10 Ways to Avoid Failure as a Medical Spa Owner

By Luciana Dabit

Facial treatments, body shaping, hair removal, and tattoo removal are the biggest revenue drivers for medical spas globally, and the demand for these services is on the rise. At a rate of nearly 15%, the medical spa industry is one of the fastest growing.

If you already own a medical spa—or are considering opening a MediSpa—then you’ve likely felt the demand for these services in your local market.

But how do you capture and satisfy that demand?

How do you run your business to guarantee long-term profitability?

In other words…how do you avoid failure?

In this guide, we tell you exactly what to do to greatly increase your chances of success.

1. Satisfy real market needs

First, it’s important that your business and your services have real market demand.

This might mean opening a medical spa in a town where one doesn’t exist or offering a different set of services from what your competitors offer.

If you’re opening a new location, research competitors’ offerings, pricing, and reviews to see how you can differentiate. If you’re already up and running, send out a survey and ask clients what new service they’d like you to offer.

2. Stand out from competitors

It’s important to craft a brand identity that’s different from other MediSpas in your area.

Clients need to have a clear understanding of your brand to connect with it, so make sure to have a cohesive color palette, typography, and image style and stick to it.

By zigging where others zag, you can stand out and capture the attention of potential clients who crave the sort of experience your brand promises.

3. Invest in local marketing strategies

Do you find yourself getting sucked in by all the latest marketing tactics?

Overinvesting in social media can set you behind competitors who are focused on more boots-on-the-ground strategies.

Make sure to prioritize strategies that reliably target local clients. These strategies include direct mail, loyalty programs that incentivize referrals, and SEO.

Check out our guide to medical spa marketing to help you choose the right channels.

4. Continuously collect client feedback

When you’ve got a successful business, it’s tempting to think you’ve got it all figured out.

But if you stick your head in the sand, you risk getting sobered up by a hot new competitor.

Make sure you’re staying up to date with what clients want and continually adapting.

Here are some questions you can ask in a survey:

• How does {medical spa name} compare to other medical spas you’ve visited?
• What can {medical spa name} do to improve the experience?
• Are we lacking any services or treatments?
• What products would you like us to carry?
• What types of medical spa parties would interest you?

5. Stay up to date with medical spa trends

Although feedback is important, you can’t expect clients to tell you everything.

It’s your job to know about the best new services, treatments, products, etc. Stay on top of trends by following other medical spa owners on social media and attending industry events.

Check out the top medical spa trends of 2024 for a comprehensive round-up.

6. Analyze your profit

To be a successful business owner, you can’t operate on assumptions.

Which services are the most profitable? To find out, calculate what you spend on the service, including equipment, material usage, credit card processing fees, and hourly staff wages.

Then subtract that amount from the cost of the service to discover what you’re truly earning.

Use this information to eliminate unprofitable services or update your pricing. You might also promote your most profitable services via new marketing campaigns and upsells.

7. Hire a fractional CFO

If monitoring and forecasting finances feels like a waste of your time, that’s OK. You don’t have to do it alone.

Most small business owners hire bookkeepers to track income and expenses and accountants to ensure tax compliance.

But what about financial insights and goal tracking?

That’s where a chief financial officer (CFO) comes in. Unless you have many locations, you won’t be able to justify paying a CFO a hefty salary.

But you can hire a fractional CFO a few hours per month to help you track profitability, protect your cash flow, forecast revenue, help you set revenue goals, and more.

8. Create a positive, functional work environment

Toxic workplaces can kill your business, because high-functioning people will notice the madness and quit to protect themselves. Clients will also walk away in favor of medical spas that exude healthy and positive energy.

So be sure to have clear boundaries for what sort of behavior is and isn’t tolerated in the workplace. Fire employees who create turmoil for others.

9. Accept the possibility of failure

Watch out for the sunk cost fallacy. The deeper your losses, the more willing you are to feed the beast in a vain attempt to turn the ship around. So, make sure you have a plan in place for what failure looks like so you can spot it, accept it, and move on.

Accepting the possibility of failure seems counterintuitive but hear us out.

Only 25% of new businesses will make it to their 15th anniversary. You need to come to terms with the fact that most businesses don’t last.

But failure isn’t so scary when you don’t overinvest. Set a maximum for how much money you’re willing to lose. If you come close, get help from an experienced business coach. And if you hit that threshold, be willing to cut your losses and walk away. You might also consider selling part of the business to an investor whose influx of cash could get you out of a tight spot. But again, get clear on what you’re willing to lose before you come to this point.

10. Use all-in-one medical spa software

Want to improve your chances of success? Choose the right medical spa management software.

Look for a platform like WellnessLiving that offers online appointment booking, payment processing, inventory management, reporting systems, and marketing features all in one place. This way, you’ll be able to effortlessly integrate different aspects of the client experience while collecting a cohesive view of client data.

Without the right software, you’ll waste time on operations and marketing. Plus, you’ll lack the insights you need to optimize your business.

Request a demo of WellnessLiving to see our MediSpa management platform in action.