Massage Collage

I had a painful learning experience this week. I got a call from a woman who said an acquaintance of mine had suggested she get in touch.  She explained that she does cardio screenings that detect blockages, check artery wall elasticity and so forth, and that she offers them at the low price of 30.00.  She told me about the device she uses and said it was FDA approved.  It sounded like a good service my clients would benefit from, so I agreed to have her come to my office on a certain day to do it.  That was my big mistake; agreeing to do it before I thoroughly researched the device.  At my age I should know better!

She followed up with an email with a link to information about the device.  I went to the website, and it appears that the sole purpose of the screening is to sign people up into a MLM company, and get them on autoship for an expensive product that will supposedly reverse heart disease.  People who don’t have any problems detected are encouraged to buy the product anyway as a preventative measure. 

I should state that I have been involved with a particular MLM company for almost a decade.  This is not a slam on MLMs.  I personally choose not to recruit people; I don’t hold any meetings or go to any meetings; I just want the product they sell for myself and being signed up as a distributor allows me to buy it at a cheaper price.  My beef is not that the company she represents is a MLM company; my beef is that I agreed to host something because I thought it was about providing a service, with no knowledge that it was really about selling something.  She had not mentioned any relationship to any product at all during our phone conversation.

I emailed her and told her I was still willing to host her at my facility, only on the condition that I would advertise it honestly to my mailing list as an opportunity to hear about a MLM product, and stating that the cardio screenings would be available.  I wanted people to know up front that they would be listening to a sales pitch.  I also asked her some questions about contraindications for the product, and what kind of intake process she conducted–because by that time I had done some research and found that there are certain people who shouldn’t take it at all–and she wouldn’t answer any of my questions, but diverted every one of them.

I had all kinds of red flags going off in my head about the whole thing at that point, so I told her I was very sorry that I had agreed to it without doing the research to see what it was about, but I was going to have to bow out of it. I tried to be as polite as possible about it.

A few hours later, I received an email from her attacking my character, telling me I was obviously the type of person that she wouldn’t want to be associated with and that it was apparent I am only in this business for the money.  I was so shocked I could have fallen over. 

What my clients think of me is important to me.  I want my customers to think of me as someone who is concerned with their well-being and someone who conducts my business honestly.  I can’t recall ever being attacked this way, and it hurt my feelings to have those things said to me–even though it was by someone who doesn’t know me or know anything about me, and I know I shouldn’t take it personally, but that’s easier said than done at times.

Retailing anything already puts us in the position of assuming dual roles, and we must be careful about it. It just did not resonate with me to suck people in on the guise of having a health screening when it was actually about selling them something.  My big mistake was not doing my research first. 

If you’re hosting a health screening of any kind, that is a nice way of providing a service to clients, and in the past I’ve hosted blood pressure screenings,cholesterol checks,  and so forth with no problems.  But if you’re offering some type of screening that is related to selling people a product, I think you should represent that upfront and honestly when you advertise it.  It’s just the right thing to do.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

Posted on February 2nd, 2008 by Laura Allen
Filed under: General | 1 Comment »

I realized some time ago that even if I stayed at my office until midnight every night, I’d still have things waiting to be done.  My list is long and on-going; cross one thing off and put on another. 

I’m an early morning riser and a recovering workaholic; usually up before 5, at the office no later than 7:30, and for the past four years since opening my clinic, I’ve been there until 7:30 many nights.  I’ve resolved to give that up this year as we’re heading into our fifth year.  I’ve been making a big effort to go home at 5 pm since the New Year, and I’ve probably made that goal at least half the time–a pretty big improvement.  I’ve also resolved not to work every Saturday this year, and no Sundays at all unless I’m teaching a class that’s of three days duration or longer. 

I don’t expect I’ll be doing any less work; in fact, I’m at home right now writing this column, and I do a lot of writing and class planning at home in the evenings or the wee hours of the morning. 

