How is Business? 6 Quick Tips to Make a Slow Summer Sizzle

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Make your summer sizzle!

Aw, summer. It stays light out later. No school zones means less traffic and more time for picnics, beach days, a get together with old friends and taking family vacations. It is a perfect time to relax and rejuvenate. For many massage therapists, however, this is also a time when our clients go out of town or spend their time and money on different activities, so it is important to keep people on your table. Here are a few quick tips to keep your practice sizzling this summer:

 

  • Perhaps one of the simplest and easiest things that you can do is to ask your current clients for re-bookings. They already know you and love you. Maybe they just want an invitation to come back sooner or perhaps an incentive. Reward them for their loyalty by offering them a Summer Special with discounted pricing on a series of sessions that must be used by the end of the summer.
  • So you have a little extra time on your hands? Don’t get discouraged. Be proactive. Do some administrative work. Go back over your files and make a phone call, send an email, snail mail a note or otherwise re-establish contact with clients who you have not seen in awhile. Maybe they are procrastinating on making that call to you and just need a friendly reminder of how essential your services are to them.
  • Here is an old standby that actually works quite well if you do it – ask for referrals. Ask your clients, family, friends and acquaintances this question:  “who do you know who would benefit from my services?”  Ideally you will get a phone number or at least an email address. Give them your prospective new client a call, introduce yourself as having been referred to them and mention the name of the referral source. That is your personal recommendation. Give them a quick explanation of  HOW YOU CAN BE HELPFUL TO THEM and you then follow that up with a new client special pricing offer or better yet, include a complimentary Postural Analysis with the first appointment. (More on sales and cold calling in a later post, just remember that the ultimate goal of the call is to schedule an appointment. It is okay to get some “no thank you’s” before you you get to a “yes, please.” The important thing is to not give up.)
  • Meet new people. Join a business group such as your local Chamber of Commerce or a charity group that works toward a common cause or perhaps get involved with a local sporting event. This will give you the opportunity to meet and network with people in your community, let them know the type of work that you do and make some good connections. Take the time you need to develop a rapport with fellow group members, but remember that your aim is to schedule new appointments and to hold yourself out as a sought after expert in your field that they will be sure to come to and refer to.
  • Develop new social contacts. Slow times are a great time to work on your social media campaign.  Use your time to work on a website, develop a mailing list for a newsletter, get on Facebook, Twitter and/or Pinterest. Depending on your level of savvy you may want to develop an e-book or a blog. In this day and age, having at least some internet presence is important.
  • Specialize. Do what you do best. Become an expert at frozen shoulder’s or tennis elbow or whatever you choose. Learn everything you can, develop a great treatment protocol, gather some success stories, become the “go-to” expert for treating a particular condition and promote specifically to your niche.
So your summer is a little slow? Maybe one of the best things to do is enjoy a little bit of down time so that when season starts again you will be ready to run. No one wants to be worked on by a stressed out massage therapist after all. In the mean time, start to plant the seeds to sow a bountiful fall harvest.