The Massage Marketing Connection

An easy way to add thousands to your monthly income and serve your clients more fully!

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Adding health coaching to your massage practice is a simple and fun way to increase revenues and serve your clients more fully.

Coaching your patients is something you are probably already doing…talking to them about their health, teaching them specific things they can/should do to live healthier lives, offering advice on supplements and exercises.

Do you find there are some patients that would like to spend more time with you than you have? Are there some patients that could use more guidance but don’t know how to get it? Adding coaching to the services you offer is just another way you can help them in a more personal, in-depth way.

How difficult is it to add coaching to your portfolio of services?

Adding coaching is easy. There’s a good chance you are already coaching clients and just aren’t calling it that. Rather than offering the service without charging for it, you need to name it and charge a price for it. For example, say a patient comes in repeatedly for a sports injury – do you not help them by offering techniques to avoid the injury? You may even find yourself recommending vitamins or even shoes that can help them do their sport more safely or efficiently.

This is simply coaching – you are just not calling it that nor charging for it.

Ideas for types of coaching

Are there questions your patients consistently ask about? Opportunities for learning you see that aren’t being met? Using coaching to meet these needs is a great opportunity for you to expand your practice, make more money, and more fully meet the needs of your patients.

Let’s look at an example of how a massage therapist could add coaching to their practice:

• Offer health coaching packages individually and coach clients with specific issues: For example coaching for stress endurance. Coaching for insomnia.
• Offer weight loss coaching or physical fitness coaching.
• Rotate offering specific coaching on different topics that complement your practice such as meditation, increasing energy, relaxation.

Coaches traditionally charge anywhere from $100 up to $1,000 an hour or more. Depending on your practice and niche, I recommend starting off on the lower end and raising your rates as your coaching time fills.

Integrating coaching into your massage packages will allow you to set a price that doesn’t necessarily spell out an hourly rate. Many practitioners package their coaching with existing services to increase the value.

For example, a massage therapist could put together a package of 10 massages that normally costs $100 each. A $1000 value. For the package, they may discount the services because the patient is purchasing in bulk. Rather than discounting the price, the LMT could offer 30 minutes of one-on-one coaching, or free access to workshops or classes you do. You want to offer services that are easy to do, but add value for the patient and ultimately help them achieve their health goals.

Here’s what it ultimately looks like:

Ultimate massage therapy health package:

• 10 massages
• Five 30 minute one-on-one coaching sessions
• Develop personal health plan
• Free admittance to monthly health seminar held in office for 6 months
  Total cost: $2800

Coming up with several different packages with different price points for clients can quickly, and easily, add several thousands of dollars to your revenues and strengthen your relationship with patients.

Do you offer coaching services with in your business? Tells us about it!

About the author

Founder of A Marketing Connection and The Copywriting Institute, Kelly Robbins, MA, is a marketing coaching, award winning author, copywriter and intuitive consultant. Kelly is a blogger for both Chiropractic Economics and Massage Magazine and is the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners Specialize as well as co-author of The Practice Evolution Success Kit. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, “5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits” at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.

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We consist of four things: Our mental self, our emotional self, our spiritual self, and our physical self. To make a change, to shift a belief, or to touch a life, we must connect with all four aspects of a patient.

This may mean taking your massage therapy practice to the next level and going deeper with treatments and therapies. Treating a symptom is much different than helping a client create lifelong change by changing a nonsupportive behavior.

How we change behaviors now
Simply throwing facts and statistics at a patient is not going to motivate them to change a behavior – no matter how harmful that behavior is, or how beneficial making the change will be. Showing massage patients an x-ray alone or discussing why their energy is not flowing optimally will most likely not change a behavior, at least for the long-term. What you’ll experience is the patient will change their behavior for a little while or until the pain stops and then they will quit coming in.

To change a patient’s harmful behavior the bodyworker must connect with the patient on all four levels; mental, emotional, spiritual, physical.

Many of us talk or may share an x-ray with a patient and show them how their injury or pain is blocking the flow of energy – causing the physical experiences they are having. Showing the patient the x-ray is fine, but you must take that to the next level. Explain to them how this blockage is what’s causing them to miss out on baseball games with their kids or preventing them from fully enjoying their work or missing out on opportunities in life. Make it real and if you can touch on an emotional aspect of their pain. “It must be difficult not being able to golf with all your co-workers. How is that affecting your job?”

