How to Become A Lash Tech Part 5 | How to Get More Clients

Let’s assume you’re a recently qualified lash technician who’s all set up and ready to get started with real, paying clients. It’s likely that for the first few months you were working on close friends and family members while you practised application techniques and different styles, particularly while you were completing your case studies for your lash extensions training course. The time will come though, when you will need to start seeing regular clients. So, how do you get more clients as a lash tech?

Word of Mouth

This is arguably the foundation of any business, and can be the difference between clients coming in trickles, or in waves! If you have been doing lashes for your friends and family members while you’ve been practising, it’s highly likely that you haven’t been charging them, or have been charging them a very small amount. The best thing they can do for you (after laying still for hours at a time, of course!) is to recommend your lash extensions services to other people they know, as this may just get you a couple of extra bookings!

While this can absolutely get your business off the ground, it's not exactly a foolproof method for growth, so what else can you do?

Social Media

We go into LOADS more detail about using social media to get more clients in the next part of this series (keep your eyes peeled!), but the main thing that you need to consider when it comes to gaining clients and filling up your booking calendar is that we are in an age where social media is one of the biggest ways that people find new products and services that they want to try. Keeping your social media accounts up to date with great photos, videos and information will let clients see what you have to offer, and will hopefully entice them to at least reach out to enquire about booking an appointment. 

Reply to Messages

This may sound obvious, but leaving a message unanswered for too long will be the difference between getting a client booked in and losing their interest entirely. While it may sound vague and simple on the surface, replying to messages effectively is key, and comes down to two main factors – how quickly you answer, and how meaningful the response is. 

One thing you can do is to set up an automated response, so that customers receive a message straight away letting them know that you’ll get back to them as soon as you can. In that response, let them know a timeframe in which they can expect a response from you as well, just to really manage their expectations. 

It’s always worth setting aside time during your day to respond to messages, and we don’t mean replying on your lunch break – rest time is important! As an example, set aside half an hour in the morning, and then a couple of 15 minute slots where you respond to messages throughout your working day. That way, you keep on top of messages and your clients don’t have to wait too long for a reply from you. 

TOP TIP! If you're using Facebook and/or Instagram, be sure to check your message requests as well, as messages are easy to miss in there! 

Lastly, when it comes to responding to messages be sure to only reply to them during work hours. It’s really important to have boundaries where your personal time is concerned so make sure that you have a cut-off time for responding to clients.

Get Reviews

This goes hand-in-hand with word of mouth and can absolutely go hand-in-hand with the social media section as well. Great reviews are some of the best drivers for people making a decision that it’s you who they need to book with so it’s important that you have at least one place where customers can leave reviews for you. Facebook is pretty user friendly when it comes to creating a business profile, and it’s somewhere that clients can leave reviews. A couple of years ago they swapped out their 5 star rating system in favour of a ‘recommendation’ model, where clients can say that they would recommend you. They can write the reasons why they would, so you still get lots of lovely feedback that way. 

Another option is to put your business on Google Business. Again, this is quite user friendly and is SO worth doing. You can let people know your opening hours, what you offer, and how to get to you as well as offering them the chance to leave you reviews. Google reviews are really important for clients to see how you’re doing, so it’s well worth setting this up.

One more option – and we appreciate that this is more than likely a more long-term project than the other options – is to have a website where clients can see your portfolio, book an appointment and leave a review all in one place. This is a great way to keep everything together and will be a great thing to have at some point, but there is a certain level of maintenance that comes with having a website that you don’t have to worry about with the other methods detailed above.

Introductory Offers

When it comes to getting new clients though, a really good way to entice someone who isn’t quite sure about booking with you is to have an introductory offer in place. We covered how to set your treatment prices in Part 3 of this series. If you haven’t checked that out yet and you’re not sure how much to charge for a set of lashes, go and read that when you get the chance! 

What kind of offer you have is up to you and your own imagination, but here are some ideas if you’re struggling to come up with the best offer:

• A discount on the treatment is an obvious one, to really go the extra mile in ensuring that they rebook with you, it’s worth having a deal which also includes their infill appointment. Something like 25% off when you book a full lash set and an infill appointment. Again, the finer details are for you and your imagination to decide on.
• Have a heavier discount for your first month or two of opening. Be careful not to sell yourself short, and definitely make it clear that this is an introductory price so that no-one is shocked when your prices go back up to what they’re supposed to be.
• Referral discounts are always a good idea as they really facilitate the word of mouth method of attracting new clients. The best way to approach these is to offer existing clients and the person they refer each a perk. This could be a simple discount (£10 off for each of you when you refer a friend) or it could be a free gift for example.
• Offer a free gift if they book with you in your first month. This is a little bit riskier than the other options because it can be quite easy to eat into your profits more this way, but if you were to offer a free aftercare bundle when they book a lash set, you may see some return on that investment when they run out, and then need to buy a bundle from you in the future. 

Attracting a client base isn’t easy, but that doesn’t mean it has to be super hard! A little bit of creativity and attention to detail can make a huge difference to how full your booking diary gets in the first few months!

Want to know more? Check out the rest of the series! 

Part 1: Picking the Best Course For You | Part 2: Associated Costs with Starting Up | Part 3: How to Price Your Treatments | Part 4: Which Policies You Should Introduce and Why | Part 6: Using Social Media for Business Growth | Part 7: Should You Expand Your Treatment List? | Part 8: What Else Can You Do With A Lash Qualification? | Part 9: How to Become A Lash Trainer