PART 2: What Your Clients Really Want (And Why Great Skin Isn't Enough)

Let me preface this blog by acknowledging that there are many different kinds of Estheticians, which means this advice will not apply to everyone. Some Estheticians work in resort spas where they are not likely to see the same client more than once and therefore don’t have access to regular repeat clients. Other Estheticians may be working a couple days a week from their home simply because they love the work. These Estheticians will gain some important knowledge from this for sure, however the Estheticians who will find this information most helpful are solo Estheticians, spa owners and managers, and students of esthetics whose path is not yet decided. 

Spa owners: If you manage a team of Estheticians, this post has enormous relevance to staff training and team culture. This is the conversation worth having at your next staff meeting.

Students of esthetics: This post is a gift given to you even before you have stepped behind the treatment table. Most esthetics school curricula focus almost entirely on technique and product knowledge. The idea that client retention has as much to do with emotional intelligence as it does with a well-executed facial is something most students will never hear in a classroom setting.

If your goal is to develop high-quality, long-term, loyal clientele, my book The Heart of Esthetics: Creating Loyal Clients & Achieving Financial Success is a must read.  Because no matter how much you learn about products and services, those elements will only satisfy a client’s external needs; however, success in the esthetics business requires the ability to also satisfy our client’s internal needs. This means that products and services will never be the key to your financial success.  

INTERNAL NEEDS v. EXTERNAL NEEDS

The moment your client thinks “this person really understands me" -- that’s when trust begins.

What does a client really want? Do they want a nice facial service? Yes, of course. Do they want their skin to glow after the facial service. Yes, they do. Is that all they want? No, it’s not.

Internal needs of clients are about the “big picture.” In other words, what is the deeper outcome the client is really hoping for?

Is the client’s deep need to have a relaxing treatment and leave with glowing skin. Well, yeah, of course. But if it's only about feeling good for the day, you may never see them again...or maybe you'll see them sporadically. However, if the Esthetician can help them feel good about themselves all the time, the result will be regular in-person facial services and curated home care protocols. This is what a great Esthetician can offer anyone who steps into his or her treatment room. 

 Become the star of the story that clients tell their friends.

High-value clientele want their Esthetician to think outside the box – “the box” meaning over and above experiences they have had with other Estheticians or things they have learned on social media. For example, they want their Esthetician to say something along the lines of: “Let me explain to you how I thought this through. Based upon your skin care goals, here is the plan I designed just for you. This is what I will be doing, this is why I will be doing it, and these are the products and tools I will be using. And here is how you can extend the life of today’s facial at home.”

The Intake Process. Every successful Esthetician knows that a very detailed Intake process with a new client is essential, and that does not mean handing a new client an intake form and expecting them to complete it on their own. (Even worse is asking them to fill out an online form.) This is the biggest error Estheticians make, and it happens at the very beginning of what could have been a long-term client relationship...but likely will not be.

This is often not entirely the fault of the Esthetician because unfortunately most of us were taught in our Esthetician licensing program to do it this way. Therefore, Estheticians do not recognize the essential information they are missing out on which would otherwise enlighten them as to their client’s internal needs. Nor will Estheticians recognize the importance of completing the intake form together with their client, which is a critical step in a fledgling relationship with a new client. (More on that in The Heart of Esthetics book).

You will see in The Heart of Esthetics book that I advise not to rely on intake forms made by a product line or some random online source. It's so easy to create your own detailed intake form based upon your skills and your skin care philosophy; and if you've created the intake form on your computer, you can easily edit, update and reprint as the field of esthetics grows and changes.

THE HEART OF ESTHETICS by Diane Buccola

The Barometer of Success in the Esthetics Business

 Of course, we love our male clients. I certainly do! And fortunately for us, men’s interest in skin care is increasing exponentially. However, that has not changed the fact (so far) that the barometer of success in the esthetics business is the lives of women. 

What this means for Estheticians is that even if you have the finest esthetics skills, the highest-quality professional skin care products, a lovely facility, and access to many wonderful clients, if you don’t understand the mindset of your clients (and potential clients), your path to success could be a little bumpy. This of course includes our male clients, female clients, and everything in between, however, in this section we are focusing on the lives of women.

