Aesthetic AF - MedSpa Marketing & Sales Podcast

Secrets to Hosting Six-Figure Medspa Events: Insights from Aesthetics Business Coach, Emily Kendel - Ep 10

• Tara Dotson Riley & Sam Varner • Season 1 • Episode 10

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Secrets to Hosting Six-Figure Medspa Events: Insights from Aesthetics Business Coach, Emily Kendel

What if your next medspa event didn’t just “go well”… but actually brought in six figures? 

In this episode of Aesthetic AF, hosts Sam Varner and Tara Dotson Riley sit down with Emily Kendel, founder of the SPA Project and coach to med spa owners, to discuss the secrets behind hosting a six-figure sales event. Emily talks about the importance of momentum, intention, and strategic marketing in planning successful events. She provides actionable tips on how to engage clients, set realistic revenue goals, and effectively utilize sales reps. The episode also covers common pitfalls med spa owners face and how to build a sustainable sales event strategy over time. Tune in for a wealth of insights on growing your med spa business.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:39 The Reality of Six-Figure Sales Events
01:40 Building Momentum and Marketing Strategies
02:21 Event Execution and Client Experience
04:44 Marketing Campaigns and Team Dynamics
13:55 Common Mistakes and Course Corrections
15:49 Strategies for Client Conversion
22:42 Working with Emily Kendel
24:35 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

If you're tired of throwing events that barely move the needle, this episode is your game plan.


Connect with Emily: 

  • Website: https://spaproject.com/
  • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spaprojectcoaching/


Join Our Community of MedSpa Owners: https://www.facebook.com/groups/salesandmarketingformedspas

Learn More About The Podcast or Apply to be a Guest: https://aestheticafpodcast.com/

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About The Hosts 🎙

Sam Varner –
A profit strategist with over 16 years of experience in financial services, public relations, and business coaching. She helps service-based business owners create sustainable, scalable, and highly profitable companies.

Tara Dotson Riley –
CEO of Tara Lynn Media (TLM), specializing in digital marketing, social media management, content creation, premium brand growth, and client acquisition strategies for medspa owners looking to establish authority and dominate their local market.

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Looking to attract high-value clients, increase revenue, and scale your medspa? The Aesthetic AF Podcast is your go-to resource for marketing, sales, and business growth strategies tailored for medspa owners and aesthetic professionals.

🎙 Hosted by Sam Varner (Profit Strategist) and Tara Dotson Riley (Marketing Expert), each episode delivers real-world insights and actionable strategies to help you build a thriving, profitable aesthetic business.

✔️ Stay ahead with the latest medspa...

Sam Varner:

Welcome back to another episode of Aesthetic af, the podcast where beauty meets business and profit is always part of the plan. I'm Sam Varner, and as always with Tara Dotson Riley. And today we've got something major lined up. We have Emily Kendall here with us. Founder of the SPA Project and coach to med spa owners. Thank you so much for joining us today, Emily.

Emily Kendel:

Thank you so much for having me. This is a pleasure.

Sam Varner:

Yeah, we're really excited.

Tara Dotson:

So you've helped a lot of med spas host wildly successful events, so what makes a six figure sales event possible in this industry?

Emily Kendel:

Okay, so I just have to go ahead and break the news. On how to have a six figure sales event and your first event is not gonna be six figures. It's just not. I love it. Yep. It is a formula of understanding the details of your event plus momentum, and that is what's going to equal success for your sales event. It just takes time now. Gosh, there's so much to it. Like I have a whole training that's got eight different lessons within how to have this type of event. So even if it's your first event, you would apply the same the same steps, to putting on this event.

Sam Varner:

Okay, so six figure events. First off, it's not just gonna be, you start out, you do your first event and you make six figures like that might happen. It might be. Spectacular and amazing. But the reality is, it is really the momentum as you build up your skills and creating those events. So how hard is it? Or how long? How long do we have to wait? If we're like, how many events do I have to do until I can see that kind of trajectory? Is there even a number or is it more about frequency? What does that look like?

