When a new client comes for their first appointment, they need to be able to find you easily.

Decent signage and clear directions are how you are going to get them to you. This is the most basic of massage marketing basics. Some would argue it isn’t even marketing. But if your directions are muddled and your sign is an a weency little thing tacked at the bottom of a huge hairstyling salon sign, what kind of impression are you making on your new clients?

Flakey, cheap and without pride. I’m pretty sure you’re not any of those things. But how is a new client to know?

Those of you who have your own building standing alone in the middle of a wheat field with your business’ name in flashing neon letters 20 feet high are set. You don’t need to be concerned. The rest of you should take a moment every now and then to evaluate how effective your signage is and how you give directions.

Directions
As a group, new clients are nervous about meeting you. They want to like you and they want you to like them. They know showing up on time is important for the first impression.

While some folks will always have a hard time with directions, you owe it to them to give them the best directions you can.

Practice
Getting directions is also one of those things people use to evaluate you. If you um … and ah … and backtrack and sidetrack and clutter, then that’s your client’s impression of your expertise.

Practice giving directions. Plan how the conversation will go. Ask where they’re coming from. Ask how long they’ve been in the area. Ask if they prefer visual clues or street names and miles or what. Would they like you to send you a map link (get their address, get their email)?

Treasure Hunt
One of my old MT friends had a new, lovely studio that was hard to find the first time. It was certainly worth the trip but my friend knew she had to conquer her clients’ initial “difficulties” in finding her studio. MapQuest couldn’t find her place. There were five way intersections, Y-shaped driveways, alleys and backdoors involved. City sign ordinances and building owners made it difficult to make the way to her studio clear.

She gave her directions as clearly as possible for several weeks. Clients kept arriving a little late and flustered. She eased them by taking ownership of the problem and asking what part of the directions were confusing.

She found the core problem was not the way she gave directions so much as the complexity of them.

So when she took a fresh approach to direction-giving and came straight out with the issue: “My studio is hard to find. Think of it like a treasure hunt.” She then went on with her usual directions and ended with a suggestion that they would need to leave for their appointment 10 minutes earlier than they thought. “You sure wouldn’t want to be all stressed out when you got here. It would take me 15 minutes to get your muscles unclenched enough to work with them and that’s not a good use of your money.”

Signage
You have to be seen. Just hanging a sign up isn’t going to bring the clients clamoring to you door. (Though if it does, great!) A sign helps you be found when they are actively looking for you.

Obviously making your signage visible is restricted by ordinances, leases and taste. But visibility comes first with legibility a close second. You may think that a dainty sign with scripted text fits your practice’s personality. But if I can’t see it or read it from the road at 25 mph, there is no point.

You signage needs to be just as visible as your directions are clear.

Fern Sign on a Mailbox Post
The lady who cuts my hair has good directions to her studio on her website until you get to the last line, “Look for the green fern sign on the mailbox post.” This sounds like a great visual cue until you put it into practice.

There I was, driving down the backroads at 50 mph with some hopped-up Dodge behind me and a school bus ahead, looking frantically for a “fern sign on a post.”

As I sailed past the “fern sign on a post” my second thought was, “Man, that sign is tiny.” The third thought was, “That fern sign really blends in with the green bushes surrounding the post.”

It was a gorgeous, artistic sign that worked with the whole hair cutting experience my stylist dispenses. But the sign also completely blended in with the greenery around it.

Her first-time clients tended to arrive with a rather flustered, if not cranky, attitude.

Not such a great way to arrive for what is supposed to be a relaxing experience.

After a couple clients comments, she cleared away a bit of the shrubbery and installed a slightly bigger sign. It’s easier to see now but when I send people her way, I warn them, “You’re going to miss her driveway. Leave ten minutes earlier than you think you should.”

When your most-basics are covered, your new clients will have that much more confidence in you. When your clients arrive relaxed and ready to experience your work, then you know you’ve done well caring for your bodywork practice.