Make the Most of Massage

Category: Accelerate Massage Business (30K – 60K+)

  • Build a Massage for Pain Relief Practice

    Build a Massage for Pain Relief Practice

    I built my practice on massage for pain relief. You can, too. And you don’t need to shell out thousands of dollars to learn how to do it. Why? Because on some level with every massage you do now, you’re already doing pain relief massage.

    You can make pain relief massage your signature massage by doing these 3 things: 1. Calibrate your pressure, 2. Double down on therapeutic rapport, and 3. Follow a treatment plan.

    I Thought I Had the Answer

    I became certified in neuromuscular massage therapy (NMT) in 1999 because I wanted to get people better. In my mind at the time, here’s how things would go down: I’d work on clients, they’d get better and then they’d never come back.

    But what I didn’t understand was that pain was complicated. It may have a non-musculoskeletal origin. And even if it had a musculoskeletal origin, the NMT intervention may not be effective.

    Embarrassed to Take my Client’s Money

    When some clients started coming back to see me on a regular basis, I felt like a failure because I didn’t get them better. Instead I only gave them some temporary (not forever) pain relief.

    Fortunately, even though at the time I didn’t value pain relief massage, my clients did. And in a relatively short period of time I had enough clients to open my first office. Soon after, I couldn’t deny that pain relief massage was having a huge, positive impact on my clients’ lives. And I became interested in figuring out how I could give the most effective pain relief massage possible.

    Calibrate Your Pressure

    I found that the appropriate pressure is the single most important element to pain relief massage. With acute pain, too much pressure can aggravate a condition. Conversely, for someone with recurring pain who responds well to deep pressure, not enough pressure is ineffective and a waste of her money.

    When in doubt about pressure, try this technique that I was taught in NMT training. Say to the client: “Imagine a pain scale that goes from 1 to 10. One is the lowest amount of pain and 10 is the highest. As I press on a tender or tight spot, I want you to give me a pain rating.”

    If you get a 5 or above response, lighten your pressure. In most cases if you work between a 3 and 4, you’re going to, ultimately, lessen your client’s pain, not increase it.

    Double  Down on Therapeutic Rapport

    Pain is not just a biomechanical response. How we interact (and connect) with our clients can actually lessen or increase their pain. If you’re having trouble connecting to a client, try my Elderly Grandmother technique.

    Imagine that your client is your elderly grandmother. How are you going to treat her?

    First, you’re going to slow down and take your time. Then you’re going to make sure that you understand what she’s saying and that she understands what you’re saying. Lastly, you’re going to do everything in your power not to upset Granny. And subsequently, you’ll create a calm and supportive environment.

    An abbreviated way of looking at therapeutic rapport is: It’s all about Granny for the next hour!

    [If you want specifics about developing great therapeutic rapport, check out my article in Massage & Bodywork Magazine—Four Lessons on Chronic Pain (Notes from a Mountain Guide).

    In this article, Maximizing the Placebo Effect, I explain how to increase the placebo effect (a positive response) through therapeutic rapport. In a more recent article, I explain how the placebo effect can be fine tuned. Here is an interview I did about the article.

    Follow a Massage for Pain Relief Plan

    A treatment plan is essential in order to do an effective pain relief massage. When you have a plan you’ll be on target to address the pain issues the client wants you to address. A plan also puts your client’s pain in a massage framework for current and future discussions. And a plan is something that you can go back to and adjust if your client doesn’t feel better. If he does feel better, you know what to do the next time.

    The treatment plan I follow comes from my research and experience.  It’s universal in the sense that it works with any type of massage modality.

    a. Pre-massage: identify pain areas before the client gets on the table.

    This ensures that you will always find the problem areas once the client is on the table. And it builds therapeutic rapport. For more about this read My Simple (Secret) to Better Pain Relief Massage.

    b. During the massage: commit to a course of action.

    Let’s say your plan is to work the upper-trap for a neck/shoulder condition. But once you get the client on the table you find that the levator scapulae is the tight muscle. No problem. Change your course of action–but stick with the new plan. In Get Your Client Out of Pain: Put a Stake in the Ground, I explain why having a course of action can make or break a pain relief massage.

    c. Post-massage: tell the client what you did, what you found, then provide recommendations and follow-up.

