Esthetician Podcast; Business tips for Beauty professionals

090: Easy Consultation Steps for Estheticians: Make Clients Feel Heard, Book More

• Kari Jo

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Ever wish your consultations felt less like a checklist and more like a conversation that naturally leads to yes? We bring a mastermind student, Natalie, into the hot seat for a live role-play that shows exactly how to transform a first-time facial into a long-term client relationship. You’ll hear the beats, the phrasing, and the psychology that make clients feel truly heard—and why that feeling is the number one driver of rebooking.

We start by refining the opening question and shifting into a five-minute dialogue that surfaces the real priority. Then we demonstrate mirroring—the simple habit of repeating the last one to three words as a question—to lower defenses, invite deeper sharing, and build instant trust. From there, we lay out a clean structure: validate the story, deliver one wow moment of education, and present a clear, step-by-step plan. No jargon, no scripted sales pitch—just the right insight at the right time.

You’ll get a crisp pigmentation explainer that lands with clients: exfoliation won’t erase dark spots if the melanocyte keeps firing pigment, which is why a tyrosinase inhibitor must quiet production before resurfacing can truly clear the surface. We tie that insight to treatment planning—today’s facial, the next visits, and the at-home routine—so your recommendations feel essential, not optional. We also cover SPF and gentle exfoliation coaching for dry skin, plus how to handle “I’m just here to relax” clients by solving for safety and calm first.

By the end, you’ll have repeatable micro-scripts for the moments that matter: the first question, the mirror handoff, the recap for agreement, the wow explanation, and the confident plan that earns each yes. Subscribe for more practical esthetic business coaching, share this with a teammate, and leave a review with the wow line you’ll use this week—what script are you trying first?

To learn more about Kari Jo visit: https://www.karijopatterson.com

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Rachel:

Hi, my name is Rachel. I am the founder slash CEO of Ultra Ray, a luxury spa. I have worked for Kari Jo in the beginning of this year, and she has transformed my business. Everything has increased. All of her tips, all of her tricks, all of her advice has been the most helpful, and my business has transformed exponentially. I want to thank her for her honesty. I want to thank her for her help. And if you're struggling with your aesthetics business or if you need help hiring or any of the sort, Kari Jo is the person that you should definitely work with.

Kari Jo:

All right, everyone. Welcome to the Esthetician Podcast. And today I am so excited because you guys are going to get to meet one of my mastermind students. Natalie, how are you? I'm good. Hey, how's it going? Thanks so much for having me. Yes. And I'm so excited because I was talking to Natalie and I was like, you need to come on my podcast because like I want to train people how to give really good consultations. And so instead of us doing it in private, I'm like, let's do it on the show. Well, she's like now, like, I'm in the hot spot. I know pressure, right? Yes. Yeah. So really quick, I want to like tell everyone a little bit about yourself.

Natalie:

Okay. So yeah. So I got licensed in 2022. And I started out because I wanted to do eyelash extensions, but then I discovered that I kind of like everything about skincare. So, you know, facials, hair removal, makeup. And so now I've kind of transitioned and I mostly focus on facials. So that's what I've been doing for probably like consistently the past two, two and a half years.

Kari Jo:

Yeah. And on our last phone call, we were kind of narrowing down like what you want to focus on. Do you want to tell everyone what your what your main niche and what you're going to focus on?

Natalie:

So I guess I'm still trying to like finalize it, but I think it's going to definitely have like a holistic wellness type focus. So not just focusing on what you're putting on the skin or what you're doing in the treatment room, but like treating the body as a whole. So, you know, like what are you consuming as far as your diet? You know, are you getting enough sleep, stress? Because that can be a big factor or manifestation on the skin. So how are you managing that? What techniques are you using? So, yeah, so just looking at everything in totality, yeah, contributes to the skin.