I’ve always been well organized, and I’m a stickler for punctuality, but even so, I’ve felt the need recently to take back control of some of my time.  Clients are the reason for our day, not an interruption of it, but I’ve started noticing how many other things that are interruptions are eating into my time.  Telemarketers call my office numerous times a day, in spite of the fact I’m on the do-not-call list.  People walk in the door trying to sell me something, in spite of the sign in red letters that says “no soliciting.”

I’m a plain-spoken person and I can be tactless at times.  I do try to control myself with clients and I don’t think I’ve ever been tactless in that area, but I’ve been catching myself getting a little testy with the uninvited callers and unwelcome solicitors, especially when they’re repeat offenders.  I’ve blocked calls, I’ve hung up on them, I’ve walked off and left them talking to the air while I left the phone off the hook; I’ve been a smart-aleck and asked them to give me their number so I could call back and bother them at an inconvenient time.  I’ve learned to say “So, I see you decided to ignore my no soliciting sign” in a voice that would make the wicked witch of the west cringe when someone walks in and starts their sales pitch.

My priority is taking care of the clients in my business, and taking care of the business end of my business.  I’m the maid and the laundry person, the receptionist, the bookkeeper and the insurance filer, in addition to being a massage therapist.  If you’re just starting out in business for yourself, chances are you’re doing all or most of those things too.  My office is spotless, but I can’t make the same claim about my house.  I just tell people I’m saving those cobwebs for the Halloween party.

While I think most people can relate to my irritation with telemarketers and unwelcome salespeople, I try to bear in mind that they’re people just like me who are trying to make a living; they just happen to have a job that irritates a lot of people. I wonder how many times a day the average telemarketer gets hung up on or cursed at.  I imagine their day is a lot different from yours and mine.  We’re used to our customers thanking us and singing our praises for making them feel better.

In the interest of promoting massage while practicing effective time management, I have decided not to hang up on telemarketers or be rude to unwelcome salespeople any more.  Instead, I’ll just interrupt them and ask them if they’ve ever had a massage.  Then I’ll start talking about the benefits of it until they get irritated and walk out or hang up on me. That’ll fix ‘em.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

Posted on January 27th, 2008 by Laura Allen
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Once in awhile, everything just comes together.  This week was especially exciting for me. 

I’ve been trying to manifest a chiropractor joining our practice for several years.  I haven’t advertised for one; instead I trusted the universe to send me the right one at the right time.  That has happened this week in the person of Dr. Ezra Edgerton, who is also a naturopath.  He’ll be moving into the office the first week of February.  I actually met Ezra years ago at the Sunday music jam.  He plays the heck out of the fiddle too, and especially likes to play along on my Irish tunes, so it’s a double blessing for me to get him to join us. People walking up the sidewalk after hours may hear a jig or two wafting out the window!

A day after I got that news, I received the first copy hot off the press of my new book, One Year to a Successful Massage Therapy Practice (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins).  I wrote the book to give therapists a boost in no-cost and low-cost ways to market themselves. My hope is that it will really help those who are just starting out, as well as “old hands” who might be feeling a little stuck in their practice.

The third glorious thing that happened was snow!  Now, some of you folks who live up north and in the mid-west may be just plain sick of snow by now, but here in North Carolina, we haven’t had a good one since 1993.  I have attributed that to global warming, and I have actually been in fear that it was never going to snow again.  My dog is 8 years old and had never seen snow until this week.  He acted quite prissy about stepping on it at first, but then he really seemed to enjoy playing in it, and so did I.  I look at snow as a guilt-free day off work.  It’s beyond your control, so just take the day off and enjoy it.  I was quite surprised when one of my staff members called me at home to ask a question; it seems that four of my therapists, including one that travels nearly fifty miles to get here, had come to work anyway and were all busy!  They must have all wanted to work worse than I did, and apparently the people who had appointments scheduled weren’t going to let a few inches of snow interfere with their massage appointment.  My husband and I stayed home watching old movies on television.