    Now it’s time to lay it on the line. Once you’ve done your work, go over the highlights of the massage (e.g., I found you’re piriformis to be tight) and then make recommendations to further lessen the pain (e.g. self massage at home). Follow up in a couple of days.

    If the massage helped, great! If not, it’s time for Plan B if you think it’s warranted.

    Your Massage for Pain Relief Practice Starts Now

    You can build a practice quickly by making pain relief massage your signature massage. And it’s not a far stretch from what you’re already doing. If you focus on

        1. calibrating your pressure
        2. doubling down on your therapeutic rapport
        3. following a treatment plan

    you’re going to see big changes with your client retention.

    Seriously, you got this! Just follow this formula to start. Over time you’ll make it your own.

    Free Course to Jumpstart Your Massage Business

    If you’re just starting a massage business and want to incorporate pain relief massage into your business model, this free course will get you to your 30K a year: Jumpstart.

    If you’re trying to take a meh massage business and make it a dream massage business, go here: Accelerator.

  • 4 Steps to the Massage Income You Want

    4 Steps to the Massage Income You Want

    Here’s a list of reasons why I never reached the massage income level I wanted in the past: some clients left, I had to move my office, my website was broken, I didn’t have money to advertise, I’m not good at selling my services, family took up more time than I thought, my shoes were too tight…and on and on. Ultimately, these reasons weren’t the problem. This was: I simply didn’t know how to push to the next level.

    Pushing to the Next Massage Income Level

    The next level is a point in your massage business where you have all the clients you want, but you’re only doing a minimal amount of effort to bring them in.

    Sounds pretty good, right?

    So how do we get there?

    The default answer is to work harder.

    But if you’re working harder doing the wrong things, you’re just wasting your hard work.

    The key to reaching the next level is to follow a plan.

    Admittedly, I had no massage income plan in place early on in my massage career. Then one slow week, I had a serious business talk with myself. In retrospect, I realize this “talk” actually led to the first step in my push to reach the next level.

    4 Steps to Increase Your Massage Income

    1. Admit to yourself that you’re only halfway there.

    Okay, you may be 2/5 or 4/7 of the way to where you want to be. It doesn’t matter. The point I’m trying to make is that you’re NOT content with your current massage income. And thinking in terms of “1/2 way there” can help move you along.

    For one, it’s encouraging.

    Congrats you’re ½ way there! You’ve already done a lot of the hard work.

    And, two, it’s a reality check.

    Sorry, you have another 1/2 to go. Time to buckle up, put that helmet back on and get serious like you did when you got through massage school and established your client base.

    Once you make that psychological and emotional commitment of doing whatever it takes, it’s time to…

    2. Go all in with marketing.

    At one point, I almost doubled my income in less than a year because I got better at massage.

    Uh-no.

    I got better at marketing.

    It’s okay…say it with me: marketing.

    It took me a long time to get comfortable with that word because I was afraid I’d turn into this:

    Source: Unbounce

    But I didn’t.

    I’m still me.

    Source: nutriciously.com

    Okay, me.

    Source: Me

    Marketing covers a big swath of territory. The easiest, cheapest and least painful way for most massage therapists to market is through word of mouth.

    And that’s exactly what I did.

    I set out to create referral sources outside of my client base with chiropractors, physical therapists, personal trainers, runners and local, sport-hobby store employees.

    I used two simple marketing tools to engage potential customers and referral sources: demo massages and free gift certificates.

    My reasoning for demo massages and free gift certificates over other marketing strategies, like free talks, was that you can yammer on about the benefits of massage at the Moose Lodge annual Toy Drive, but nothing is going to sell your massage as much as you getting your hands on a “moose”.

    The first three months of demo massage marketing were physically and mentally hard. Some places that I engaged were dead ends. I cut them and zeroed in on the most promising places. I started to get some referrals, but not enough to make me feel like I was going to hit my new income goal.

