Esthetician Podcast; Business tips for Beauty professionals

106: How Estheticians Can Sell Confidently Without Feeling Pushy with guest Nikki Rausch

• Kari Jo

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Selling doesn’t have to feel like pressure. When clients worry about sounding rude and pros worry about being pushy, everyone hesitates and outcomes suffer. We brought in sales strategist Nikki Roush to show how permission-based selling turns awkward moments into clear next steps, so estheticians can lead with confidence and clients can say yes without friction.

We break down Nikki’s five-step Selling Staircase—Introduction, Create Curiosity, Discovery, Proposal, and Close—and show how to climb it one invitation at a time. You’ll hear how to spot buying signals in real conversations, what to say when someone asks about a new service mid-appointment, and the exact language that earns permission to proceed. We also dig into the role of scripts: useful as structure, dangerous as a crutch. The goal isn’t to memorize lines; it’s to communicate in your voice, meet clients where they are, and guide the next step.

You’ll learn how to handle the five common outcomes of a close—yes, a question, an objection, a no, or “I need to think about it”—without losing momentum. We share practical ways to prevent “parking spaces” like call later or check the site, and replace them with let’s get it on the calendar now. Expect tactics you can use today: framing the session flow to balance power, asking permission to lead, and making payment and scheduling effortless. The result is sales that feel like care, stronger rebooks, and better product follow-through.

If you’re ready to stop convincing and start collaborating with your clients, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a fellow esthetician, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—we’d love to hear which invitation you’ll try first.

Find Nikki here: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/your_sales_maven/

FREE RESOURCE: Free Training: Seal The Deal: Questions that close sales $47 value
https://yoursalesmaven.com/karijo

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Welcome And Why Selling Feels Scary

Announcer

Welcome to the Esthetician Podcast, where passion meets prosperity. Your host, Kari Jo Patterson, transforms from a solo esthetician into a successful business owner, achieving ultimate time and financial freedom by the age of 38. Kari is the author of Fearless Prosperity, empowering estheticians to build their empire and achieve financial freedom. And the creator of the Empire Growth System for Estheticians. Get ready for some empire building wisdom. Now welcome your host, Kari Jo Patterson.

Meet Nikki Roush And Her Sales Roots

Kari Jo

Thank you so much for all of the reviews that you guys have been leaving me. I have started getting an increase in reviews for this podcast. In addition, like my Instagram has started blowing up in the DMs. And so thank you guys for reaching out and just any comments that you leave, it means so much. Today's episode is about something I notice all the time. And it is this fear that estheticians carry around when it comes to selling, whether it is their services, their rebooks, their memberships. The thing is, is when you have fear, what you are normally saying to yourself is I don't want to sound pushy. I don't want to feel pushy to my client, or I don't want to sound rude, or I just don't want to make this really uncomfortable. And when we're saying those things to ourselves, what happens is you actually start stepping back from selling and you are handing over that decision to your client. And here's the thing when you are the professional and you're the professional in the room, stepping back actually makes the clients feel less supportive. They feel like you don't necessarily know what to do, they don't have any idea what it is that they're paying for or whether it's a good idea or not. Muddies their water, and they don't really know because you're not taking charge of the conversation. Today, in this episode, we are going to fix it. We are gonna talk about how to lead your appointment in a way that feels so natural, not selly, so that selling does not feel awkward at the end. That is why I'm really excited about today's episode, because I have brought on Nikki Roush, and she has her own podcast, which you guys definitely need to check it out. But Nikki is known for teaching cells as a conversion. So that is does not feel like pressure. She helps service providers learn how to guide people with confidence, use clear language, and lead discussions so that you do not feel pushy at all. So today I am excited to bring Nikki on the podcast. Nikki, I am so pumped to have you on the show today. Like I feel like we hit gold for you to come on and teach us all the things. So before we get started, tell my audience a little bit about you and your background and how you even got into sales.