I feel very honored to be invited to be on this blog.  I first read John Barnes’ book, Healing Ancient Wounds: the Renegade’s Wisdom (MFR Treatment Centers and Seminars, 2000) when I was still a new therapist and I’ve looked back over it many times.  Between Mr. Barnes and the other authors on here, I feel like I’m in very illustrious company. 

We’re all blessed, aren’t we?  We have the best job in the world–helping people feel better.  Every day is a new opportunity to make a difference in the quality of someone’s life.  That’s always been the biggest thrill for me in this business, even more so than the money, to see someone who walked in the door stressed out and in pain walk out an hour later looking like they just got back from a great vacation.  It is just a wonderful thing to be able to facilitate that for people and to go to a job I look forward to every day.  We’re all blessed, and we get to share that blessing in our work. 

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

p.s.  Go get a massage this week!

Posted on January 20th, 2008 by Laura Allen
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This weekend I took a five-hour roadtrip to the other side of North Carolina to teach a class.  As usual, I didn’t plan for an extra day or two to meander; it was just get there and get back as quickly as possible, and that’s kind of sad.

My husband was doing the driving, which gave me more time to look at the scenery.  We left the mountains where we live and headed for the coast.  Some of the things I noticed made me wish we had planned a longer trip.  There was a gold-panning operation going beside a beautiful river.  Another few miles up the road, a sign pointed to “The Old Covered Bridge.”  Some of you might see plenty of covered bridges where you live, but they’re a rarity in these parts.  One exit ramp had a sign offering up “The Country Doctor Museum.”

The land flattened out and I started noticing the beautiful dark waters of the swamplands, and the fertile farms growing winter hay.  Old tobacco smokehouses stood abandoned in the middle of some of the fields, looking ancient and forlorn and almost surreal. 

It seems that every mile or two, there’s a historical marker telling about some Civil War battle or campsite or general born nearby, or the homeplace of some long-ago poet or politician. 

I started thinking about how many interesting and beautiful things I’ve never seen are practically in my own backyard, and I’ll bet most of us could say the same.  We’re busy, we’re in a hurry, and we just don’t stop to see them. 

I’ve realized my business isn’t going to fall to pieces if I take an extra day off, so next time, I’m going to plan to take the byway instead of the highway.  Maybe even stop to pan for gold, or picnic on the river beside the covered bridge.  I’ll  just take time to slow down and smell the hay, and be in the moment instead of getting to my destination as fast as I can.  I wish the same for you.

 Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

Posted on January 13th, 2008 by Laura Allen
Filed under: General | 1 Comment »

I’m a musician myself.  I started learning piano when I was six, picked up the guitar at nine, and I’ve been playing in one band or another continuously since I was a teenager.  Over the years I’ve added the dulcimer, various drums, the harmonica, the autoharp, and a few other instruments into my repertoire.  If I want the  house to myself for a few hours, all I have to do is get my fiddle out of the case and my husband will develop a sudden urge to go somewhere. I can’t imagine my life without music in it.  It’s my joy and my stress relief.

Most of the music I play is not an appropriate accompaniment to massage, which brings me to the point of this week’s blog.  Do you give a lot of thought to the music you play in your massage room?

I remember when I was a massage student, I was assigned to double-team a client with an older and more experienced therapist who worked in the clinic attached to the school.  I entered the treatment room and was shocked to hear Lynyrd Skynyrd coming from the CD player.  As it turned out, the client had brought it with him, and as he had explained to the other therapist before I entered the room, he didn’t like that “wishy-washy” music that was usually played when he was getting a massage.

We’re taught in massage school to check in with the client about the pressure, the temperature of the room and so forth, but I can’t recall any of my massage teachers suggesting that we need to check in with the client about the music in the room, other than to ask if it’s too loud. 

I’ve had a number of clients over the years who asked me not to play any music at all, because they just wanted peace and quiet while they were getting their massage.  I’ve had other clients that brought in a CD (although never another one that brought in Lynyrd Skynyrd) that they wanted to hear during their session.

A few months ago I was giving a massage and playing one of my favorite CDs, which happens to be soothing classical guitar music with some nature sounds in the background.  The client asked me to take it off because, she said, it was “creeping her out”. 

