Attention massage therapists?

Question

I am performing seated massage therapy at a fair this summer to promote my seated massage business. I have an ez-up with four sides.I am doing free 5 minute sessions.Should I do the massages with the sides closed for privacy,or keep it out in the open?Any advice from someone who has had this experience would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Keep it in the open.  I've never seen massage promotions done behind "closed doors".  The idea is to let everyone see how good it feels and to hear the comments from the massagees.

Answer 2

I'm doing the same thing this weekend at our town fair.  The client is fully clothed during the seated massage, so it's not a problem to keep all sides open.  More people will see you if you do this.

Answer 3

you should get promotional business materials and products check the source

Answer 4

you should not close in, how are people going to see what you're doing?

Answer 5

I would keep ine or twi sides open.  the clients will be clothed and not require total privacy but they may feel better if they are facing a closed side while others passing by can see that you are offering this service. they are more likely to use the service if they see you than if they don't. I would say use two sides to form a corner. Face the massage chair into the corner and leave two sides open to show that you are there.

I wonder, are you in a position where you are not allowed to charge for your services? I would recommend the first 5 minutes free and $1.00 per minute thereafter. Five minutes is really not enough for the person to feel the benefit of your work and free work generates more free work. It is extremely rare that someone receiving a free service will pay for that service later.

If ther person sits down for 5 minutes and you tell them, ok you're done they may just feel frustrated but if you tell them, "your five minutes are up would you like to end here or would you like to pay 5 or 10 dollars for an additional 5 or 10 minutes. They will know they have a choice to receive more if they like and if they feel frustrated with only 5 minutes of work, it is because they have chosen it and you also get an opportunity to be compensated for your time, training and hard work.

Just a thought. When I opened my healing practice 8 years ago, I gave out a ton of free work, not one of the people that I did free work for ever booked a paying appointment nor did they send me a single paid client.

The people who have paid usually come back and usually send me referrals of paying clients. Not to say that I do not work for free to for trade under special circumstances but this does not build a business.

Answer 6

Well yes you should always keep the area open.  But if you are looking to get clients there are specific ways to do that.  You cannot just do a massage.  You have to ask them about their health problems and then feel their muscles.  Then you show them how their problems are being causes by the muscle problem.  Then you work on them a little.  You tell them that they may get some temporary relief but it will not last.  They need a series of treatments for lasting effects.  You also insinuate that you  are very familiar with this type of problem and most others are not.  You tell people up front that when the muscles get tight then they can pull the bones out of place.  Wehn the spinal bones are out of place the nerves to their organs can be blocked and they will get sick.  You especially target older people with health problems.  You tell middle aged men and their wives that impotancy can happen and massage can free up the nerves.  For younger people you sell them on performance.  You tell them that thir sports performance will be better and for guys their s*x performance.  With every person you work on you say the magic words "Do you have any health problems you are concerned about?"  When they say yes you explain how massage can open the nerve energy up to heal them.  If you are working on a kid.  You point out to his parents how he is not walking correctly or his muscles are making his posture bad and this is damaging to him.  That my friend is how you sell health care including massage.  You are fishing and each fish requires different bait.  Some hook easy and others must be played.  But one thing.  You always concentrate on the fish.  Meaning you do not talk about the weather.  You always continue talking about thie health problem and how you can fix it.  Lastly.  You can also along with what I say do a muscle test.  You test the muscle in their arm like the deltoid.  You tell them it is weak abd they are sick from the blockage.  You then do the massage and retest the muscle.  It will be strong.  Then rave about how well the treatment worked.  But remember to tell them they will need more treatment to fix the situation.