Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/121374
business side know as a therapist who in a 20-mile radius from my office is open to massage? Probably not. So how do I find out? Run an ad in the Yellow Pages? Sure—and let 'em borrow your eight-track while you're at it! Practice building is about building relationships—with your clients, who then use the power of relationship to develop more clients. LS: I'll add another thought regarding building the client base. Therapists need to do sales analysis. This may not sound like much fun—unless you consider having money to pay rent or a mortgage or a car payment or for teeth whitening "fun." Hopefully, our members have a log of the clients they've seen in the last 12 months (or six months, or some other reasonable list of clients). Look back and see how many first-time clients you had and how many have come back. I'll give you a few minutes to do this … OK, do you have the numbers? How many never returned? Now, look at who hasn't, and put them in two piles: Surprised and Not Surprised. If you're not surprised they didn't return, forget them. If they made it into this pile, your intuition told you they were a one-timer, and you shouldn't worry about them. But look at your Surprised pile. These are the people you need to be calling. You thought something was there, they seemed to "get" massage, but they didn't come back. Massage isn't their priority, yet. It's your job to make it so. KC: Absolutely! Even if clients are really interested in coming back for another session, it's so easy for rebooking to get lost in the shuffle of everything else on their todo list. Are there any appointments you've been meaning to make but haven't? Same goes for your clients. Give them repeated opportunities to rebook and remind them of the importance of bodywork. Don't assume they're not interested; they're probably just busy. LS: Here's a question. What percentage of 2012 massage clients book a session using an electronic method (online, email, text, etc.)? KC: I'm going with 10 percent. LS: Bingo! Nice work. What does that statistic say to you? KC: I think this reflects a lack of availability of electronic booking options. Do you offer online scheduling through your website? Do you encourage clients to email or text you to schedule an appointment? These tools give clients the opportunity to schedule on the spot, at whatever time of day or night they start thinking about making a booking. LS: I think you're on the right path here—when asked what would be the most convenient way to book a session, 28 percent preferred an electronic method (online, email, or text). Building on the online thing, when asked how much they would trust an online referral to a therapist, 52 percent indicated they would "completely or mostly" trust a massage referral from a Facebook friend. Would you trust a referral from a Facebook friend? KC: Sure; it's really turning into the new word-of-mouth resource. To make it easier to generate those referrals, though, therapists need to create a Facebook page for their business (which is not as hard or scary as it sounds). LS: OK, last one. How did Led Zeppelin get its name? KC: Some musicians were joking that the band was going to go down like a lead balloon (thanks, IMDb), which our readers won't do if they use this consumer survey information to enhance the way they run their practices. LS: Impressive. Until next time. Les Sweeney, NCMT, is ABMP's president and resident blogger. Contact him at les@abmp.com and read his blog on www.abmp.com. Kristin Coverly, RMT, kristin@abmp.com, is an ABMP education facilitator who teaches workshops for therapists and instructors across the country. Both are massage therapists with business degrees who care about you and your practice. Want more? Check out their ABMP BizFit video tips on www.abmptv.com. www.abmp.com. See what benefits await you. 29