When starting any type of a
business the biggest challenge is acquiring clientele. Once you have
learned the specific skills that are unique to a line of work, honed
those skills and readied yourself for marketability, the next step
is to find your client base. To paraphrase the famous line from the
movie Jerry Maguire, "Show Me The Clients!"
In my
27-plus years as a massage therapist I have witnessed many
therapists with great hands, and a promising potential in this
field. Yet they were unable to create success because they could not
create a client base. Being a technically excellent massage
therapist will not ensure your success if no one knows how great you
are.
Whether you're just starting out, or trying to
expand your existing practice, being involved in good works in your
community has several benefits. First, it raises your visibility,
and it does so while associating you with something your community
values and holds in esteem. Plus, that selfless act of giving to
another, caring for someone or something enough to physically be
there for them, enhances your sense of belonging.
You
can run a business on a win-win approach. For example, as part of
our Seated Massage Comprehensive Certification we created a program
called Unity in the Community. This is our public service/good works
training. The Unity in the Community program provides massage
therapists with suitable circumstances to accomplish three important
goals: provide people with their first professional massage; educate
them about the benefits of massage therapy; and connect themselves
and their profession to something the community
values.
Unity in the Community has a simple
proposition: We want to help those in need whenever we can by
providing seated massage services for populations who can benefit by
the service. Some examples are shelters for abused individuals,
retirement homes and emergency medical support services in times of
disasters and emergencies. We also help individuals or specific
programs by doing massage to raise funds that go directly to the
specified cause. When properly orchestrated, these opportunities
present benefits for the recipient of the funds, for the massage
therapists and for our profession.
Professionalism
When you are in the public it is important to take extra
steps to demonstrate professionalism. For example, dress
appropriately, be presentable, be friendly, be a good listener, and
work at the appropriate level.
Wear Appropriate
Attire. If you spend your days in a treatment room with clients,
it's easy to fall into habits that would be ill-advised to present
in public, such as working without shoes. This behavior might be
permissible in some office settings, but it is not professional in a
public setting. In general, it's better to be overdressed than
underdressed. If you go into a presentation wearing a shirt and tie
and everyone is wearing T-shirts and polo shirts, you can remove the
tie. If you go to do massage in a professional office you should
wear a shirt that has a collar. Obviously you would not wear a shirt
and tie to do massage, but image is important.
Our
profession has suffered from a poor image in the past. Consider the
following story: One of my students was flying through a major city
airport, and observed the person at the Seated Massage concession
standing around smoking a cigarette, eating potato chips, wearing a
T-shirt emblazoned with, "I got my crabs in Maryland!" Each item
cited above is a matter of personal choice, but does it present the
image you want people to have of a massage
therapist?
Be Presentable. Keep your work
area orderly and presentable. It is a good idea to have a sign-up
table and put all of the travel bags, coats, miscellaneous personal
items, and your supplies under the table. Massage chairs are
peculiar-looking devices. People are naturally curious about their
design and function. After you have set up and have your work area
arranged and neat, put one of your fellow therapists into the chair
and do some work on them. People will stop to watch you.
Be Friendly. Ask the onlookers
questions such as, "Have you ever been on one of these?" The answer
is usually no.
Your reply is, "This is a
specially designed piece of equipment that allows me to get into the
chronically tight areas of your neck and back." More questions
follow. You will say, "We are working today with the [fill in the
blank charity here], the massage is free and if you would like to
make a donation to their [insert the charity's special project
here], you may do so afterward."
What we have
learned in this donation scenario is that people are much more
generous after your magic fingers do their work. After you have
helped a person out of the massage chair you can say, "If you would
like to make a donation you can do so with the woman in the
[charity's name] T-shirt at the sign-up table." It is best to make
that statement as casual as possible. You do not want people to feel
pressured no pun intended. (Part of the skills that a massage
therapist develops over the years is how to ask good
questions.)
Be a Good Listener. Sometimes in our
exuberance to tell our story we talk over someone trying to tell us
something that is important to him/her. If you observe people in
conversations you will see this happening all the time. If you do it
say, "Oh, I am sorry I interrupted you, what was that you were
saying?" It shows consideration and demonstrates that you care. When
you are sending out messages your reception of information becomes
less accurate in other words when you are talking it is hard to hear
the important details a client (or friend, or family member) is
trying to relate to you. Pick up some information on active
listening; it's an invaluable tool. Look people in the eye when they
are talking as it is a sign you are paying attention and that you
care. People will notice and it will make a difference in your
effectiveness as a communicator.
Work at the
Appropriate Level. Many people receive their first massage at
these types of events. A significant aspect of this is interaction
is that you become part of these people's personal histories.
Whenever they think about massage, get a massage, talk to anybody
about massage, or encourage someone to try it for the first time,
you will be part of that experience. This certainly comes with a
ration of responsibility. First, do not try to totally eliminate
people's pain in the first visit. I know that we only do this out of
caring, but remember, it has taken a lifetime to get to this point.
During the first treatment, be gentle, be caring, and help them feel
as much as their system will permit. I look at those first-time
clients like an onion. I try to peel off, release, and remove as
many layers of tension as they can comfortably give up. I want them
to feel better after the session, to understand the process of
massage therapy, and I want them to feel inspired to access this
service again.
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