Archive for Start Your Massage Business

How to set your massage rates.

June 18, 2009 Julie Onofrio Start Your Massage Business

Setting your massage rates involves knowing what you need to make to be successful and stay in business along with pricing your rates to be affordable by your target market or ideal massage client. So often massage therapists set their rates low thinking that it will get you more massage clients because you will be cheaper than other massage therapists. Many do this from the start of their business thinking that they are not skilled enough to charge more for their services.

What you charge is a reflection of your relationship with money.

What relationship with money?
Most do not even have a relationship with money.

Many massage therapists have the idea that they are in this business to help others and that helping is reward enough for the services that they provide. This idea of it being noble to not have money and help is common in many of the helping professions and is one of the biggest causes of burnout.

To start with research prices in your area.  Call a few places or look at their websites for what fees they charge. Keep in mind that internet research might not be 100% accurate.   Then go in and get a few massages from these places to see if you think their work is worth it.  I can’t tell you the number of really bad massages I have gotten from people who charged extra for deep tissue or spa’s that charged more only to get a really bad massage.  You will find a range of various prices and services.

You also need to consider what your overhead is for your business and how much you need to make in a draw or pay yourself each month.

You should set your prices high enough that not everyone can afford you and low enough so that you have enough clients.

Every year you should give yourself a raise no matter what the economy is doing.

You can also charge more if you take classes on a new method or technique and have mastered it.  Adding more services like hot stone massage or reflexology makes your work different and more valuable then just a regular massage.  If you are just starting out right out of massage school you also don’t have much experience.  You can charge more each year of experience that you gain.

The other factor to consider is what kind of results are you getting?  If you are an expert in massage or one of the many techniques and are able to get good results it is worth more than the regular market value.  Specializing in a specific disease or condition such as cancer or fibromyalgi can also be worth more.

Many massage therapists have a tendency to want to use a sliding scale method of charging or charging less than they need to make thinking that they need to do that to start out.    You can do that to get the clients that you need and then start raising your rates right away and say it was just an introductory rate.

There will always be someone who is willing to charge less than you.  When professionals compete on price lowering it affects the whole profession.

It all actually comes down to what do you want to or need to make.  Asking this question first can help guide you on the path to a long career in massage.  Many massage therapists will burn out or not be able to stay in business when they continually work for less than they need to make.   You also need to do the marketing that building a business requires to attract the clients that you want and who will pay you what you are worth.

See also:

Rate Setting Tool Kit from Mikelann Valterra

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Massage Gift Certificates

December 11, 2008 Julie Onofrio News, Start Your Massage Business

Just a quick update to make sure that everyone knows that it is important to know what the laws are regarding the sale of gift certificates.  Here is a website with a list of states and the laws regarding gift certificate sales.  Some things to be aware of:

  • Gift Certificates that are not redeemed may be subject to laws regarding abandoned property and they may need to be turned over to the state.
  • Some states don’t allow an expiration date to be placed on the gift certificate.
  • There are some states that have specific time periods for expiration dates

Know your laws and what you are responsible for when selling massage gift certificates.

When selling Gift Certificates you also need to be aware of the emotions that are invovled in gift giving.  Most people give gifts that they want for themselves.  You will get some clients coming in who don’t really want to be there. I had a person come in one time on a GC who was so resistant – didn’t want to fill out the intake, was rude and just did not want to be there.  Her parner was with her so she didn’t have a way out. I did get through the massage and she got up saying it was the best thing that ever happened to her and she was sorry she gave me such a hard time.  I also had another guy who came in and had just stopped at a bookstore to buy a book specifically to read during the massage.  Of course I didn’t let him but being his first massage ever he just didn’t ever relax and I never saw him again.   Or the time a woman came in with one and was shocked to find out she had to take off her clothes.   To me these people are too draining to work with.  You can’t convert everyone nor is massage for everyone.

The idea that the person giving the massage is also the one who really wants or needs one can be applied to marketing to try to get that person in for the massage that they really want.  You can offer a buy three and get a half hour free or something like that.  I personally dislike selling gift certificates to people and the recipient never uses them.  To me it is just a better business practice.  Some massage therapists just say that a gift is a gift and is none of our business.  It isn’t any of our business who the gift goes to.  I just see it as a waste of money even though it is the intention behind the gift. It just feels like a cleaner business relationship especially when the buyer is themselves a regular client.

I always allow a person to use a gift certificate at any time.  The buyer can use it themselves.

It is also important to set up a system of tracking the sale of gift certificates and also when the gift certificate is redeemed so there aren’t GC being used twice or anything like that.  You can create a simple tracking sheet and number each gift certificate and track who bought it and when they bought it and any expiration date or special notes.

I use paypal on my website for people to purchase GC online.  I can then send them the GC or make arrangements for them to pick it up themselves.

Gift certificates can be a big boost for income during the holidays.  Also be aware that in Jan and Feb and the rest of the year for that matter when there is an influx of clients redeeming GC that your cash flow will be affected later.

