake number three, they're not tracking the key metrics.
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Mistake number four, they're not leveraging their high profit treatments. Mistake number five, they're failing to invest.
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In marketing and sales funnels. Okay, Those are all tactical mistakes. Mistake number six is failing to build your network and strategic partnerships.
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This is something that is the foundational.
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Secret sauce of any business owner. If you are zooming out, if you.
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Are looking at how did that spa.
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Get that door open to that partnership? I mean, look at me. How did I get a consulting job with the top physician dispensed brands without even trying, without even going for was through relationships. It was through my network. Okay, so this is the foundational piece. And then we want to layer the tactical strategies on top of that. If you remember, I just told a story about my relationship with Tara. I built the relationship with Tara. Then Tara taught me how to do ads.
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She was my go to person.
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She was there as a support.
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She was a part of my network.
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That helped me build out these tactical pieces which are essential. You've got to know how to do these things right. You've got to know about sales funnels, about ads, about pricing. But the real secret sauce comes in these relationships. And if you want to grow more than you know, 10% a year, 15% a year, the partnerships that you build with other companies will help you double and double and double.
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Okay?
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Now industry research shows that strategic partnerships boost customer acquisition and awareness for wellness businesses. Referral, marketing and word of mouth are very powerful in our industry.
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74%. 74%.
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I'm going to link up the article that I pulled this from.
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74% of consumers identify word of mouth.
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As a key influence on purchasing decisions.
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Which means having other local businesses that they have already established trust with when they recommend your spa.
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That can directly drive bookings. And the same report is saying that formal referral programs have found that capitalize.
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On this, found that implementing these incentives can increase client acquisition by 15%.
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So to go back to our metrics, one like, hey, if we're looking at how fast, how much is one patient worth? What is the, the lifetime customer value? Meaning what is my average patient spend in my practice? If I could take the number of.
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Patients and increase that by 15% and.
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Add that dollar, you know, figure out what that dollar amount is, it's huge.
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Okay?
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So I want you to know you can run a seven figure med spa. All right? You do these six things, you will get there.
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Okay?
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Start with the partnerships, Start with your relationships. Start with your network who can help.
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You with the tactical.
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All right, Google Chat, all these things can teach you the tactical. But having a person to talk to, having someone that can make you feel not alone. Because let's be real. As entrepreneurs, we are all, we're special, we are special people and we can be on such a high high when we're making money and doing great. And this is, you want to open.
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15 businesses and franchise and all the.
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Things, and then, you know, two weeks later you get a negative review, somebody on your team walks out and you're just done. You just want to close your doors, you're over it, right? So we also have whiplash in our emotions around the entrepreneurial journey. So having that community, I know, my community, my, you know, five people that I spend the most time with are a huge support in me to stay level headed, to shift my perspectives around different things. And they are a huge support in helping me build a multi, multimillion dollar business. I want that for you too. So start with building strategic partnerships and.
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Layer the tactical on top of that.
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Okay? Thank you guys so much for listening. I hope you found this valuable and happy business building.
Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast – Episode SMME #428: Why You’re Not a Million-Dollar Med Spa Owner – And How to Change That
Release Date: April 7, 2025 | Host: Daniela Woerner, Licensed Aesthetician
In episode #428 of the Spa Marketing Made Easy Podcast, host Daniela Woerner delves deep into the common pitfalls that prevent med spa owners from reaching the coveted seven-figure revenue mark. Tailored specifically for spa industry professionals, the episode offers actionable insights and proven strategies to transform your spa business into a thriving, profitable enterprise.
Daniela begins by setting the stage with a comprehensive overview of the current med spa landscape:
Market Size & Growth: As of 2023, the U.S. med spa market is valued at $15 billion and is experiencing an annual growth rate of 15-20%.
"[00:55] Daniela Woerner: ...the medical spa market, which as of 2023 was a $15 billion market right here in the US and that market is continually growing approximately 15 to 20% on an annual basis."
Average Revenue: In 2022, the average annual revenue per med spa was approximately $1.98 million, with each location seeing around 283 patients per month and an average spend of $536 per visit.
"[01:49] Daniela Woerner: According to AMSPA, the annual revenue per med spa was about 1.98 million in 2022."
Despite these promising numbers, many spas struggle to consistently achieve these benchmarks. Daniela sets out to uncover why this disparity exists.
Daniela identifies six critical mistakes that hinder med spas from scaling to seven figures. Each mistake is dissected with practical solutions to overcome them.
