Fingertips shared a fantastic idea about value added massage services. She was thinking about how to differentiate herself and came up with the idea of offering to take clients’ blood pressure.

Not only does this give clients something memorable and unusual to talk about to their friends, it also shows the benefits of massage in a very direct way. Clients can compare their blood pressure before and after the treatment.

Other ideas could be

1. A footbath detox while clients wait
2. A footspa or just a footbath
3. A footmassage wobbler (don’t really know what they are called)
4. An automatic massage chair in the waiting room
5. A heatpack for the shoulders or the back before the massage

Or something to stimulate the other senses

1. Music (I guess most of you do that already)
2. Essential Oils in an oil lamp
3. Offering a detox tea
4. Offering energy balls (you know these healthy sweet things)
5. Having changing artist exhibitions in your office

All of this does not cost very much and makes the experience with you special and memorable.

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We plan to move out of the city into a rural area in the next 6 months, is it worth trying to build up my practice before that, and learn some skills (not to mention, building my confidence) that will make it easier for me to build my practice again once we move?

Dear Catherine, building a practice takes a lot of effort, consistent effort.

You are definitely right about building your confidence by practicing what you have learned. That is the most important thing, so I definitely would not wait for 6 months before doing anything.

On the other hand, building a practice takes a lot of energy, especially in the early months. Probably more energy than what your income will amount to in 6 months.

Well connected?

Unless you are really well connected and respected in the community you are living in now. Then you still have to educate people to trust you as a health practitioner now. But it makes it easier.

One idea would be to focus on treating people, rather than building a practice. Set a goal of how many people you want to treat. Maybe you do this as a fund-raising event. 50% of every Dollar made (or even 100% if you can afford it) goes towards a community project.

Maybe the community project is in the rural area where you are going to move to. That way you could arrive there with a BANG (not to speak of your confidence in treating).

You could use it as PR ( in the city where you live now and in the rural area where you are going to.) People would not have to be sold too much on the treatment, but more on the value of the community project.

Ok, just an idea.

Exit Strategy

The other option would be to build up a practice that you actually sell when you leave. For that to work, you would need to have totally different goals (not how many patients you want to treat):

• A specific number of regular clients
• A profit target
• Marketing materials
• Systems that are working
• Possibly even staff

In all that it would be important that the relationships are built with the brand of your practice, not so much you as a person. That way whoever buys it gets value, rather than losing out because you walk out.

The biggest risk is that the practice is not yet well enough established in 6 months to get a good enough price for it.

The other risk is that you will not find a buyer who has go the money to purchase it.

So if you go this route, it would be good to have a buyer in mind from the start (maybe even start it as a partnership with an agreement on how the other person buys you out).

Building a Trial Practice or Practicing

I do not think that building a practice in the city has much impact on how well you will build it in the country. As you already know, it is a lot about personal relationships.

If you try it half heartedly in the city, you might even have it more difficult to do it again, because of how slowly it grew.

I definitely think practicing your modality is most important. Maybe there is the possibility of employment (or being a contractor) for the next 6 months, so that you can focus on practicing, rather than building the practice.

Practice management software? Any ideas on what to choose? A replacement for MYOB, appointment book, tracking clients writing letters, emails birthday records etc.

I know Health quest has been recommended to me and smart soft front desk has been as well , just wondering before I spend thousands if you have had any good ones or anyone has any comments on software programs?

I am sorry Jodie, I do not have a good answer for you.

When I started out with Passionate Management, we offered a remote receptionist service for natural health practitioners. Their phone diverted to us, we booked clients in and looked after the invoicing and payments.

We used a system called Ealth. We mainly chose it because of its online capabilities, practitioners could access it from their homes. Its biggest downside was how slow it was, so I would not really recommend it.

Decide what you need

What I would do is write a list of your needs. Do not even look at all the features that are available in the different programs, just think about your business processes and what you need.

Here are the steps:

1. Look at all the different places you keep data (e.g. patient addresses, treatment records). Write them all down.
2. Write down what you do with that data (after you have recorded it). How do you use it (e.g. sending birthday cards, using addresses for invoices.
3. Add what you are not currently doing but would like to do (and what data you need to capture to be able to do that).
4. Think about each item, deciding whether the current system is working well (a lot of patient management software can keep treatment notes, but very few practitioners are faster putting them in than writing them on paper). Do not go for things that you do not really need, just because they are possible.
5. There might be some items that are not clear cut. Mark them as your optional functions.
6. Send your list with the features you need (the essential ones and the optional ones) to a sales rep from the practice management software companies and let them get back to you with what their program can do.
7. Do not get too excited about additional features. They often make the program more complicated. Simplicity makes it quicker to learn and quicker to work with.

I know that it is always different to actually use such a system, so if anyone has a suggestion for Jodie, please leave a comment.

Even though it is Sunday, and I am really online to search for a toy kitchen for my daughter, I just stumbled across a great post by James Thomas and had to share that. Not only has he added some great ideas about having other businesses sell your vouchers for you, he has also produced a gift voucher in Word that you can use.

Check his blog to download it for free. The link is just above his picture where it says:

“Valentine Day Massage Gift Certificate”

Alexander

PS: If you are new here, you might not have seem my massage marketing tip about Valentine.

