How to "Break into" the aesthetics industry & everything you need to know about what experience is required for each role.

I am glad to know you are interested in getting into the aesthetics industry.

I want to remind you that as an executive recruiter – my job is to get my clients the right candidate – not to get a candidate a job. That is what a staffing agency is for. I have clients that pay me as a recruiter to find them the exact talent they need. Think of this in another way……You couldn’t apply to be an Electrical Engineer if you didn’t have experience or the certifications to do that role. It’s the same with these roles – you must have specific experience in your current and previous roles to be considered. You also can’t have had to large of a title such as a Director or a VP of Sales, to be considered. The biggest downfall is having too much work experience since graduating from college, yet none of it in aesthetic med device sales. You will never be considered for the role you want, not the Jr role or the Sr role.

So getting into this industry can be challenging. If you are currently not in an outside sales cold-calling role, none of my clients will want to take the risk of hiring you. However, if you have some aesthetics background, like working at the front desk of a med spa, as a plastic surgeon or a Dermatologist, it makes getting into this industry much easier. I get many candidates that want to transition out of roles they are in now and merge into aesthetics and, unfortunately, without the outside sales and cold calling experience. It is almost impossible.

The

aesthetics industry has multiple sales roles - here are the most popular.

Territory Manager

Area Sales Manager

Post Sales Support/Business Development Manager/ Practice Success Manager

Skincare Sales Rep

Injectables Sales rep.

The first position is Territory Manager.

There is a Jr outside sales role called a Territory Manager selling the aesthetic lasers. This role is more of an appointment-getter for the Area Sales Manager. You have to learn how to be told no over and over, so this is the role you would have to start in to sell devices. This Territory Manager will be driving around from 8-5, knocking on doors all day long, trying to get a doctor to let them come in to pitch one of the devices they are selling. If you are in a desk job, my clients will never consider you for this outside sales role. You'll need to show you have current experience cold calling to get new customers.

This rep is best suited for a candidate under the age of 30. This is a college grad with at least 2 years of sales experience but preferably no more than 7 years of work experience since getting their degree. These reps are young and hungry and can be away from home for multiple days at a time during the week, living in a hotel if necessary.

If you are an esthetician or an RN - this will not help you get a job for this position. I repeat if you are currently working at a MedSpa, Dermatologist or Plastic Surgeons’ office doing treatments on patients, or an RN at a hospital, that is not the experience needed to get into this type of role. YOU MUST HAVE CURRENT OUTSIDE SALES EXPERIENCE FOR ALL AESTHETIC SALES ROLES.

If you are in a role where you are only calling on existing clients for your current employer to see how they are doing or to get them to buy more products or services over the phone, they will not consider you. If you are not in a role where you are getting up every day and driving to random businesses to pitch a product that your company sells, then I will not be able to submit you. If you are a pharmaceutical rep, it is almost impossible to transition into this industry. My clients want candidates who are actually selling a product to a business or doctor. A pharmaceutical rep is selling more of a relationship or hoping the doctor will write as many scripts for that product as possible. This is a challenging role where you are driving all day long, walking into a potential client’s office, introducing yourself to them, and trying to get them to let you come back and pitch an aesthetic laser. Then, after work, you are in front of your computer at home, getting on Google, for example, and typing in a specific zip code in your assigned region to look for every potential doctor you could sell your devices to. That will then be added to salesforce, and you will hit the streets the next day calling on those doctors with the names of the doctor, the office manager etc., their phone numbers and the addresses that you entered into the CRM, such as sales force. You must start with this role if you are interested in selling aesthetic devices.?

