- Return all phone calls within an hour or two at the most. People will be easily impressed. Allow time every few hours to do so.
- Ask each client when they leave “Do you want to reschedule for next week? I have openings xxxxxx.” You would be surprised how many massage therapists overlook this.
- Get a massage yourself every week and pay for it (ok trade is ok but beware of trading as it has it’s downfalls). If you are expecting clients to come to you each week and pay and you won’t do it yourself why would someone want to come regularly to do. I also have learned the most from getting regular massages – more than most workshops and trainings. I learn more about how to talk to clients and get a better perspective of what they might feel when I do different things or not do some things.
- Carry business cards with you at all times
- Teach couples massage classes or set up massage exchange systems in your church or community
- Keep your advice to yourself and take your own advice
- Be on time for all of your appointments. It really shows that you respect the client and yourself
- Start and finish your appointments on time ( see above).
Tag Archive for Marketing massage
Simple Massage Marketing Tips
Marketing your practice – today is the day.
One of the things I hear quite often from people about marketing their practice through a website is something like “I’ll get around to it someday” or “I don’t know when I will get around to it”. I also get emails from people telling me how afraid they are to start their business and they want me to tell them what to do in an email.
When will that be? Will you get around to it? Sometime before you go out of business?
It is hard not to start complaining about not having enough time to do something that is essential to your success. You can either sit around complaining , wishing for clients and crying about not having any clients or you can do something about it. You can either sit around focusing on what you don’t want through all the complaining or you can start thinking about what it is that you do want and start wondering how you are going to get it.
If you are afraid to start your massage business and if you think you won’t be able to do it and be successful – you probably won’t do it and you won’t be successful. Whatever you think is what you will get.
If you get feedback from someone like a partner saying we need to face reality – what is reality exactly? There is no reality really- only people’s perspectives which are based on beliefs. Two people can look at the same thing and see different things. It is the old is the cup half empty or half full view of the world.
One of the ways to face the challenge of different perspectives is to say “thank you for your feedback” and continue on your way. Oprah had a show on yesterday on just this topic. There was a woman who is a songwriter who is the most successful songwriter of all time who was told by her mother at an early age that she should get a job as a secretary. Another guy loved making pottery and was told by his college teacher that he didn’t have any talent for it and couldn’t make a career out of pottery and of course today he is very successful.
Who is out there crushing your dreams with their perspective?
Joining others who have similar challenges as you are facing is one way to help yourself out. I have an online discussion group and there are also many others out there and you can also create your own or gather your friends from massage school to form your own.
So if you are ready to start your website and start taking a look at what you do and what you want to say to your potential clients and clients -today is the day to order your Sitebuildit! website. I have to warn you though – it isn’t for everyone. It is only for people who are serious about building their business and are serious about taking a good look at themselves. It isn’t easy and it doesn’t happen over night. It will take some time for you to get really clear about what it is that you want so that you can write it in a website. The Sitebuildit system while it is simple it is time consuming.
You can read the whole action guide to see what you are getting into. There also is a great Ebook they have that is called the Service Sellers Masters Course which is geared toward selling a service such as massage.
Massage Marketing Tips #2
Could you fire your client?
I found this interesting idea on a yoga business website -www.buildyouryogabusiness.com.
Have you ever worked with people who were really draining – you know they are the ones who are always late, cancel at the last minute, forget their check book, want to talk for an hour after the session or whatever.
Whenever they call you dread them coming in and having to deal with them.
What if you fired them? What do you think would happen to your practice? Most think that it would hurt their practice. Massage therapists also tend to think that they have to work on everyone and be nice and helpful. When you work on someone who is not nurturing and is draining it robs you of your energy for the next client or the next day or week even.
If you fired all of those clients it would free you up to work on those people who you like to work with – those who value your time, value your service, tell their friends and family about you, pay what you charge and are just all around great clients.
When you let go of having to help everyone and start setting your boundaries and ask for what you want – you become ‘attractive’ (not in a sexual context). My supervisor once said – “Massage therapists who set the best boundaries are usually booked for months and those who are “caretakers” are struggling along.”
For more on caretaking see www.thebodyworker.com
Marketing Defined (It isn’t so scary)
The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives”.
In order for marketing to happen 4 things must happen: (From “Marketing” Mcgraw Hill/Irwin Series in Marketing)
- there must be two people with unsatisfied needs
- a desire to be satisfied
- a way for the two parties to communicate
- and something to exchange which in this case is your massage therapy service
One theory of marketing is that you have to discover the needs and wants of potential clients and then satisfy them. While this may be true to a certain extent, the massage profession is faced with the unique challenge of being the business itself (as compared to businesses in which people work ON the business.) When you are busy focusing on the needs of others, you often neglect your own.
The other thing is that you can’t be everything to everyone in this business. You don’t have to nor can you ever satisfy everyone’s needs.
The thing about needs and wants is that wants are different from needs and come from different emotional places. Often what we want – a new car, a fancy diamond ring or other things usually is coming from a place of lack. We may think we want something but the real reason for wanting something is that we want the attention or approval that goes with it. Getting those things usually don’t make us feel any happy although many people think it will. What people are looking for is the feeling that they think it will create. What we think we want is really our small self or ego talking.