Do you sell Gift Certificates?  Do they help you build a group of regular clients?  Do you get many unredeemed GC?  How do you feel about unredeemed GC if they are not a part of abandoned property that has to be turned over to the state?  What other issues or problems have you had selling GC?  How have they helped your business?

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Massage Marketing -Make your words sell

June 29, 2008 Julie Onofrio Massage Websites, News, Start Your Massage Business

Learning how to write and talk about your massage practice is one of the biggest challenges for massage therapists. Most just want to do massage and don’t want to or think that they can create websites and marketing materials for their massage practice. The thing is that without doing some of these things to promote your massage practice, you won’t have any people to give those massages too! Marketing is just a very simple matter of telling people what you do and what massage can do so they can decide if it is for them.

One of the best things I have ever read on the whole topic of marketing is “Make Your Words Sell”. It is a free Ebook put out by Ken Evoy of Site build it! It is quite a long ebook but well worth the read. Every section I read I couldn’t wait to implement some of the things on my websites.

The biggest revelation I got from the ebook is about using the benefits of massage and learning to create a sales message from those benefits. OK you are cringing with the word sales in there… You don’t want to be a pushy sales person. You don’t have to be. Sales is just learning to get what you want and what you wand most likely is a massage practice that is booked solid for a few months in advance.

Here is a standard list of the benefits of massage taken from massagetherapy.com.

  • Alleviate low-back pain and improve range of motion.
  • Assist with shorter, easier labor for expectant mothers and shorten maternity hospital stays.
  • Ease medication dependence.
  • Enhance immunity by stimulating lymph flow—the body’s natural defense system.
  • Exercise and stretch weak, tight, or atrophied muscles.
  • Help athletes of any level prepare for, and recover from, strenuous workouts.
  • Improve the condition of the body’s largest organ—the skin.
  • Increase joint flexibility.
  • Lessen depression and anxiety.
  • Promote tissue regeneration, reducing scar tissue and stretch marks.
  • Pump oxygen and nutrients into tissues and vital organs, improving circulation.
  • Reduce postsurgery adhesions and swelling.
  • Reduce spasms and cramping.
  • Relax and soften injured, tired, and overused muscles.
  • Release endorphins—amino acids that work as the body’s natural painkiller.
  • Relieve migraine pain.

Well their list of the benefits of massage is a little better than most but they still are not really getting to what the real benefits of massage are.

Let’s take them one by one:

“Alleviate low-back pain and improve range of motion”…… So What? Who cares? Why would anyone want to improve range of motion?

Only someone with low back pain would care about relieving it. Actually most people in pain use the reasoning…it will go away soon – or I am just getting old so I have to live with it. Not many people know anything about how the range of motion can influence back pain or even know why they need their rom improved. I would guess that many don’t even know that their rom is limited.

Why do people want to be out of pain? To be more productive. To be happier. To enjoy their families more.

That is the true benefit of reducing back pain and increasing the range of motion.

So when you get down to the real benefit of massage you can talk about that in your writing for your website, brochures and other marketing materials.

“Exercise and stretch weak, tight, or atrophied muscles.” So What???
What would it mean for them?  Why would they want their muscles stretched or exercised?

The thing is you have to find out what the benefits of YOUR massage services are – not just these standard benefits.  What makes your massage stand out from everyone elses?  Why do people come to you in the first place.

You can read more about how to Make your words sell and to turn the benefits of massage into selling points for your massage practice.

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Setting Your Fees for Massage

June 10, 2008 Julie Onofrio News, Start Your Massage Business

One of the common questions I get is ‘How much should I charge for a massage”? The question really should be ‘How much do I need to make each week/each session to run a profitable business.

I was talking to a friend of mine who asked me if I knew any cheap massage therapists. She had been going to someone who was charging about $40-$50 an hour. That person apparently went out of business and had to go back into the corporate world to make a living. So was charging less than the national average of $60 a wise thing to do?

Many think that charging less will get them more clients. They start out charging less for their services because they think that they are right out of massage school and not very good so they need to charge less and attract more clients. While they may not be as experienced the value of massage is really relative to each clients perspective and may not have anything to do with how good of a massage therapist you are.

Charging less in the beginning may be a good incentive for people to come in. I recommend that as soon as your schedule is full to start charging more. Yes you may loose clients but the bottom line is that you need to be making enough to support yourself and your family. As you get busier you can be choosier about who you work on taking clients who pay you more.

Paul Ingram of www.vancouvermassage.ca has done just that. Now that he can’t take any more clients he even started charging people double to get in immediately. The interesting thing he discovered with that is that people then began to expect more from their sessions and became too difficult to work with. I would guess these are people who are looking to fix 20 years of back pain in one session.

Some areas of the country where the cost of living is less may have lower fees for massage therapy services.

I have outlined some things to consider when setting your fees at www.thebodyworker.com and am adding a few other things to think about.

