Tuesday, December 31, 2013

How Do You Know You're Moving Forward?

I've been rolling around ideas for this end-of-the-year blog post. But then I got a lovely card from Marjorie Brook with the following quote. It sums up, for me, the simple truth of life. Thank you for reading me in 2013. I will continue to try to give you something worth reading in 2014.

Kelly Bowers LMT

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.”


Monday, December 23, 2013

What Language Are You Using?

Which of these words would you like your clients to use to describe you? Professional or generous? Knowledgeable or interesting? Efficient or thoughtful? Wise or funny? Organized or warm? Insightful or happy? Experienced or open? Smart or nice? Patient or friendly?

Which did you pick more often, the first word in the par or the second word? The first words are words that make more sense in a professional relationship. The second words make more sense in a personal relationship.

Is there something wrong with being nice or friendly to our clients? Possibly. That doesn't mean that you have to be not-nice or un-friendly. It means placing a higher value on being professional, knowledgeable, insightful, etc.

When we are more strongly motivated by the kind of ideals that come from our personal life, we are (consciously or not) asking our clients to feed the needs of our personal life. Our friends and family are meant to feed the needs of our personal life. If your personal relationship needs are not being met by your personal life, then you need to work on your personal life, not focus that energy on your clients.

It's stunningly easy to fall into this trap.

  • Being uncomfortable with thinking of ourselves as business people.
  • Having a negative association with the phrase "professional".
  • Being uncomfortable with getting paid for an intimate relationship.
  • Not really understanding / not being sufficiently trained to be both intimate and professional. 

  • Working too many hours for a personal life.
  • Working a schedule that doesn't sync up with our friends and family (so we rarely see them).
  • Struggling to make ends meet so we don't have the money to go out, go on vacation, etc.
  • Doing work that can be emotionally / psychically / spiritually draining.
  • Being culturally trained to value nice and friendly above all else.

In my experience, ethical challenges arise for one of two reasons:

  • you don't know any better / weren't trained properly
  • you have a (legitimate) personal need that isn't being met by your personal life

A good sign of either of these conditions is what kind of adjectives you would like your clients to use when describing you.

What language is more dominant in your head today?

Friday, December 20, 2013

Giving It Away for Free (or not)

Question: how effective is it to give massage for free as a way to attract clients?
My experience: it's not

How many times have you heard a massage therapist suggest (or have thought it yourself) that you should give away free massages to "market" your practice. I suspect the thinking looks something like this:
  • Once people get a massage, they'll pay anything to get it again since it feels so damned good.
  • The benefits they experience from that free session will be so great that people will gladly shoe-horn it into their budget.
  • They'll be so grateful that you gave it to them for free that they'll happily pay you for it forever after that.
  • People don't know hardly anything about massage and need it to be free to get over any reluctance they have to try it. But once they do....(see above).
  • It will raise your profile higher than any other local MT so it will give you a competitive edge.
I suspect there is also more-deeply-buried thinking that might look something like this:
  • I'm not comfortable with what I'm charging / massage is too expensive / I could never afford these prices so I have to lure potential clients in with freebies.
  • I can't believe someone would pay me that much money.
  • I love massage so much I'd do it for free so why not do it for free? After all, it doesn't cost me anything.
  • I can't talk about massage well (much less talk about myself and my practice) so I'll attract people by giving stuff away (and everyone loves free stuff).
  • I am deeply uncomfortable with marketing / sales but giving things away is easy and feels good.
  • I'm too new / inexperienced / not good enough (and/or the market is too tight) so I've got to give it away for free.
  • People will feel guilty if they don't pay for a session after getting one for free.
  • Nice people give things away; greedy/mean people demand money for it.
I know there are MTs who have used free massage to successfully promote their practice, I know many many more who have found it to be a terrible way to promote their practice. I'm one of those.

Why doesn't free work?

Going from $0 to $60 / $70 / $80 is too big a leap.

