The Secret Sauce when it comes to a Consultation

By Alanna Douglas

Consultations are not what they used to be, the industry is moving into a new and exciting era of preventative wellness solutions.

We have gone from a service-based industry to one that clients are turning to when they want a long-term change in their skin health and overall wellbeing. What an exciting time to be working with skin! With this shift I have seen embrace and overwhelm, where do we start and how do we transition into this new realm of wellness focused aesthetics? The answer lies in your first meeting with your client and the conversation that takes place to set the tone of treatment and offerings to meet their wellness needs.

Dominating your consultation is the secret sauce to getting your clients on board and allowing you to make lasting change in your client’s skin and might I go further and say their life! Yes, we impact our clients every day in what we do in the treatment room, but we can also impact their mindset, self-worth, digestive and hormonal health. Understanding exactly what’s going on in your client’s body is essential to creating a treatment plan that will honour their bodies needs and deliver them beautiful skin.

Let me share with you my 3 steps to a confident and converting consultation, or should I say chat? Step one is to believe in yourself! Sounds simple, but it’s often easier said than done. In my experience this has been the thing that changes my energy and mindset before I step into a space of being able to serve others.

Affirmations that empower and motivate you are necessary to create the tone to allow you to succeed when you step into that treatment room. Here are a few of mine, I am a money magnet, I know my s#!t, I am worthy, and I am exactly what this person needs!

Your clients will pick up on your vibrations if you’re scared before walking in, they will feel that and everything you say will go over their head and not come across in the way that you would wish. Remember the client is in your space, your room and you are in charge of how that goes!

Moving onto step number 2, actively listen and re confirm. This step is super-duper easy, so often our brains are ticking over ready to chime in and ask a million questions we forget to sit and actively listen. Eye contact, nodding your head, mirroring your clients body language and resources to tell your story will enable you to connect with your client and break down their walls.

Repeat, repeat, repeat everything back, you will be surprised when you reconfirm something how different the answer can be. I have had this on so many occasions, you think you understand, and you are on the right path and then boom you reconfirm, and the answer is different. This is such a powerful tool, if you’re crystal clear on the clients wants and needs then it’s easy to meet them.

Finally, step number 3 open and close your conversation with power phrases. This question would be to be my biggest bug bear “what is your main concern?” why do we ask this? Because this is what we are taught, this immediately makes the client think do I have a concern? should I be concerned? and then the answer is usually “I’m not sure, I’m pretty happy with my skin”. Which leaves you with crickets and nothing to work with.

Instead engaging in an open-ended conversation and starting with something like “tell me a bit about your skin” gives you so much more to work with. Which brings me to the close, asking your client out of everything that you can have spoken to that about what is the most important thing to them? This gives you your focus hooray!

Remember it’s a huge thing for someone to book an appointment and expose their skin and wellness to be assessed by a stranger. It is very intimidating, so keep that in mind always, when we are talking to our clients think of it more as a chat then a “consultation”. Reinforce a much as you can how amazing it is that they have taken the first step and put themselves first. Get them excited for the next step in their skin journey and let your skills shine through.

You have got this! if you need more support and would like to learn how to dominate your consults, I would love to invite you to my consultation domination course, where I teach you how to speak, what to say when you get stuck, how to sell without being salesy and give done for you consults for all the skin that you will encounter. Checkout more info on my website in the meantime you can listen to my angelic voice on the Skin Freak Podcast.