How to Find Your First Lash Clients After Training

The question of how to get lash clients is answered for a lash artist much the way it is for any other beauty professional. There are many options here: word of mouth, social media, partner programs. The main thing is persistence, because only persistence breaks the closed circle in which a new artist needs clients to gain experience, while clients need a reputation, which is to say the same experience.

If you are only starting your career as a lash artist, it is worth taking a job in a salon for a while. This helps you gain experience, see professionals at work and get valuable advice, even if you are listed not as an artist but as an assistant. You also get good experience talking with clients, learn how to get out of conflict situations properly and understand how bookings are organized. On top of that you start to see how a client base is formed: a list of people who are interested in your services and plan to use them regularly.

Once you have the practical and organizational skills, you can move on to your own business. If at first you have only 3-5 clients, that is already not bad; the main thing is that their loyalty to you is as high as possible. Most likely your first clients will be acquaintances, friends or even relatives.

The simplest way to bring in the first clients is to make a list of potential clients and call them. Not everyone is ready to put themselves in the hands of a beginner, so to give them a reason to use your services, you will have to give something up at first. One option is to work at cost, or even for free.

When clients are convinced that you do quality work, you can start pricing. Keep in mind that most people believe an average price buys average quality. If you want your work to be seen as professional, it should have a matching price. But raise prices gradually. The higher the jump, the fewer clients stay with you; do not worry, though, their place will be taken by others who can pay more. Keep the level of quality in line with the price or even above it. This matters especially in a small town, where a reputation, a bad one above all, spreads fast.

The portfolio is your main sales tool. Even if you have no clients yet, you can build a basic portfolio in several ways.

Free sets for models

Offer free lash extensions to friends, relatives or coworkers in exchange for good photos for the portfolio. You can also use groups on social networks where artists look for models and models look for artists for low-cost services.

Working with photographers

Find a beginning photographer and offer a mutually useful arrangement: you do the models' lashes, the photographer takes quality pictures for the portfolio.

Practice on live models usually starts already during training. In the program of our lash academy the last of the four steps is called certify and launch, and along with a certificate, a starter kit and a manual it includes a plan to get your first clients. Students from Clark, about seven minutes from the Cranford studio up Raritan Rd, can bring that plan home and start on it the following week.

Social networks have proven themselves as a convenient and accessible platform for posting information about yourself. They are very popular, so advertising there reaches more people. For a lash artist the best platform is Instagram, since it is made for photos, and your work is judged first of all by the eye.

To make the account attractive, the page has to be set up properly. All photos should be in one style so they are recognizable. If you find it hard to pick one yourself, use ready templates. Post not only photos of your work but information about yourself too: it wins potential clients over and removes doubts. Be sure to show where you see clients, which materials you use and how you sterilize your tools.

Lash portfolio photos are, in essence, the face of your business, so the quality has to be high. When shooting, use good light and additional lamps and get a sharp image. This way you kill two birds with one stone: you notice flaws in the work if there are any, and you give the client a full picture of the level of your services without misleading anyone.

There is no point in saying the photos must be yours only. By using someone else's, or simply stolen, photos you deceive the client and risk negative reviews if she wanted to see what was on your page and got something completely different.

The "cold" audience is the people who do not know about you yet. The main channels for reaching them are:

• an Instagram account with regular content, stories and reels of your work;
• a Facebook page and themed beauty groups;
• local classifieds sites;
• neighborhood chats, where you can offer services to neighbors;
• local moms' groups in your area.

Present the material so that potential clients become interested in your work. Then make it clear that you work professionally, carefully and use only certified brand materials. Think about how you can stand out among other lash artists. Find something of your own and name the benefit for the client, whether it is a gift with the service, a discount or free parking.

Bonuses also help bring in clientele: a free fill or removal, discounts on some services, discounts for regular clients, discounts for booking through your account.

One very useful way to promote yourself, which few people use, is working together with other kinds of business. The reason is probably that artists do not know about such forms of cooperation or do not know how to set up the contacts. Connections are best built in a related field or in a business with related services.

For lash artists such partners can be:

• beauty salons and hair salons;
• nail studios;
• stylists and makeup artists;
• massage and spa salons;
• sellers and rental shops of evening and wedding dresses;
• event organizers and hosts;
• photographers and videographers;
• florists, jewelry boutiques, cafes and showrooms.

The principle is mutual advertising and sharing information among clients, so that both you and the partner get a new audience. You can simply exchange business cards and offer them to your visitors, or pay a percentage for each new client who came on the partner's recommendation. In social networks the same works: agree with a nail artist on a discount for her followers, for example lash extensions at a lower price for those who had a manicure with her. Joint posts, mutual tags and participation in beauty events work the same way.

The "hot" audience is those who already know about you or came on a recommendation. There are many cases when a beginning lash artist did lashes for a friend, the friend showed them off at work, and several of her coworkers booked, who then brought new clients. That is, the first told the next, there were more visitors, and then word of mouth started. From there everything depends on how well you work and whether you keep in touch with clients.

Offer regular clients a discount for friends they bring, for example "Bring a friend and get 20% off your next appointment". Give small gifts or services to clients who bring new people. Ask clients to leave a review on social networks or other platforms; you can give a small discount on the next appointment for it.

A client base is very important for building lash artist clientele. It holds not only names and contacts. You can note each client's features: appearance, preferred look and extension method, how she takes the procedure, the price if it differs from the price for other clients. Keep the base however is convenient for you: in a spreadsheet on the computer, in an app on the phone, or simply in a notebook.

Do not forget follow-up after the appointment. Feedback gives an impression of care and an individual approach. Call or write in a messenger to find out whether the client is comfortable with her new eyelash extensions, how they are holding, whether she has remarks or requests. If the result did not satisfy her, you can agree on a correction. If you are criticized, do not take offense; treat it as a reason to find your weak points. Give aftercare advice and remind clients when it is time for a fill. Also note how many clients came back after the first, second and later appointments. If few return, you have to find out why clients had a bad impression of your work. Perhaps you repeat the same mistakes, and without fixing them you will not build a client base.

All the preparations should not distract from looking for clients. Put the steps above into a short plan and go through it day by day.

The order below is one possible option. The main thing is not to stop after the first days and to come back to each channel regularly.

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