How to Make A Beautiful Massage Room Not So Beautiful

I've spent months buying all my supplies and outfitting a beautiful treatment space! I throw open the doors next week! I just need someone to tell me how to get clients....

It's fun to create a beautiful massage rooms. Lighting, colors, furniture, maybe a towel warmer, etc. A lot of fun. Such a personal expression of our passion and personality.

It's not, however, where you start.

First, you need to figure out how you are going to attract clients to that beautiful massage room. Hint: they don't show up just because you've opened for business. Even if you've already spent a lot of time and money on supplies and your work space.

What if you bought your wedding outfit, booked the ceremony space, booked the reception space, chose the caterer, hired the DJ, worked out the invitation list, created your gift registry, planned your honeymoon, and designed the invitation and THEN started looking for a spouse?

Right.

FIRST. Find your clients.

FIRST.

Which means first, figure out your business.

• What is your mission and vision?
• Who are your ideal clients?
• Where do you find them?
• What, specifically, are you offering them (hint: it needs to be more specific and nuanced than "massage therapy").
• What are your policies and procedures?
• How much do you need to make?
• What discounts will you offer (strategically!)?
• And more. So much more.

The odds are you don't really know the answers to these questions. That's OK, a lot of us don't, especially when we're getting started. So you need to do your research, read, and learn. Maybe you need to spend money on a business coach rather than on that towel warmer. If it's builds your practice quickly, you'll be able to afford that towel warmer in no time!

But if you don't know the answers to these questions, you are not ready to spend money / incur debt buying your supplies and getting your beautiful room ready. You just aren't.

You are not ready to open your business until you know (1) who your customers are, (2) how to reach them, and (3) what they want. And you have to be very very specific in how you answer these questions. The more vague your answers, the more vague your growth will be.

If you don't have at least a marketing plan -- and have already started to implement it -- you aren't ready to open your doors. Because you haven't laid the groundwork to get clients.

You can plan your massage room while you are building your marketing plans but you can't put the room before the clients (cart before horse, etc.)

We don't want to think about that. We'd rather think about lighting and color schemes and what we'll put on the walls. But a beautiful room that is empty becomes a not-so-beautiful room quickly.

p.s. yes, it would be wonderful if we learned this in school. But most of us didn't because, frankly, our instructors didn't necessarily know this either. Which is why people like me (and Allissa Haines and Jodi Scholes and all the rest of us massage-business-warriors) exist and keep banging our drums.

Death To Tips!

I worked so hard and they only tipped me xxx! I will never book them again!

I did such great work and they only tipped me xxx! What does that mean?

They didn't tip! What did I do wrong??

I only got a 10% tip! How cheap are they??

I work in a chiropractor's office and I hardly ever get tips! What can I do to get people to tip me??

Is it OK to put up a sign telling people they should tip? Is there a way to do that tastefully? [hint: no and no]

These are the kind of comments that come up all the time on massage therapy boards on the internet.

We need to quit obsessing about tips. In fact, we need to quit thinking about them altogether if we can. Being part of the "tipping culture" isn't doing us any favors.

I lived in Australia for a year. They don't tip. The price you see on a menu is what you actually pay (it already includes the tax as well).

You know what that means? No one sucking up to you for a better tip. No phony smiles for better tips. No false flattery. No one not-so-subtly trying to get you to finish up your dinner and leave so they can get another customer because they really make their money on tips.

I loved it.

We think of tips as "free money". We also think of them as validation. And we often think of them as mandatory. They are none of these things.

I've had so many clients ask me to explain how tipping "works" for massage therapists. They "know" they don't tip the owner but since I'm working out of my home, am I the owner? When I work in someone else's organization, they want to know if I'm a contractor or employee because they think that factors into tips. Should it be more like a hairdresser or more like a restaurant??

They genuinely care and are genuinely deeply concerned that they'll do it "wrong".

Why should they have to know any of this? I don't want to have these conversations!

Tips, sadly, have become a way for employers to throw the responsibility for part of your salary on the customer. It's not enough that customers pay for the service, they have to pay part of your salary on top of that! This has polluted a simple economic exchange -- I give you an hour of professional massage, you give me money -- and made it complicated.

If you must have tips to make ends meet, I have some thoughts:

*  You aren't charging enough.
*  You're not being paid enough.
*  You are charging enough but you can't support yourself on a massage therapist's income

You know what happens in a culture where tipping is not the norm? Service providers and customers can approach each other as equals. There's no "bowing and scraping" (or painfully inauthentic grinning) to make sure you get a tip.

Do I accept tips? Yes, but I don't expect them. In fact, here's how I explain tipping in my newsletter:

I accept tips but I don't expect them. For therapists who also accept tips, there are times when tipping is well-received.

In salons and spas.  In these settings, tips are common. Your massage therapist is only getting a portion of the fee you pay for the massage - sometimes as little as 25-40% -- and your tip is enormously appreciated.

When the massage therapist has gone out of his/her way for you. Did someone work hard to squeeze you into a tight schedule?  Did they open early or stay open late? Did they climb four flights of steps -- with a massage table -- to get to your apartment? Did they go longer than the scheduled time to help you with a particular area? A tip is a good way to acknowledge their extra effort.

When your massage therapist has done stellar work. Did he/she help you get a muscle un-knotted that no one else could get un-knotted? Did their work get you to relax deeper than you've ever relaxed before? When the massage you received is just so much better than you had reason to expect, a tip is not necessary but it is an option.

How much should you tip? There's a lot of disagreement to this but I would suggest using restaurants as a guideline. Tip 10-15% for good service, 20% or more for really amazing service.

I don't expect tips.I don't turn them down either. In the end, the best "tip" you can give a massage therapist is repeat business and a good recommendation to your friends and family.

My advice to you is this: quit thinking about tips. They usually mean nothing beyond "I've been trained to give a tip". You can't really know what they "mean". You are wise not to count on them.

And, oh yeah, the IRS knows that tipping is common enough in our profession that they'll be looking for them on your tax return so you better be declaring them as income! (Yet another reason to say Death To Tipping!)