NLP And Making Sales Feel Natural

Nikki Rausch

Well, thank you for having me. And I'm very honored to be here. And my background is as a professional sales person. I got my first professional sales job actually while I was in college from a college project. And that was in the tech space. And I had a lot of success there. And the majority of my career was spent selling a lot of um technology into big, large, you know, huge organizations. Um, at one point I sold some stuff to NASA. I sold multimillion dollar deals and had a lot of success, but really was never that comfortable with the idea of selling. And so because it was my career, I needed to figure out like how to do it my way versus in the tech space, it's very male-dominated, or at least it was in the late 1900s when I started in that industry. Um so I discovered neurolinguistic programming as kind of my outlet, the something that would help me hone my own communication skills and allow for me to be more comfortable in what I think a lot of people perceive as being kind of those uncomfortable conversations. And so I brought my NLP into my work, into my sale, my selling. And I just found that it just made everything easier. And when I decided to start Sales Maven, which is my business now, which is as a sales strategist and coach for primarily female business owners, it was with this idea of wanting to combine what I had been using and working and having success with on the selling side, but also bringing my neurolinguistic programming, and if that's a new term to anybody, it's really the study of communication. So it's how we process information in our brains, how we um speak to others, how they speak to us, so language patterns, and then also habits and patterns. That's really what NLP is about. And so using that to start sales, Maven, with this idea of really wanting to help women get more comfortable in those sales conversations. Not how to like, you know, read a script and not how to like um feel like you're doing something to somebody, but how to be natural and genuine in a conversation, how to learn how to communicate in a way that makes the other person more comfortable. And so that's really what I spend most of my time now doing is teaching and showing and giving suggestions on how to connect differently in sales conversations and how to get to that place where you ask for the sale and exchange dollars for services.

Kari Jo

Yeah, wow. Yeah, I didn't even know about that degree until like you I learned about you and things like that. And I'm like, that is like a really cool degree. I almost feel like even my teenage daughter, she's like, because just learning patterns and stuff. That's really cool. But um, yeah, I agree with you about the whole learning scripts because there are some people on Instagram that's like, follow this script and just do this script and it will work. And I do think maybe there might be some pros to that, but the but you kind of also can't clients don't run on a script, so script isn't necessarily going to work all the time, right?

Scripts As Structure, Not A Crutch

Nikki Rausch

Yeah, you nailed it. I mean, the thing is like a script is helpful because I and I do offer scripts for people because it's an outline, it's like it gives you some structure, but you you really, you know, it's like kind of think about different conversations you've had with different people where like some person, you know, one person might be able to say something to you and you're totally fine with it, and somebody else might say it to you, and you might be like, I'm offended. It's usually because they're they're trying to do something that isn't authentic to them, and or they're trying to do something to you, which you don't want to have something done to you, and that that like breaks down. So the thing about scripts is it's totally fine for people to write scripts, but we all think and write the way that we process information. And so if you and I think alike, you might find some of my scripts really helpful. But if you and I don't think alike, if you're the way you process, the way you pick and choose the words that you're gonna use, if it's really different, then it's not gonna be helpful for you. And if you try to like memorize it, now you just sound like somebody hit a button and pressed play, and now you're just regurgitating something, and it takes all the authenticity out of it, takes all of that absolute opportunity to connect out of it. So scripts are fine, again, from a structure standpoint. And I always tell my clients, like, I don't teach you how to sell like me. We find the things that make you unique, the things that you feel comfortable, and then we offer structure and strategy that is going to fit with you because if it can't come out of your mouth, there's really no point in learning it.

Kari Jo

Yes, I totally agree. Well, like one of the things that I find so many aestheticians like, I feel like there where there's this big miscommunication on selling, is that I feel like so many of us think that selling is just about how do we convince this person? What would your thought be on that? Are we trying to convince somebody? Is that like what it's really about?