  • You will only be able to do a certain number of massages a day/week physically, mentally and emotionally. Most massage therapists do about 20 hours of massage a week. Some are able to do more. Since you are only able to do so many massages, you need to charge more to make a decent living.
  • What is the value of a massage? What does it mean to people to be able to come in and get relief for their pain or problem? What is the value of providing regular weekly massage to someone and helping them heal their attachment, security and self-esteem issues?
  • What amount do you need to charge so that you do not feel resentful of the massage client? I have heard many stories of massage therapists feeling resentful and yes even to the extent that the person wanted to apply more pressure to the massage client than they could stand. While this is not a usual thing for a massage therapist it may arise when you feel resentful.
  • Charge enough so that you are not expecting a tip. Some people will tip, some won’t. Depending on tips for income is not very helpful financially. If someone does tip think of it as a bonus not an essential part of your income.

Nina McIntosh in her book The The Educated Heart: Professional Boundaries for Massage Therapists, Bodyworkers, and Movement Teachers (LWW In Touch Series) says this about setting fees:

Your rates affect what both clients and colleges will think of you. If you charge more than the norm, some clients may be put off, while others may think you must be offering something special for the extra charge. If you charge less than the going rate, some clients will be attracted to the bargain but may not value the work as much….

The amount you charge also affects how you feel about your work. Make sure that your fees are fair to you and that they take into account all of your expenses. Charge enough so that you won’t resent your clients. Also, make sure you don’t feel as if you are overcharging. If you are not comfortable with your fees, clients will sense it and feel uncomfortable too.

Setting your fees for when you bill an insurance company is a whole other ballgame. Many massage therapists charge more when they bill an insurance company saying things like -they have to wait longer to get paid and they have to do more work to get paid. There is a big discrepancy over this issue that I have only just recently found a legal answer for. When I went to a workshop last year put on by two local Seattle area attorneys they made it really clear that those extra things that go into insurance billing are just a part of doing business and they can not be charged extra for. You can charge the extra amount that you pay or would pay a billing person to submit each bill and for the work you/they have to do to get paid. Otherwise charging more to an insurance company than you do your cash clients for the same service is considered insurance fraud and that can be punishable by a $5000 fine and 5 years in prison. What about the fact that you are doing medical massage? I for one do not do anything different when someone comes in for a regular massage and pay cash for it compared to someone who I am able to bill their insurance company for the services. If you could prove in a court of law that you do treat the client differently and that you use different skills and knowledge than you may be OK.

There is also something called the Usual and customary fee schedule for insurance companies that set rates for insurance companies. I think the last time I checked for Seattle area it was about $132 a hour. The thing is that we don’t really know how they are getting that number. If you bill for auto accidents, those insurance companies will usually pay whatever you charge so if massage therapists (or others) are charging more than their regular cash clients to insurance companies and that is the number being used to determine the UCR – is that really factual, ethical and legal?

This actually is one of the things that I think our massage associations should be doing more work on for us -figuring out for each state what are the legal implications of setting different fees for massage therapy sessions.

The other thing to know is that professionally you can ask others what they make but if you ‘collude with others in setting your fees’ it could be seen as price fixing.  ( I am not of course a lawyer but that is what I was told by the workshop I mentioned above.)

Setting fees that support you and your business is just good self care and it is just business.  It does not mean you care less about others who can not afford your services.  When you are making what you need to make, you are able to give more money or use your money to set up services for disadvantaged people to get affordable massage or even free massages.

So what do you need to charge so that you will be a successful massage therapist?

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Marketing Your Massage Business

June 2, 2008 Julie Onofrio News, Start Your Massage Business

Marketing your massage business is an ongoing process. In order to have the clients that you need to be successful, you need to continually be learning about marketing and doing something every week if not every day to create your ideal massage practice.

Massage School offers very little in this way so it is necessary to read and study all that you can and to participate in as many online groups as you can as well as creating your own support group if necessary.

There are a good many of online massage marketing programs and I actually recommend that you get them all and work through them at your own pace. I recommend just doing one at a time so that you can really immerse yourself in each program and do all of the exercises and projects that they recommend.

Here are a few of my favorites. I only write about those I have purchased and used myself.

  • The Passionate Training – offered by Alexandar Kohl of Australia has created an ebook and workbook to help you get clear about what you want from your practice and how to create it. Using some theories from the law of attraction, he has created this marketing program to get you started on the path to creating a successful massage business.
  • Bodyworkbiz.com created by Eric Brown of Canada, offers a 101 day training taking you step by step through many various ways to build your practice. He focuses on overcoming the psycho blocks as he calls them and getting out of your own way to create a successful practice.
  • Massage Therapy Success by Amy Roberts of Australia offers a series of ebooks to cover different aspects of building a practice. Includes ebooks on these topics:

    Ignite Your Massage Therapy Business

    Business Check-up

    Marketing Secrets For Massage Therapists

    Planning to Succeed in Your Massage Therapy Business

    How To Write Advertising for Your Massage Therapy Business

    Marketing Diary for Massage Therapists

    Advertising your Massage Therapy Business Workbook

    Understanding Your Client

    Target Market Workbook

    Target market Excel program

There are also some good free resources for marketing and building your massage practice.

www.thebodyworker.com- Marketing section, business section

www.massage-career-guides.com

Join my Yahoo! Massage Practice Builder Discussion Group – where you can communicate with massage therapists all over the world who are doing the same thing as you.

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