Massage Practice Builder

One of the most challenging things for massage therapists is setting fees for massage therapy services but it is one of the most important forms of self care that is needed to avoid burnout or even business failure.  Money is such an interesting thing for many as it often equated with power and it is a place where we all project our old beliefs onto.

Massage therapists don’t want to charge for massage because it is such a nurturing, wonderful service and they think that people shouldn’t have to pay for things like that.  They set lower rates than others thinking that is what they need to do to get people in the door and keep them coming back.  They don’t have cancellation policies that support a business and often just let no shows or last minute cancellations go without paying.  Massage therapists seem to put their own needs for financial stability aside in order to get and keep a client.

The thing is that people do want to pay for your services.  When I first started out 20 years ago,  I opened my own business at a health club where the person before me was charging something like $25 an hour for a massage.  Even back then, that was a really low fee for massage.  It was a struggle raising my rates to match the going rate in the area.  An accountant friend of mine even told me not to do it because I would lose too many clients.  I did lose some but there were new ones that came after and they paid the higher rate.  Every year when I raise my rates, I usually get at least one complaint but all of the others say things like “It is about time your raised your rates”.  Actually the person who complained last year is one of my wealthiest clients.  What people can or want to pay has little to do with how much money they have or don’t have.  I also have a client who is a single mother and a day care teacher who makes it a point to always have money for her massage.  The difference is in how much they value massage.  I personally only want to be working with people who value me and my massage service.  Anything less becomes a drain on your business and your self.  That is why setting and raising your fees is one of the highest forms of self care.  I even created a new page on my website on setting your fees and it is linked from the section on Self Care.

So often I work with massage therapists and I hear things like “I can charge less because I work at home and don’t have as much overhead.  I work with mothers and they don’t have much money.”  They also say things like “I just can’t charge for massage because it is such a personal thing”.   These therapists don’t have a retirement account and are hardly getting by but they would rather ‘sacrifice’ their time and take a client who pays less.  Setting introductory fees can be a way of getting people in the door or having special offers occasionally but consistently undercharging and thus underearning can hurt your massage practice (and the massage profession) more than one might think.

In some ways we are providing what people should have got for free- nurturing, relaxation techniques and support for their physical, mental, emotional processing.  How do you put a price on that?  I sometimes think we should be charging more like $500 an hour for massage sessions because of all the things that massage really can do.   I once had a client who had severe neck pain and compressed discs in his neck.  In about 6 sessions he was a different person.  He told me he had come in looking for relief from his pain and he left being a more peaceful person.  He was friendlier and easier to get along with.  How much is that worth to someone?

Why do I dread the benefits of massage?

I am sure you have a list of them on your website or on your flyers and brouchures. Here is a list on my site www.thebodyworker.com

Does anyone really know if they are true?  Have they been proven scientifically?

And better yet – Does anyone really care about them?  What does it mean to someone who is looking for massage that their circulation will be increased?

The so called benefits of massage don’t really mean much or matter for that matter.

What does matter is getting to the heart of what the real benefits of massage are and communicating that information to your potential clients.  Just put yourself in your client’s shoes.  I actually recommend that you do actually go out and try to find a massage therapist for yourself or even better for your mother.   Would you go to someone who only has the long list of the benefits of massage listed on their site or would you go to someone who really can explain what it is that they will be getting?

To get to the real benefits of massage – just start asking after each benefit -  “So What?”  and keep asking it until you cry or it doesn’t make any sense.  They you will know what you have.

 The previous poll from Massage Magazine found on the front page of massagemag.com asks:
What is your most effective marketing approach?

• • Word-of-mouth 79.2%
  • Print advertising 3.1%
  • Doing demonstrations at events 7.3%
  • Web site 9.4%
  • Offering discounts 1.0%

Word of mouth comes up first which it usually does.  I am surprised that more people don’t have effective websites.

Your website should be driving targeted clients to you every week.  It should be on the first page of Google when someone searches for ‘massage, your city’.   You can even find out how many people are searching for that to give you some ideas of how many clients you are missing out on using this free keyword search tool by Google.

Here are a few things to make your site work better for you:

• Sign up with Google Maps.  When people search for massage, your city there usually is a section at the top of the page that says “local business results for massage near whatever city’.  Click on that link and then scroll to the bottom of the page where it says “Information for Business Owners” and click on that and follow the steps and submit your site to the local business listings.
• Be sure to choose the domain name that is best for search engines.  The best name uses the most searched for keywords.  Most people search for massage therapists by putting in a combination of keywords such as ‘massage, your city’.  Use those keywords in your domain name!  Yes even if your business name is different than that.
• When you create a page on your website be sure to follow these easy formatting techniques that I have outlined on my site www.thebodyworker.com.
• Create a xml sitemap and submit it to Google and the other major search engines.  Don’t worry if you don’t know what a xml sitemap is really.  I actually don’t really understand the real details but you need to let Google (and the other major engines) know that you are out there.  Here is more on how to do it.
• Find affiliate programs like amazon.com that you can sign up to promote their products or ebooks on health or related topics and make additional money for your masage business.  You can also use Google Adsense which is a program that allows you to put Google Ads on your website.  When people click on the links you get paid. If you are adding them to your massage website you might want to wait until you are getting 100 people a day to your website and also write about 30 pages of short articles on massage and health to put the ads on.  Since not everyone finding your site will become a customer, you can still make money from the visitors.