Ditch Convincing And Ask Permission

Nikki Rausch

No. I and it's not uncommon to have that belief because that's I think a lot of people how people teach selling, but your job is not to convince anybody. And I hope that anybody listening to this that is feeling like that's what I'm supposed to do. I hope this like lets some of the pressure off of you. You don't have to convince anybody of anything. And frankly, it is kind of now in our current society and the way that we function, trying to convince somebody, like try to convince your kid or your spouse or your best friend, even to do something they don't want to do, they're gonna draw a line in the sand, and there's really nothing you can say or do that's gonna change their mind at this point. It's like if you say to somebody, like, oh, I just read this great book and you should totally read this book, it's gonna change your life. And they're like, My life doesn't need to be changed. No, thank you. Right? Like nobody wants to be convinced of anything. So, and wait, the way that I teach selling is your job is to understand does this person have a need for what it is that I offer? And based on their need, do I have a solution that would potentially solve the problem or the help them accomplish the thing they're looking to accomplish? And then the third thing, so there really are three parts, and the third actually is the most important is do I have permission to put my offer or my solution in front of them? So if they have a need, I have a solution and I have permission, it takes all of that like convince mentality out. I always say sales isn't something you do to somebody. And if you feel like you have to do something, which is convince somebody, you're looking at selling wrong. Sales is something you do with somebody. So they've got to need you have a solution and you have permission. Now, with them, we can have a conversation where we can put a solution in front of them, and then we can offer them an opportunity to buy it, and they get to decide. They're, you know, unless I don't, I don't know any aestheticians that are selling to minors, right? We're selling to adults, they can make their own decision. Like, let's be respectful of the fact that the person that we're in conversation with can make their own decision, and your job is to just if you've got permission, to put a decision in front of them so they can make it one way or the other.

Kari Jo

Yes. So your so going into your framework and stuff like that, what would have to happen before, say the scripts or anything else? Um, scripts or I don't even know, confidence or anything. All the different things that comes into like, what would have to happen first for a client to say yes without feeling like they were being pushed?

The Five-Step Selling Staircase

Nikki Rausch

Well, okay, so I do teach a five-step framework for a successful sales conversation. I call it the selling staircase. And I did write my third book around it. So it's like this is my signature, kind of what I kind of go back to with everybody. And there are, and the reason it's called the selling staircase is there are five steps to a successful sales conversation. And the reason I bring staircase into it is because most of us understand that you ascend a staircase one step at a time, unless you're like in a playful mood or trying to accomplish something like health physical-wise, like you don't hop from the bottom step to the top, right? Like that's not how we ascend a staircase. We go one step at a time. And so that's why I teach a staircase because your job in a sales conversation is to understand what step are we on in the conversation. And the only thing that really you have control over is to issue that invitation to the next step. So if you understand where we are in the conversation, whether it's on step one, which is introduction and there's some things that go into that, then my kind of next step here is to maybe issue an invitation to see if it makes sense to go to step two, which is create curiosity. And if I'm able to create curiosity, and as a result, you give me a buying signal, for instance, then the logical next step in the sales conversation is what I call discovery. This is that consultation, this is like understanding their need. Do I have a solution? And do I have permission? So my job then is to just issue an invitation to move to that next step with you. And then once we understand, yes, you've got an, you've got a need, I've got permission, I have a solution, based on the discovery process. Then my my objective now is to just issue an invitation to then put an offer in front of you. And then to issue an invitation, once that offer is in front of you, for you to buy it. And so that's how you move through a successful sales conversation is through invitations. And when you start to learn that language, it just again, it takes all that like pressure out of selling off, or like, I've got to convince this person or I've got to close this client. It takes all that pressure off because your job is to just, okay, I know what stuff we're on, I know how to get invitation language out of my mouth. And I'm just gonna issue the invitation and then see what they say or do next. Cause then I'll know what to say or do next based on that.

Kari Jo

Yes. And I think what you just said is so huge because I feel like what I learned with what you were talking about is that I think so many of us think that the cell comes at the very end. But like what I heard you saying is like there's like this whole step process before you even get to the very end. And so, like, that's why we're feeling all that pressure is because like we didn't do any of those steps till the very end, and then we're like, here, buy this product or ask me for a rebook. But like what I heard you say is like, there's all of these steps that come way before that. And so if you don't want to have that stress, you've got to learn the first step of the framework.

