Marketing during a chair massage pt 1

21 Acie-isms for a successful massage practice.By Acie Grimes1. Answer your phone People seeking the services you provide love to get a live person on the phone when they call. By personally answering your phone you immediately let clients and potential clients know that you mean business. You set the intention that you are serious about your practice, as a business, right out of the starting gate. By answering calls in person you also create opportunities to connect directly with clients, which is especially important for new and potential clients. Answer your phone whenever possible. 2. Return all calls promptly When someone calls you, call them back as soon as possible. This demonstrates your true desire to do business with them. All of us like to be pampered and that includes your clients and potential clients. 3. A professional sounding phone message A professional sounding message speaks volumes about you and your practice. I have called massage therapists in the past and heard some of the oddest and weirdest messages. You should give your name and the name of your business in a professional and happy tone and you should ask that the caller leave their name, phone number the nature of there call then you should end with something like thank you for calling. Oddball attempts at humor put people off and are best left for your closest friends only. If we want to be perceived as professional we must project that image out to the world. 4. Keep your planner with you at all times Do you remember the phrase, "Don't leave home without it"? This applies to your planner. Another applicable phrase is, "Leave nothing to chance" - in other words, "Write it down." Most of us try to leave everything to memory, and that is not a practice that we want to foster. The act of writing something down reinforces it in our minds. You should plan and know what you are doing on a daily basis. Your planner will help you get the most out of each day. It is the road map to your success. Anything that you want and need to accomplish in a day, week, month, or year needs to be written down. Your planner gives you a place to set up to-do lists for tasks that need to be completed along the way to the milestones you want to attain. It gives you a way to measure your progress and to note your accomplishments and any milestones that you have reached. Your planner is your Bible and you should always keep it with you for guidance. 5. Referrals Referrals are absolutely the best way to get business. Ask all of your clients to give you referrals. Let them know that you do not advertise, which allows you to save money and pass the savings onto them. Tell them that you always appreciate their referrals very much. People love to help the people who help them - it's their natural desire. Referrals are the best way to get clients bar none. 6. Chair massages This is the second best way to get clients. There is no other way for a massage therapist to get his or her hands on so many people in a short period of time. And to top it off, with a chair massage you have someone as a captive audience for as much as 15 minutes. There is no reason why you should not be able to get their telephone number and book them for an appointment after the chair massage (remember they are in a Para sympathetic state at the end of a good chair massage). Here are the three ABC'S to booking a client before they walk away from the massage chair. A. Talk to the client while you are giving the massage. Find out what they do for work and play. B. Explain to them what muscles are affected by the type of work and play that they are involved in. C. Plainly state that you can help them with your skills as a massage therapist. Ask if you can give them your phone number and if you can have their business card or phone number. Then ask them about their work schedule and availability. Have your planner handy, then ask what day and time is best from them to have their massage based on the days that they have stated. 7. Dress for success This is one of my pet peeves. So many massage therapists act like they have stepped out of the post hippy era. How can we expect others to take us seriously if we don't dress in a professional manner? I don't mean that we need to wear a suit, but we can be clean in appearance, our clothes can be washed and pressed. Our hair can be combed and neat and our facial hair trimmed if needed. I often wear a shirt with my company's name on it when I do massages and it's amazing how well people respond to that. 8. Gift certificates This is a great way to help people fulfill another basic human desire - to show others how they feel about them by giving them a gift that expresses their feelings. Always have two or three gift certificates tucked away in your planner. They are great during the holidays, for birthdays and special occasions. Have a sign in your office stating that you have gift certificates available for your client to purchase. Run specials on your gift certificates to entice your client to purchase them. 9. Business cards I cannot overemphasize the impact of a well-formatted business card. It is what is known as your calling card, and how people will begin to refer to you. I spent over a hundred dollars on my first business cards and boy, did they have a impact on my clients! They thought I had been in practice for some time, when, in fact, I was still a student. But I wanted to let people know that I was serious about my newly chosen profession and that is how they perceived me. My business was up and running in no time. I booked a chair massage gig after only being in school for 2 weeks, and I believe that was due mostly to my professional business cards. 