Massage & Bodywork

September/October 2013

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How I Learned to Love Gift Certificates 11 Ideas to Sell More Gift Certificates There are lots of ways to increase gift certificate sales within your practice. Here are 11 ideas to consider: Piggyback on holidays Make gift certificates visible The holidays are fabulous opportunities for gift certificate promotions, Christmas and Hanukkah in particular. Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Father's Day are also big gift certificate holidays. Plan promotions around each of those, and launch your campaigns at least six weeks before the date. Create a little display at your reception desk. Place one of your gift certificates in a holder and have a little sign that says something like, "Massage is a unique and healthy gift. Buy gift certificates for your friends and family here." Remind clients in person Find out who's left on their holiday shopping list and then ask if they've considered massage certificates as gifts. It doesn't have to be a hard sell. Again, you're just reminding them that these are available. Send out last-minute reminders Gift certificates make great last-minute gifts because they are so easy to buy. Your clients can just give you a call and you can either send the certificate to them or to the recipients by snail mail, or by email for immediate gift giving. Send a promotional letter Get a list of all your clients, both active and inactive, and make them aware of the fact that they can buy gift certificates from you. In the letter, emphasize how stressful holiday shopping can be and outline how easy it is to do it with gift certificates. You can arrange to make the sale over the phone and mail the gift certificates so shoppers don't even have to leave their home. If you don't accept credit cards, have buyers drop a check in the mail. Offer to upgrade the certificate Whenever any half-hour gift certificate is redeemed, all you have to say when the person is on the phone making their appointment is, "Would you like to upgrade that to a full hour for only $30 more?" I've found through testing that about 80 percent of redeemers will take advantage of your upgrade offer. If you look at it from their perspective, they're paying $30 and getting an hour massage—a great bargain—so it makes sense for them to upgrade while they have the opportunity. Use high-quality gift certificates Go for full-color printing. If available, buy oversized certificates rather than small ones. These factors increase the certificate's perceived value. 94 massage & bodywork september/october 2013

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