 The Lives of Women

You may not yet realize it, but as an Esthetician, you are part of something much bigger than just your esthetics skills. That’s because our business is not really about facials and products. Those are simply tools that we use in our work. Success in the esthetics business is built on relationships.

The bond you develop with your clients -- while based upon the skin care services you provide -- has many other components that are not related to the client’s skin. Therefore, even if you get the skin care element of your work right, it does not guarantee that you won’t lose a client for other reasons. And when that happens, odds are that you will never figure out why. On the other hand, when you understand your clients and are able to master the tools you will learn in this book, you are on your way to becoming a rock star Esthetician.

 When a new client steps into your treatment room, a relationship has begun.

We spend so much time and put so much work into learning how to address the external needs of our clients such as services, products, equipment, etc. Of course, we do! We must. And we should. However, when we are newbie Estheticians, we don’t yet realize that even more important is that the client’s internal needs are met.

 NOTES FROM YOUR FAIRY GODMOTHER

Below is an excerpt from my book “Notes from Your Fairy Godmother.” This book is not about esthetics, but there is one section about “beauty” that applies to Estheticians and their clients.

I am including this information here to give you a glimpse into what is being subliminally absorbed into the minds of women. Advertisers target women specifically by focusing on the TV channels and other media that are primarily viewed by a female audience. I researched this phenomena in 2017 while I was writing “Notes from Your Fairy Godmother.”

My research included noting the ads that played during movies and other content on channels geared toward women such as Hallmark, Bravo, etc. The result was astonishing. Whether a woman is aware of it or not, this marketing has an effect on her…and therefore an effect on our role as her Esthetician.

Here is the excerpt from my book which is the direct result of my research on this topic:

“Women are regularly exposed to ad campaigns suggesting that we should lose weight, exercise more, eat this, don’t eat that. There are age-shaming ads implying that we need to fix something. We are encouraged to lift, tuck, flatten, lose, add, remove, install, inject, cut, dye, lengthen, shorten, ingest a supplement, sign up for a program, or model ourselves after celebrities.

As a result of this marketing strategy, self-image takes up a lot of space in the brains of many women. It clutters our mind to the point that we are unable to appreciate our own beauty as we continue to evolve throughout our lives. We are typically our own worst critic, however our criticisms are not based upon who we really are, but rather who we think we should be according to input from external sources. What woman hasn’t at one time or another said to herself (or to others), “I hate my _____“ (arms, legs…fill in the blank)?

We weren’t born this way, but we have unintentionally picked up this burden and we carry it with us every day of our lives. If we could eliminate the self-critical thinking, can you imagine all the extra space we’d have in our brains to think about other, more pleasant things? If only we could enlighten girls about this at a younger age, what a wonderful life experience they would have!

By no means do I mean to imply that women should avoid all anti-aging efforts, because I really don’t feel that way. Certainly, if something makes you feel good, do it. But the methods offered for improvement are becoming further invasive and frighteningly extreme. Many great ideas come from fashion and beauty resources, of course, but we’ve got to find a way to keep everything in perspective and not abandon our spirit while chasing physical perfection. (Excerpted from “Notes from Your Fairy Godmother” by Diane Buccola.)

As Estheticians, this is one of the reasons we must keep in mind the very personal and somewhat intimate relationship we have with our clients. And by “personal” and “intimate,” I am referring to the fact that when a new client enters our treatment room, she is asked to remove most of her clothing, put on a facial wrap, and crawl into something that looks a lot like a bed. Then all her makeup is removed by a person she may have just met for the first time, who then places a bright magnifying lamp directly over her face.

Especially for first-timers, this can be a distressing -- or at the very least, unpleasant experience. No wonder some women are hesitant to come to an Esthetician for a facial. For those women, the easier solution is to buy products online, at a department store, or from an MLM salesperson. 

If you could put yourself into the shoes of this new client even for a moment, you would be able to understand that the connection she has with us, as well as the comfort she feels while in our space, begins very quickly and runs very deep. 

The Heart of Esthetics by Diane Buccola

Part 1: Reclaiming the Heart of Esthetics in the Age of Social Media

 Next blog: The Lives of Women