Are timeless treatments the way to go for your massage therapy business?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

As a massage therapist one of the most frustrating part of our jobs is handling clients who reschedule and cancel.... am I right! It's one of those admin tasks that don't make us any money and so ideally we need to keep the time we spent on this to an absolute minimum!             

                                                                                                                                                              

 

If your massage treatments don't have a time limit how do you sneak someone in if they need to change from a Thursday to a Tuesday? Plus if there isn't an end to the time you are spending with each massage client do admin tasks like rescheduling or marketing bleed into your time with family and friends or time you could be using to exercise or generally take care of your own health and wellbeing?                         

                                                                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                        

Hanan raises a really good point here and another potential pitfall to offering untimed massage treatments. Each client's perception of what is fair in terms of both time and money could vary wildly! As massage therapists it's really easy to undercharge and not include many behind the scenes costs when working out the true cost of our massage treatments. Demonstrating all this to clients is tricky enough and you would certainly need to be very clear about the benefits and intention behind offering a massage without a time limit to manage expectations. Otherwise you could easily end up in the nightmare situation Liz outlines below!   

                                                                                                                                                                                   

Word of mouth is important for a massage therapy business owner and handling a situation like the one outlined above would be time consuming and exhausting! At the end of the day, many of you might agree with Phoenix that it might be easier to focus on honing your skill set and finding a good mentor to take your massage therapy business to the next level! 

                                       

 

However every massage therapy business is different and what doesn't work for one therapist might be a lifesaver for another! 

So what are the pros of offering timeless treatments? 

The key to growing any business is to solve your clients problems and the key to growing your massage therapy business is delivering personalised treatments that show each client the true extent of your knowledge and skills. By tailoring the massage to meet their needs and fix their issues rather than following a set routine sets you apart from the competition and will have clients returning to you time and time again. For some massage therapists timeless treatments is a great tool they can utilise to build loyalty even further but only with certain clients who could really benefit from extra treatment. 

 

 

As a massage therapist delivering timeless treatments to everyone could be a logistical nightmare but offering spend a little longer with regular clients works for Diana. 

 

 

Diana masters setting clients expectations from the outset and no doubt makes her regular clients feel extra special by going the extra mile to resolve their issues! After all like Andrew mentions below it would be dangerous to assume that your clients have an endless amount of time for their treatments! 

 

 

Zoe makes a great suggestion that designating certain days of the week or month to timeless treatments can make scheduling easier. It is also a really smart marketing tool for your massage therapy business as you can promote the limited spaces and have clients who are looking for this service book them out months in advance! 

 

 

Selecting which clients this service could suit is probably key to successfully integrating timeless treatments into your massage therapy business. When doing your initial consultations with clients if you get an inkling that someone might benefit from extra attention, casually dropping in that this is something you offer on certain days for select clients who are dealing with chronic pain etc could set you up for success down the line!