10. Ask for want you want It is often said that we do not get what we want out of life because we don't ask for what we want. Of course, we first must know what it is we want. If you want to be self-employed then being shy is something you must learn to get over. As a massage therapist you are the sales person, and you are also the marketing and public relations person. Massage therapists are a dime a dozen, but what is going to make a client choose you above another massage therapist is how you sell yourself. You must know beyond a shadow of doubt that you are the best massage therapist out there to tend to the needs of your clients and you must treat them that way. You must understand that you do not need to compete with any other massage therapist. You do not need to compete with anybody, but you must be a CREATOR. You must create the type of practice that you want. You need to know that the universe really will send you and make available to you the type of client that will be most suitable for your particular practice. Therefore, you should spend your leisure time figuring out what type of practice it is that you want to create. Then you must put the power of intent into every step you that you take in order to make this so. Success is accumulative: the more things you do successfully each day with full power, the more the certainty there is that you will be successful in your practice. 11. Self study Now that you have learned the basic art of massage therapy your attention must be placed on learning the business of being a self-employed massage therapist, that is, someone who is in business for him or herself. Set aside 30 minutes each day to study this. Plan your budget to include classes and books that will help you to learn how to run your business. Many massage therapists think that if they just learn how to do a new modality it will make them successful in their practice. They think if they get a new type of license or if they learn all the muscles and their origins and insertion points they will be more successful. But most therapists who fail haven't bothered to learn about how to run their business. They do not have a written plan, they do not have a mentor, and they do not have any skills for managing their money. The way we think about something has a direct effect on what happens, and on how and what comes to us, and there is no difference with our business. We must have our mind on our business and are business on our mind. You should spend amount of time measuring and managing your business every single day. 12. The law of 250 by 250 It isn't who you know, it is who the people you know, know. Every client that you have knows at least 250 people and according to the law of 250, each and every one of your clients is connected to at least 625,000 people. You must be in the people business if you are going to be successful as a small business owner, no matter what type of business it is. To build a network of people you must learn to do things in a certain way, in particular, by giving more to people "in value" then they pay you in money. Learn things about your clients and build relationships with them. As you get to know them, gather information like birthdays, anniversaries, their children's birthdays, special religious holidays. Start sending off cards for special occasions that are important to them. People love it when you remember a special event that means a lot to them. Keep an active database with such information. Remember, it is the little things that you do that mean so much. 13. Feng ShuiWhen it comes to setting up your space, study some feng shui so that you can learn the powerful effects that different colors and proper placement of things have upon us. In a massage environment you want to create an atmosphere of peace, relaxation and balance. You should have your space clear of clutter. Every object should have a purpose. Your shop should have functionality in its design and layout. 14. Do your paperwork One of the most mundane aspects of being a massage therapist is doing S.O.A.P The SOAP note (an acronym for subjective, objective, assessment, and plan) is a method of documentation of notes and having your client fill out an initial health form (this will allow you to get a snapshot of your client's health history). Its benefits far out weight its disadvantages. By documenting your work you provide a means to measure the patient's progress. This in itself allows you to provide evidence to your client when they doubt the sometimes subtle benefit of massages. In addition, it provides you with evidence in case anything legal comes into question about your practice. In conclusion, in the medical field the age-old adage is, "If it is not documented it did not happen, period." 15. Manage your moneyThis is huge. This is so important that I teach a class on just this one subject. It is not the money that you make, but the money that you keep that matters. Managing your money requires discipline. Being self-employed is a wonderful thing, but it carries great financial responsibilities. My favorite saying about money is, "I keep my mind on my money and my money on my mind." There is nothing more important to learn than how to manage your money. I suggest that you read, listen and study about money. There are some great books about money and how to manage your money I have two authors that I enjoy the most and there names are Brian Tracy he as a book called the 21 irrefutable laws of MONEY and yes there is one more Wallace D. Wattle The Science of Gettign rich. All of us have some problems about relating to money and most of it is based on our mis-education. Fortunately, we all can change how we think about money, which in turn will affect how money comes to us. The first thing you should do is open up a savings account. 10% of everything that you make should go into this account. This account should be separate from the rest of your money. This is money that you do not touch; your goal with this account is to save 3 times the amount of all the expenses that you have for each month. Your second account should be used to pay your bills. This is money that you live off of and you should watch it like a hawk. As a self-employed massage therapist it is imperative that you get in the habit of living within a budget. Write down all of your expenses, keep all of your receipts and note whether they are food, gas, laundry, rent or insurance. All of this information should be put into a ledger at the end of each day. This will give you a visual record of where your money is going, so that if you notice you are spending too much money in a certain area you can make an adjustment. Any expense that you incur during the operation and maintenance of your business is tax deductible. That includes the office that you rent, the room in your home that you use for your business, the lunch that you have with your clients, etc. You should can find out what deductions are available to you by picking up a book on the subject. 