How to create an irresistible client experience and increase your salon's profit
Catie Dimaggio is a certified aesthetician, owner of two salons, and a Master Lash Lift Artist & Educator with a passion for teaching other beauty business owners how to maximize their sales by providing top-notch service to their clients.
Catie learned at a young age in her retail job that people don’t know what you offer until you tell them.
That means that speaking up directly affects your bottom line: your clients will not buy the services you want to sell unless you tell them about them.
It sounds so simple and obvious, but we always forget it.
Most of us hate selling, though. It feels awkward and pushy.
So how do you let your clients know about the services and promotions you want to sell without feeling “selly”?
You tailor your suggestions to what you know your clients want and need.
“As a client myself, I don't like to be sold to, but I like to be told, ‘Hey, you have a breakout and I [offer *blank*], and here are the benefits.’ Or, ‘You have amazing lashes, have you ever had a lash lift before?’ And really opening up the door for a conversation on that. it's playing more into how it benefits the client, and I want to be genuine about it. I don't want to sell to them necessarily, but I also want them to [think], ‘[I’m] already here, let's just do it,” explains Catie.
By promoting your services in this way, you’re actually providing what your clients really want: a luxurious, customized wellness experience that they won’t soon forget.
Whether you’re a hairstylist, nail artist, waxer, spray tanner, or esthetician, the lessons that Catie shares in today’s blog post are important for you. So grab a tea and cozy up for a read that will help you reframe sales as a way to give your clients the ultimate guest experience!
Why Catie’s salon was voted “Best Of” salon experience in Ventura County
Catie’s clients love what she does.
Voted by her community as the Best Salon of Ventura County in 2022, she has learned and doubled down on exactly what her clients really want: a personalized, luxurious service that’s easy and enjoyable to access.
“It's a natural human desire to want to be paid attention to, to want to be talked to, to want to be listened to,” explains Catie. “So my space in the treatment room is just that - I am here for my clients. Not just to give them a treatment or to help them feel more confident with lashes; I want them to have a space where if they need to just relax and be silent, that's the space for that. If they need to talk about something or if they just need a break from everyday life, I want to be that safe space. I want it to be easy to find me. I want it to be easy to book. I want it to be easy to come in. That is my goal when I am creating an experience.”
Catie says that at all times, she’s fostering three important factors with potential clients: to be known, liked, and trusted.
“I want my clients to trust me and my judgment in what I have to say. I'm genuine with my clients, educating them about all of the products and services that I offer. It's always in their best interest. I'm very honest. If my client has a question I don't have the answer to, I'm going to go find the answer for you because I want you to know that we're on the same team here.”
When your clients know, like, and trust you, it’s much easier to promote products and suggest add-ons that will benefit their lives, as well.
“My goal with every single client is bringing out two retail items to offer to them that [will] be best for their skin, lashes, or their brows. I have an array of products that I have here at the shop.”
Selling retail products that your clients love is the key to profit
Catie promotes products that she knows will benefit her clients because she cares about providing them with the best service and experience possible…but it doesn’t hurt that she makes a great profit from selling these products, too.
She teaches all of her students that if they intend to increase their profit in their beauty businesses, they must carry and promote valuable, high-quality retail products.
“I've had students who have literally doubled their income by adding on services,” says Catie.
The key is to figure out the best way to position your services and products to maximize the offering and your profit - a win-win for you and your client.
“I had one of my students [whose] first year in business was averaging about $1,200 a month in her beauty business. She was specializing in brows and she had just started to learn lash lifts. She was focusing more on brow waxing, which is a lower price point - 30, $35 for a brow wax. We created a bougie brow wax and…added a hydro jelly mask for post-inflammation [to] calm the skin. We took a basic $35 brow wax and elevated it with add-ons [to] create something that was $75.”
“It just goes to show that when you are focusing on building a service that's all-inclusive, it's going to have more value to the client. You don't know if your client's going to say no…you have to just offer it to them, create the option and watch as your clients will flock to something like that.”
In your first year of running a beauty business, it can be tricky to figure out the best return-on-investment retail products to carry. Catie has great advice for buying the things your clients really want:
“Clients love to have something in hand. They love to be able to hold something at the end of their appointment.”
“Think about [this]: people are buying their face wash somewhere; their products somewhere. When you explain the benefits [of the retail you carry], you could be easily making a hundred dollars. [So] you did a hundred dollars facial, and they're going to now spend $200 on skincare products. Retail goes hand in hand with the facial that they just got because we know that 80% of results come from home care, and 20% of your results come from in the treatment room. Your client has to be doing their part in taking care of their skin.”
But, Catie reminds us, it’s our job to talk up the products we carry because they don’t know until we tell them!
“Educating your client on the importance of that is where you'll be able to seal the deal.”
As a way to get more comfortable with offering additional services or products, you can start with what you know. For instance, if you’ve niched down to focus on one service and you’ve gotten really fast and good at it, Catie explains that you have the benefit of being able to offer more than one add-on service in a short time.
“If you're a waxer and you specialize in waxing, chances are you're a speed waxer, so you're pretty fast. So [you can offer] adding on an underarm or upper lip, or if they're getting their bikini wax, you [could] do an upper thigh or an inner thigh. Those add-ons aren't going to cost you much more time.”
“If you're booking out a bikini wax and it's taking you 30 minutes, what else can you squeeze into that 30 minutes to increase that rate of those 30 minutes?”
How setting up a membership option your clients will LOVE can bring your salon huge profit
Catie’s salon offers a monthly facial membership option, and she’s found that having this as an option has greatly increased client satisfaction and brought predictable, consistent income to her business.