Emily Kendel:

I don't think there's an exact number. I think it is about frequency and just building momentum and figure out, figuring out what is working in your event or not. But the most important part of hosting an event I. No matter what kind of an event it is, whether it's like an anniversary, open house event or if it's just like a, an evening, educational workshop kind of event, new demonstration of a new device or something. I think it's all about the intention that you have your clients experience while they're there. Because if you think about the first event I ever had. When I had my, I opened up my shop. I had, we probably had a hundred people walk through the doors that night and I was so excited. I was, it was my first business, brand new. We had caterers, we had a band. It was so cool. It was an awesome event. And I sold nothing that night. And that is because I had an open house. Party. I didn't have the intention of actually selling anything. Then the second time I had an event, it was a sales rep that offered me, Hey, if you buy 10 of these skincare kits, I think it, or it ended up being around$10,000 worth of skincare kits, even though I had a full shelf of skincare. She's I'll help you host a party, and I'm like, okay, cool. That'll be how I sell a lot in one time. I didn't know how to market the event. So that's one piece you do have to market. But then it's more about what is the intention when they arrive. Like we're not just having a birthday party where they show up and they're mingling and they're going to eat your food and just hang out and roam your business on their own terms. You really wanna guide their experience. As they arrive what are, what is their attention focused on while they're there? Then are you presenting offers to them? Are you. Like having them flow back to the checkout counter to end their experience. Are we following up with them and at least thanking them for, attending? And then giving another opportunity to introduce the offer or an extended offer, that's being intentional with having a sales event. And then there are so many other details within it, obviously. The different types of marketing campaigns that you need to have. That is one of those things that builds, because in the beginning you may be a one man show and you might have a social media manager, so okay, you might be able to send out a few emails. If you've been keeping them in your database. Yeah. You know what I mean? So then the second event, you're like, okay, now I gotta start tracking my emails and entering them in before I run a campaign. And so it's like those little details that you learn as you go through it. Plus all the, the posting, et cetera. Okay. Do you have a text message campaign? Because now we're at three campaigns. Social, and I'm including Facebook and Instagram all in one. Yeah, and that's generous because really you're looking at.

Tara Dotson:

You have to do individual things on each platform.

Emily Kendel:

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then you can get detailed within those platforms, running contests getting influencers or people to help, share your event, across the board. So each one of those is detailed. You can't do it all in the first event unless you have the team, and so you could have this bigger event. If you had the team and you already had the clients in your database, so I'm not gonna say it's not possible, but if you're lucky to make $2,000 a day, I don't wanna set real unrealistic expectations that you're gonna have a six figure sales event. Yeah. The first time. And I think that's okay. Like $5,000 at an event, that's a huge win. Yeah. Think about your cash flow for that week. Yeah, if you make that kind of money, like that's a really big win. So we build, each time we do it, we build, our offers, get better. Our profit margins on our offers will get better if we're paying attention to that. So it just, it takes a little bit of time, but it's very doable for everybody and the exposure that you get with your business and. I just, I love events too, because then your clients get to see you in a social setting, they get to interact with you a little bit differently. They get to interact with you more as the expert. If you've got a team and you can have other people, talking about the services that you offer and you get to, to mingle and sell, in the forefront.

Tara Dotson:

That's what I love. I just love it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I think having that team in all of these different areas seems to be very important and one of the key factors for actually building to that six figure.

Emily Kendel:

Yes. And if you need your mom to check people in and greet people, ask her. Yeah. Like I, when my daughters were little, like I have older 19 and 20-year-old daughters. They would write down people's names and email addresses for me. It's let's bring in who we can, let's get some free labor. If we can. They're happy to do it. Do you know, a free service on 'em if you need to and can't pay them. But you certainly, there are ways to extend your team if you are a one man show. Yeah.

Tara Dotson:

Yeah. Well, and I think it was interesting you talked about too. How I think the audience will grow as you do more events, because you're getting more people into your database. You're getting probably a lot more traction on social media because now the people that have attended these events are hopefully posting it and it's going out to their networks. And so just that buildable component of keep doing it and watch it grow, how often are you recommending that Med spas do events or is that kind of specific to the Med Spa itself?

Emily Kendel:

I think it depends. I think it's specific to the med spa. I think at minimum you could do two events a year an anniversary event. And then it depends on what month that might be. I know a lot of spas are doing them like in the fall right before Thanksgiving or Christmas, like that Thanksgiving Yeah. Gift card boost,

Sam Varner:

that sort of thing.

