This was the last week of our marketing consultation/brainstorming sessions.

I talked to twenty four massage therapists of all stripes, bodyworkers, energy workers, skin care specialists, and a new CEU teacher. I now have a general idea of your general situation and the general challenges you face. Generally.

Here’s an overview of five basic topics that came up in most of our sessions.

Your clients want to hear from you.
I am here to tell you that your clients do want to know what’s going on in your practice. They do welcome reminders that you exist, that you haven’t seen them in a while, that you are continuing your studies, that you have gift certificates for sale.

I heard a lot of doubt from you: I haven’t been doing this long enough. There are people who are smarter than me. No one wants to hear what I have to say. I don’t want to bug anybody.

Listen: You are one who has put in the time, the study and the work. You have passed the tests. You are now qualified. You have earned Worthy. Now it’s time to show people that you are Worthy.

Put yourself in the Worthy frame of mind and practice.

You need to understand exactly who you are talking to.
I’m telling you right now that this part of the brainstorm/consultation was probably the most difficult. As a group, we think more broadly about our clients than is useful.

Here’s a basic example that seemed to resonate with the brainstormers: If you’re focusing on long-haul truckers, they won’t care that your work will help relax, renew and revitalize. They care that your work will help them to rotate their heads enough to look over their left shoulder when they merge on the freeway.

If I were trying to get you on my table, I wouldn’t send you a message about how relaxation is good for you. I would send you a message telling you that I specialize in work on wrists, thumbs and forearms.

You save money when you know who your clients are.
When you know what kind of clients you are talking to, you know kind of problems they face.

When you know what kind of problems they face, you know what to say to them.

When you say the right things to the right people, you save a ton of money and you get more clients.

You can save even more and attract even more by taking your tailored message directly to the people you want to serve. I wrote a big ol’ brainstormy list for you. Check it out.

Your marketing is simply good customer service.
I know you are reluctant to “intrude.”

It is not intruding to tell your clients you’re moving. It’s not intruding to tell them that it’s four months until Senior pictures and four months is how long it takes to get adolescent acne under control. It’s not intruding to send an email with desk stretches to your office-worker clients.

When you reach out to clients — with the right message — you are telling them things they need to know. You are telling them that you care, that you understand and that you have solutions.

Also, if you tell/remind clients during intake that you send out messages when you have a special or when you’ve got something good to share, and they say it’s all right to contact them, you are absolved.

You really can successfully market your practice in simple ways.
Both Diana and I have written precisely a gabillion and twelve articles about ways, methods, approaches, adjustments, philosophies, structures, techniques, and modus operandi to market your massage / bodywork practice.

Basically what it all boils down to is that you need to give people solutions to their problems and that these people need to know you exist.

In conclusion …
I confirmed through our conversations that many of you are shy, retiring right-brain types. This is all well and good when I am in a session with you. But to get me in your room, you have to show me that you can help me.

You don’t have to be loud. You don’t have to do the slicky-salesman thing.

You do have to be ready to talk to me. You do have to believe you are good enough to talk to me.

Because I believe.

All my best,
Eileen