Nikki Rausch

Yeah, yeah. And can I add just one thing there is the the thing that I say about teaching and this idea of teaching the staircase and these five steps is as the seller, you don't get to skip steps. The only time a step is skipped is if the buyer, the prospect, the client starts at a higher step. So if you know, we're in a sales, you know, maybe we're in a session and and you know, I'm getting a facial or I'm getting a treatment with you, and I start asking questions about, hey, I noticed, you know, you sent me an email about this new, you know, service that you're offering. And I'm I'm really interested in that. Like that's me giving you a buying signal. I don't want you as the seller to be like, slow your roll. We got to go back to step one, right? I got to create curiosity, but you know, before we even get to where I can talk about it. You start at the step that they're on. So if they start at step essentially, kind of the option that I just gave here is they're kind of in that curiosity step, kind of almost moving to the discovery. So your job is to then find out, you know, like what's important to them and what would be helpful for them to know about this new service, and then to issue that invitation if they would like to get that booked. That's your job. That's all your job is as far as the selling goes, right? Of you know, obviously you're delivering, but the selling piece of it is to just be able to issue those invitations, notice where the client is showing up in the conversation, and then just continue to ascend from there.

Start Where The Buyer Is

Kari Jo

Yeah. So when you talk about like knowing where the client is um in the conversations, where, and you did just give one. What could you give me some maybe other examples of like where that could maybe help the aestheticians be like, okay, they're like in the curiosity stage. Yeah. They're at the very beginning, like, yeah.