I love all your advice. I live in a tiny town in South Africa and have a health practice - massage, reflexology, Indian Head Massage etc. The place is actually too small to specialise, which is why I have branched out. My question is -

What is the best way of attracting new business (apart from word of mouth)? How do I go about promoting myself?

The short answer is:

No one can tell you what the best way is for you. You need to test it out.

The longer answer: Specialise!

You say that you live in a tiny town. That is actually ideal. It makes it possible that you get known much more quickly for what you do.

Specialising does not mean to say: “I do Indian Head Massage only”.

Specialising means defining what problem you solve and for who.

Maybe you are a stress buster. People with a headache (often developed through stress), you use Indian Head Massage, people with tight muscles (often developed through stress) you massage and where the stress has manifested in problems with the organs, you use reflexology.

In each case, you make sure that your clients feel rejuvenated and relaxed after the treatment. My guess is that happens anyway, so it is just a matter of pointing it out.

You become the expert on stress, chronic stress, acute stress, etc.

Why?

Specialising puts a spin on your promotion. It does not limit what you do.

The biggest reason for putting that clear spin on it is that people can talk about you more easily and consistently. I know you wanted something else than word of mouth. And I ended up here anyway.

There is no way around it, word of mouth is the most effective marketing tool. With your help, it works faster and more effectively. Being a specialist with a clear message is one ingredient.

Giving a great service that over-delivers on your promise is the second important ingredient.

The detailed answer:

The Passionate Training consists of 25 detailed exercises to help you promote yourself.

Do you think it’s worth running a natural health ‘open evening’ to discuss health issues and as an aside promote my practice? I’m a massage therapist, reflexologist and Reiki practitioner.

Hannah, that is a great idea and it is very much worthwhile.

Here are some things to think of:

• Plan it on an ongoing and consistent basis
  Running evenings like that as a once-off might not bring the results you are looking for. Over time, people get to value them and tell their friends.
• Give your participants value
  They need to leave, blown away by what they have learned and how that has positively impacted on their lives. (Could just be emotional support to deal with a specific long-term problem, does not have to be a quick fix).
• Target your market well
  Choose topics that you can help with and let the people you want to treat know. As an example if you work with older people, hold the evenings in retirement villages.
• Invite your friends
  A bigger group is always more exciting for the participants. The networking they do can be a benefit as well. Also, having the support of people who love you helps.
• Invite other complementary health practitioners
  Guest speakers can deepen the conversation.
• Use it for PR
  Remember the post about creating newsworthy actions.

Something else to consider is whether to charge for these evenings or keep them free. Free might bring more people, but they might not value it as much.

I ran events like that for health practitioners, talking about different marketing topics. I charged $5. Looking back that was too little, because it did not translate into direct sales and gave a lot of what they wanted already.

With a harder sales approach (e.g. offering a discount if they purchase something that evening) it might work. I don’t use that because I do not think that it builds positive long-term relationships.

So if you do not expect quick sales, but want to build your network long-term, it is a great way of achieving it.

It is only two weeks to Valentine’s Day!

Valentine is the day of nurturing your loved ones.

For you it is a chance to get new clients if you are doing anything that nurtures people.

Here is how to put this massage marketing tip into action:

• Remind your clients that Valentine is coming up
  Send an email or a letter, ring them if you have to
• Offer them a gift voucher for your service
  Let them know that they have to order before a certain date,
  possibly Friday February 8, so that you can send it to them on time
• Make a special offer, let them pay for 1 hour massage and add another half hour as your Valentine’s gift to your clients
• Purchase Valentine Cards and write the details of your gift voucher on them (what it is for, how long it is valid, how to contact you, who it is from). Leave some room for your client’s personal message to their loved ones.
• This is the most important step: Start taking action now!

Don’t be stopped by not having the perfect tools. It is more important to take action and see some results. New clients are a chance to build new relationships. They might like it so much that they come back and tell their friends.

Instead of buying the Valentine’s cards, you could also order customized massage vouchers. If you are in the US, I can recommend BodyWorkBiz. You can get 25 vouchers for $52. They’ll put your details on them and ship within 5 days.

Please leave comment, letting us know that you are going to take action. It will be great and motivating for others to see that.

How do I develop a relationship with health care practitioners who may not be familiar with the modality I practice? (avoiding their discrediting something they don’t understand)

Thanks Jocelyne.

I guess that really depends on what your modality is and how it complements what other health care practitioners do.

A relationship with you

What I am wondering is how they could discredit something that they are not familiar with. It probably means that they have heard negative things of the modality. So they might think that they are familiar with it, even though they do not know details.

Probably the best way around it is to build strong personal relationships: actively networking. It is probably best to focus your relationship building on other interests of yours.

Join a sports club, make music, go to events. Relate to people on a personal basis, so they get to know and trust you. Then will then extent to what you do.

And maybe it is not necessary to put a lot of emphasis on your modality, but rather on the problems you solve and the results clients can expect.

Supporting what others do

If there is a way that your modality fits int what other health care practitioners do (i.e. supports their process), you’ve got a great inroad for some mutual marketing activities.

I would avoid trying to convince people who use another modality that yours is better. But if they are a specialist in a niche different to yours, let them know about your niche and how you can help their clients in your area of expertise.