Many of my clients have been looking for candidates?from Cintas or Unifirst, then any payroll or HR company like Paychex, ADP, Paycom, etc. They also like candidates who may have experience selling to high-end professionals like from Tom James, the custom clothier. The Wine and Spirit industry is also good, and several distributors like Southern Glazer's are good outside sales companies to work at. These sales reps go from store to store trying to get the business to place their wine or alcohol brands on their shelves. Copier and printer sales companies are the best companies to get started in, as those pieces of capital equipment are expensive, just like lasers. Think of Xerox, Konica Minolta, Staples, Kyocera, Ricoh, Canon and Sharp. That is the best experience to have, as you would call on a business and ask the owner of that office to buy a piece of capital equipment that is expensive and?take out a loan for it or get approved for financing. Copiers and printers, just like aesthetic devices, are considered capital equipment.

This Jr rep makes a $60k base plus a $600-$800/month car allowance, and after commissions, these roles pay $120k to $200K depending on how good you are and where you live in the US. I have some TM's that have made $500k their first year on their W-2s and others that have made only $80K

So go out and get some outside door-knocking experience. My clients like to see you have at least 1 year in an outside sales, cold-calling role before they bring you on board. For that reason, candidates often graduate from college and join a company that they really don’t want to work at, to get the outside sales/cold-calling and B2B sales experience for the job they really want.?

Get some experience selling Capital Equipment. Capital equipment is?an article of nonexpendable, tangible property with a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of $5,000 or more per unit. The capital equipment in this industry is any device that treats a patient for things such as acne scars, face & body treatments, hair removal, hair loss, men’s sexual wellness like Erectile Dysfunction, Women’s sexual wellness like vaginal rejuvenation, skin conditions like Psoriasis, rosacea, skin resurfacing, tattoo removal, veins, vitiligo, dark spots, sagging skin, fat transfer, rejuvenation the skin around the eyes, and more.

The next position is an Area Sales Manager.

After being a Territory Manager for at least a year, you can be recruited away or get promoted to?Area Sales Manager. This role is for sales reps who have already been Territory Managers or have sold expensive capital equipment to private businesses or?physicians' offices, not into hospitals but to actual private physician offices. This is for aesthetic laser or device sales reps who are ready for a promotion to this title. If you only have experience selling to a hospital where the doctor does not personally have to pay for the device you are selling, it is tough to get hired for this role. Sometimes, although it is rare, a client will consider experienced capital sales reps from outside the aesthetics industry, such as hospital equipment sales, dental sales etc., for this role. In my experience, I have yet to place a hospital sales rep as an ASM. You would have to be closing your own deals and have significant numbers of sales, such as over $1M annually, to be considered for this title of Area Sales Manager.?The annual quota for an ASM is usually $2.5M to sometimes over $5M depending on the company.

This position is almost always a $70k base with a $600- $800/mo car allowance, and after commissions, these roles pay $250k - $900k+ depending on where you live in the US. So, if I throw out the highs and lows, the average total compensation these ASMs are making from coast to coast is about $300k to $400k per year. To be considered for this position, I have you complete a questionnaire to determine the price of the product you are selling and who you are selling it to. If I see hospital equipment on there - I will probably release you right away as I know you are not required to have the doctor pay for your product; that experience will not transition well for an ASM in this industry.

9 times out of 10 candidates from outside the aesthetic laser sales industry will NOT be hired.

The next role is a Post Sales Support/Business Development Manager/ Key Account Manager/ Practice Success Manager.

This is the most desired position for young female candidates I am currently recruiting.

The experience I check for:

Business Consultation/Practice Development/ Patient Care Coordinator

Ability to travel

Sales ability/upselling/account management

Events/Event management/Event planning.???????????????

Education/training/sales training/Training Creation

Marketing/social media

Skincare knowledge

You can get this type of role in the aesthetics industry if you have worked in the aesthetic industry selling skincare and injectables or as a front desk clerk, patient care coordinator or treatment coordinator at a local plastic surgeon, Medspa or Dermatologist. ?Also, if you have marketing and social media experience in your current role, you would be considered for this type of aesthetics position. Still, they also want you to have some aesthetic experience for that.

If you are an esthetician or an RN - this will not help you get a job for this position. If you are currently working at a MedSpa, Dermatologist or Plastic Surgeons’ office doing treatments on patients, or an RN at a hospital, that is not the experience needed to get into this type of role. YOU MUST HAVE CURRENT SALES EXPERIENCE FOR ALL AESTHETIC SALES ROLES.