As healers, the x-ray may make a strong connection for us simply because of who we are – it doesn’t necessarily cause a connection with the majority of our patients. You have to take that a step further and connect with them on another level.

There are several ways you can do this:

1. Tell them verbally
2. Have them touch and feel something such as an anatomical model. Use metaphors and dramatizations to actively involve the client.
3. Provide them with handouts or written materials explaining their condition so they can digest the information at a later time and possibly research the information online later.
4. Have them move if they are experiencing physical symptoms. If they have a hard time standing on one leg because of lower back pain, have them stand on one leg so they experience the pain again. The pain reinforces the message you are giving them.
5. Have them repeat specific messages you want them to walk away with. THEY have to say it, not just listen to you.

Finally, for you to be present in all four quadrants I recommend you empty yourself before you do a treatment to allow spirit to work through you. Empty yourself so your beliefs and problems are not in the way – allowing you to fully serve. If you’re thinking about your next patient or all the emails waiting for your response you are not fully present.

If you experience problems with massage patients coming in for an appointment or two and then not coming back, it may be because you are not connecting with them on all four levels. Try incorporating these techniques and see what a difference they make.

About the author

Founder of A Marketing Connection and The Copywriting Institute, Kelly Robbins, MA, is an award winning author, copywriter, energy worker and healthcare marketing coach/consultant. Kelly is a blogger for both Chiropractic Economics and Massage Magazine and is the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners Specialize as well as co-author of The Practice Evolution Success Kit. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, “5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits” at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.

We consist of four things: Our mental self, our emotional self, our spiritual self, and our physical self. To make a change, to shift a belief, or to touch a life, we must connect with all four aspects of a patient.

Simply throwing facts and statistics at a massage client is not going to motivate them to change a behavior – no matter how harmful that behavior is, or how beneficial making the change will be. Showing clients an x-ray alone or discussing why their energy is not flowing optimally will most likely not change a behavior, at least for the long-term.

To change a massage therapy client’s harmful behavior the massage therapist must connect with the patient on all four levels; mental, emotional, spiritual, physical.

Many of us may share an x-ray with a patient and show them how their low back pain (or whatever applies to your practice) is blocking the flow of energy – causing the physical experiences they are having. Showing the client the x-ray is fine, but you must take that to the next level. Explain to them how this blockage is what’s causing them to miss out on baseball games with their kids or preventing them from fully enjoying their work or missing out on opportunities in life.

As massage therapists, your words or the x-ray may make a strong connection for us simply because of who we are – it doesn’t necessarily cause a connection with the majority of our clients. You have to take that a step further and connect with them on another level.

There are several ways you can do this:

• Tell them verbally

• Have them touch and feel something such as an anatomical model. Use metaphors and dramatizations to actively involve the client.

• Provide them with handouts or written materials explaining their condition so they can digest the information at a later time and possibly research the information online later.

• Have them move if they are experiencing physical symptoms. If they have a hard time standing on one leg because of lower back pain, have them stand on one leg so they experience the pain again. The pain reinforces the message you are giving them.

• Have them repeat specific messages you want them to walk away with. THEY have to say it, not just listen to you.

Finally, for you to be present in all four quadrants I recommend you empty yourself before you do a treatment to allow spirit to work through you. Empty yourself so your beliefs and problems are not in the way – allowing you to fully serve.

If you experience problems with massage clients coming in for an appointment or two and then not coming back, it may be because you are not connecting with them on all four levels. Try incorporating these techniques and see what a difference they make.

About the author

Founder of A Marketing Connection and The Copywriting Institute, Kelly Robbins, MA, is an award winning author, copywriter and healthcare marketing coach/consultant. Kelly is a blogger for both ChiroEco and MassageMagazine and is the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners Specialize as well as co-author of The Practice Evolution Success Kit. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, “5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits” at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.

Many LMT’s spend the majority of their time, energy and marketing generating new clients. They advertise market, sell, network….whatever it takes to bring new clients in the door.

