The Hidden Revenue Leak in Your Medspa: Why Most Practitioners Leave $50K+ on the Table (And How to Fix It) - Part 1

Feb 5th, 2026

Sheila DeLorenzo, 30+ Year Beauty Industry Veteran, Esthetician, Medspa Owner and Industry Coach & Mentor

The medspa space is incredibly lucrative; that doesn't mean you can't still make your money work harder for you.

Image by buritora / Adobe Stock

After 23 years running DELO Beauty Company, I've identified the six profit drains that keep medspas struggling and the framework that fixes them.

Let’s get straight to some hard truths here: If your appointment books are full, but you're still stressed about money, you're not alone. It's probably not a "marketing problem" like a lot of the newer coaches and mentors will tell you.

After owning and operating my salons and medspa in Colorado Springs and coaching hundreds of beauty entrepreneurs throughout my career, I've realized something that has become all too common in our industry: most talented practitioners are hemorrhaging revenue in ways they don't even see.

We're talking $50,000 to $150,000 annually—money you've already earned but never collected. Money that walked out your door, mostly due to these six fixable gaps in your business structure.

The first of these is your conversion rate and how to make it better. Let's talk about.

The $400 Consultation That Generates $0

Let me share with you the story of one of my coaching clients—she's a super-talented permanent makeup artist who couldn't understand why her lead conversion rate was only 18%. Meaning, from consultation to booked appointment, she wasn't closing many of those sales.

I spend an hour with every consultation," she told me. "I show them photos, explain the process, answer every question. They love me. Then, they ghost.

Here's what I observed when I shadowed her consultations: she was giving away the entire experience for free.

The Problem: By the time clients left, they felt they'd already received everything they needed. No urgency. No clear next step. Just "I'll think about it and get back to you."

The Fix: I restructured her consultation process:

Consultations were shortened to 30 minutes with a clear agenda; a checklist works wonders.
A "consultation deposit" was implemented ($50) that was applied to the treatment.
We created a same-day booking incentive (free touch-up value: $150).
A 48-hour decision window was established with pricing that expired.

The Result: Her lead conversion rate jumped to 64% within 60 days. That's an additional $47,000 in annual revenue from the same number of consultations.

The second fix is to change the way you sell your services.

The Treatment Menu Keeping You Broke

Walk into most medspas and you'll see the same menu structure: a list of individual treatments with individual prices.

Here's why that's costing you a fortune:

Single-service pricing trains clients to think transactionally. They book one laser session, then disappear for six months. You never see the cumulative revenue their full treatment journey could have generated.

When I analyzed my company’s revenue data over a five-year period, I discovered that clients who purchased package deals spent 340% more over their lifetime than single-service clients.

However, here are some real facts that nobody talks about: The wrong packages are just as bad as no packages.

What doesn't work:

Generic "buy six treatments, get a discount" packages
Packages that don't align with treatment protocols
Discounts so deep they devalue your expertise

What does work:

I call it "Outcome-Based Service Architecture." Instead of selling treatments, you sell transformations with a clear roadmap.

Example from my menu:

Before (Single Treatment Model):

Single fibroblast session: $350
Average client spend: $350
Clients who complete full protocol: 22%

After (Outcome-Based Model):

"The Mile High Eyelid Lift" Complete Transformation: $1,295
- Includes: Initial consultation, two lifting sessions spaced six weeks apart, aftercare kit, four-week check-in, final results documentation
- Packaged as the minimum treatment to achieve visible, lasting results
Average client spend: $1,295
Clients who complete full protocol: 87%

The Math: If you see 100 clients for this treatment annually:

Old model: 100 × $350 = $35,000
New model: 100 × $1,295 × 0.87 = $112,665

That's $77,665 more from the same number of clients, with better outcomes and higher satisfaction.

The Phantom Follow-Up Revenue

How many clients have you performed services on who never came back for their recommended follow-up treatments?

If you're like most practitioners I work with, it's 60-70% of your client base.

This is where the real money is hiding.

Think about it:

Every microneedling client should return quarterly.
Every laser hair removal client needs six to eight sessions.
Every injectable client should book every three to four months.
Every PMU client needs a touch-up at six to eight weeks.

When they don't, you're absorbing the loss.

Why Follow-Up Revenue Fails:

Most practitioners rely on one of two broken systems:

"Call us when you're ready to book again." (98% never call.)
Manual reminder calls that staff forget to make

The Solution That Actually Works:

I implemented what I call the "Pre-Booked Treatment Journey" at DELO, and it changed everything.

The System:

Step 1: Before a client ever leaves their first appointment, book their next two to three appointments on the spot.

Step 2: Frame it as part of their treatment protocol, not an optional add-on:

"Your results depend on completing the series. I'm going to get you scheduled for sessions two and three now so we can lock in the optimal timing—six weeks and 12 weeks from today. Does Tuesday or Thursday work better for you?" Never use yes or no questions, and always give two to three options.

Step 3: Confirm their treatments 24-48 hours before with SMS/email, and make rebooking easier than canceling. In today's market, there are many automation platforms that can make this effortless to implement.

The Results:

Client retention increased from 34% to 81%
Average client lifetime value tripled
Staff stress decreased (no more reminder-call scrambles)
Schedule predictability allowed for better inventory management

If you currently see 15 clients per week at an average of $250 per visit:

Current model: 15 × $250 × 52 weeks = $195,000
With 81% booking second appointments: Additional $158,000+
With third appointments: Another $128,000+

We're talking about $280,000+ in additional annual revenue from clients you're already seeing.

The "Busy Trap" That's Actually Bankrupting You

If you are the treatment provider and you're booked solid—40+ clients per week— and still not feeling the fruits of your labor, then the one thing that you certainly are is exhausted, resentful and barely profitable.

I interviewed technicians from different demographics to see just how common this problem is, and here's what I found:

60% of appointments were $75-$125 services
Average appointment: 90 minutes
Hourly effective rate: $56
After expenses: $31/hour

You're working 50-hour weeks to earn what you could be making in 25 hours with strategic pricing.

The Problem: Being busy feels productive, but busy ≠ profitable.

The Solution:

I suggest that you implement a "service tier" strategy based on three questions:

Which services have the highest profit margin? (Spoiler: It's rarely your "volume" services.)
Which services require the least time relative to revenue? (Time is your most limited resource.)
Which services position you as a specialist, not a generalist? (Premium pricing requires premium positioning.)

The Restructure:

Phase 1 (Months 1-3): Slowly phase out low-margin services.