Kari Jo:

And what I love about Natalie, guys, is that she could have graduated and got an open her own thing right away, but she was like, No, I'm gonna go work for some people and get some experience under my belt. And then we started talking, and she's like, is it time or not? And we're like, we're like, nail this down, and then yes, you know what I mean? So we're gonna nail it down. So, okay, so we are gonna go just jump right like, and there's no wrong way at all of giving a consultation, right? Like, I'm sure you know, like you just ebbs and flows, but I just want to give you like little tiny tips of what you could do to kind of change it to up your consultations because a little bit of background is if you can get like when you go out on your own, you need to have a really extremely high rebooking rate because it's so hard to get new clients, it's a lot of work. So if you're gonna go through all that work, you've got to be able to retain them. And one of the ways that you can tell, like that tells you a lot is if your rebooking rate is below like 80%, it's almost a hundred percent guaranteed that it has to do with your consultation. Actually, it's not a hundred, it's probably like 90 because you could give a crappy service. But so, and so like we would really want to nail down that that consultation. So, what I want to do is we're gonna do a little bit of role-playing, and I am going to pretend I'm gonna be your client, and I'm just gonna tell you like exactly like what bothers me about my skin and everything like that. And you tell me how you would do the consultation. You don't have to go like super into detail, just kind of like a basis overview, and then and then after we do that, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna tell you what how I would change it. Does that sound good? Yeah, that sounds great. All right, so you go ahead and ask me whatever, and then I'll get started.

Natalie:

Okay, hi Kari. Well, so good to see you. Thanks so much for coming in. So, what brought you in for a facial today?

Kari Jo:

Yeah, so I just feel like I'm starting to get a little bit old and aging mostly. Yeah.

Natalie:

Okay, so mostly aging. So is this your first facial? Have you had one before?

Kari Jo:

No, I've had lots before.

Natalie:

Okay, okay. When was your last facial? Probably like three months ago. Three months ago. Okay, all right. And then let's see. Do you have any allergies or skin sensitivities that you're aware of? No, no, okay. Okay, so how would you say, how would you describe your skin? Would you say it's on the more oily side, on the drier side, combination, balance? Probably more drier. Drier, okay. And then so talk to me about your current regimen. What are you using now at home?

Kari Jo:

So I have a big regimen, so I cleanse, exfoliate, I do do a mask, and I moisturize. And I do all of that.

Natalie:

Okay, okay. And then what are so what are the brands? Do you remember the brands of the products you use? I I use dermalogica. Okay, all right. And do you like how that's working? Is there anything that is not as effective as you would want it to be in your regimen? Yeah, I like it.

Kari Jo:

I like it a lot.

Natalie:

You like it a lot, okay. And then I didn't I didn't hear SPF. Do you do SPF?

Kari Jo:

No, I don't.

Natalie:

Oh, SPF. Okay, so we so I would recommend SPF every day, no matter the season, no matter the weather. And then if you're gonna be outside in the elements, I recommend reapplying every two to two and a half hours. So SPF of at least 30 at a minimum. Because 90% of premature aging comes from sun exposure. So definitely make sure to integrate that. So that's one thing that I would suggest. Okay, and so and then are you doing a regimen in the morning and in the evening, or is it just in the morning? Both, both, okay, and then so are there products you're using specifically for dry skin?

Kari Jo:

Yes, I have a serum just for dry skin.

Natalie:

Okay, okay, and then I don't remember. Did you mention that you exfoliate? Yes, I do. Okay, how often are you exfoliating? Not that much, but like once a month, I do a good one. Once a month, yeah, okay. So I would recommend probably starting out at least once a week, especially if you're on the drier side, because that exfoliant will help to remove the dead skin cells and it'll reveal the nice new skin underneath. So I would say start out once a week and then just kind of see what your skin needs. So if it feels tight, if you see flaking on the skin, if you feel like your products are just sitting on top of the face, then you know you need to exfoliate. And so with Dermologica, they actually have exfoliants that you can use up to every day. So that might be too much for you, but it might be just right. So, like I said, kind of pay attention and see if you see signs of those things on your face, and if so, then you might need to increase your exfoliation. But I would say at least do it once a week. Okay, okay, and so okay, so you kind of mentioned you want to focus on aging, or you're kind of starting to see the signs of aging, so that's what you would want to focus on. So, would you say that that's the so if you could take a magic wand and wave it over your face, what's the number one thing that you would change or dress? Probably the pigmentation that's coming up. Okay, so you have pigmentation, okay. So, I'm gonna hand you a mirror. So, can you show me where you see the pigmentation on your skin?