    This is when I wanted to stop—and where you’ll want to stop. But this is precisely when you need to…

    3. Keep pushing forward even though you’re not getting the complete return you want on your labor investment.

    When you push on, the needle will jump. Your average massage income will go up. Not as high as you want it to be, but enough so that you get a shot of adrenaline.

    However, at the same time you might feel even more squashed then before because you’re running really freakin’ hard now.

    Here’s what I mean. About month four I had 2 or 3 demo massage going on a week. I was asked to sponsor events where I donated on-site massage. I was answering questions from trainers and coaches about their clients and athletes. And I could barely fit in new clients because of all the promotional activities I was doing.

    Yes, I was making more money, about ¾ of the way there, but Markie didn’t want to play no more.

    Fortunately, my massage income numbers evoked another adrenaline producing event in me. I was now periodically hitting the number that I wanted to be my weekly, average income.

    And that was enough for me to do what I recommend you do…

    4. Keep your hand on the hot burner until you have clients coming out of your ears. 

    Here’s something that I discovered on the other end: The pain from being over-stretched is temporary.

    And here’s when and how it will change. Once you have no room in your schedule for new clients, back off with your marketing.

    [bctt tweet=”If you don’t have to push clients into the next week, you don’t have enough clients.” username=”Mark LiskeyMarkLiskey”]

    If you’ve been going every week to a place to do on-site massage, cut back to once a month or stop entirely if that’s a natural ending.

    Initially, I was nervous to back off working referral sources because I thought the valve would shut off.

    But it didn’t because I had built great relationships. Now I could go into maintenance mode which meant cutting way back on my demo massages.

    Massage Income Breakthrough in a Nutshell

    Pushing to the next massage income level is do-able. Forget working harder at what you’re currently doing. You need a plan and you need to persevere at that plan.

    Here’s my 4-step plan:

    1. Admit to yourself that you’re ½-way there.
    2. Go all in with marketing. I recommend promoting through demo massages. It’s by far the cheapest (almost free) way to market.
    3. Keep pushing forward even though you’re not getting a complete return on your labor investment.
    4. Keep your hand on the hot burner until you have clients coming out of your ears.

    If you’re doing referral marketing, these two articles will get you moving in the right direction:

    1. How to Get Someone Else to Sell Your Massage
    2. How to Get Massage Clients: Nurture the Connectors

    The Accelerator Course

    If you need to take a meh massage business to beyond paying the bills, then this course will finish the job for you: Accelerator.

     

     

  • Sell Without Selling: Gift Certificates

    If you’ve tried to be a salesperson and it’s absolutely not you, don’t sweat it. There are ways to sell massage without really “selling”. Gift certificates play an important role in the sell-without-selling game plan.

    I’m Not a Salesperson

    When I was young, I had a sales job at a local equity theater. I stunk at sales calls. The only reason I wasn’t fired was because my boss liked me.

    The best sellers had devised their own scripts, and some were 100% convinced that Mr. Jones on the other end of the line was making a huge mistake if he decided he wasn’t going to buy a subscription. That was definitely not how I thought.

    Fast forward to today in my massage business: some things haven’t change. For instance, I don’t believe everyone’s highest health priority should necessarily be a massage.

    But the one thing that did change for me was that I found ways to sell my service and market my business without feeling cheesy. Enter gift certificates.

    I Hated But Now Love GCs

    I’ve had a love/hate relationship with gift certificates (GCs) over the years. I loved when the money came in, but I hated doing the massage long after the money had been spent. Maybe that’s why for the longest time I never had GCs in my office. When a client desperately wanted to purchase a GC from me, I would “borrow” (steal) one from my wife, Lisa. She kept plenty in her office:-)

    A GC as Part of a Sales Approach

    Lisa saw the value of GCs early on, but I didn’t until I moonlighted at a massage spa. Customers would swarm in around the holidays to purchase GCs. Not only did the massage spa sell a lot of GCs, some of those customers became clients.

    Homing in on the idea that GCs sell themselves, here’s a way to use GCs in a sales approach:

    Business situation: A new client comes in for an intro massage. You would like her to be a repeat client and/or refer someone to you.