One of the therapists who works in my office used to work for a chiropractor who had music piped all through the building, including her massage room, so that she (and the client) was forced to listen to whatever was playing at the time.  The day she came to my office to apply for a job, she stated to me that she had been giving a man a massage when Marvin Gaye floated over the airwaves crooning “Sexual Healing.”  There was no way for her to turn it off or even down, and she said it was just the final straw for her in working at a place where she was unhappy in her circumstances.

I have learned that not everyone likes Gregorian chants, the afore-mentioned nature CDs, kirtan, Irish airs on the harp, the Native American flute, mantras, classical music, or even the myriad of music made just for massage and labeled as such.  Just because I personally like it doesn’t mean the client does. 

My solution to this problem is just to ask the client if they would like to have music during the session, and to offer to let them choose a CD from a basket containing a dozen or so various selections. 

Music, or the lack of it if that’s their choice, should be a part of the client’s total massage experience.  We need to be tuned in to what the client finds soothing and relaxing, and realize that it might not be the same thing we find soothing or relaxing.

And if you’d care to hear me play the harmonica, you can visit my website at www.thera-ssage.com and turn up the volume!

 Peace & Prosperity,

 Laura Allen

Posted on January 7th, 2008 by Laura Allen
Filed under: General | 3 Comments »

From a business standpoint, I’m always excited about beginning a new year, and looking ahead to what I’d like accomplish in the next twelve months.  Although I’ve only been in the massage business for a decade or so, I’ve been a business owner for most of the last thirty years.  One thing that has served me well in all that time is having concrete goals.

I left my job as a massage school administrator a little over four years ago and opened my own clinic.  Since the first day, my goal has been to gain one new client a day, 365 days a year.  Since we’re closed on Sunday, that means gaining two some other day of the week.  I’ve exceeded that goal again this year for the fourth year in a row.

I have not accomplished this alone; I have a great staff of therapists who share in that goal.  Every year on January 1, I write the magic number on a sticky note and it stays on my computer screen so I see it every day.  As I make a file for each new client, I give thanks for getting one person closer to the goal.  I keep the staff informed about how close we are getting as the year goes by.  They share in my desire to make it and my excitement when we do.

Another goal of mine, and it’s very concrete, is to have a good time every day at work.  I want to laugh every day, and I want my staff to laugh every day.  Enjoying your work is one of the most important things on the path to success. 

As any of my esteemed colleagues on this blog could testify, succeeding in business is largely a matter of perseverance.  When setbacks happen, you pick yourself up and dust yourself off, and get your eyes back on the prize.  Thomas Edison said, “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” 

I often hear from therapists who have been in practice for a year or two, or sometimes ten, and they’re still not where they want to be financially or still not in the work situation they’d like to have.  Most of the time, I’ve found the problem comes down to their not having concrete goals.  They have dreams–”One of these days I’ll be doing so-and-so or making this amount of money,” but they haven’t given it the breath of life by turning it from a dream into a goal.

If you have a dream you haven’t realized yet, I want 2008 to be your year.  The first step is to write it down in specific terms.  Then put that where you have to see it every single day–your appointment book is a good place, or make it the screen saver on your computer.  Then remember that law of physics, that something will stay on the same path unless a force acts to change it, and realize you have to be that force in order to change your circumstances.  The Small Business Administration has a great piece of advice on their website (www.sba.gov), and that is never let a day go by without doing something to market your business. 

Schedule a half hour every day when your only focus is going to be marketing.  That can mean anything from working up a new advertisement to sending welcome cards to new clients, to calling up old ones who haven’t been in lately to see how they are and jog their memory that it’s been awhile since their last massage.  The point is, do something. Set your goals, and take some action.  Believe you are going to succeed.  Act as if you are going to succeed, and know that success depends on your actions.  Another unknown philosopher said “There are people who make things happen, people who watch things happen, and people who wonder what happened.”  Decide to be one of those people who makes things happen!