Kari Jo:

Yeah, like up here and on the side of my face down here.

Natalie:

Okay, okay. All right, well, so based on what you told me today and kind of what I'm seeing, and I'll take a look once you get on the treatment table. I'll take a look at your skin under the magnifying glass and kind of see. But I would say that we could do a pro-bright facial, so that's gonna use products specifically geared towards brightening the skin. I would also recommend adding the LED, so that's gonna help to target that pigmentation as well, and that's gonna put hydration back into the skin as well, since you you know have complaints of being on the drier side. So, how does that sound?

Kari Jo:

That sounds good, yeah. Okay, okay, girl, there are so many things that you did do right in that consultation, and I think with like just like a few tweaking, you could really nail it down. So, one of the things, so clients, there it is like a proven fact that clients are three times more likely to rebook when they feel validated, when they feel heard. And so when so, what I would do is I would create more of a system of your consultation, like you hit everything, like you hit some education, you hit the questioning, and you hit the recommendation, but I would make it more into an official system that is like repeatable. Okay, and in doing that, so the first system is like what you want to do is you want to validate your clients, you want to literally for the first five minutes, you want them to feel completely heard, completely seen, like you completely understand their problem. So, like what I did say at the very beginning is I just feel like I'm like aging. And what you did do right is you did repeat back, like you feel like you're aging. Okay. Then you like immediately went into like all these other questions that would be kind of like something that you would get from an intake consultation.

Natalie:

Uh-huh.

Kari Jo:

And that doesn't make me feel seen or heard. It just makes me feel like you're doing a checkbox to figure out what it is that like, and I don't want to feel like a checkbox. What you did do is you ended up that was my main concern, but then we went into like, you know, like I have dry skin, what products am I using? And you didn't circle back around to the number one point that I said where I feel like aging until the very end. Do you see that? Do you I don't know if you notice that? Yeah. So then at the very end, you're like, you it sounds like you're aging or whatnot. What I would do is I would focus and dive in like on whatever they say, and you want to get them to talk more about the first thing. So, like, if I'm like, Yeah, I just feel like I'm old and aging, I want you to repeat back old and aging and do it in a question mark.

Natalie:

Okay.

Kari Jo:

Like, because what happens is, and it's called mirroring, and you want to repeat back the last two to three words of what they say. When you do that, what happens is it makes that client she feels like she is safe, she feels like she is heard, and it gets her to lower her defenses and it makes her start to trust you more. In addition, when you mirror back and you repeat the last few words, what happens is when people hear their own words, it makes them elaborate more. And when they elaborate more, they can go deeper in on the problem so that you can like solve their problem. So, like what I would do is like I would be like, I would mirror back, I'd be like, you you feel like and you do it by repeating the last few words in a question. When you repeated the you did repeat the last few words, but you didn't repeat it in a question, you repeated it like you were writing it down. Okay. You want to repeat it like it's in a question, so like feel like you're aging, and then I'm gonna be like, Yes, girl, I feel like I'm getting so old, like I'm like 40 years old, and and you're like, Yeah, you know, and you and it creates this like more of a conversation, not a you quizzing me, because when I feel quizzed, I don't feel trust, I don't feel related, I just feel on the hot spot. But like when you so what I want you to do is we're gonna do it back, and I want you to practice smearing the last two to three words, which is gonna be awkward for you for a minute.

Natalie:

Okay.