Let me ask you a question though. How much time and energy do you put into keeping the clients you’ve got? It’s called client retention. Did you know that you spend eight times as much to gain a new client as it does to keep your existing clients/patients? In today’s economy you it’s imperative you at a minimum maintain your market share and not lose it. It’s worth your time and energy to keep the clients you’ve worked so hard to earn.

Here are a few customer retention basics:

• Provide excellent customer service. Notice I didn’t say ok customer service. Or be nice when you’re in a good mood customer service. To keep clients from leaving you, be excellent.

• Acknowledge clients and let them know you appreciate them. Little things like remembering their birthday or anniversary go a long way when it comes to relationship building.

• Smile, be happy. Make sure you’re office is a pleasant place to be. Whether you communicate with clients via email or over the phone you also need to provide a positive experience. Be pleasant to be around – and ensure your staff or assistants are pleasant too.

• Use client’s names often when talking to them. It personalizes the conversation and lets them know you recognize them as a person and not simply your next client.

• Educate and inform your clients all the time about how you are helping them.

• Always be looking for new ways to help your client. This can provide new avenues for your business to grow and allow you to help others in a bigger way at the same time.

Investing your efforts into client retention can really pay off. If you are attracting ideal clients who happily refer you to other ideal clients you need to consistently ask them how else you can help them. In what other ways can you serve them.

Keep in mind that most people don’t tell you they are leaving. They leave quietly. Keep your eyes open, listen, and pay attention to the small things in your business. It all makes a difference.

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

Kelly@AMarketingConnection.com

About the author

Author of Healthcare Copywriting Secrets Revealed and The Practice Evolution Success Kit, Kelly Robbins is a healthcare copywriter and marketing coach/consultant. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, 5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.

There’s nothing worst than someone not showing up for their massage therapy appointment. Not only are you losing money by not treating that patient, but you have a gaping, unexpected hole in your schedule that’s impossible to re-book at the last minute. You’re left with a block of wasted and unprofitable time, leaving you with just enough time to return a phone call or two.

Is it possible to proactively reduce no shows and ultimately increase the profitability of your practice? Of course. You can start by examining why no-shows occur.

Why do no-shows occur in massage therapy?

You’ll learn a lot about your practice by doing this exercise. Begin by looking at the charts of the people that don’t show up, and see if you can uncover any trends. Look for commonalities such as they were scheduled several weeks or months ahead of time or it’s the same people repeatedly. If they were scheduled far ahead of time, perhaps they found someone that could treat them sooner. Have someone in your office call and ask. If this is the problem you should consider how easy it is to access you. You may discover you need to leave time open in your schedule for new patients.

Another thing to look at is consistency in no-shows. Are the same people repeatedly not showing up? For these folks consider keeping open one particular time of the day, such as right before lunch and the last appointment in the afternoon. This way if they don’t show up, they are not disrupting your schedule as much.

Studies show that self-paid care sees more no-shows than those whose treatment is covered by insurance. If you are in an industry that traditionally doesn’t accept insurance, like massage therapy, you may see higher percentages of patients not showing up than in other industries.

Some practices charge for no-shows. If you do that you can be sure the patients won’t be back! You may consider sending a note to their PCP (if you are in communications with them) so they understand what is going on and why treatment has been discontinued. You don’t want the patient bad-mouthing you to your referral source.

How can you proactively prevent no-shows?

The most common technique is to have someone in your office place reminder phone calls and/or emails a day or two before the scheduled appointment. There are also several vendors that provide automated systems that call patients in the evenings when they are most likely home. The service is fairly inexpensive and easy to implement. If you have practice management software check with your provide to ensure the automated phone system integrates with your program.

Also, include in your initial paperwork how important it is for patients to cancel appointments if they can’t make it and request a 24 hour cancellation notice.

Proactively reducing no-shows starts with you evaluating your processes. How you handle emergency treatments and new patients can be two immediate ways you can make a difference to your bottom line.

About the author

Author of Healthcare Copywriting Secrets Revealed and The Practice Evolution Success Kit, Kelly Robbins is a healthcare copywriter and marketing coach/consultant. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, 5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.