Spotting Curiosity And Buying Signals

Issuing Invitations And Next Steps

Nikki Rausch

Okay, so I'm gonna go through the steps and then talk. I'll give an example for each one. So step one is the introduction, and the idea here is to make a powerful first impression. Now, this can happen. This first impression, it can happen on your website, it can happen something that you post on social media that like brings you into somebody's awareness, right? It can also happen because maybe you're at a networking event and they meet you there, or maybe you're at a friend's barbecue and you're in conversation with somebody. Like you're establishing that introduction, that that first impression. And so a lot of times, you know, an example would be that somebody's asks a question, like, oh, you know, my friend, you know, Brandy told me all about you and said that you're an aesthetician. What is that like? Like that's them leaning in and now asking you a question, right? About who you are. So now they have actually moved themselves to step two because now they're they're showing some curiosity. And your job is to create some curiosity back to find out, like you answer their question, but you want to do it in a way that allows for them for you to start to like we're trying to figure out like, are they just being nice and making conversation? Or are they actually looking for an aesthetician? Or would they benefit from my services? And so once we've kind of moved to step two, create curiosity, like realistically, when I ask people, do you know how to create curiosity when you're talking about your business, your service, like who you are and how you show up in the world? Most people give me a blank stare, like, what do you mean, create curiosity? Like, I don't know what you're talking about, Nikki. But yet, if you can't create curiosity in conversations with people who don't even know how awesome you are, don't even know what you do, don't even know what's possible for them, of like what would be helpful for them, you know. I I mean, I'm not an aesthetician, so Kari Jo, you're gonna have to help me through this part of the conversation. But you know, if you saw somebody that was like maybe there was something going on with their skin and you possibly had a solution for them. The worst thing to do is to go up to somebody and be like, so I see you have a skin problem and you really need a solution, and I can give you that solution. Like, people are gonna be offended by that most of the time, right? I was equate that too. It's kind of like um the person who comes around and gives you a bunch of paper cuts on your finger, and and then, you know, and you're like, ow, and they go, Oh, bless your heart, darling. You're bleeding. And you're like, Yeah, could you just cut me with a piece of paper? And they're like, Oh, by the way, I sell band-aids. And you're like, Well, I don't want to buy your stinking band-aids, could you just cut me? And so we never want to be the person that's approaching somebody and being like, So I see you have a skin problem and you really need to see someone about that. But at the same time, if you went over to somebody and you created some curiosity and a question that you might ask them of like, um, you know, what's what's important to you right now about, you know, how you're showing up in the world. And, you know, and maybe the maybe that's a little bit of a big question, right? And then, and then they're like, What's important to you? And you might have an answer that would be like, well, one thing is I always want to make sure that, you know, I know people are making judgments, and I want to make sure that that because, you know, usually the first thing they're getting is how do I look? And so I want to make sure that I'm sending the message that is like my insides are matching my outside. And they're like, Oh, yeah, I never really thought about that. Like, I never really think about, you know, what are people thinking about me when I walk into a room and you go, well, one of the things that I do is I help women feel more confident in their skin. And then they go, Well, how do you do that? Well, now, so now we're heading, we're in a real conversation, right? It's not me showing up word vomiting on you about your skin problem and how you should fix it. It's us having a conversation back and forth. And now pretty soon they're like, So, do you help people with like me that might have some like skin spots, like some like aging spots? Is that something? And then and then now you now again, Kari Jo, I'm not an aesthetician. So I might be like talking out of turn here. The the estheticians are listening, going, obviously, Nikki doesn't know anything about skin because skincare, but I'm doing my best here. So the idea though is now you've shown me some you're interested, and you've given me what I what I teach is a potential buying signal. Like when you've asked, like, oh, do you work with like women like me who maybe have some age spots? Now you're you're kind of moving into that like discovery phase. And maybe we're even skipping discovery because you're going right into like what's your offer, kind of. So as the buyer, right? So me as the seller, I'm gonna say, absolutely, I work with women like you. And is that something you'd be interested in? Of like talking about what that would look like. And now, if you say yes to me, now I have permission to put an invitation of an offer. So I might say. You know, one of the one of the things that I usually recommend people get started with is XYZ package. And that's going to address, you know, some of those age spots that you might be concerned about. It's also going to help like clear out your pores. It's going to do this, this, and this. Is that something you'd like to schedule? So now I just went to the invitation of the close. Right. And so now, because I have issued that invitation for you to book a time with me to have this service, doesn't mean you're going to say yes. But if I never get to that place where I issue that invitation for you to book a session with me, I can guarantee you, like I'm going to have a really hard time earning your business if we don't ever get to that part of the conversation. So the objective as the seller is to move people through the staircase. If they fall off, that's their choice they get to, and we respect that. But if we get to that place where we close and issue that close, I don't mean actually like get the appointment booked. I mean issue the invitation to book the appointment. Now, one of five things will happen. They'll say yes, that's the first thing. Awesome. We schedule them right then. We get that appointment scheduled. We're going to see them on Thursday at 10, right? Or whatever that is. The second thing that will happen when you issue closed language in an invitation is people might have a question. Great. We need to know what that question is. Because if you answer that question, that may be the thing that seals the deal for you. That may be the thing that lets them go, like, oh, I can tell that Kari Jo is my person and she's going to take care of me. So I'm ready to move forward, right? So second thing, question. Third thing is they might have an objection. They might be like, well, you know, I'm a little nervous about this for X, Y, and Z. So now if there's an objection, your job is to just see if you can overcome the objection. So I won't go into too much detail about that, but I teach like offering a conditional clothes as the follow-up and uncovering is this the real objection? And if it is, if I can overcome it, I'm going to offer a solution and then I'm going to issue close language again. So that's the third thing. The fourth thing is they'll say no, right? And sometimes that's good too, because you don't want to waste time and energy on people who aren't going to buy from you and people who aren't going to like take advantage of your services. So we've got to get to that place where we have to let people say no to us so we don't waste time and we don't waste energy. And then the fifth thing that will happen is they'll say something like, I need to think about it. And that's a really common one. And if somebody says to you, like, I really need to think about it, it's okay for you to issue another invitation. Like, how much time do you think you'll need? Should we schedule another time just to connect and see if you've got some additional questions? Because most of the time, if you get somebody and they say, Yes, let's schedule another time to chat, you have a very high chance of earning their business because they're being serious. They really do need some time to think about it, or maybe they need to look at their schedule, or maybe they need to talk to their you know spouse or whatever. And all of those things are okay. Your job is to just make it easy for them to continue down that road with you to where you get to the place where they book a session.

Kari Jo

Yes. So what is I I loved all of that, and it makes so much sense.

Nikki Rausch

Good.

Kari Jo

Even if like I didn't didn't know your framework, and even if I didn't know it, I'm like, oh, that's why when I sell, I can see why it works. Do you know what I mean? Is you're like, I just didn't see the framework, but I can completely see the framework and how it works. Um, one question that I had is like when you're talking about like getting that yes, how important is it to get that yes to asking that question and getting them to be like, yes, I want to whatever, you know.