Kari Jo:

Um trust me on it, but like you will be able to hear a difference when you listen to this episode. So, like, I'm gonna say you repeat the last, I don't know, three words, but in a question.

Natalie:

Okay.

Kari Jo:

Okay. So yeah, I just feel like I'm getting old and aging. Oh, so you feel like you're getting older and aging. Yeah, and I would just don't only the three words, don't add any other words because when you add additional words, what ends up happening is they don't feel like you're repeating them.

Natalie:

Okay. So just three words.

Kari Jo:

Literally, it's like I know it's so awkward, but when you get this down, it will make a big difference. Okay, so yeah, I feel like I'm getting older and I'm like aging. Older and aging? Yes, yes, like I'm starting to get like pigmentation is like popping up on my face everywhere, popping up everywhere, yes. Like, yes, okay, that is it. Now you don't have to mirror every single, like that was two in a row. I wouldn't necessarily do two in a row, but but like you know, you can do every other, and we're gonna do it again in a second, but that was it. So you only so you can repeat the last three words, you can repeat just the last one word if you want. So if I'm like everywhere, you can just like everywhere instead of like popping up everywhere, like counting. Yeah, I was trying to say Lord, the last three in my head. Okay, so what I want you to do is I want you to practice like I don't know, just like going back and forth with me, occasionally mirroring and occasionally just like understanding, like you you know what it feels like to be me. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, all right. So yeah, I just feel like I'm just getting older and aging. Aging, yeah, like all of a sudden, like spots just have popped up out of nowhere. Like once upon a time, I didn't have spots, and now like I'm getting spots like all over on my cheek.

Natalie:

Okay, I definitely understand that. I think that's a pretty common concern. And so, how long have you noticed this?

Kari Jo:

I would say probably like the last three months or so. Three months, yes. It's like I don't know what happened. Like, I don't like my hormones haven't. I don't know if it's like my hormones, I don't know what happened, but it's just like in the last three months it came up, like it hasn't been there this whole entire time. Okay, and can you think of anything that you are doing differently?

Natalie:

No, like I've had the same routine for like a year, okay.

Kari Jo:

Okay, for a year, yeah. Okay, now pause. Like, do you see how that was like more of a dialogue instead of like sitting down and quizzing me on like what products are you using? Tell me about this. Tell what happened in that was you were creating a connection, and I was feeling like you were hearing my story. Like I felt like you now understood that I was aging, I have pigmentation, it just popped up in the last little bit, and I feel like you get my whole story. Does that make sense? Oh, does that make sense? You were frozen. Yeah, what was the last thing you said? Sorry. Yeah, I said, uh, does that make sense to you? Like how it just kind of creates like a dialogue versus like Yeah, yeah, no, that does make sense. Okay, yeah. So, like the goal of your consultation is the first like five minutes, you want to do this kind of a dialogue with them for five minutes. You want them to just talk and talk and talk about themselves, and by mirroring, it gets them to open like even your most difficult clients that are like, nope, I don't have a problem. When you mirror them, you're like, you don't like no problem. Like, you know what I mean? They're like, no, and then they're like, but you know, they will open up and they will start telling more. Because here's the thing when you get them talking about themselves and like talking more and more, people love to talk about themselves, they love it, right? And when they talk about themselves, you your brain is actually releasing dopamine, and that dopamine now is associated with you, like you're making me feel good because I'm just sitting here talking about myself. You know what I mean? Even if it's like, oh my girl, gosh, girl, I was so stressed out today, like it's been so stressful. Stressful? Yes, my kids are driving me bonkers. Oh, yeah, I totally know what that's like. You know what I mean? It just more of a dialogue versus like, I'm gonna quiz you on your skin. Now, okay, so that is what you want to concentrate first, and you just want to dive into their problem, get them to talk about it as much as possible. I like to basically say the first five minutes is to make the client see feel seen and feel heard. Then what I like to say is I you want to take everything that they said, even though you've been marrying it, and you're gonna repeat it all back to them. Because then that really makes them feel seen and heard. So you're gonna be like, okay, so it sounds like to me, like you just started noticing your aging, you feel like you're in your 40, and what's really bothering you is the pigmentation that is starting to come up out of nowhere. Does that sound correct to you? And that client is gonna say yes. Now, the goal is like if you can get your client to say yes, I don't know off the top of my head, I wish I should have written this down. I think it's like six times, they will absolutely say yes when it comes to booking. So your goal is to get your client to say yes many times through this like consultation. So they're like, Yes, that's it. You hear me, you get my problem, right? And then you're like, okay, so do you mind if I tell you a little bit about why you're having that pigmentation problem? And they're gonna be like, Yes, right. There we go. We got the second, yes. And then that's when you dive into the education piece, which you did dive in, you were doing like question education, like question education. Let them tell the whole story, then dive into the education. And the education is where it has to create a wow moment. You have to give them something so wow that they haven't heard from a doctor, they haven't heard on Instagram, like wow the crap out of me, right? Teach me your knowledge, and how you get these wow moments are when you sit down and you go to like an event or you take a mastermind or you go to any kind of uh lesson, there's always going to be an instructor that says something where like, oh my gosh, I didn't know that. And you're like, so wowed that. Write that down, circle that, and that exact sentence that they told you is what you tell your clients in this moment. So, like, for example, with the pigmentation, this is exactly word for word what I would have said to my client if that was my client, right? I would have said this, okay. So, let me tell you a little bit about pigmentation. So, what happens with pigmentation? Like a lot of times you'll go maybe get a treatment like a chemical pill, and they'll just exfoliate the top layer and try to get rid of that pigmentation, which is great. That is what you need to do. But the problem is, is you have to shut down the melanocyte that is firing the pigment first, otherwise, every time you exfoliate, you're gonna still be producing pigmentation at the bottom. So that you're not going to get rid of it, right? So, what we need to do is, and I mean, this is a short version. I would even give a longer version than this, but I'm trying to shorten it for the podcast episode. Yeah, I would be like, so basically, what you do is you have this melanocyte and it's firing pigmentation because that melanocyte has been damaged. So you need to get use a tyrosinase inhibitor. And what a tyrosinase inhibitor does is it tells your melanocyte, don't fire. No more firing pigmentation, like we don't need any more pigmentation. So it tells it to shut off. And so then when we exfoliate, we can get rid of the top layer of your pigmentation. But unless you shut off that melanocyte, you're not gonna be able to get rid of it. It doesn't matter how many exfoliation you do, anything like that, like that melanocyte's gonna fire. Does that make sense to you? Is what I would say to her. And again, I would say, yeah, that makes so much sense, right? Because I just wowed them, like they didn't know that that's like what they needed to do, and it makes sense, and now it's gonna make it really easy when I go sell that product because they're like, Yep, I need a tyrosinase inhibitor because I need to shut off the pigmentation from firing. So it's gonna be really easy. So then I'm like, okay, and I don't sell the next treatment plans or anything like that in the education section. I just try to wow them. And then after that, I say, okay, so knowing all that, do you want me to give you like a treatment plan of what I would recommend doing? Again, then the client's gonna be like, Yes, right? They are loving you. They feel seen, they feel heard, they just had a wow moment, and they're like, Yes, tell me what to do. And you're like, Okay, so for today, I think that we're gonna do the facial, like we said. Now, when we come the next treatments that I probably recommend is going to be like, we're gonna like doing a chemical pill and then maybe a hydrofacial or something like that. You know, you can kind of explain what your plan is to help them achieve whatever, and then you're like, okay, let's get started, right? So the goal is, and then this is so then after that, like when they that they're gonna get the treatment, they're gonna get off the bed, and then when you go to ask for them to rebook their appointment for the chemical pill, they're going to say say yes because they believe you're smart, you're educated, and you just like they trust you, they feel like you they heard your your problems, and it's just gonna be like an easy rebook. Does that make sense?