May your New Year be filled with peace and prosperity,

Laura Allen

Posted on December 28th, 2007 by Laura Allen
Filed under: General | No Comments »

How do you deal with difficult clients?  99% of clients who come in our door are happy to be there, and just as nice as they can be.  Then we get that other 1% that I’d just like to choke!  Since my practice is in a small town where news travels faster than the speed of sound, you just have to bite your tongue most of the time.  Here are a couple of examples:

A woman called for an appointment and said that she had a gift certificate for sixty dollars.  I explained that was for an hour of massage.  She made the appointment, and when she arrived, informed me that she wanted to break that up into four fifteen minute sessions.  I politely told her she hadn’t said that on the phone and therefore the therapist had booked her for an hour.  She quickly became very rude and said that the next time, she’d tell her husband to get her a gift certificate somewhere else.  I remained polite in spite of my urge to wring her neck.  The therapist turned out to be just what she’d been looking for, and she ended up purchasing a package deal for fifteen minute sessions, but it was a rocky start to our business relationship.

I am blessed with a staff of great therapists who are usually booked well in advance.  There are always those clients who never book in advance; they just call when they wake up and can’t turn their head and want to be taken care of right then.  One client who is notorious for doing just that called last week.  I offered to put her on our cancellation list.  During the course of the week, I called her on three different occasions, could only get through to her voice mail, and left her the message that I was willing to hold the appointment for half an hour and that I would then be calling to offer it to someone else.  She called back on all three of those occasions after I had given away the appointment.  The third time, she rudely said that  I should be able to accomodate walk-in clients.  I replied that my therapists weren’t willing to give up their steady appointments in order to sit around and take a chance that someone might walk in, and that all of our treatment rooms were filled with people who had booked in advance.  She was very huffy about it.  I referred her to another therapist in town who is just starting out and suggested that she might have better luck getting in with her on the spur of the moment.  She was incredulous that I was trying to send her somewhere else.

My 20-plus years in the restaurant business have given me plenty of experience in customer service, but thinking back on that I remember plenty of times when I wanted to dump someone’s plate on their head!  I never did that, although I was sorely tempted.  It’s better to take the high road and let the customer be the one who’s behaving badly.

I’d love to hear some of your stories about difficult clients and how you rose to the occasion.  I hope you’ve all had a prosperous holiday season, and wish you a healthy and happy New Year.

Peace on Earth,

Laura Allen

Posted on December 20th, 2007 by Laura Allen
Filed under: General | No Comments »

My friend Susan Mccallister cast aside the body that was no longer serving her a few days ago.  Pancreatic cancer snatched her away at the tender age of 54.

Susan was an equine massage therapist who loved her horses.  She liked to ride off into the woods and camp. She also loved to dance, to good old rock-n-roll by the likes of Delbert McClinton, Van Morrison, and her husband Kenny Ray’s band, Drop of a Hat.  She had a tiara and sparkly shoes. She loved good wine, and her friends, and her dogs, and all animals big and small.  She worked part-time in an animal hospital, and part-time in administration at a massage school.

Susan was in a lot of pain for most of the past year, pain that even strong drugs couldn’t take away, the kind of pain that doesn’t let you eat or get good quality sleep.  She passed away peacefully at home surrounded by friends and family.  She’ll be missed by us all.

Happy Trails, Susan Mac.

Posted on December 13th, 2007 by Laura Allen
Filed under: General | 3 Comments »

How many pieces of SPAM do you receive in your email every day?  Am I the only one who is irritated by this?  Am I the only one who thinks it’s an unethical way to advertise?  I’d like to hear how others feel about this.

A couple of months ago, I received an email from a chiropractor, who is an approved provider, advertising his courses and books he was selling about carpal tunnel syndrome.  The occasional unsolicited email doesn’t bother me; once in awhile it even turns out that it’s something I’m interested in, but this man emailed me three and sometimes more times a day for weeks.  When it first started, there was no disclaimer on his ad and no way to unsubscribe, so I just started replying and putting “REMOVE” in the subject line, which is the standard practice.  It had no effect.  It went on for weeks.  Even though I put him on my SPAM blocker, he apparently used several different addresses for his mailings and it kept coming through.