Handling Questions, Objections, And “Think About It”

Nikki Rausch

I think it's pretty important because for me it's a permission question. Like, are you interested in talking about ways we could work together? Are you interested in booking an appointment? And you're getting those yeses from people. That's them deciding in the privacy of their own mind, like, oh, Kari Jo can help me, or oh, I really do want this. And your job is to just help them take action on that decision that they've now made, which means, you know, somebody says yes to let's get a time scheduled. Don't say call the office and you know, or call the call the you know, spa and schedule it. Say, like, let's get it on our calendars now, right? Like make it so easy for people. I always say the easier you make it for people to buy from you, the more likely they are. And most, most people I find are unintentionally throwing up all kinds of roadblocks and also I refer to these as like parking spaces. It's like on the road or up the staircase to get to the place where we exchange dollars for services. A lot of times, business owners, estheticians, coaches, like oh, we all do it. We throw up these little roadblocks and our parking spaces, which we think we're being respectful in when we do this. We're like, well, I don't want to be pushy. I don't want to be aggressive. So I'm just gonna like not do anything. But you forget that your prospect, your client, your potential customer, they don't really know your process. They don't know what's possible for them, they don't know what to do or say next in conversations. The only way that they'll know what to do or say often is by you issuing an invitation that allows for them to say yes, no, question, whatever. But if you say, like, well, you know, they did ask me about this service and I told them a little bit about it, or I handed them a flyer about it, but I didn't actually ask them if they wanted to book it. You just gave them a parking space. You just said, like, park here and maybe we'll circle back around to this at some point. And it's like, no, they were interested right then. You went through the like new service that you're offering. Your job is to issue that invitation and invite them to schedule a time with you. And if you don't schedule, you're you're unintentionally sending the message of like, either I don't want your business, which is probably not true, or I don't think you can afford this service, which it's not your place to make that decision. Or you're sending the message of like, I don't really want, I like, I don't think I want to work with you. And that's again, these things are not true, but that's what that's the message the other person gets. So your job is to just issue invitations and not be offended if they say, like, no, thank you. Like I always say, you know, I've been in scissors sales now for over 25 years. I think I'm getting close to 30. And I have issued a lot of invitations. I've invited a lot of people to work with me over the years. And I have been told no once. I'm just kidding. I've been told no many. I was like, once. The thing that I will say is I almost never, I shouldn't say I want to say never, but I almost never have anybody clutch their pearls and be like, Nikki, how dare you ask me for my business, right? Like people are just always like, either like, yeah, Nikki, I'm totally in, or no, I'm not. And like I don't get offended if people say no to me. I don't take it personally, frankly. And also, I, you know, like I'm delighted when somebody says yes, but I also don't take it like, oh, that's because I convinced them. Like there's just not that much pressure around selling, and it's and there shouldn't be. And if you're feeling that kind of pressure, it's just usually an indication that there's some structure and some strategy that with a little bit of knowledge on your part, you will find it takes all that pressure and all that like out of it. And and now you can just have real conversations with people and be like your real self and be strategic in it.

Lead With Authority And Balance Power

Kari Jo

Yeah. And I think that what you're saying is so important because I feel like what happens so often is as aestheticians, because we're new, we get scared, we let the client lead the conversation like you you're saying. And it's kind of like they're just parking the car, they don't know what to do. You know what I mean? And so, in order to actually sell, like to actually do that, you actually have to step into like your I don't know, authority state. Like you're the leader, you're the business like owner, you actually know what needs to be done, and so your job is to lead them through a whole entire kind of like you know, sales phase, right? From the very beginning. But if you're not leading them through those steps all the way through, the client has to lead themselves and it's just going to stop.

