Most unsolicited emails offering to buy a medical spa are not from buyers. In a review of 45 such emails sent to 5 aesthetics practices, 12 announced an offer to purchase in the subject line, none contained an offer, and none named a buyer.
Key takeaways
- 45 unsolicited emails, 5 practices, 3 months. Zero named buyers, zero actual offers.
- 12 subject lines announced an offer to purchase. None of the 12 contained one.
- 8 of the 45 were the same message sent by different firms from different domains.
- 29 of 45 came from .help, .de, .info, or bulk-mailer domains.
At Aesthetic Next 8, a MedSpa owner asked how to tell which of the people emailing her about buying her practice were serious, and how to keep the rest from wasting her time.
The more useful question is what these emails actually are, because most of them are not what the subject line says.
Practice Transitions Group (PTG), a sell-side M&A advisory firm representing healthcare practice owners, reviewed 45 unsolicited emails sent to 5 aesthetics practices over roughly 3 months. Twelve carried subject lines announcing an offer to purchase. None of the 12 contained an offer. None named a buyer.
If one of these made you curious what your practice is actually worth, that is the useful question underneath all of it. PTG’s MedSpa valuation calculator gives you a baseline in a few minutes, built on your own numbers rather than someone else’s pitch.
Why am I getting emails about someone buying my med spa?
Because a reply is worth money to the sender, whether or not a buyer exists.
A buy-side advisor works for an acquirer and gets paid to find practices that the acquirer wants. Signing clients requires finding owners who are thinking about selling. The fastest way to find them is to email a large list announcing an offer and see who responds.
That is what most of this outreach is. The subject line describes a transaction. The body describes nothing. The purpose is to identify which owners on a scraped list will engage on the subject of selling.
How can I tell if an unsolicited offer to buy my practice is legitimate?
Five checks, in order, before reading the message.
- Check the domain. Of the 45 emails, 29 came from domains ending in .help, from .de, from .info, and from a bulk mailing service. A firm with capital and a mandate in medical aesthetics sends from a .com attached to a site with a team page and a portfolio. Cheap alternative domains get used because they get burned.
- Look for a named buyer. Across all 45 emails, the buyer was described as a private equity firm, a family office, a PE firm, a family office in the sender’s network, and a substantial capital firm based in Texas. Not one was named. A real group identifies itself, because the name is what makes a serious owner respond.
- Check the address in the signature. One listed a street address in Sheridan, Wyoming, at a building serving as a registered agent for tens of thousands of LLCs. Another listed a Dallas address with a three-digit suite number at a commercial mailbox facility.
- Check where the email landed. One went to a personal Hotmail account. One went to a general info@ inbox. One went to a domain the practice no longer uses. Those addresses come from scraped lists and domain registration records.
- Check the title against the message. The same email arrived signed by an Analyst, an EVP, an Executive Director, a Vice President, and a Managing Director. One sender signed as Director Support on a Friday and Administrative Assistance the following Monday.
What does a mass-mailed acquisition email look like?
Eight of the 45 were functionally identical, sent by different people at different firms from different domains in different weeks. Each said a private equity firm was interested in acquiring companies in the practice’s industry.
Four other people sent emails to one practice and ran the same two-step sequence. It included a short note about a family office looking at the sector, then a follow-up 7 days later saying the family office wanted a call.
Several referred to the practice in the possessive, as companies in the practice’s “vertical.” That phrasing is a mail-merge variable dropped into a template. In one case, the practice name carried a misspelling and a stray comma, and both reappeared in the follow-up two days later, because the error lives in the list.
A group that has looked at your business does not describe it as your company’s vertical.
Was any of the outreach legitimate?
One of the 45 was honest about itself.
It referenced something specific and accurate about the practice, stated plainly that the sender’s firm works with buyers rather than being one, and offered a clean opt-out. That is a sell-side broker prospecting for listings, and it is still not an offer. Someone did real work before sending it.
The distinction worth drawing is not between legitimate and fraudulent. It is between senders who tell you what they are and senders who don’t.
Should I reply to an unsolicited offer to buy my practice?
No, including to decline.
A response confirms that the address reaches the owner, that the owner is reachable on the subject of selling, and that the practice is a live prospect. That record has value to the sender whether or not a buyer exists behind them.
For an owner whose staff has no idea anything is being considered, a two-line courtesy reply creates real exposure with no benefit. Filtering the sender accomplishes more than declining does.
Frequently asked questions
Why do private equity firms keep emailing me about my medical spa?
Most of those emails are not from private equity firms. The message announces buyer interest to find out which owners will engage on the subject of selling. In a review of 45 such emails, none named an actual buyer and none contained an offer.
Is an unsolicited offer to buy my practice ever real?
Occasionally. A real approach names the acquiring group, comes from a company domain you can verify in under a minute, references something specific about your practice, and states clearly whether the sender is the buyer or works for one. Emails describing “a private equity firm” or “a family office” without naming it are prospecting, not offers.
What happens if I reply to one of these emails?
Your reply confirms that the address reaches you, that you own the practice, and that you will engage on the subject of selling. That is the most valuable record on the sender’s list, and it typically increases contact volume. For owners whose staff does not know a sale is being considered, replying also creates a confidentiality exposure that declining does not avoid.
How do I find out what my med spa is actually worth?
A single unsolicited approach gives you a number with nothing to compare it against. A reliable figure comes from testing the practice against multiple qualified buyers, or from a valuation built on your actual financials. PTG’s MedSpa valuation calculator produces a baseline in a few minutes.
What is the difference between a buy-side and a sell-side advisor?
A buy-side advisor works for an acquirer and is paid to source practices that fit the acquirer’s criteria. A sell-side advisor works for the practice owner, takes the practice to multiple buyers, and is paid on the owner’s outcome. PTG works exclusively with sellers and has never represented a buyer.
If one of these emails made you wonder what your practice is worth
That is a reasonable thing to want to know, and worth finding out from someone who works for you. PTG’s MedSpa valuation calculator gives a baseline in a few minutes, and the guide to selling a MedSpa covers how a competitive process works. If you’d rather have a conversation first, talk to our team.
Practice Transitions Group works exclusively with sellers across aesthetics, dermatology, medical, and dental, and has brought more than 300 practices to market.