Emily Kendel:

Yeah. Those are really great then, right? Again, like some are doing May and June. June is a nice month. I think just may like a, so many spas are clients or moms, and they're

Sam Varner:

once the end of May is a horrible month to try to, may is a horrible month. You should do nothing in May. Even though it's Mother's Day, you should do nothing in May because no mother with kids in school has nine minutes to rub together. Like Exactly, she can't.

Emily Kendel:

And so the ask them to go to an event and spend money, it's ugh. It's, that's a tug. So, so April's a good month. June is a good month. I feel like July and August are iffy. You could utilize those months,'cause June and July are gonna be slower months. You could have a smaller event that's more like for your top 20 clients. Have you ever ran a report to see who your top spending clients are? Yeah. Let's personally invite, that's something I didn't even mention. That's your other marketing tactic. That doesn't cost you any money is literally picking up the phone and calling every single one of your people and personally inviting them. And then I like to follow that up with I'm friends with all of my clients, so you know, now I have coaching clients, but when I was actually doing services. I followed and liked all of my clients on my personal page and we'll send them personal messages,'cause we know the more touch points, the interaction that they get, that's just a, something that I've always done and I think it's really helpful because our clients love us. And I think that people get scared for emailing them and texting them and messaging them because they're feeling like they're bothering them. But if we were bothering them, they would go somewhere else. And as a busy mom, I know that there are been multiple times where I'm in mid appointment making and on, I'm trying to make an appointment and then somebody falls down and cracks their head open. For real. Yep. So it's okay, gotta go click. And then I needed a reminder because then I'm totally, now I've gotta make dinner. Like I am not in booking appointment mode very often, so when I get that opportunity and it gets interrupted, I need another reminder. And I love the people that do my services, so they're not bothering me like I like them. You know what I mean? So that's just something else. If we've got a team we can break up, if we've got a thousand or 500 people in our contact list, like everybody call a hundred people, everybody, and just break it up and make it a little bit easier,

Sam Varner:

there's so much that. Is available to us as business owners in order to promote events or just our business in general. Right? But it is capacity. It comes down nine times outta 10 to capacity. When you think of trying to run an event and the value you would get from those personal outreach, if you, again, as we've alluded to, if you have a team, it's great. If you don't have a team, that's where that outsourcing comes in, right? Whether it is, you're right like your mom or whether it is. You're gonna outsource a chunk of that business piece so that you don't have to be doing all of it, because there just isn't enough time, especially if you are still the aesthetician doing the services for the clients. That ties up a whole lot of your time. You can't multitask and be doing your Botox on people at the same time as you're like. I also need to follow up on the Instagram messaging. And be creating the posts for next week, and I have to edit all of the video. There becomes so many opportunities where it's like that stuff doesn't have to be done just in house. It doesn't have to be done just by your own self, but arguably, if you wanna scale and grow, you have to do it right? Yeah. You have to find a way, and it's either time or money. We talk about this a lot. It's like you either pay for it or you find the time, and usually the business owner doesn't have as much time as they. They wish they had. Yeah. Yeah.

Emily Kendel:

I agree 100%. And that's why I like to be friends with my sales reps. I'm selling their brands, their products, their services. And they want us to sell. And so utilize your sales reps, invite them to come and be an extra hand at your event. And if they're available, nine times outta 10, they're gonna say yes. They will some times and oftentimes provide even a free giveaway if you wanna have a drawing or. Do a demonstration. Let's do so a free lip flip, and they might provide the product you just gotta ask. They might say no, they might not be able to, but just ask because that could be your extra hand, that can talk to your clients about those products and services. Probably even better than you can while you're in the background talking about the actual offer, so I love utilizing the reps.

Tara Dotson:

Yeah.

Emily Kendel:

Yeah.

Tara Dotson:

Okay. So what is a common mistake that you see med spa owners make when they're trying to DIY their events? And then how do you help course correct them from that?