These roles require some level of aesthetic marketing and, usually, a presence on social media. My clients prefer if you have had to post things on an employer's website to promote an event for them. These roles are for the reps that go into the clients' offices after a device has been sold and work with the practice to help them utilize the device, open houses, events, launch parties, etc. The problem is that these roles changed in 2022. They are now less about social media and marketing and more about if you can upsell the client on buying more products or a second system if they only have one.?So, for example, one of my clients now requires 50 cold calls a day to new clients, and you must turn that into your manager at the beginning of the week. So you would have to work before and after work to discover 250 new leads you can call on that upcoming week as a post-sales support rep. So on top of working with the current client to host events, launch parties, and social media posts to showcase the device they just bought, you will also have to sell, sell, sell. Another client of mine now requires this position to sell a device a month or close to that. They require you to sell $200k worth of services and/or devices monthly. I did have a candidate turned down for an interview as the hiring manager said she did not have a large enough following in Instagram. This can be very important to some of my clients.

These roles pay a base salary of $60k to $80k and a car allowance of $600-$800k a month, and after commissions, these roles pay $120k to $200k+, depending on what company you work for. I have some candidates making $130k on their W-2 and others making $350K on their W-2 for the same role. This all depends on the commission percentage you are getting and where you live in the US.

Next is Skincare Sales

You can get a job selling skincare only if you have sold skincare before. Therefore, I can only submit candidates to companies with skincare sales experience as an executive recruiter.

How do you get the skincare sales experience, then? First, you would have to find a skincare company and apply to them directly online on their careers page to see if they would accept you as a skincare rep without any sales experience. Then, once you have worked for them for at least a year, I can help you.

These roles pay a base salary from $80k to $100k and a car allowance of $600-$800k a month, and after commissions, these roles pay $150k to over $200k+ depending on what company you work for, the commission percentage and where you live in the US.

If you are an esthetician or an RN - this will not help you get a job for this position. I repeat, if you are currently working at a MedSpa, Dermatologist or Plastic Surgeons office doing treatments on patients, or an RN at a hospital, that is not the experience needed to get into this type of role. YOU MUST HAVE CURRENT SALES EXPERIENCE FOR ALL AESTHETIC SALES ROLES.

I only place current skincare sales reps. So if you are trying to get experience selling skincare – try applying directly to the company's website to see if they will give you a chance.

The next position in an Injectables Rep - Botox and fillers, for example

You can get a job selling injectables such as Neurotoxins or fillers. For this role, you would have to be currently selling skincare or injectables to be considered. Some of my clients will accept a pharma rep for this role. Again, you would have to get a job selling pharma products to be considered. If possible, you will also want to sell pharma products related to the skin. This means you would be selling to dermatologists or OB/GYN primarily.

These roles pay a base salary from $90k to $110k and a car allowance of $600-$800k a month after commissions; these roles pay $150k to $300k depending on what company you work for, their commission percentage and where you live in the US.

If you are an esthetician or an RN - this will not help you get a job for this position. I repeat, if you are currently working at a MedSpa, Dermatologist or Plastic Surgeons office doing treatments on patients, or an RN at a hospital, that is not the experience needed to get into this type of role. YOU MUST HAVE CURRENT SALES EXPERIENCE FOR ALL AESTHETIC SALES ROLES.

OF COURSE, ALL COMPENSATION DEPENDS ON THE COMPANY, AND THE DOLLAR AMOUNTS I LISTED ARE AN AVERAGE OF WHAT I AM CURRENTLY SEEING.

Please review my website and the Insights tab for all the Aesthetic articles?I wrote about this industry.?www.theaestheticrecruiter.net

I hope this information is helpful to you.

https://theaestheticrecruiter.net/what-recent-college-grads-dont-know-about-the-income-from-getting-an-aesthetic-sales-career/