How to Compete with Massage Envy

I have a “that’s good, but wtf?!” feeling towards national massage spas, like Massage Envy.

The “good” part is that they provide steady work.

The “wtf?!” part is everything else: Low wages, a churn and burn business model, and the soul sucking break room where if you weren’t already miserable walking in, you will be before you walk out.

These massage titans are ubiquitous.

Massage Envy has 1200 locations, 1.5 million members and are in 49 of 50 states in the US.

And they have massive budgets for marketing.

Meanwhile, the independent massage therapist is rolling change to see if she has enough money for a website. (BTW, your rolls of quarters can buy a cool website. Click here.)

This is an absolute unfair fight.

It’s like David going up against Goliath, but instead of having a sling and a rock, David’s got a straw and a spitball.

Independents should be running for the hills.

But here’s the thing, as much as massage spa franchises have dominated this decade, they haven’t stamped out independents.

In fact, this independent and other independents that I know have gotten stronger.

How?

For me, I did two simple things:

(1) I copied the things that Massage Envy et al. did well.

(2) I double-downed on being better at the things not in their wheelhouse.

Here’s my fall and rise story.

[bctt tweet=”Do what massage spas do well. Capitalize on what they don’t do well.” username=”Mark LiskeyMarkLiskey”]

The Juggernaut 

I took a major hit when Massage Envy and Hand & Stone moved into my area.

I didn’t realize the pull they would have and some of my own clients left me to try them out.

Antonio was one of them and he had been with me for a long time.

As I watched the massage spa industry grow and my business shrink, I started looking for side hustles to cover my income drop.

Massage and side hustles worked for a couple of years until my side hustles dried up.

Then I was back to facing the reality of Mark, a competent massage therapist, not being able to make it as an independent in the changing world of massage.

The Awakening

After being talked through a little self-defeatism by my wife, Lisa, I started to ask myself questions, like: Why did Antonio switch to a massage spa? What could I do to get him back?

For the next two years I got to know the massage spas business model very well, and that’s when I figured out what I needed to do to compete with Massage Envy.

The first thing I needed to do was to imitate what they did well.

Massage Spa Strengths

Do #1: Prompt Response Time

Massage spas kick butt when it comes to appointment turnaround. Typically, you can get an appointment on the same day you call.

Though I was not, and did not want to be, an on-demand therapist, I realized that I needed to tighten up the whole scheduling process.

In fact, over the years, I had remembered Antonio complaining about how hard it was to get an appointment with me.

When I did these things, I saw an uptick with booked appointments:

  1. Answered my business line whenever I could,
  2. Checked my voicemail more frequently,
  3. Took care of appointments as they came in rather than in one chunk (like at the end of the day),
  4. Offered a texting option for old and new clients.

Do #2: Track New Business and Client Retention Numbers

Everything about massage spas is numbers.

Numbers don’t lie.

They tell you the truth about the health of your business.

If I had paid closer attention to my “new clients” and “client retention” numbers instead of relying on my Spidey senses, I would have been able to react faster than I did after the massage spas moved into town.

Do #3: Offer an Intro Massage Price

One local massage spa did Groupons a while back. Potential clients poured through their doors. Though most did not become members, some did.

So, I did an experiment with Groupon, Amazon Local and LivingSocial. And 15% to 20% of the customers I saw turned out to be repeat business.

Hmm..a hundred people walk through my door and 15 to 20 become new clients. Not bad.

A special introductory massage price works the same way. You offer a lower price than your normal rate to get clients through the door. Massage spas, such as Massage Envy and Hand & Stone, offer intro specials.

For me, the intro massage special has worked great. It draws people in and since my intro rate is higher than what my massage would be priced through Groupon, the basement bargain shoppers usually stay away.

A great bonus to an intro rate massage is that anyone who comes in—no matter if she becomes a return client or not—has the potential of spreading the word about my business.

This has been a greatest no-cost way to advertise.

Massage Spa Weakness

Though massage spas do a lot of business things right, they don’t (and can’t) do one thing better than you. They can’t make the massage experience as caring and personal as you can.

1. DON’T Make Efficiency Your Number One Goal

If you’ve ever worked in a massage spa, you know that things move fast. For instance, if the massage is 50 minutes, you may only have 10 minutes to get one client out of the room and the next one in.

That’s not too relaxing for you or the client—but that’s the business model massage spas use because efficiency equals profitability.

Efficiency has its drawbacks though.

For one, massage spas have a hard time keeping MTs because they burn them out. That means the client may not get his favorite MT when he comes in for his next massage.

Efficiency also means that a front desk person is in charge of sales, scheduling and collecting money. But who is going to be more invested in making sure that a client’s experience is top-notch, a front desk person who probably doesn’t know a whole lot about massage or a massage therapist whose livelihood depends on it?

2. Care Better Than They Do

Once I got this, I started to tweak what I did at my office so that there was a crystal clear distinction between how I took care of a client and how a massage spa took care of a client.

This is standard in my massage practice:

  1. I allot 30 minutes for a new client intake and 15 minutes between each massage.
  2. From intake to end of session, I focus on caring for the client.

When I was doing my research on two brands of massage spas I studied their intakes. It was immediately apparent that on both intakes quite a few of the questions were designed to find the sales barriers that the front desk needed to overcome in order to sell the client a membership.

Our client intake form was/is/always will be client-centric.

I want the information that will allow me to do the best job possible.

If I do a good job, my work will sell itself.

You can download our intake here: [download id=”618″] Feel free to use it (or parts of it) for your business.

  1. I follow up.

With new clients and anyone in a pain situation, I do a post-session follow-up via text or phone call. This is where going the extra mile can pay off big in terms of getting a client out of pain and building therapeutic rapport.

It is a huge differentiator between what we do and what spas do.

Massage spas don’t want MTs who work for them to follow up with clients.

Why?

Because they’re afraid that their MTs will steal clients.

Boom.

Advantage independents.

We win (should win) with therapeutic rapport every freakin’ time.

Bring it Massage Envy!

If you’re an independent or want to be an independent it’s time to play hard ball with the massage spas.

After all, they’ve already done the heavy lifting in terms of making people aware of massage through their extensive advertising.

And they’ve been at it long enough that people know what they’re getting.

That means they have some unsatisfied customers.

You can snag these wayward clients using massage spa tactics like offering an intro price and knowing your numbers (new business and client retention) so that you can stay motivated to pursue new business and on top of what you need to do to keep new business.

Then do what they can’t do: Provide stellar therapeutic rapport and above-and-beyond customer care.

Don’t rush your clients.

Do follow-ups.

Let your care and concern come through in your intake, interactions and advertising.

Good massage work with exceptional customer will sell.

Boiled down to it’s essence, my competing with Massage Envy strategy comes down to this:

Massage Envy does the advertising to bring customers in.

We steal ’em.

And now you know how:-)

P.S. Antonio is back.

Guess who answers texts promptly and makes sure that Antonio knows that he’s appreciated:-)

Need more help competing with Massage Envy?

If you just starting out or don’t make more than 30K a year on your own, go here: Jumpstart.

If you’re paying the bills, but need to take it to the next level go here: Accelerator.

 

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