Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/121374
BEST ADVICE Let Them Charge It ABMP BizFit Tip Do you let your clients know that you accept credit and debit cards? Be sure you do. A recent ABMP National Consumer Survey found that 60 percent of massage clients prefer to pay for their service with one of the two cards. For you, a debit card is a preferred client-payment choice as fees associated with accepting debit cards are significantly less than what you pay when accepting a credit card. Don't have a card reader account set up for your business? It's easy and pays for itself in no time. (ABMP has partnered with CellCharge to offer members a discount on their card-reader service. Log in to www.abmp.com and click on "Discounts" in the Members section for more information.) EveryBody Deserves a Massage Week—July 14–20 The 19th annual EveryBody Deserves a Massage Week is just around the corner. The time for planning your event is today! By lending your hands to this weeklong event, you help educate the public about the value of therapeutic massage, why it is beneficial, and what it can do to relieve pain and stress. But even more importantly, you'll simply be doing good work. Whether you want to plan a large event (being part of a summer festival or bike race) or something smaller (offering massage at your local fire station, collecting canned goods from your clients, or donating a portion of your week's earnings to a local charity), we encourage all ABMP members to take part in this celebration of massage and bodywork. We have lots of tools to help make your event a success. Log in to www.abmp.com and go to "EveryBody Deserves a Massage Week" under the Marketing Center tab. There you will find ideas on how to prepare for and market your event, as well as customizable posters, coupons, and postcards you can print. If you can't print the materials, call our Massage Week hotline, 877-208-7546, and we'll send you a sample packet you can take to a professional printer. Use the same secure voice mail to reserve a massage week banner with a $150 refundable deposit. Send us a message at differentstrokes@abmp.com to let us know about your plans, and good luck! "People won't use your services if they don't know about you, so it's important to get the word out," says Eric Brown, cofounder of the World Massage Conference, and frequent contributor to Massage & Bodywork magazine. "One of the simplest and most direct ways is canvassing other businesses in your neighborhood. You're not going to try to sell them anything, you just want to meet them and find out a little bit about their businesses. You're being friendly and starting a relationship. Because they are business owners, they likely have a large network of people they know and would be willing to refer to you once they get to know you better." —From the ABMP BizFit Toolkit: Quick Fixes Want to know more? Check out the rest of this toolkit at www.abmp.com. Log in to the Members section and look for the ABMP BizFit toolkits under Business Management. What is ABMP BizFit? This series from ABMP offers you a variety of business-building tools, all in a bite-size format. We've put several resources on specific topics together to make it easy for you to learn and implement. Different Strokes is published by Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals. 800-458-2267 Karrie Osborn, editor, karrie@abmp.com expectmore@abmp.com James Sutherlin, graphic designer, james@abmp.com ABMP.com Jean Robinson, government relations director, jean@abmp.com DS 3