“It takes money to make money.”
This is partially true, but so is the concept of hard work and sweat equity. At the end of the day, it all boils down to the idea of investment.
To grow your esthetic practice, you have to invest time, energy, and of course, some money to grow and experience an exponential return. However, when it comes to investing in new modalities, education, products, or other assets that can serve your clientele and overall business growth, you don’t have to fork over all your cash and hope for the best.
What if, instead, you could both gauge your audience’s interest in something new you’re considering bringing into your business while also having those interested clients fund your investment?
It’s a process called mastering the art of the pre-sale, and in my opinion, it’s the best way to onboard any new service or modality you plan on introducing into your esthetic practice.
Here’s my go-to 3-step process for pre-selling like a pro:
1 - Select Your Pre-Sale Audience
Just like not everyone is an ideal client, not everyone is the right fit for your pre-sale.
What has always worked well for me is to reach out to my top one to three clients, especially who are always looking for the newest, hottest, and best of the best when it comes to skincare, and let them know that I’m launching something new and would love to give them first access with some additional perks.
For example, if I were launching CIT/Micro-needling in my esthetic practice, I’d communicate the value behind CIT by sharing how its the holy grail of skin rejuvenation and can address a multitude of their skin concerns such as scar and stretch mark removal, minimizing pore size, cellulite, and pigmentation, and more.
Because I know these clients value the benefits of this treatment and based on their purchasing behavior, I know they’ll be excited, extending them this opportunity makes your esthetic expertise invaluable for them because it positions you as the go-to source for the latest and greatest in skincare that they desire.
Of course, as I previously mentioned, do make sure to cater your messaging around the benefits that are specific to their skincare concerns, but also help back up your case by showing before and after photos to demonstrate your claims surrounding the benefits.
For example, if you head to our Instagram, or the “Before and After” tab on our website, there is a plethora of CIT/micro-needling + nano-infusion examples so that your clients can see what’s possible and be able to imagine how your new treatment and modality can similarly help their skin.
2 - Offer an Incentive and Exclusivity
In addition to reaching out to those few top clients, if you decide to extend your pre-sale offer beyond them, it also helps to keep some level of exclusivity by letting anyone you reach out to know that you are only choosing a set number of people to pre-book and get the special pre-sale incentive.
However, it is very important to note: do not provide a discount.
Discounting tends to devalue the service, and instead, we want to add value.
For example, if I were pre-selling CIT/micro-needling, a great way to add value would be to include home care products or an LED treatment for an additional small area on the body, like the hands or chest.
If you typically charge $350 for a full face & neck single session (at that rate, I am already including post-care and a Celluma Pro LED treatment following each needling session), and by including another area of the body in that one sitting, I’m still using the same cartridge, so materials-wise, it essentially costs you nothing but some additional time.
For your client who would normally pay $1,050 for three treatments that do not include the hands (which let’s say you have priced at $150), and then you include the hands, you’ve just given them $450 in value.
Another way to elevate the overall perceived value of the experience is to send your client home with more goodies.
For example, with your client’s purchase of a treatment package, they’ll get an LED home care device, like the My Skin Buddy, that allows them to speed their healing post-treatment and maintain results between each treatment.
A device like My Skin Buddy retails at $265, but we distribute the MSB device to professionals at $95 and include a complimentary herbal sheet mask (a $20 value), so between those two items, your client would be looking at $285 worth of added value.
3 - Pre-Sell Packages Over Single Sessions
I’ve already made a few mentions of it, but I want to make sure it’s importance doesn’t go understated: pre-selling packages rather than single sessions is always best.
Not does it help to incentivize your client to make the commitment to their skin, which helps them to achieve optimal results, but it also helps your client make a commitment to you as their provider for increased client loyalty and retention.
Think of it this way, if you know that your clients are going to receive the results they truly desire with three treatments rather than one, you’re doing them a disservice to them if you’re only selling them a single service.
If you want them to see results, and you know that a certain number of treatments are required to make that possible, it is your job as the esthetic expert to make the recommendation to your client that benefits them the most.
At the end of the day, pricing is all psychological, and by knowing how to choose the right people for the right product with the right messaging and incentives around it, you’ve got a recipe for success when it comes to pre-selling in your esthetic practice.
No more wondering whether something will work, instead, make the investment of time and energy into a pre-sale so you can confidently make the monetary investment you need to make to see your business grow and your vision come to fruition.
For more information and resources on growing your esthetic practice and increasing your retail revenue, check out: