Ok, so you landed the job of your dreams! You finally got into aesthetics. WHOOP! The glitz and glam are right around the corner. Everything you’re learning it fascinating and you get to make your future clients feel beautiful inside and out. But, how exactly are you going to get these clients? How will they find you? How will they know how passionate and freaking awesome you are?!
How do you get more clients as a new injector?
This is the BIG hurdle that will take your dream job from being just a dream to sustaining your lifestyle. And depending on how you’re getting compensated for your work, the number of clients coming to see you could matter a great deal. Hourly pay workers may not care so much about their books being full if they make the same amount working 8 hours with nothing to do or 8 hours being booked to the brim. On the other hand, commission based compensation structures benefit greatly from a fully booked schedule.
You can find a breakdown of my first year of pay as an injector here. And I have a video version if you’d prefer here.
Here are my top 4 tips on how to get more clients as a new injector in the aesthetics field.
Reviews
I try to remember to ask any new clients how they found my clinic or how they found me personally. The top two answers I receive are: Google/Yelp reviews and Instagram. I’d argue that clients that come to me through review or referral are the most valuable of them all.
REVIEWS ARE GOLD. I cannot stress this enough.
When I was a newbie I took getting reviews very seriously. People trust you more when you’re recommended by someone else. Even if that someone else is just a user name on a website. Why do we all love Amazon so much? Not only because it’s fast, but because there are SO MANY REVIEWS. Not knowing the seller or anything about the product doesn’t matter as much when there are thousands of reviews to back up a product.
There are absolutely those people that randomly end up on your schedule, yes. They needed Botox, they Googled aesthetics clinics on the internet, and they booked for the next day with whichever provider was available. It happens. But it’s rare.
What you WANT is a client in your seat that already completely trusts you because all these strangers on the internet had the best things to say about you. Sounds great, right?
But how do you get said reviews?
I promise it’s not difficult. You really just need to ask. There are some earth angels that will leave you a review just because they had an amazing experience. But it’s more human-like to leave spontaneous reviews after you’ve had a POOR experience. It’s just how people are. So the trick here is to ask those clients that you clicked with. The ones that had a great experience or maybe you gave them a great outcome. Or maybe they are your relative and they allowed you to practice on them. Doesn’t matter. But you need to ask!
I found that the easiest way to ask was after their appointment. If someone reaches out to you (for me this is mostly on IG) to tell you they love their tox results or they love their new lips, this is how you should respond:
“OMG I’m so glad your happy! It would mean the world to me if you could write me a review whenever you find a minute”.
or
“AHHHH! I’m obsessed with how they turned out! If you feel called to leave me a review there’s a link in my bio. I’d appreciate you so much!”
The return rate on this method is HIGH! I’d say about 80-90%! This person loves you! They reached out to let you know. So you know their review will be stellar. Trust me, try it.
If you aren’t having people reaching out, here’s something else you can try. During an appointment, I like to tell people to send me a message so I remember to send them their before and after photos. Most people want possession of these, for themselves or to show friends. It also opens the door for them to contact you.
It can absolutely get overwhelming to have lots of clients DMing or texting you. But for me, its been very valuable to have that open line of communication. So when they do send you that message. You send them their pictures and add on a phrase like the examples above.
Social Media
Social media is my number one driver of clients to my schedule.
Don’t gloss over this section if you aren’t a social media person! This is especially for you. I’ll be speaking mostly to Instagram because it’s what I’m most familiar with, it works for me, and I believe its one of the best platforms for aesthetic professionals. Because it is a visual platform, it’s a great way to have an online searchable portfolio where potential clients can find you.
In order for your social media to help your business, you do NOT have to become a full on influencer. I know there are many ‘insta famous’ injectors out there but unless that’s your goal, you do not need to follow their lead.
Take people along the journey
If you’re brand new, be excited and share about it!! People are so interested in the career paths of others. If you have lot’s of nurse friends they’ll absolutely want to follow along. So even if you don’t have jaw dropping before and afters to share right at the beginning, share the other stuff! You’re trainings and the basics are a great place to start. For example: reconstituting a vial of Botox may not seem very exciting to you, but it may be to your audience! You don’t know what you don’t know. Try to remember all the mysterious thing you learned in your first days and weeks and share them on your socials.
Show behind the scenes
What are you doing when you’re not injecting?
Maybe lerning modules, maybe watching Patreon videos, maybe coloring a face chart to learn all of the muscles. Whatever it is, share it! This shows your building your knowledge base! This shows you care!
Share before and afters
In the beginning of your career, most of your time will be spent training. Hopefully your practice has a system set up for you to be able to practice your knew skills on models that will allow you to share their photos. SHARE THESE. If there’s one you’re not particularly over the moon about, don’t share that one, lol. There are no rules here, it’s your page. Just know that anyone who finds you on social media will be scrolling through your account to see your work.
Talk to the camera
This may be the most uncomfortable part for many of you but it’s the most important. Almost daily I’ll meet a new client that tells me they feel like they already know me because they’ve been following my social accounts already.
This is what you want! It’s SO EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to be yourself. Do not mimic another influencer you like. Don’t amp up your personality for the camera. Be exactly who you normally are and you will attract others that are like you. If you’re not genuine on your social media two poor outcomes willl manifest: 1. you’ll attract people who related to your fake personality. People you probably wouldn’t associate with in the real world. 2. Those people will meet you and feel disappointed. They won’t trust you. And they most likely won’t return.
Be a Friend
Sometimes, I feel like my schedule is full of people that I truly love and just wanted to hang out for a few minutes! I know this sounds silly but it’s true!
Service based professionals are literally therapists for some people. You know how you unload onto your hairdresser or your lash tech? You see them regularly enough to build a relationship but spaced out enough to have lots of updates for them at every meeting. And they’re removed from your immediate friend group enough that you can tell them anything? That’s the same as an injector!
You’re providing a service while also providing a listening ear or a warm hug.
It’s truly a blessing to be in that position. But this is extremely individualized. Not everyone is friendly warm and cuddly. Not everyone puts out the vibe of “come hang out! let’s chat!” Now I don’t want you to be phony and act completely out of character. But whatever type of friend you are in real life, be that type of friend to your clients.
It will keep them coming back to you and it will have them referring their real life friends to you. The number of times I’ve heard “oh my gosh my friend told me about you and she’s totally obsessed with you so I had to come”…this tells me that the being a friend aspect is not to be ignored.
Continuing Education
So many of my clients will send me Instagram Reels or TikTok videos from injector educators. The population is educating themselves more and more these days. There is so much information at everyones fingertips that you CANNOT maintain the clients you have without staying up to date with the latest trends and technology.
A client will see right through you if you don’t really understand what you’re talking about or if you’re lying through your teeth. Your trust factor will increase tenfold if you are actively seeking out new knowledge and new techniques to bring to your clients.
Seek out training opportunities, subscribe to a few Patreon accounts of injectors you admire, and soak up all the free content you possibly can on social media. A few of my favorites to follow are:
- Injector Bunny https://www.instagram.com/injectorbunny/
- PA Nicola https://www.instagram.com/pa_nicola/
- Jubilant Julie https://www.instagram.com/jubilant.julie/
All of these methods will take time to reap their rewards but it will be SO worth it in the long run. You are literally nothing without your clients. An educated and talented injector is nothing without someone to inject!