Capturing the demand you’re already creating: Zenoti CEO Sudheer Koneru on the state of the industry heading into 2027

In his opening keynote at Innergize 2026 in Seattle, Zenoti CEO Sudheer Koneru shared the latest data on how the industry is performing, drawn from more than 30,000 businesses on the Zenoti platform.

The average business is on track for modest growth of about 2%, but Sudheer’s focus was on who isn’t average. The top 25% of businesses grew about 20%, and the data points to what set them apart and where the next wave of growth is coming from.

The heart of the opportunity, in Sudheer’s words: “I do think you’re creating the demand. I think you just need to figure out how to make sure you capture and convert this demand across your business.”

Here’s what the data shows about how the leaders are doing it, and where the opportunity is hiding.

Growth is still available, and the leaders show how

Across the industry, visits and new-guest counts both dipped, and the growth that did occur came from ticket size. Every category felt it. But the top 25% of businesses grew about 20%, and Sudheer was clear that this isn’t a statistical quirk. Same-store growth counts only mature locations, with no new openings getting an easy head start. “This is an apples to apples comparison,” he said, and that applies to the top 25% too.

What set them apart wasn’t price. They charged “maybe a little more on average ticket, not materially more than others,” Sudheer noted. The difference came from the guests.

“What was important is they got more people in the door in terms of visits. And the biggest difference was they lost far fewer new guests.”

Visit growth, top 25% vs. the rest. Source: Zenoti, shared at Innergize 2026

Among salons, the top 25% grew visits 10% while everyone else fell 4%. In spas it was +10% against -6%, and in medspas +14% against -7%.

The takeaway for 2027 is encouraging: growth is still there for businesses that win and keep new guests, and the playbook is visible in the data.

Sudheer also reminded the room that the benchmarks aren’t locked behind an annual event. Zenoti customers can compare themselves against their cohort, whether barbershops, luxury salons, or medspas, every quarter in the platform.

The biggest opportunity is already ringing your phone

With AI now analyzing phone calls for many Zenoti customers, the data goes beyond transactions. The first finding surprised even Sudheer, and it’s good news for anyone investing in marketing. About 70% of the people who respond to online ad spend pick up the phone instead of booking online. “The demand actually shows up on the front desk,” he said. “It doesn’t show up online.”

It makes sense for a service business. According to Sudheer, first-time guests want to talk to someone before they commit, whether they’re confirming a color or making sure they’re booking the right treatment.

That means your marketing is working and guests are reaching your door. But, the call data shows how much of that demand is still on the table:

• About a third of callers (32.4%) have an explicit intent to book, and 63% of them end up with an appointment. The other 37% were ready to come in.
• 27% of calls go unanswered. Owners are often surprised, Sudheer noted. They invest in their front desk and take pride in their service, but “things do get busy.”
• Only 35% of missed calls are ever reconnected, whether through a callback or a second call from the guest.

This may be one of the most immediately recoverable revenue opportunities. The guest has already found you, already picked up the phone, and already shown intent. Yet guests who wanted an appointment and didn’t get one rarely hear back with, “Can we try again this week? We have a slot.”

When the phone rings: 73% of calls are answered, 27% aren’t. Source: Zenoti, shared at Innergize 2026.

Everything is data

The call analysis is one example of a bigger shift Sudheer described in his Day 2 closing keynote. In his view, the businesses that get the most from AI are the ones that treat every interaction as information. “Everything is data,” he said. That includes not just transactions and memberships, but phone calls, transcripts, the tone a guest used, Google reviews, and every abandoned online booking. Bring it all together and, as he put it, AI “loves it.”

Where to look first for 2027:

1. What is your answer rate at peak hours, and what happens to the calls you miss?
2. Who follows up with callers who didn’t book, and how fast?
3. Does your attribution reflect the guests who see an ad and then pick up the phone

Treat new tools like new hires

The first step is seeing the demand you’re missing. The next is making sure it gets a response every time, which is where Sudheer’s advice on adopting new tools comes in.

Sudheer encouraged owners to think of their people and their technology as one team. He called it “a DNA change of saying we are all one workforce,” and he’s realistic about the objections. For owners who insist on a human for every call, his answer is practical:

“You cannot afford to say that it will always be a human, because sometimes you do miss calls.”

His advice on adopting any new tool comes from experience: you can’t just switch it on and expect results. “Agents don’t get installed, they get onboarded. It’s just like any other employee.” You wouldn’t tell a new stylist to start cutting hair on day one. You train them, review their work closely at first, and as trust builds, you give them more room.

The real variable is leadership

Sudheer Koneru on stage at Innergize 2026

Sudheer closed with the point he most wanted the room to take home, and it wasn’t about technology. According to him, tools matter less than the person leading their adoption. “Outside of technology, the number one thing it needs is you, to lead.”

He’s seeing leaders get hands-on themselves. “A CEO today can get access to anything they want using AI and achieve a lot of progress,” he said, and he called this a “once in a lifetime change” in leaders’ careers. The work can’t be delegated away. If you’re introducing an AI receptionist, he said, you should be its first coach. “As a leader, you have to lead.”

The human touch: What stays the same

Sudheer ended the conference on a human note. Having run a fitness and salon business himself, he said he has “a deep appreciation for what you all do and how many lives you touch every given day.” What happens in your business, he reminded the room, isn’t only about the service itself: “They walk out feeling good, feeling more confident to take on the world at large.”

He expects technology to take on the drudgery so that teams have more room for the human connection guests come back for.

He closed by reading the credo posted in every Zenoti office, which begins: “Zenoti believes that there’s greatness in everyone in this world, and this greatness comes alive when one feels good.” It ends with a statement of purpose: “We exist to make people feel good so they can find their own greatness.”

Now in its fourth year, Innergize has become a defining gathering for operators who want to lead, not follow, what comes next. Innergize 2027 will be held in Atlanta, Sept. 12-14, with early-bird registration now open at innergize.me.

Download the 2026 Beauty and Wellness Benchmark Report, or book a demo to see how Zenoti can help you capture more of the demand you’re already creating.