Massage:

Are you thankful?

For most of us, it’s extremely gratifying when a client or colleague refers a friend, family member, or patient to our practice.  A personal recommendation carries much more weight with a potential client than any form of advertising or marketing.  Referred clients already expect to get results before they even pick up the phone to set an appointment.

I think it’s important to truly appreciate how much our “referrers” contribute to our success in building a practice.  When it comes to saying “thank you”, I’m old-fashioned.  I don’t make a “thank you” phone call, or send a “thank you” e-mail or text message.  I prefer to snail-mail a handwritten note expressing my appreciation. 

It’s easy to forget that we are really in the business of building relationships.  According to Florence Isaacs, author of the book, Business Notes, “…a personal note is a powerful tool.  People appreciate it and respond to it in a way they don’t to other means of communication.”  She goes on to quote a business executive she interviewed for her book.  “Building relationships with customers and being thoughtful about their needs is a major part of what business is all about…When you write ‘Thank you for your business,’ you let people know you care about them.  Then what do they do?  They talk about you.  If they see someone who needs your product or service, they say, ‘Go see this guy.’  We’re all very attracted to courtesy because we get so little of it today.”

I know many of you have ways of showing your appreciation to your “referrers”. I hope that a written thank-you is one of them.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

Here’s a link to to the Amazon page for: Business Notes

Now is an excellent time to look ahead for marketing and networking opportunities related to National Stress Awareness Month.  The Health Resource Network recently disseminated this press release:

For the 17th consecutive year, April 2009 has been designated “Stress Awareness Month.” During this thirty day period, health care professionals and health promotion experts across the country will join forces to increase public awareness about both the causes and cures for our modern stress epidemic.

Sponsored by The Health Resource Network (HRN), a non-profit health education organization, Stress Awareness Month is a national, cooperative effort to inform people about the dangers of stress, successful coping strategies, and harmful misconceptions about stress that are prevalent in our society.

“Even though we’ve learned a lot about stress in the past twenty years,”says Dr. Morton C. Orman, M.D., Founder and Director of HRN, “we’ve got a long way to go. New information is now available that could help millions of Americans eliminate their suffering.”

Dr. Orman has invited leading health care organizations across the country to develop and disseminate helpful educational materials and other information about stress during the month of April. He is also promoting public forums, discussion groups,and other informative community events.

The Health Resource Network is a non-profit health education organization established in 1982. It consists of health professionals, health promotion experts, and educators committed to developing more effective programs for improving health and preventing disease. In addition to sponsoring Stress Awareness Month, the organization also sponsors National Stress Awareness Day, held every April 16–or the day after income taxes are due!

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www.stresscure.com/hrn

Now that you know, what will you do to promote your massage practice as an antidote to stress?  I look forward to your creative ideas.