He finally put instructions on the email that unsubscribing takes two weeks.  What’s the excuse for that?

After a couple of months of receiving three or four emails a day from him with no regard for my repeated requests to be removed, I called the phone number on his email and left a less than polite message about being removed from his mailing list.  It had no effect; the spam continued to arrive three times a day.  By this point in time, I was so irritated by it that I wouldn’t buy anything from him or attend a class of his if he was the last provider on earth.  I finally wrote a letter of complaint to the National Board.  I don’t know if they took any action or not, or if he finally just got the message that I wanted to be removed, but his emails finally stopped–until today.  This morning, once again, he’s the first person in my inbox.  Out of spite, I immediately sent him a dozen emails telling him to remove me.  If I get another, I’ll send two dozen!  I’ve decided to just give him a taste of his own medicine.

I’m an approved provider myself.  My advertising channels are magazine ads, my own website and some others I have paid to be listed on, the AMTA website, and email.  My email advertising is only sent to people who have attended my classes before and given me their email address specifically because they wanted to be notified that way, and I also have a link on my website for people who request to be added to my mailing list.  My website does not harvest cookies, and a visit to my site does not mean you are going to start receiving email from me.  You have to ask, and if you ask to be removed, it happens immediately, not two weeks from now.

The Internet has made the world a small place.  I use it for research on a daily basis.  I love being able to communicate with friends and acquaintances across the world without having to pay for a long distance call.  I appreciate every email I get from the massage therapists who contact me for one reason or another; sometimes it’s a comment on my writing, or a hello from someone I met at the national convention, or a catch-up email from a former student.  I love those; I don’t consider those SPAM. 

I do consider what the above-mentioned chiropractor is doing to be SPAM, and I think that’s an unethical way to advertise.  If he had sent one email, and then honored my request to be removed, I wouldn’t be mad, but three times a day for weeks on end is just over the line. 

Thanks for letting me vent, and I’d love to know how others feel about this.

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen

Posted on December 6th, 2007 by Laura Allen
Filed under: General | 1 Comment »

Do you have a policy in place for dealing with no-shows and last-minute cancellations? 

The first year I was in business for myself, I operated without such a policy.  By the end of the second year, when several more therapists had joined forces with me, I was appalled to see how many wasted appointments (and thus lost income) were caused by people who either waited until the last minute to call and cancel, or heaven forbid, didn’t call at all.  I decided to take a hard line when I saw that a year’s worth of blown appointments added up to over 8,000.

I put a notice on our website, another in our newsletter, a prominently displayed sign in the lobby, and added a paragraph to our intake form explaining our cancellation policy, which new clients must initial, and therapists inform all new clients of our policy.  We allow everyone one freebie per year–one missed appointment without penalty.  Even the best client will sometimes have a brain freeze or oversleep, or have a genuine emergency.  After that, if they miss they’re going to pay.

We maintain a list of people who are not welcome to make an appointment at our office unless they gaurantee it with a credit card.  Our cancellation policy states that if you are asked to gaurantee with a card, you can assume you’re one of those people we consider a repeat offender.

I haven’t lost any noticeable business, and the incidence of no-shows went way down after I put that word out about the policy.  The one or two people who defected were the above-mentioned repeat offenders, and we don’t want them anyway.  I worded the policy in such a way to make people realize that while one person may not think blowing off their appointment is a big deal, if three or four people in a week do that to a therapist, there goes someone’s groceries, their car payment or their rent.  Maybe it just made people think of it in a different way, but it made a positive difference. 

Busy physician and dental offices commonly overbook appointments, secure in the knowledge that a certain amount of people are going to cancel.  Massage therapists really can’ t do that, so you need some way to protect your income.  Having a cancellation policy, and enforcing it, will serve you well. 

Peace & Prosperity,

Laura Allen 

Posted on December 2nd, 2007 by Laura Allen
Filed under: General | 2 Comments »