No One Knows What They're Doing

My alma mater, Potomac Massage Training Institute, has a Job Fair twice a year for alumnae. They invite local companies to have a table and meet the MTs. My biz partner, Kitty Southworth, and I have had a table there the last few job fairs to promote our continuing ed offerings.

Each time we offer a drawing and often a give-away. We offer things that can be used early on in beginning a practice. It's been different every time but one thing has been common: lackluster response.

I'm going again this week but I've been thinking a lot about when and how to connect with people.

The first thing I've learned is that people have to be in the right frame of mind for what you are offering. If they're busy thinking about buying a car, comparing make and model, or looking at different financing, for example, they aren't going to respond to material about massage. Sure, they're stressed. Sure, a massage would be great. But they aren't in a massage-buying frame of mind.

I'm wondering if the participants are in the wrong frame of mind at the job fair. They are all focused on where they want to work, who they can get an interview with, is their resume in order, etc. They aren't thinking about continuing education (even though we offer classes on business, including independent contracting!). They are laser focused on getting a job.

It's difficult to understand just when someone will be in the right frame of mind to hear and respond to your message. It just is. It's a lot of guesswork. I could get down about that but then I remember that Ford and Dell and Target and every other company all have the same challenge; while they've got the money to get much more sophisticated advice, they're still guessing at some level.

It's why I think one of the first things you've got to do when building a private practice is figure out who you want your client to be. Who's not just a fit but a great fit for you.

Once you know who you're trying to attract, you can begin to try to see their world as they experience it. It improves the odds of creating marketing that will work (as opposed to a scatter-shot approach where you try to appeal to everyone).

We've all only got so much time, energy, and money. Let's not waste it. And here's hoping I make a good connection with at least a few people Friday night.

You Mean That Worked?

In one hour today I got 4 appointments from 4 new clients in the demographic I'm specifically targeting. With a random gesture.

I'm in Washington DC. We got about a foot of snow overnight. City is shut down. Everyone is at home and/or shoveling their sidewalks.

All the clients I had scheduled for today had to cancel because of the storm. Schedule: gutted.

My husband suggested I put a note out on the local listserves last night. What can it hurt? Here's what I said:

If you can walk, you can get a professional massage tomorrow (Thursday, snow day!). I practice out of my home, all my Thursday clients have to cancel tomorrow, so I've got a table and time. And in honor of Snow Day, it's Pay What You Can all day. 

Give me a call if you're interested. 17th & D NE.

How's that for some fancy writing?

Now, I've tried this sort of thing before and gotten zero response. Today? I was full within an hour and I'm now having to turn people away (really, I told them I'd honor the same deal if they booked by the end of the month). What was different this time?

Did I write the message better?

Was the Pay What You Can more attractive than it usually is?

Did I time it just perfectly this morning?

Did I hit just the right time of the year? We've had about 6 city-is-closed days and I think everyone is getting tired of being at home; what was fun in December can get tedious by February.

I have no idea.

So, what can we learn from this?

Keep trying.

Try things again if you want. The fact that it didn't work out the first time doesn't necessarily mean it won't work out the second time. This posting cost me 15 minutes of time. That's it.

What works for someone else might not work for you. What works for you might not work for someone else.

And most important: marketing is a mystery way more than it's a science (despite the fact that you can get a college degree in it). Trial and error is necessary.

There are so many ways you can market yourself. Want a fun list? Get Laura Allen's book "One Year To A Successful Massage Practice". Or ask around. Everyone's got ideas.

Be willing to experiment. Be willing to try. Be willing to do things that don't work. Along the way you'll discover the things that do.

How to get through

SueFitzmauriceFB/SueFitzSO

Alternative Pricing Options: the Gift Economy

As many of you may know, I offer Pay What You Can in my practice. I've done this since 2009. Most of my clients pay my listed price but I always have some that need the consideration.

Because of this, I'm always keeping my eyes open for other ways people get creative with pricing, especially pricing designed to give a break to those who can't afford the full price.

Adrien Hoppel went full-on with this worldview: all of his projects (he's a web developer) are done on a "pay me what you think it's worth" basis. He calls it The Gift Economy. The Huffington Post recently published an article about him. A very worthy read if you are at all interested in alternative ways to set your pricing.

I Wish Massage Were More Mundane

Over the holidays there was a video going around. You may have seen it. A woman dies of cancer. Before she dies, she leaves a message with her best friend. The friend is to give it to her husband when he is ready to re-marry.

The message was full of love and encouragement for this new marriage. One of the things she told her husband to do was to give his fiancée a day of pampering -- mani/pedi, facial, massage.....

You'd think that would make me happy, massage mentioned in a viral video. Eh.....