Emily Kendel:

I, well, number one is the offer. They are discounting just to discount.'cause everybody discounts. We don't know why we discount and. I think it's okay to discount, but what's the intention behind the discount? Strategic, and are we including all of our costs within the price of the offer because we do have to pay our bills. So that is very common. I just wanna look at everybody's pricing and audit and say, no, charge more. You are worth it. You are worth it. Yeah. Yeah. The other challenge I see is they just host a party where everyone gathers and mingles, and so don't forget to direct the customer's experience. Throughout the event, I a lot of my clients I suggest having demonstrations and we'll do demonstration times. And so there's there's engagement. There's like something for them to do while they're there. They're not just showing up, like to mingle and hang out. There's an intention for them to learn about a product or a service to try a product or service, even if it's just like on the back of their hand. And to listen and learn. And then, there are giveaways and there's discounts and incentives because you participated in learning about what it is that we're offering. And if you can keep that in mind, I just, I see a lot better return on the time invested. And in your sales event.

Tara Dotson:

Yeah.

Sam Varner:

Yeah. How do you think what do you think is the best way to, if somebody's sitting, listening to this and is okay, all right, I'm super motivated to give this a go. What do you think is the best way that you've seen that works? That is getting people to come back around and actually buy what is that? I think the demonstrations make sense.'cause now I've got in my head like, oh, that's how the laser works. Or, I was scared about that, but she wasn't, in pain and. Twitching, whatever the concerns might be. How do you get them from observing the, that kind of bit, observing what we're showing to purchasing? Who do you tag as the salesperson? How much, how do they get them from point A to point B to actually being like, no, really pull out your credit card. We're doing this today. Yeah.

Emily Kendel:

What does

Sam Varner:

that best look like?

Emily Kendel:

So there, there is some strategy behind that. And I think the strategy partly is about what it is that you're presenting and pres, presenting to them and teaching them about. So let's say the bulk of your clients are injectable clients. I wouldn't suggest having an event with offers based around injectables. They're already buying. So we want to convert them to some other type of service. So if they are weight loss clients and we wanna convert them to aesthetic clients, we're gonna have an event about aesthetic services, whichever ones they might be. And so the discussions are intentionally about something new that the bulk of your clients are, or whatever it is you're trying to, offer like push that may not be, widely known or widely used. So that, that is one part of the strategy. Then if there's a opportunity to see a demonstration or to even experience the service. Sometimes I've had clients do free, like hand resurfacing all day long or free underarms all day long, just to be able to touch. To get the feel for it and it's oh, I know I need 10, underarm treatments to get laser hair removal, but I'll just get the one for free. Well, now we've got a package that you could buy to get the rest of 'em. And so it, I think that it's seeing, hearing, oh, it's all the senses, touching. And talking about it and. Because usually it's like the owner in this situation, I'm thinking, she's usually back to back with working with her clients. She doesn't really get that extra talking time. I would have her standing in the room and may maybe doing the talk while somebody else is demonstrating. And then they get to be one-on-one with her. Having your pricing. Print it out previously so that it's like right there in their face, they can see it. I'm a big fan of breaking out your retail value. What is it really worth? What are they saving? What does that discount actually look like? And then compare it to your today's offer price and having that visual right there for them and being able to show them. So it's all these different things. Another strategy that is used a lot is, going throughout and meeting all the vendors, learning about all the different demonstrations that are going on and having them check off what they like. As they go through it and it's a good opportunity, even if they don't buy, like we can have a consultation that is a little more private on another day, if that feels better for you, you can break the rules of your own event and, offer that pricing, and extended if that works for you. But then I just think that it's that, that one-on-one conversation after they've gotten to really experience. And then bringing it to the front desk. The other strategy I see is, going to the front desk to maybe enter into the drawings, and then you're at the checkout, you're at the point of your experience, the end point of your experience at the event. And then there, there could be an exchange there. So yeah. Like that, and it's just fulfill that

Sam Varner:

trust. Yeah. Yeah. I like the idea of you have it planned out and I think probably what ends up happening is that people. Are so concerned about some of the like aesthetic pieces of the event, right? Like the music, the drinks, the food, and don't take the time to think about these pieces of what is my ultimate goal? How am I getting you from point A to point B to point C? Who is talking to you at what point about what I'm actually trying to achieve, which is, yeah, you're signing up for a membership or you're buying a 10 time pass for laser hair removal, whatever that looks like. If you don't have that piece, it. Doesn't matter that you fed them and gave them snacks. Yeah. Right. Or drinks. Right. Yeah. It's not gonna matter.