    Pitch:  You work on her. That is your sales pitch.

    Close: She pays you at your desk. On the desk is a sign that reads: Gift Certificates Available.

    As long as the sign is visible, why not let it do the talking for you?

    Advertising Strategies with GCs

    I also began to see how GCs could be used for advertising.

    1. Do a Massage GC Raffle.

    We frequently do demo massages at All Kinds of Fast (AKOF), a local running store. Recently, we co-sponsored their Holiday Lights run through our town. Besides bringing our hands to do free massages, we brought raffle items, including a massage gift certificate.

    Of the 40 participants at the event, about 20 entered the massage raffle. A person who put her name in the massage raffle walked over to my table. She wanted some work done on her hip. Great! I worked on her, never mentioning anything about our business.

    After I was done, she did the run. When she got back she walked over to the Massage Raffle jar and saw that it was filling up with raffle tickets. Then she came over to me and asked if I had a GC to buy. Why yes, I think I do. She bought two.

    Here’s what else our massage GC raffle accomplished at the Holiday Lights Run event:

    1. It helped us get noticed at the event.
    2. It showed AKOF that we’re invested in our business relationship with them.
    3. It provided us with the opportunity to gain a client (recipient of the massage GC).

    (By the way, our GCs are transferable—in case the person who won it, wants to gift it.)

    There’s more. GCs can be a way to invest in a client.

    2. Donate a GC to a Fundraiser/Charity. 

    Some of my clients are involved with charities and fundraising. In the past, anti-GC Mark would begrudgingly donate a GC to his client’s charity if and only if the client asked for one. Now, pro-GC Mark asks the client before she asks him.

    Why? From a business standpoint, I’m strengthening rapport with my client. Rapport goes a long way if a lot of your advertising is word-of-mouth.

    Also, in my experience, more often than not, GCs won or purchased at a charity event (e.g., silent auction) are not redeemed.

    Lastly, I have to admit, I feel a heck of a lot better not being Scrooge.

    3. Apologize with a GC.

    Have you missed an appointment with a client? Did the AC break on a 102 degree, mid-July day in the middle of a massage? Did car exhaust ever come into the massage room during a massage? These are some examples of when I’ve given a GC to client for problems that occurred on our end.

    Some look at this as lost revenue. I see it as a saved reputation.

    4. Say Thank You with a GC.

    GCs are a great way to say thank you. “Thank you” is different than bartering. The thank you GC is offered with nothing expected in return.

    For example, I gave a client a massage GC for promoting our business. She in turn gave it to her running coach as a gift. It doesn’t matter to me whether she uses it or her coach uses it. From the second I gave her the GC, I demonstrated that I was investing in our client-therapist relationship, and that’s what was important to me.

    A GC = Your Hands On (The Client) Advertising

    GCs are more than just a way to bring in quick cash. They are a business currency, and they represent your labor exchange. When redeemed, you are literally selling with your hands.

    To have GCs as part of your sales and advertising toolkit, make sure you have signage that lets people know that you have GCs.  Also, make sure that you have GCs on hand whether you’re at a massage event or in your office. I carry GCs with me in my car—especially during the holidays.

    To advertise your business using GCs, do a massage raffle, donate a GC to your client’s fundraiser or give one to someone as a thank you.

    Remember the car exhaust in the massage room incident I had mentioned? I gave that person a massage GC for that smoky massage. She was very appreciative, has become a return client and talks us up around town.

    You don’t have to give up on the idea of having your own business  because you’re not a salesperson NOR do you have to pretend you’re someone you’re not in order to sell massage.

    Utilize sales tools, like GCs, in a way that works with your personality.

    Here’s another article for the non-sales person within: You Have to Sell…Sorry.

    Other Tools

    Jumpstart for starting a business: Jumpstart.

    Accelerator for growing a meh business: Accelerator.

    Ways to Save Money and Build Your Practice:

    Massage Insurance: Who has the Cheapest Massage Insurance

    Website: Cheapest Way to Build a Website.

    Rent a Massage Room: How to Rent a Massage Room for Cheap.

  • 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.