What if a merchant gave you something new for free, you discovered it was something you really wanted, and then the merchant said "yeah, next time it'll cost you $70." How would that feel? I know the technique works well with, say, heroin or cocaine but would it work as well with chocolate or a cable package? Or massage?

Budgets are not bottomless.

I don't care how much I love that tricked out high end luxury car. Or even how much easier it would make it to do outcalls (on board nav and it will parallel park itself? Be still my beating heart!). I can't afford it. Go ahead, let me drive it for a week and really fall in love with it. I still can't afford it. Giving it to me for free -- once -- does not make my budget magically grow large enough to accommodate it.

Once a product is in the "free" section of our brain, it's hard to move it out of there.

What happened to Napster when it went from free music sharing to for-pay?
What happened when newspapers went from offering their content for free online to trying to charge for it?
Do you order water at a restaurant if they don't give it to you for free?
Do you donate every time PBS / NPR asks for money??

Once we've gotten used to getting something for free, we discover how much we can live without it when we have to pay for it.

Most business don't give away valuable services for free.

I charge $90 for a hour of massage. Here are some comparable services and products in the DC area:

Dinner out for 2:  $85 (includes tax and tip)
Virus Protection (one year): $95
Cable: $100
Washington Gas: $88
5 sets of sheets @ Target: $90
Haircut + tips = $80
monthly cell phone bill: $70
3-hour ethics class: $75
National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center: $75 (good seats)

How many of these companies are giving their services away for free to entice you in and then honestly expect you to pay full price? HBO does it but only when there's a really popular show and only for a limited amount of time. The gas company never does it. Target offers sales but not freebies. I might be able to find reduced price tickets for the Kennedy Center but it isn't going to give them to me for free, hoping I'll then want to plunk down $75 every week / month.

They know the value of what they offer. They know people can and will pay for it. Not everyone but enough people to keep them in business. Maybe they've even learned that too many consumers do this kind of math: 

free = not very valuable
free = desperation
free = not important

Or worse (think of pharmaceutical reps):

free = very deep pockets, can afford to keep giving it to me for free

Free is worth nothing if I can't get to you

"Geographic desirability" is not just for dating. If it's going to take me an hour to get to you (and then an hour to get home) then "free" will not convert to "paying". Especially if that hour of driving is during rush hour or bad weather.

If you don't practice in my part of the state / country / continent, then a free massage is never going to lead to a paying massage. Take note of that when event organizers are saying you can "market" your massage to an event that draws from a wide geographic area, like marathons, walk-a-thons, or other big-name fundraisers.

Let's say you provide free massage at a corporate event. But your hours of operation are Monday - Friday 9-5. The people you're providing massage to can't come to you during your office hours because, hey, they're already working those hours!

One hour of massage may not be worth it

Look at that list of comparable services, above. Is one hour of massage worth  more than a month's worth of gas for my home? Will it give me more pleasure / entertainment than a month's worth of cable TV? Which one will I regret most if I skip it this month -- a massage or a haircut?

Massage doesn't exist in a vacuum. It exists in the larger context of our (potential) client's lives. It is always going to be measured against the relative value of something else. Even if you give it to me for free, I am not forgoing my next haircut so I can get another massage (because skipping a haircut makes me look like a Yeti on a bad hair day).

Free / deeply discounted massage tends to attract deal-hunters.

Ask most people who've tried Living Social / Groupon / etc. There is a huge group of people who cruise these sites looking for deals for things they will never pay full price for (maybe that includes you?). When people are in the market for a massage therapist, Groupon / Living Social / etc. is not where they start their search.


Does that mean we can never give massage away for free?

No. But you have to do it strategically.
  • Is this being offered one on one to someone who has expressed a solid interest in your work? And has a history of paying for this kind of service?
  • Are you offering a free massage to introduce an existing client to a new modality?
  • Is the person actually able to pay full price for a massage? Do they know what massage can do for them (meaning they already assign value to it)?
  • Is there a very specific population who won't find you any other way?
Instead of free, think about this:

Is there a way to offer discounts rather than freebies?

