Founder Harvey Hillyer Shares Keys to Thriving in Medspa Industry
Harvey Hillyer, dermani MEDSPA® founder, counts on his franchisees to own the brand and continually pursue its goals. “It’s vital that our franchisees have dedication and focus. If someone is torn in many directions, either internally or externally, that lack of focus can easily cause an organization to wobble,” he says. “For us as a franchise company, that means focusing on the top three areas of the medspa industry — cosmetic injectables, laser hair removal, and skin rejuvenation services like chemical peels and facials that are all recurring in nature. Our franchisees must own our mission and implement that strategy day in and day out.”
Hillyer adds that franchisees must strongly desire to “make people feel better about themselves and look younger. We help people feel more self-confident, and dermani MEDSPA brings this affordable luxury to those with lower disposable incomes, too, with our value proposition.” The brand taps a vigorously growing market: Precedence Research reports that U.S. medspa services totaled $5.6 billion in 2023 and will surpass $23 billion by 2033, a compound annual growth rate of more than 15%.
As an emerging franchise, dermani MEDSPA seeks to partner with entrepreneurs who “have a passion for the industry, business experience that includes managing people or finances, and strong interpersonal skills. Our franchisees will represent dermani MEDSPA in their communities at local events, in schools, at festivals, in local neighborhoods, and collaborating with other businesses with similar client profiles,” such as fitness centers, lash studios and hair salons.
Driving Results
Franchisees should be “laser-focused — pun intended — on making their dermani MEDSPA a success,” Hillyer emphasizes. “While our model is certainly semi-absentee, having a daily focus on driving results through team members and dedicating resources to drive that success is key.” The franchisor has developed ample resources to feed and accelerate owners’ success, he says. “As soon as the franchise owner signs the franchise agreement, we make an immediate introduction to our real estate team to get that process started. We also immediately get them plugged into our internal communication software, and our team begins to help them navigate various checklists. We have many touchpoints along the way as they set up marketing, vendor and contractor relationships.
“We also do four days of what we call the put-the-phone-down training that focuses 100% on running the business. They spend two days on-site at one of our training facilities and two days on-site at their office with their team.”
In addition to the in-depth training, franchisees benefit from “outstanding national vendor relationships,” Hillyer says. “Our relationship with Allergan, which makes Botox® and Juvéderm®, has helped us achieve top-25 status out of 50,000 medspa providers. Because of that relationship, our franchisees pay substantially less than their local competitors in the costs to perform those services. That allows us to give our clients a really great value.”
The best practices of the dermani MEDSPA system were carefully honed at five corporate locations that have been operating as long as 10 years. “From onboarding and continued support with franchise business coaches, along with training with our training team that focuses on the day-to-day front of the house to the ongoing support of our senior operations team, every member of our franchise team knows their roles and complements each other to create synergies,” Hillyer says.
He launched dermani MEDSPA in 2013, and the company began franchising in 2019. It now has 20 franchises operating and 18 more in development. The franchise has openings nationwide and is highly scalable. Hillyer says one franchisee will soon open his fifth location, with all of those medspas becoming a family affair. The franchisee’s daughter, an esthetician, leads one business, and his son is employed on the management side.
For more information, visit https://franchiseexpert.com/franchise-evaluations/dermani-medspa/.