She’s also found that providing an all-inclusive membership program makes everything easier for everyone.
“When I first started my membership package, [clients would] just get the basic facial and 50% off all add-ons [like] dermaplaning, high frequency, LED, oxygen infusion, [etc.]. But then I realized it was getting a little confusing. Clients would [ask], ‘What's my total today?’ Add-ons sometimes can be confusing if you are leaving so many options out there for clients.
“To elevate my client experience, I [decided I] want this to be all-inclusive. I don't want to have to sit there and add on every single facial or ask them, ‘Do you want to do this today or not?’”
“So I raised the price point. Now instead of clients coming in for a facial package that was $135, they're coming in for a facial package that's $195 and they're getting everything. They get the dermaplaning, the high frequency, the LED, the oxygen infusion. [I’ve taken] that guesswork out of it. If you get the all inclusive, you're just going to get it anyways.”
Here’s how you can get more comfortable selling the best care to your salon clients
If you’re in your first year or two at your salon, you’re probably still getting used to talking to clients about the services and products you can sell. It takes time and confidence to upsell and suggest things to a client face-to-face, so practicing it is important.
What’s Catie’s suggestion for leaning into the discomfort and practicing talking up all the amazing services you offer?
Catie calls it “finding your voice” - and she had some great advice for doing it.
“When we are shy [or] awkward, it's because we haven't really found our voice yet. We haven't really found that phrasing…that works for us, that we feel comfortable with. I always say nothing grows in the comfort zone. You have to put yourself out there.”
“If a client doesn't know that you offer this package, it's not going to get booked. And if it's not getting booked, you're going to get discouraged. It's a trickle effect. Even if you're awkward at first, at least you're practicing and putting yourself out there. It could be something simple like, ‘Hey, so you normally come in for your bikini wax. I just wanted you to know that I put together this package special that we should book for you.’”
“Even if it's awkward like that, at least you're practicing and [thinking], ‘Well that didn't probably sound the best. I didn't really sound confident, so next time I'm going to switch a word out or I'm going to try a different approach.”
“When you're adding on and selling, the conversation should start from the very beginning of the service so you know what you're going to be doing during the service. You can't finish your bikini wax and she's ready to get off the table and [then you] say, ‘Hey, did you want to add an underarm wax on today?’ You have to talk about it from the beginning. The more you do it, the more you practice, the more you put yourself out there, the better you become.”
Providing a world-class salon experience from beginning to end
I’ve chatted with hundreds of successful salon owners all over the world, and they all say the same thing: the best guest experience starts well before they’ve hit your chair or table, when they’re still at home.
Catie’s award-winning guest experience is the same. Her focus is on making the journey to her salon easy, and then providing an unforgettable experience from beginning to end.
“My guest experience starts before I even meet them in person. That has to do with how my website is built. I'm [also] on Google, I'm on Yelp [and] get reviews on there. It's easy for them to book with me, [and] easy to see the services that we offer.”
“When they come in, clients are always greeted by their first name. So that means that we're checking our schedules for the day and we're seeing [that] it's one o'clock, Stephanie's coming in. I'm gonna go ahead and greet her with, ‘Hey Stephanie, it's nice to meet you or welcome in.’ Or if it's a, a client that's been in before, ‘Hey Stephanie, it's so good to see you again. I'm so glad you're here.’ I want the client to be noticed first and foremost. I want them to be called by name because we just feel good when that happens to us. We want to be remembered.”
“We have drinks and snacks [and] a little mini fridge for the client. We always offer that to them and make sure that clients know that it's free. A lot of clients think they have to pay for that, but it's free. It's complimentary. Free drinks, free snacks. We have a restroom that's available to clients. We have comfortable chairs for clients to sit in. Our oils are going, we have our music going. Our selection of music is like relaxing vibes. I want to set the tone right when they walk in. I don't know what clients are walking in from when they come in.”
We always introduce ourselves, ‘I'm Katie, I'm gonna be your aesthetician for the day.’ Bring them back into the room. That's where we have a consultation. We go through consent forms and ask if they have any questions. I always ask them, ‘Have you had a facial before?’ This opens the door for me to be able to talk about what we offer.”
Catie has tailored her entire guest experience around making sure the client feels like the most important person in the world from the moment they first connect until the next time they come in.
“I want them to know that I want them to come back. I take the initiative to get them to rebook and let them know that I'd like to see [them] back in four weeks for [a] facial. I can always take it a step further by asking, ‘Did you want a standing appointment? Do you want to come every Monday at 2:00 PM every four weeks? I [can] put you in the books for the rest of the year.”
Her aftercare process is just as thoughtful and thorough:
“If they did get a skincare routine, I'm sending them a detailed email or text on how to use their skincare so they feel confident it's not just come in for a service and then you leave. I'm building relationships here.”
What it really boils down to, for all successful businesses, in the beauty industry or not, is owners who are intentional about their actions and goals, explains Catie.
“It's important to be intentional because when you're in a relationship, you want to make sure your intentions are true and that you are showcasing that. It's like [when] you're dating someone. [If] they're like, ‘Okay, see you later,’ [and] that's the end of the conversation…you [think] ‘Do they want to see me again? Did they have fun? What's going on here?’ I don't want to leave that in my client's mind. I want them to know that I am so glad they came in today. I'd love to have [them] come back and I'm gonna check-in. It creates a whole experience for them. So why would they want to go get a facial somewhere else if the aesthetician's not doing those things?”
You can follow Catie D’s journey and learn from her inspiring guest experience on Instagram at Catie D. Artistry.