16. 10 tales of money:1. People that do not have money have the most hang-ups with money2. Fact: the mastering of money will bring you the greatest return of any study 3. How we think about money has a direct effect on how much and how quickly money comes to us.4. 99.9 percent of what we know and think about money is wrong.5. Failing to manage your money can and will have the greatest effect upon your life than any single thing. 6. People get money by acting and doing things in a certain way and that way is, essentially, that they expect money to come to them.7. People who do not get money do not expect money to come to them.8. People that have money may or may not be happy, but they have money to help them deal with their unhappiness. 9. What you don't know about money will hurt you.10. Fact: Money matters! 17. Good moral ethics None of us has any idea how one action may affect another in the big picture. Therefore, it is important to understand that every action counts when it comes to ethical behavior. Establishing clear, professional boundaries is paramount. Some massage therapists have been involved in less than ethical behavior, which has tainted the reputation of the massage industry as a whole. Because of this we are forced to work uphill to establish our profession as a valuable medical, healing practice. We must be above reproach in our moral ethics. The opportunities for our profession are endless, but if we want to be respected and taken seriously then each and every one of us must play our part in shifting public opinion about massage therapy. It is the combined effort of a team that wins the game, yet each player is expected to do their part to make winning the game possible. The alliances that we build today will determine how we are perceived in the future. We must lobby for a law to be passed in our favor we need coopertive and alliaince and we must uplift our sense of ethics as individuals and as a professional group.18. Good business ethics. I purposely separated the two subjects of business and moral ethics because they are different. One deals with the fact that we work on people when they are in a compromising, vulnerable position ( i.e. they have little on no clothing on), and the other deals with how we manage our business. By business ethics I mean how fair we are with our pricing pricing and how we run our day-to-day business operation. Some things to consider as a small business owner are: A. What are your working hours? Establish set hours for your massage practice. This will aid you in determining how to best spend your time, whether you are actually working with clients or doing the behind-the-scene management work that keeps your practice running smoothly. B. How well do you keep up with your paperwork? Will you do everything by hand, on the computer, or a combination of both? I suggest that you start by doing it all on paper Science has found out that people that writef things down are more then likely to follow up then those that simply state that they will just do it, then move on to the computer. But don't forget to back up all your work if you should decide to do it on computers. C. How many clients do you need to be stable? My rule of thumb is that each massage therapist should at least strive to have one hundred clients in order to remain buoyant in their practice. If you charge $45 dollars an hour that means your monthly income should be $4,500 a month. D. What price do you charge your clients? That depends on how much you think you are worth, but, in general, when you start off you should charge below your local market rate, and each additional year give yourself a raise of $10 until you reach the local market rate. E. How do you increase your value to your clients and potential clients? Basically, this means what type of services you will implement into your practice that will validate your increase in price. For example, will you offer hot stone massage or reflexology? Will you be selling supplies in your shop? You should mark up the price to ensure that you get back your initial investment plus a 15% minimum profit margin. Your prices should be listed and posted for all to see F. How do you promote your business? As stated earlier, word of mouth is your best form of advertising. When you are starting out you should utilize this approach about 20% of the time, especially with family and friends, then and do chair massage the other 80%. G. How do you develop a core of clientele? Your core clientele is your bread and butter. They are the ones that book with you on a regular basis. They are the ones that send you referrals and that advertise for you; they are your personnel promoters. The rule of thumb is to treat all of your clients well, but treat your core extremely well. You build a core by focusing on bringing relief to your clients for any symptom or pain that they may have. Relief brings belief. Make believers out of your clients and they are more likely to become a core clients. H. How do you handle no call, no shows? This is a slippery subject because we all have unexpected things that happen in our lives. The first thing you need to do is compose a letter stating your company policy. You should clearly and simply explain what your action will be in a no call, no show situation. (And do you post this or hand it out to all clients up front or just after someone fails to show-up?) I charge the client half of my going rate for a no call, no show, because I work on the principle that I may or may not have been able to book someone else in that space had I known in advance. I. What type of payment are you equipped to handle? (i.e. cash, credit cards and checks).This is simple. The more ways you accept money the greater chance you will have to accommodate your clients' ability to pay. J. Should you have a website with appointment booking and payment online? We are in the information age and if your business can financially support a website I say, do it. Not only will you be able to sell your service, you can also sell products or anything else of value to your clients and the public as a whole. 