What people wanting a massage are usually looking for is to be out of pain, to have less stress or to have better health. But what is the real thing they are looking for? People get into pain and sickness mainly because they aren’t taking care of themselves. They want us to “fix” them and make them better.
When we take the perspective of really desiring something it is coming from your heart. When people are desiring to feel better, to have less pain or have less stress they are coming from the place of wanting that and wanting someone to do that for them. They will be more willing to participate in the process of massage and healthcare and be willing to do what it takes to feel better.
On the other hand someone who is really committed to their health and personal growth (their spirituality), people will desire massage and will do anything they need to do to get it – pay whatever it takes and come in whatever time you have available. These are the clients you really desire – people who desire you.
So if your potential client has a need and you have something that can help that need, marketing is just being able to tell that person that you can fill their need or solve their problem. All you have to do is communicate this and the problem for most massage therapists is they are lacking the self esteem to do that. They will use excuses like ” it isn’t about the money” or “I just want to do massage, I don’t want to do the marketing to get the business or “there is too much competition.” What you are really saying is that I don’t want to tell anyone about myself or my service. I hope they will just find me so I don’t have to do anything.
The other problem I see with the old marketing theories is that the focusing on the need of the client and potential client can take a massage therapist away from taking care of their own needs. It is one of the biggest causes of burnout in the massage profession.
A marketing plan that focuses on trying to figure out and meet the needs of people is really manipulating people into thinking that they need or want massage. They will need it and if they don’t get it they will get injured, stay in pain and have high stress levels which lead to disease.
But today there are new ways of marketing that are based on attracting your ideal client. The first thing you have to know is who do you want to work with and then find out how to connect with these people. Marketing is really about connection.
Monica Roseberry in her book “Marketing Massage: From First Job to Dream Practice (Paperback) ” defines it as:
“Marketing is a way of being: it is representing yourself, your work and your profession in thousands of tangible and intangible ways.”
She goes on to say
“Everything you are and do is marketing”.
Cherie Sohnen-Moe in her book “Business Mastery : A Guide for Creating a Fulfilling, Thriving Business and Keeping It Successful” says this:
“Marketing is not a dirty word: it’s simply sharing yourself with others so they can get a sense of who you are, which allows them to make an informed decision of whether to utilize your services.
“Marketing is about enabling your clientele to value you and your services.”
“The major portion of marketing a service business is educational in nature.”
So all marketing really is, is talking about yourself and your massage business. If you start talking about yourself by talking with someone who is easy to talk to – your neighbor, your family, people you see everyday at the grocery store or gym. Each time you do so you will be building a framework for being able to talk to larger groups of people or physicians and chiropractors about what you do and what solution you provide. Then potential clients can choose you based on making an informed decision about your services and whether or not they desire your services. Working with people who desire your service and really want to be there on their own accord rather than being wooed by promises of you being able to fulfill their needs or wants is what will help you build a practice that is successful and rewarding (which is a really big difference from just being successful.)
I have been trying to put this idea together for awhile and don’t know if I have it all clear but I would really like to hear others ideas about marketing and how we can move from fear based marketing into spiritual marketing for lack of a better word. Spiritual marketing is about developing relationships that are beneficial for both parties.
Resources:
Spiritual Marketing -by Joe Vitale (135 page manual in pdf format)
Marketing you massage practice
Marketing a Massage Practice or any other business for that matter is a ongoing learning process. Many massage therapists are always looking for a new marketing tip or new idea when what they really need to be doing is taking action. There are many ways to market your practice, but the key is to find a way that is compatible with who you are and one that reaches out to who your ideal client is.
The best form of marketing is word of mouth. Every client that you do work on can be sending in all of their friends and family. That is why it is important to always be doing the best massage of your life on each and every client. When you are tired or distracted with something or even worrying about whether or not the client will be coming back, you are taking away from the session and giving less than your best. People will feel that is some way or another.
How can you give every client the massage of a lifetime where they get up off the table and say “WOW!! what did you do to me?!”
Some things to think about to get them to come back are:
- Talking about the benefits of regular treatment
- Talk about how often you recommend getting a massage (which should be once a week)
- Talk about how much you get a massage (which should be once a week)
- Talk to them about what massage can do specifically for them and their life by asking about what they do – what their stress level is, what physical activity they engage in, and find out what they need.
- Tell them how often most of your clients come. I have 2 clients that come 2x a week and when I tell that to people they are jealous in a way and sometimes more motivated to come more often. It gives them permission to get a massage more regularly when they might think that it is too indulgent
- When the person is leaving do you ask them when they want to come back? Tell them what times you have available next week and write them down on a card.
- You can also use your voice mail or website to tell people what appointments you have available each day so when they call they can choose one of those times and plan for it.
Many massage therapists are always looking for a new marketing tip or new idea when what they really need to be doing is taking action. There are as many ideas as there are people in the world. No one idea will work for everyone or be right for everyone. Sharing ideas and looking for ideas may really be more about procrastination- avoiding what you really need to be doing to market your practice.
In order to be able to take the action that is needed requires having confidence and self esteem. It requires you to start becoming aware of the thoughts you have that keep you from taking action and creating fear. They are not true. They are usually unconscious thoughts that we are not even really aware of. You can find out what these thoughts are by noticing what you are feeling. Your feelings will tell you you need to start thinking something different.
I have some marketing information on my websites at
www.massagepracticebuilder.com
See also:
massagenerd.com – marketing