Can you charge for your massage at a volunteer event and donate all the proceeds to the event? Then people experience your work in the context of money leaving their hands (and you look like quite the philanthropist).

Can you make the free part an add-on to a session someone is already paying for?

Can you create a sliding scale / Pay What You Can / etc. to help people who genuinely have trouble affording massage?

Get creative, think strategically, think prosperously, and don't automatically go to "give it away!" as a way to promote your practice.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

You're a small business (or possibly not)

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you'll know I believe it's important for massage therapists to take themselves seriously as businesses. Just think carefully about calling yourself a small business.

When I look at products or services targeted to small businesses, I become baffled. How would I use that? When would I need this other thing? What would I do with that doohickey? There are so many offerings that are still too big for me.

If you're working on your own, you're a micro business. And there aren't a lot of products and services specifically targeted to us.

I've been researching bookkeeping software the last few weeks. The two big names in the field are Quicken and QuickBooks. When people recommend QuickBooks, they often say it's the "most popular bookkeeping software for small businesses". While Quicken is "only" good for the home.

QuickBooks is a good package for a small business. But, holy cow, I can't imagine using it for my practice! For a one-person practice that doesn't bill clients, prepare estimates, etc. it looks much too complicated. I use Quicken for home finances and I find it also works just fine for my practice.

Why does this matter? Often (too often) I hear MTs say they're going to use [fill in the blank] because it's "best for small businesses". If it doesn't work well for them they often blame themselves. They must be using it wrong. Or perhaps they're just not smart enough. Or maybe they are fooling themselves to think they are a "real" business.

The odds are: no, you're not (using it wrong, dumb, or foolish).

When you are having trouble finding products or services that are "right-sized" for a micro business, don't be surprised. Be critical of small business products / services; by that I mean really evaluate whether it will work for your business. Be willing to say that a popular "small business" product or service just isn't right for you.

Even though you are really and truly a business (and need to take yourself seriously as a business!).

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

In this economy......

Over the weekend I was talking business with a woman who runs a very popular (as in "waiting list" popular) craft class. She's pondering raising her prices but, like so many of us, waffling about it. Unsure. Uncomfortable with "asking" for more money. Feeling a little guilty about her success I think.

As she was laying out her concerns, she said "and, of course, in this economy...."

In this economy.

Have you said it? Have you thought it? Did you really mean it or was it just a way to justify your own reluctance to raise your rates? Did you say it without finishing the thought, trusting that we all know what it means?

I'm not saying our entire economy is plump and rosy. There are a lot of people -- waaaaaay too many people -- struggling or just making ends meet. What I've noticed, though, is how often massage therapists and other small business owners toss the phrase out as part of a laundry list of reasons they shouldn't / couldn't raise their rates.

Are you using it as a shield against the decision to raise (or not) your rates? Or is the economy still so shaky in your target market that it is a reasonable consideration?

Do you even know how your target market / client base is doing economically? How your community is doing? Beyond the dire reporting in the evening news (which is rarely the full story)?

The decision to raise our rates gives many of us heartburn. It runs hard into our desire to just be all helpful, considerate, giving, etc. etc. etc. We think we're not being those things -- helpful, considerate, giving, etc. -- by setting our services at a higher rate than they are right now. We think we're "taking" something from them. Something they can't afford.

Do we really know they can't afford it? Do you know how your client base is doing economically? Or does "this economy" really mean "I'm not doing so well financially"?

If you find yourself saying "and of course, in this economy...." do a quick body scan. Is that phrase arising from your brain, from your observations, research, and calculations? Is it rising from your heart? From your gut? What feeling accompanies it? Is it fear? Is it anxiety? Is it discomfort?

You and I know your body will tell you truth while your mind is happily spinning elaborate webs of distraction and deception. Learn the truth. Then make your decisions accordingly.