How To Structure A First Session

Nikki Rausch

Because they don't know what to do, they don't know what to say. Yeah, I love that you made that that distinction for people to help them really understand. Like, you are the guide in the conversation. And if you act like your role is to be submissive and let the client control the conversation, that's a mistake. I always say in a sales conversation, there should always be a balance of power, right? Like you don't get to hold all the power over the prospect or the the buyer. And because if you do, frankly, there's a lot of other choices. They'll go buy from somebody else and they won't like feeling that like out of like that awkward out of power. But at the same time, you can't give the prospect or the client all the power. And and and really it's it's because a little bit of human nature, they won't value you, they won't, they won't um treat you with the same kind of respect. So if you're giving all your power away in that conversation, you're essentially saying to the other person, like, I don't really matter as much, like you're more important. And, you know, I know that we all get, you know, told this like the customer's always right kind of mentality, which really is not true. But even if you want to live with that kind of mentality of like the customer is always right, you still have to show up from a place of authority. There's nothing worse than like going in to have a service performed and feeling like the other person either has no idea what they're doing, or they don't even feel qualified to, you know, provide this service that you just paid for. And now you're kind of disappointed in the investment that you just made. Yeah. So you don't want to leave people feeling disappointed in the investment that they made. So you have to balance out power. And and one of the ways to really like easily lead the conversation, like you just said, Kari Jo, is to ask permission to do so. So when somebody comes in and they're like, you know, well, here's what's going on for me, and blah, blah, blah. You know, you can start by saying, So the process, when you come in for your first session, this is what we're gonna do first. And you're gonna have an opportunity to ask questions, then we're gonna do your treatment. And then at the end of your treatment, we'll talk about some additional services that are available to you if you're interested. How does that sound? And they go, Oh, that sounds pretty good. And you go, Great. So the first step is for me to ask you a couple quick questions about what's going on with your skin. Is it okay if I do that now? And they go, like, yeah. Now you just basically said, Hey, I'm asking you permission to take the lead in this conversation. And I'm gonna lead it because if you let the client lead it, I mean, I think we've all been in these conversations where somebody comes in and you're like, So tell me what's going on with your skin. And they go, Well, when I was five, and you're like, When you're five, you're 50, lady. What are we gonna do here? Like, how long is this conversation gonna go on for? So you don't want to let the client take all the control in the meeting for sure or in the session.

Kari Jo

Yes. Oh my gosh, Nikki, you are like gold, and I just know like all of my listeners are gonna be like, um, I need to learn from her. Teach me all of those, like the I needed that five-step system. So tell me how my uh listeners can connect with you, how they can learn from you. Where are you at?

Nikki’s Gift And Ways To Connect

Nikki Rausch

That's so kind. Thank you so much. Um, there's a few ways. One, I always like to give a gift to somebody's audience if they allow me to come and be on their podcast. So I have a training, it's called Seal the Deal, Questions That Close Sales. It will be some of it will be very applicable to your esthetician, you know, listeners. So I'd love to just gift that to you. It's normally something you can buy from me, but I'll just gift it to your audience if that's okay. So that will be one way for us to connect. You can get it by going to your salesmaven, M-A-V-E-N dot com forward slash carry jo. So this it really is for your listeners. And then um, the other thing is if you obviously they like a podcast. So I have a podcast too. It's called Sales Maven, and I teach on there. Um, I do on-air coaching calls, I do sales success stories, but then I really do have a lot of episodes where it's just me teaching sales strategy. So go check out the Sales Maven podcast. And if I can be of service to somebody, reach out. I'd love to hear from people who hear me on a podcast and say, like, this was my big takeaway, or you said this, but didn't really make sense, Nikki, to me. Like, would you explain it? Like, reach out to me. You can email me at Nikki at yoursalesmaven.com.

Kari Jo

Oh my gosh, Nikki, yes, okay. Well, thank you so much for that gift. I like I'm going to go get it myself, you know. But I know all of my clients our listeners are going to be totally going to get it themselves too. And I hope everyone does tune into your podcast because this is like the step that I think is can really take your business from being broke, really struggling to book those uh clients for rebooks, sell the product. Like you just need a system. And if you just repeat the systems, then it's not so hard and it doesn't feel pushy. And I'm telling you, Nikki is the girl to learn from. So thank you so much, Nikki, for coming on the podcast. Thanks for having me.

Announcer

Thank you for listening to the Esthetician Podcast with Kari Jo 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.karijopatterson.com. That's www.karijopatterson.com. See you next week for more insights and strategies on the Esthetician Podcast.

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Nikki Rausch

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