19. Creating Alliances This goes beyond the 250 by 250 principle mentioned earlier. Creating an alliance involves netorking and forming relationships within an industry or profession. It is not just what you know about massage, but more importantly, who you know. Knowing the right people can go a long way in allowing you to create a reliable network of people that both work with you and throw you and visa versa. One of the tragedies of our industry is that we are still used to working and doing everything solo. That mentality has cost us greatly in both exposure and income. From my point of view, massage has been around before most other medical and holistic professions, but public awareness of the many benefits we have to offer is greatly lacking. It is obvious that we need to start promoting ourselves much more creatively in order to make these benefits known. The nature of our business requires us to spend long hours in isolated rooms. If we reconnect with each other by networking to build more cooperative alliances it will serve our best interests. 20. Continuing education & professional development This is very important for our professional aptitude. We each are responsible for keeping up with new developments in our profession. Luckily, with today's technology and computers, there is a mountain of accessible information that we can gather and utilize to keep us well informed and up to speed. I find that DVD's offer an inexpensive way to become educated in different modalities, since you can review the information again and again. Of course, books and classes are also instructive. There are audio books that you can place on a iPod and listen to while you are driving. When I'm in my car alone I listen to audio books on self help and motivation all the time to educate myself. Zig Zigger calls this "attending the car university." I don't listen to the radio or music when I am in the alone car because I see it as chewing gum for the mind. 21. 10 Acie-isms for success: 1. Success is accumulative: If everyday is successful than you can't possibly fail. 2. If everyday is a failure then you cannot be successful. 3. The law of 80/20: 80% of what you do will come from 20 percent of your effort. If you place 20% of your effort on your business 80% of your success will come from it. 4. The law of creating: never compete for what you want. Instead, see yourself as a creator. We live in a universe that is geared toward creation. Every seed placed in the ground will create hundreds or thousands of fruits. When you compete you take something from another, and in due time, someone will come along and take something from you. This isn't necessary. You can create what you want. See yourself as a creator and refer to yourself as such. 5. The sound of money. Use one ring tone on your cell phone for your client so that when you hear that ring you know it is potential money. 6. The law of increase. Give more to people than you receive in pay. Every man or woman is seeking increase and they will be drawn toward those that offer it. This is true in pay, in relationships and love, and in life. Give to each person what is there that is be fair in your dealing with others and they in return will give you what belongs to you 7. Talk to the creator. You are the creator of the world you live in. Everything that is in your life is there because you created it, including family, friends, jobs, houses, memories, etc. What you think about, what you feel, and what manifests is always the same, no exceptions! 8. Stick to your knitting. Find out what it is that you are good at or what is that you enjoy doing and do that one thing, placing all of your heart, desire and soul in it. 9. Clearly define what it is that you want out of life. Write it down in detail get a picture of it in your mind. In your leisure time, meditate on the things that you want and show gratitude for them as if they were already present. Then work toward those things. 10. The golden rule. What I want for myself I also want for everybody. We're all connected.Summary We have chosen to be massage therapists, a timeless and noble profession. We must work together to further our profession in many arenas. These include: the political arena - we must have a representative/lobbyist to help us pass laws that are advantageous to the massage profession; the medical arena - we must form collaborations and cooperative arrangements with other professionals; the marketing arena - we must each personally do grass roots marketing to make the public aware of the many benefits of massage. Massage should be promoted as both a preventive and mainstream way to reduce stress and pain in the daily lives of people. If the world doesn't know about the benefits of our profession it's because we haven't shown it to them. No amount of scientific studies on the benefits of massage will convince people of its worth. We need to be the ones who make it happen both individually and collectively. People don't do something because it's the right thing to do, they operate based on feelings and emotions. We massage therapists must come out of our lonely, dimly lit rooms into the broader world and give each and every person that we can lay our hands on a taste of what we can do for them.

Marketing during a chair massage pt 1

Friday, February 13, 2009

Massaging for a cause.

Monday, February 11, 2008

21 Acie-ism of a successful massage practice

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Don't quit your day job

Saturday, February 2, 2008

YouTube - MasterMassage's Channel

Monday, January 21, 2008

Marketing during a chair massage

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