Once again, massage is being depicted as something you only do when you want to "pamper" yourself. Something you do only every now and then, even rarely. Not as a part of your regular ongoing journey of living in a human body. Not as a way to deal with injuries, aches, and pains.

I'd rather it was viewed like yoga, or walking 3 times a week, or zumba, or even an aspirin. Something you go to without any fuss and bother when you're hurting. Something you do to keep your body moving well. Something that's part of a sensible, easy health care regimen. Something simple, commonplace, even mundane.

If you work in or operate a spa, then the "pamper" approach probably works better for you than it does for me. I want to be part of the fabric of people's lives, of their self-care, of their responses to injuries. I want to be thought of with that kind of "of course" mentality.

Still working on that......

An Uncomfortable Intersection of My Professional and Personal Life

I had a rude surprise a few months ago and I have to lay it at the feet of my clients.

I see clients in my home. Based on where the massage room is, my clients use the bathroom my husband and I use. I have the same things in the bathroom everyone else does -- toothpaste, cotton swabs, aspirin, dental floss, etc. I also store medications I am not currently taking in the bottom drawer of a rolling cabinet.

A few months ago I went looking for a prescription for Ambien for my occasional insomnia. Couldn't find it. I was very frustrated with myself for putting it somewhere I couldn't find it when I was sure I'd put it in that drawer in the bathroom. My husband also looked. He was the one that noticed that not only was the Ambien missing, so were prescription pain meds left over from surgery the previous year.

The only way they could have disappeared is if someone who had been in the house took them. The only people who'd been in the house (and bathroom) were my clients.

This just knocked me over. In hindsight I realized it was a fairly obvious risk. Of course, I've since moved all prescription medications out of the bathroom.

I've always focused on the bathroom being clean and presentable, that I had enough toilet paper and hand soap, and that the towels were clean. I'd forgotten that the bathroom represents an intimate intersection of my private life and my professional life.

It bums me out that a client stole from me and stole something I needed! I had a spurt of new clients about the time the meds went missing. I've chosen to believe it was one of the new clients, one of the ones that didn't return, that took the meds. It saddens me too much to think one of my regular clients may have done this.

I tell myself they may have needed the meds themselves and couldn't afford them. I know that's rationalization on my part.

It has made me take a look at my home massage room with new eyes. Where else might my personal life and my professional life intersect uncomfortably? What, if anything, can I do about that?

In a variation of a common TV commercial:  what's in YOUR bathroom?

New Year? So What?

It's JANUARY.

A NEW YEAR!

Are you TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THAT?

Are you POSITIONING YOURSELF TO CATCH THE NEW YEAR WAVE???

Business is often cyclical. It's not unusual for those cycles to be timed to seasons (think: Christmas tree merchants) or yearly events (think: florists and Valentines Day). The most recent yearly event for most of us is the turning of a new year.

You've seen it on TV and tried to ignore the ads on the internet -- this is a great time for sales! Specials! Bargains! People are in the mood to change! Make resolutions! Set the tone for their entire year!

What am I doing to take advantage of that cultural push? Very little.

Crazy, right? Missing an awesome opportunity, right? Eh, maybe, maybe not.

I don't like to be part of the Big Push at the beginning of the year. I used to but I realized it only made me anxious and cranky. More importantly, it also rarely produced results that were worth the push.

Every business has its own cycle and seasons. Mine hasn't historically peaked in January. I also historically make virtually nothing from gift cards in December or at Valentines Day (or Mothers Day or any of the other gift-giving holidays). That's been true pretty much from the beginning.

I'm not saying that's not true for other practices; it's just true for mine. I used to peak in August. I think it was because so many other massage therapists took vacation in August. Why doesn't my practice benefit from those seasonal and holiday bumps? I think it's because they don't move me so my energy isn't there. I think it's also that the "temperament" of my practice isn't suited for it. How I position myself and the profile of the clients I'm best suited for aren't making their decisions based on season / holiday.

I've learned that my best marketing efforts are quietly steady. Regular gentle connections. A steady presence through my website. Being connected in enough places (like social media and other local health care providers) that I have a steady influx of interest.

2014 will be the third full year of my practice after my practice-closing Australian-adventure. I'm starting to have enough data to show me when the highs and lows of my practice are now. I'm starting to have enough data to know what marketing efforts have worked and which ones haven't since I re-opened.

Have you stopped (if that's allowed in January) to notice what works in your practice? If you step back, does it feel like your practice / your typical clients will respond well to a January push?

If the answer is "yes", push on! If the answer is "no", go have another hot chocolate on me while you notice what time of the year / season / event / connection does work for you.