Emily Kendel:

Yeah.

Sam Varner:

They're just gonna think you're fun, which is cool, but doesn't pay the bills.

Emily Kendel:

Right. Because here's the other kicker. I've recently helped a client do an event and to put things in like realistic terms and expectations. They sent out, they have 700 cl active clients, so we marketed to 700 active clients. We got around 80 RSVPs. Out of 700 active clients, we had 45 people actually show up.

Sam Varner:

Yeah.

Emily Kendel:

So you're gonna expect I like to say 10% of who you invite. I was gonna say 10% is pretty good. Yeah. 10% is gonna RSVP. Yeah. Half of the RSVPs are gonna show up, and then you've got a 10% are gonna buy, so how and that'll help you set revenue goals. So if you can set a revenue goal based off of how many people that you have as active clients. Then you can realistically go, okay, well then I want to have a $20,000 event. How many people do I need to show up so that I can offer to this many people to make the 20,000? That's the other strategy. Then you can be a little more strategic about who you invite, maybe what it is that you're gonna offer. If you're a one man show and you're trying to display 20 different things, that might be harder, so there's just a lot of details, and all of that starts to get figured out. The more you do it, the more your team grows,

Sam Varner:

yeah. Okay. It's like my mind is going a mile a minute of oh, yes, and this and this, but we also don't want people to be like, holy smokes. There was so much in that I couldn't fulfill it. All right. Yeah. So. Tell us a little bit about, just briefly, how you work with clients, what that looks like, what, how they can get ahold of you. And of course we will put your contact information stuff in the show notes, but give us a little rundown of how you actually work with clients. Yeah. So

Emily Kendel:

I work with them one of two ways. So I have one-on-one clients that we work with. I work with them privately, a couple times a month. We do, zoom calls and we really go through all of the training programs and exercises and, work really specifically on, on certain things in their business. Then another way is I have a group coaching membership that I recently launched and it. It's a little more affordable, but we're in a group setting and we go over the same material. We're just in a group and we meet twice a month as well for just an hour. And it's a lot of fun because then you get to get. Feedback from other people, what's working, what's not? I get new ideas, I'm like, okay, that was a really cool thing. So those are the two main ways that I work with my clients. So, you can reach out to me at either emily@spaproject.com or on Instagram, Emily dot Kendall at Emily dot Kendall. And that's K-E-N-D-E-L. And then I've got a free download. It's an e guide if anyone's interested. It's boost sales dot spa project.com, and it talks a little bit about events in there. So it's five different ways that you can actually boost sales in the next 30 days.

Sam Varner:

Cool.

Emily Kendel:

Awesome.

Sam Varner:

Nice. That'll be great. Yeah, that'll be great. Is there anything else that you absolutely wanted to cover today before we wrap up?

Emily Kendel:

If this is your passion, hang in there. And like you said earlier, trust yourself, hang in there. And sometimes when things are hurting and it's like a struggle and it's painful, the means, maybe you need to lean into it and figure out why. And maybe there's some some truth in there that you can like. Face to get past it, to take yourself to the next level. Yeah,

Tara Dotson:

that's a really good nugget. I'm like, I needed to hear that today, so thank you.

Emily Kendel:

Yes. I know it's for listeners, but I'm on the phone with Oh yeah, you're welcome. Yeah, and I say that 'cause I done it, like I still do it sometimes. I'm like, Emily, wake up. Yeah. Why is this so painful? Well maybe'cause I need to. Focus on that area, and maybe there's something off that needs to get, realigned. So, but this has been great. I love talking with you. I feel like we could talk on and on.

Tara Dotson:

Definitely. I feel like yeah,

Sam Varner:

we could easily run three hour podcasts. If somebody was to listen to us, we would definitely talk for three hours. Yeah. I think we might lose listeners eventually, but Yeah. Yeah. We'd keep going. Yeah.

Tara Dotson:

Okay. Well thank you so much for joining us today. This has been absolutely amazing. I feel like we got so many good tips and everyone should be having six figure events very soon.

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Sam Varner

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Tara Dotson Riley

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