How do you sell massage without talking?
It’s simple.
You just “do” nice things.
The great thing about doing nice things is that you’re probably already doing nice things now.
And to make doing nice things bring in more clients you just need to be strategic with your doing nice things.
Alright, I’m going to stop saying doing nice things every other word soon, but first I need to make sure your doing nice things and my doing nice things are the same before we tackle strategy.
The Power of Doing Nice Things
By doing nice things, I mean do things for clients, businesses and health care professionals that provide value (and extra value in certain cases).
I’m not talking about pet-sitting your client’s cats.
I’m talking about doing nice things as it relates to massage.
Clients Sell Massage For You
For example, at our office here’s what we do to make sure each client gets an extra dose of value.
We (1) do extra research about a client’s problem and reach out to other health professionals on our client’s behalf, (2) take the time to listen to a client who is having a bad day and not count that time as part of the massage, and (3), follow up with a new client 2 to 3 days after the massage to see how he’s doing.
You’re probably wondering how all this “doing” translates into selling massage.
It’s pretty simple.
By doing these nice things, we create very loyal clients. A percentage of these clients naturally talk us up. In essence, they become our sales force.
We motivate our sales force by continuing to do things that benefit them. If you want to dive deeper into having a customer sales force, check out: How to Get Someone Sell Your Massage.
The same is true with businesses connections.
Businesses Sell Massage for You
Have you ever been to a luncheon where the sole purpose is to schmooze with other business owners/reps?
Can you say “pass me the hemlock, please”?
But connecting to other business for marketing and referral purposes is important.
Here’s what doers of nice things can do: We can cast a wide net by doing something for other businesses, like demo massages for free.
When we do, we’ll really connect with a few of these businesses. With those few, we go deep by doing more (providing even more value).
Doing more could be providing them with more free demo massages, supporting their business events with chair massage, providing coupons and gift certificates for special events they’re doing, and/or providing discounts to their customers.
Like with our clients, the businesses we really connect with become our sales force.
Doers of Nice Things Warning
Before you go “doing” all over the place, you need to know 2 more things about doing.
One, doing needs to be tied into your marketing.
And “extra doing” needs to be strategic.
Doing Nice Things in a Marketing Plan
The reason you want “doing nice things” tied into your marketing plan is so that you actually make more money without burning out.
Here’s “doing nice things” without a marketing plan.
You do free demo massages for any business who is nice to you or anyone who asks you to because you can’t say no.
Been there, done that.
Here’s what “doing nice things” looks like in a marketing plan.
You offer free demo massages to 3 personal training studios, 1 chiropractor (who don’t do massage), 2 bicycle shops, 1 rock climbing gym and 1 one running store.
Now you can gauge progress over time.
Let’s say you really connected with a chiro and a personal training studio.
Now it’s time to be strategic.
Strategic Doing Nice Things
Being strategic is important because the cost for “doing” is time.
This is what you want to avoid: A lot of time invested for a tiny return.
This is what you want to achieve: A lot of time invested for a big return.
Back to the example, let’s say that the personal training studio is giving you more referrals than the chiropractor.
Go all in with the personal training studio and put the chiropractor on maintenance mode.
Multiple Platform Marketing
Now, you have the time to give the personal training studio some extra value.
And you’re in a position to leverage your “doing nice things” efforts into other marketing platforms with the personal training studio.
For instance, you could add a resources page to your website, explain why you like this personal training studio and have a link to their website on this page.
You could then ask the personal training studio if they’d link to your webpage.
When they link to you (backlink), you’re improving your website SEO which means you could be driving more traffic to your website.
Also, when the personal training studio puts your website link on their website, you’re getting an endorsement and free advertising.
Not bad for never having to sell massage, huh?
Doing-Nice-Things Success Story
Here’s a recent doing-nice-things success story of mine.
Destiny had a neck issue and was seeing a physical therapist when she came to my office.
After my first session with Destiny I contacted her physical therapist, Alison, to see how I could support Alison’s work.
Then I continued seeing Destiny on a regular basis working on the areas that Alison asked me to address.
Around week number three Laniece, Destiny’s PTA, came in to see me, but didn’t tell me that she was Destiny’s PTA until the second time she had an appointment with me. Then she told me that Destiny had talked me up at the PT office and that she came in to test me out.
At that point, Laniece became a referral machine for me!
And the only extra doing that I did was to reach out to Alison on a clinical basis.
By the way, this example is common for me.
Do extra for the client by contacting her __________ (PT, doctor, chiropractor, personal trainer…the list goes on) and referral machines are created.
Okay, time to get out there and do nice things–strategically.
Here’s a quick recap.
Selling Massage for Doers of Nice Things Recap
If you’re doer of nice things, do things that add value to your client’s experience and do things that add value to business relationships.
When building business relationships, be strategic. In other words, don’t be “doing” if you’re not getting enough return (referrals) from your time investment.
And make sure your “doing nice things” is part of a marketing plan.
You don’t have to get fancy with this.
You just need to keep in mind that your primary goal for business relationships is to effectively and efficiently market your business.
A marketing plan will help keep your “doing nice things” on track to reaching that goal.
And once you find your number one business buddy have some fun because they will sell massage for you!
Ladies Night at All Kinds of Fast. I’m in the far left corner setting up to do massage in the picture window. I love my peeps (employees, runners, everybody) at All Kinds of Fast! We’re family:-)
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Comments on this entry are closed.
Great article. I gave a free demo to a client practicing what I have been learning. I never followed up with her to see how she is doing. But then again, she came in and she was not hurting at all, but we did get her legs and lower back to become stronger from muscle testing. Thanks for the article.
I also realized I keep sending some of my massage clients to this chiropractor who does not even like massages. He has never referred anyone to me and I keep referring people to him. Should I stop?
Thank you.
Hi Nguyet! I’m glad you liked the article. In regards to the chiro who doesn’t reciprocate with client referrals, I would absolutely look for another chiro to refer to. There are a lot of chiros out there, and I’m sure you’ll find one that meets your standards and who would love to have a good massage therapist to refer to. It may take some work to find that chiro, but once you do, it will be well worth the effort.
Here’s how I’d go about looking for the right chiro to refer to: I would make a list of all the chiros within a ten mile radius and then do some research on each of them. I would find out if they have the same wellness philosophy that I do, have good reviews, and are open to massage (and don’t do massage in their office). That will narrow your list. Then I would call/email the chiros that made the cut to set up demo massages with them. Let me know how it goes:-)