Natalie:

Yeah, it does make sense.

Kari Jo:

Okay, yeah. And I feel like what you did, like you did so many things right because I actually heard your mirroring, and I was so surprised because I was like, wow, she's right, she's mirroring. I was like, impressive girl. I would just say change the tone so it's a question instead of like you're writing it down. And then you did offer education, but like I would have them tell their whole story and then give that education.

Natalie:

Okay. So do you think you should start should the very first question be, what brings you in, or what is your main concern? And because that's opening up the space for them to share their story.

Kari Jo:

Yeah, I definitely would. And I always and I love how like you were like, Here, look at a mirror. Because I always hand them a mirror because if someone has a mirror in their hand, they'll pick apart their skin versus if they don't. And so I definitely would just start with like, so tell me what brings you in, tell me about your skin, what's bothering you, and then they will just and when they're looking at the mirror, they'll just tell you a bunch of things. Now they might list like, I got pigmentation, I got acne, I got dead skin, and be like, yeah, so what one is bothering you the most? And like narrow it down so that you know like what's bothering her the because if you go into an education about acne, but what's really bothering me most is pigmentation. So, like in general, like really what you need to have is I tell estheticians, like basically you need to have a wow on acne, you need to have a wow on pigmentation, you need to have a wow on dry skin, a wow, like if you can just have the same script that is a wow moment, you just have them on repeat. Because I'm gonna tell you, like, my whole entire all my employees and everything like that, they use the same script as me. It didn't change client to client. It was the same education, but it worked every time.

Natalie:

Okay. What about for those people who say they don't have anything? Like sometimes they're like, oh, this is just like a birthday gift, or so I'm just here to relax, and like they don't really have anything specific they want to address.

Kari Jo:

Yeah, so that is a problem too, right? So I think with aestheticians, we're like, oh, we have to solve like skin problems, right? But their problem is like, I need to relax, right? So if you make them feel seen, if you make them feel heard, they're gonna come back to you, right? Because you relax them, they feel safe with you. So if it's like, oh, I just got this as a birthday gift, I'm like just trying to relax, be like, oh, trying to relax. Yes, I'm stressed out. I have a bunch of kids, they're annoying me. My son's like running around, my dog is in the background running around, like I can't get you know what I mean. Like, and they just they feel connected to you because people re-book because of connection. It's not like people think that that that like just because someone's coming because they got a gift or they want to relax, that means that they're not going to book. That's not the truth, it's just they need connection. Okay, that makes sense. Well, so we're coming to an end of this episode of the consultation. So tell me, what do you feel like was the biggest takeaway that you feel like, well, that was a win, and I want to do that. Uh definitely mirroring, mirroring in the form of a question to and making them feel heard because I do feel like I was kind of like going through a checklist on my questions, but I see how doing that is it more natural versus like a little less formal, right? And so maybe they're they'll be more relaxed and be more open to share.

Natalie:

Yes, yeah, and I think it will like I can't wait. Okay, I'm so pumped. I'm gonna have to tell people how well you did, but go try it and then let us know how it worked for you. Okay, yes, I will definitely let you know. Sounds good. Thanks for coming on our podcast, Natalie. And I want to invite anyone else who's listening. If you want to come on the podcast, our business audit, you there is a link in the show notes where you can click it, you can fill out a form, and we'll have you on, and you can ask any of your questions and we'll help you. All right. Thanks, guys. We'll see you next week.

Announcer:

Thanks so much. This is super helpful. Thank you for listening to the Esthetician Podcast with Kari Joe Patterson. Each week, Kari brings you real-world lessons on how to grow your empire. To learn more about Kari's Fearless Prosperity Mastermind Group, one-on-one VIP coaching opportunities, and more. Visit www.carryjopatterson.com. That's www.karjopatterson.com. See you next week for more insights and strategies on the Esthetician Podcast.