Issue: Many spas operate without a stable, recurring revenue stream, relying solely on new client acquisitions each month.
Impact: Lack of predictable cash flow restricts the ability to take strategic risks and sustain growth.
Solution: Implement membership or subscription models that ensure a steady influx of revenue from repeat clients.
"[02:48] Unknown Speaker 2: Every med spa I see is doing 1 million, $2 million in revenue. What am I not doing?"
"[03:05] Daniela Woerner: All right, so spas that scale fast and sustainably, they are not starting back at zero every single month. They have recurring revenue."
Key Benefits:
Example: Memberships can be tailored around maintenance treatments such as facials, chemical peels, medically assisted weight loss, or hormone therapies.
Issue: Spa owners often underprice their services, driven by fear of competition, leading to unsustainable profit margins.
Impact: Failing to price services for profit results in thin margins that are insufficient for business growth.
Solution: Conduct a thorough analysis of service costs to ensure pricing covers expenses and includes a healthy profit margin.
"[04:17] Daniela Woerner: Are you pricing for profit or are you just covering cost?"
"[05:45] Daniela Woerner: The first thing that we do is start out by looking at the cost of treatment and profitability tracker."
Steps to Correct Pricing:
Tool Highlight: Daniela references an inside masterclass on pricing strategies, emphasizing the importance of granular cost analysis to price services correctly.
Issue: Many spas fail to monitor essential business metrics, leading to uninformed decision-making.
Impact: Without tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), spas cannot gauge their operational health or identify areas needing improvement.
Solution: Implement robust tracking systems to monitor metrics such as churn rate, revenue per hour, revenue per room, client purchase percentages, and overall profitability.
"[06:02] Daniela Woerner: So, these numbers are helping you to truly understand the health of your business."
Example: For spas utilizing membership models, tracking churn rate is crucial to maintain and grow the recurring revenue base.
Key Metrics to Track:
Issue: Spas often prioritize services they enjoy without considering their profitability.
Impact: High consuмable cost services with lower margins can limit overall profitability and growth potential.
Solution: Focus on promoting and leading with high-profit treatments that offer lower consumable costs and higher perceived value.
"[11:06] Daniela Woerner: We can increase our profitability on such a huge scale."
Strategy:
Example: While dermaplaning is a high-profit, quick service, specialty facials might have higher consumable costs. Leading with services that offer better margins can significantly boost profitability.
Issue: Some spa owners erroneously believe that simply offering quality services will attract clients without proactive marketing efforts.
Impact: Without strategic marketing and effective sales funnels, spas miss opportunities to convert prospects into loyal clients.
Solution: Invest consistently in marketing initiatives and develop comprehensive sales funnels to guide potential clients from awareness to conversion.
"[11:31] Daniela Woerner: If you build it, they will come."
"[12:55] Daniela Woerner: You will not build a profitable spa doing Groupon alone."
Components of an Effective Sales Funnel:
Personal Anecdote: Daniela shares her journey of understanding sales funnels, highlighting the importance of mentorship and strategic partnerships in mastering marketing techniques.
Issue: Overlooking the power of networking and strategic alliances can leave spas isolated and limited in growth potential.
Impact: Strong networks and partnerships enhance client acquisition, brand awareness, and provide valuable business support.
Solution: Actively cultivate relationships with other businesses and industry professionals to create mutually beneficial partnerships.
"[18:19] Daniela Woerner: This is the foundational piece."
"[20:03] Daniela Woerner: 74% of consumers identify word of mouth as a key influence on purchasing decisions."
Benefits of Strategic Partnerships:
Statistics: Industry research indicates that strategic partnerships can increase client acquisition by 15% through formal referral programs.
Personal Story: Daniela recounts how building a network led to significant business opportunities and partnerships, emphasizing the long-term value of strategic relationships.
Daniela Woerner wraps up the episode by reinforcing that achieving a seven-figure med spa is attainable by addressing these six critical mistakes:
"[21:15] Daniela Woerner: So I want you to know you can run a seven figure med spa. All right? You do these six things, you will get there."
By systematically addressing these areas, spa owners can transform their businesses, achieving sustained growth and financial freedom.
"[21:37] Daniela Woerner: Start with building strategic partnerships and layer the tactical on top of that."
Daniela’s blend of industry expertise, actionable strategies, and personal experiences provides a comprehensive roadmap for med spa owners aspiring to elevate their businesses to the million-dollar mark.
Key Takeaways:
By avoiding these common mistakes and implementing Daniela’s recommended strategies, med spa owners can position themselves for substantial growth and long-term success.