THE WAXOPOLITAN

Now, more than ever, the virtual side of your business can be vital to keeping your income and client relationships flowing. Your online presence can help keep you and your business fresh in people's minds and get them excited for their future appointments.

Offering virtual consultations is just one aspect of how you can continue building and expanding your brand and supplementing your income while serving your clientele during these times and beyond.

There are countless ways to achieve this, but here, we'll give you some of the top tips for offering the best virtual beauty consultations.

What is a Virtual Consultation?

Anytime someone writes you on Facebook or Instagram or calls you with skincare, makeup, or waxing questions, you have the beginnings of a potential virtual consultation. Now is the perfect time to capitalize on that. A 15-minute first-time wax consultation or an hour-long brow or skincare assessment can mirror aspects of what you offer during an in-person service.

A virtual consultation is any digital experience where you guide your client toward their beauty goals. It can be more productive than your average phone call, as you can see and have more access to your client's skin and hair via a video call while answering and addressing their questions and concerns. 

Some Benefits of a Virtual Consultation

A virtual service with your client is not just for "times like these" but can become a mainstay on your service menu and garner income long after "business, as usual," can continue.  

Whether you're working with a new or loyal client, a virtual consultation can offer some of the following:

• For new clients, you can educate them on how you're different from other specialists and what to expect from a service. For seasoned clients, you can teach them about services they haven't tried with you.

• During a first-time wax consultation, for example, you can discuss which Starpil Wax is best for their skin and hair type. Let them know the benefits and differences between the Starpil Wax lines such as Blue Film, Pink Film, Starsoft, Black Film, Pink Soft Wax, or even the Roll-On system.

• Use this time to suggest products they can purchase during the virtual consultation while answering all of their questions. You can also send them their original client intake form during this time to evaluate their skin care regimen. Pre-book future services to lock-in business and garner income in real-time. 

• Showcase your knowledge and immediately position yourself as an authority within your field. Even past clients can expand their knowledge regarding new home care routines, services, products, or education.

• All of the above can help build client relationships. A virtual consultation can keep the focus on the service and client (in lieu of personal conversation), and save time during an upcoming in-person service. An online service helps keep the buzz surrounding you going without having to wait for your client to walk into the salon.

How to Use Virtual Consultations to Grow Your Business

If you haven't already, set yourself up on Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, Facebook Messenger, or Instagram so that you can build-up your virtual treatment room. Before you log on, set up a payment system like PayPal, Venmo, or Cash App, and make sure to have people pay upon booking to keep them accountable for the valuable time you're offering.

Start to think about the most popular services you offer and how you would start or continue a new or existing client on their journey to healthier skin, fuller brows, or whichever service you'd like to focus on. How do you address these concerns in your treatment room? Write it all down so that you can let your clients know what you're offering and so that you can have an outline of how your online services will go, how long they would take, and how to price them out.

Make sure that you have the online skin evaluation or virtual consultation service options on your scheduling platform, so people can book and pay accordingly. Price out your consultations as you would a popular service you offer. For example, an hour acne-reducing facial or brow session is X amount of time/dollars, so make your online service comparable to that. 

What Does a Virtual Consultation Look Like?

Below is an example of a virtual consultation for a client. Use this as a guide and rewrite it in your own brand voice or position it toward the service of your choice. You can put this info on your physical or online service menus. While delivering an online service or virtual skin evaluation, have a notepad ready to record everything you and your client discuss so that you can include it all in your follow-up message.

Copy and paste to start with a template and customize it to your business!

Service Name: Virtual Skin and Brow Consultation with Veronica!

Service Incentives: 

Examples:

"Your Online Session will include a FREE skincare consultation with me when you purchase $100 in products at the time of your virtual appointment."

"Purchase a Virtual Consultation with me and get a $25 credit toward your next service."

"Book a Virtual Consultation with me and get 50% off when you pre-book a future brow service with me!"

Here is what our time will look like and what we'll be covering:

1. Your Top Skin Concerns (or brow, or Brazilian, or waxing concerns)– Let's talk about what you're currently experiencing with your skin/eyebrows right now. What are your questions, concerns, and goals? We'll dive deep so that we can address your specific skin/hair/brow type and needs for your ultimate glow-up!

2. Literal Face Time – Let's take a closer look at what's going on so that we can lift your skin and brows back up to their full potential. Our video call will allow me to go further on diagnosing your current needs and how we can meet them together!

3. Feed Your Face – We'll figure out how your daily nutrition affects the current state of your skin and brows. We can discuss how a few changes can reduce challenges toward reaching your skincare and brow goals.

4. Your Skincare and Brow Wardrobe – Here, we'll go through your medicine cabinet and makeup bag so that I can give you an assessment on how what you're using is helping or hindering you from reaching your skincare and brow goals. We'll discuss how you're performing your daily rituals and ensure that you're on the right path to glowing skin and stunning brows.

5. Your Beauty Blend – In the end, you'll receive a complete recap of everything we discuss and a full personalized write-up of what your skincare and brow regimen should look like for mornings, nights, and everything in between. Together, we'll take the guesswork out of your skincare and brow routines for self-care that works with your specific skin and brow type, concerns, lifestyle, and schedule.

Here's how to make it all happen!

Timing: The consultation lasts up to 50 minutes between the business hours of 10 AM – 6 PM PST (Pacific Standard Time)

Where: The comfort of your own home via your smartphone or computer on Skype™, Zoom (or whichever platform suits you best).

Booking Info: To schedule an appointment with me, please add your Skype handle (or means of how to contact them via the chosen platform for the appointment), or call +1 555-567-8910

Payment Info: All appointments are pre-paid and sent through Venmo (for example, then include your payment information.)

Follow-Up

As with all of the benefits of online consultations, your follow-up message keeps the party going and gives your client a tangible takeaway to help them achieve results. Do your follow-up message immediately after your video call so that everything is fresh in your mind, and so that you can rewrite your notes into complete thoughts. You might even find that there are things that you forgot to mention during the session, so feel free to include it in your follow-up message. Whether your focus was on skin, brows, or body waxing, be sure to give some simple step-by-step how-tos to meet your client's needs. For maximum impact, your follow-up message should look something like this.

"Hi, Connie!

Wow, our online session was so much fun. We covered a lot of ground, so I wanted to send you a recap of 

Then include all of the intake information...

"Thank you so much for pre-booking your next brow service today and for our Virtual Consultation. Please let me know how the things we discussed are working for you or if you have any questions. 

Your support is invaluable to me. Can't wait to see you real soon.

Warm regards,

Shannon"

The follow-up message can also include any coupons, promotional items, or shipping information regarding their purchases. 

Final Thoughts

Offering online services can be extremely rewarding throughout the many incarnations of your business to keep your finger on your clients' pulse, and supplement your income. There are many ways to do it right, but these are just a few top tips for offering the best virtual beauty consultations.

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