Strategies (free massages)

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Diana Moore on August 23, 2010 at 3:05pm

Glad you liked it! Where do you stand on giving discounts or freebies?

Dawn Williams said:

Great stuff in your article, Diana! Thank you for sharing!

Cheers

Diana Moore said:

Hi Frank,

It seems like you are reaching people on Facebook, which is awesome. What so you think of the idea of offering free add-ons, rather than free sessions? We feel it may be a better way to get people in who are willing to pay for your service, i.e. people who are more likely to become clients.

I wrote an article on this you can read at: http://www.naturaltouchmarketing.com/NTM-Article-Archives/6/Marketi....

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Diana

Permalink Reply by Eric Brown on August 23, 2010 at 3:21pm

I love the idea of add-on's too Diana, and those are great ideas. But for getting clients attention and getting them in the door, nothing motivates more powerfully than free. Frank saw firsthand how quickly people responded to his offer.

So for building a practice I would take the opposite approach. Give a short massage for free and offer to upgrade for an additional fee. In testing and tracking this with hundreds of therapists the upgrade rate on average is 80%, so you still end up making almost as much as an add-on, but the numbers of people responding will increase dramatically. If anyone is interested in a scholarly, research-based discussion of this, check out the book "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely. He is a economic behavioualist at MIT and his research findings are nothing short of jaw dropping.

Also check out the article I wrote for Massage Magazine here: http://bodyworkbiz.com/givetoget/index.html It gives you an overview of the strategy.

A lot of people think that doing free massage devalues your work and doesn't provide you with repeat clients. That's not the case, There are lots of ways to do this wrong, but as long as you take the correct approach, you can do it in a way that does not compromise your value and where you get high rebooking rates. Here's a report from one woman that used the specific strategy I suggested in one of my online ecourses:

“Last weekend, I went to a local event where I sold my homemade microwavable rice-filled heating pads. I sold 50 in 4 hours, did lots of one-on-one talking with people and gave a coupon to everybody who bought a heating pad (stapled a sample of Biofreeze to each coupon) also talked with them about the benefits of massage. From this promo, I got 15 new clients within a week – all upgraded and all rebooked!” DJT

Established therapists can use add-ons as premiums and incentives, as well as introducing new services. Diana has some great suggestions around this. But for someone with lots of open slots in their appointment books, nothing beats free for building your practice fast.


Diana Moore said:

Hi Frank,
It seems like you are reaching people on Facebook, which is awesome. What so you think of the idea of offering free add-ons, rather than free sessions? We feel it may be a better way to get people in who are willing to pay for your service, i.e. people who are more likely to become clients.
I wrote an article on this you can read at: http://www.naturaltouchmarketing.com/NTM-Article-Archives/6/Marketi....

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Diana

Permalink Reply by Frank J on August 23, 2010 at 5:07pm

One of the first people that jumped on board with the free 30 min special actually wanted to pay for the additional 30 mins but I didnt have time because I already had someone scheduled behind her. As far as add-ons go; I know it is better to be well rounded therapist in having the ability and knowledge to dibble and dabble in a lit bit of everything. But with the work I do and have full confidence in, it is very difficult to do so. I have a certification in orthopedic massage and with that I really like helping people with their pain and/or injuries as much as possible. All the aromatherapy and reflexology stuff it is not my cup of tea.

Permalink Reply by Dawn Williams on August 24, 2010 at 7:06am

Eric, I read your article and found lots of really good information here, too. I need to put some of these ideas to the test. Thank you all so much for giving us such juicy food for thought!

Dawn

Eric Brown said:

I love the idea of add-on's too Diana, and those are great ideas. But for getting clients attention and getting them in the door, nothing motivates more powerfully than free. Frank saw firsthand how quickly people responded to his offer.

So for building a practice I would take the opposite approach. Give a short massage for free and offer to upgrade for an additional fee. In testing and tracking this with hundreds of therapists the upgrade rate on average is 80%, so you still end up making almost as much as an add-on, but the numbers of people responding will increase dramatically. If anyone is interested in a scholarly, research-based discussion of this, check out the book "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely. He is a economic behavioualist at MIT and his research findings are nothing short of jaw dropping.

Also check out the article I wrote for Massage Magazine here: http://bodyworkbiz.com/givetoget/index.html It gives you an overview of the strategy.

A lot of people think that doing free massage devalues your work and doesn't provide you with repeat clients. That's not the case, There are lots of ways to do this wrong, but as long as you take the correct approach, you can do it in a way that does not compromise your value and where you get high rebooking rates. Here's a report from one woman that used the specific strategy I suggested in one of my online ecourses:

“Last weekend, I went to a local event where I sold my homemade microwavable rice-filled heating pads. I sold 50 in 4 hours, did lots of one-on-one talking with people and gave a coupon to everybody who bought a heating pad (stapled a sample of Biofreeze to each coupon) also talked with them about the benefits of massage. From this promo, I got 15 new clients within a week – all upgraded and all rebooked!” DJT

Established therapists can use add-ons as premiums and incentives, as well as introducing new services. Diana has some great suggestions around this. But for someone with lots of open slots in their appointment books, nothing beats free for building your practice fast.


Diana Moore said:

Hi Frank,
It seems like you are reaching people on Facebook, which is awesome. What so you think of the idea of offering free add-ons, rather than free sessions? We feel it may be a better way to get people in who are willing to pay for your service, i.e. people who are more likely to become clients.
I wrote an article on this you can read at: http://www.naturaltouchmarketing.com/NTM-Article-Archives/6/Marketi....

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Diana

Permalink Reply by Frank J on August 25, 2010 at 3:27pm

I am going to try the add on idea for part of my september specials

Permalink Reply by Fiona E. James on August 28, 2010 at 4:19am

Frank I think it is brilliant what you did. If you are going to be at your location and want to create a little spark in people (Free) is definitely a way to do it. I usually offer a free half session with the offer to upgrade to a full session for 50% off. It has work quite well in the past & also telling them about packages if you have any. Marketing is fun at times and it is good to get creative. Happy Saturday! :)

Permalink Reply by Frank J on September 2, 2010 at 2:49pm

Update: this is the third week that I have done the free half hour massages. I announce them on sunday night and they are gone within minutes. I have had 5 different ppl come in one has come twice. But all but one has given me some form of cash payment the least was $10. I haven't asked about the upgrade just yet but i want to see how well this works first. the goal is to get them or someone they know to come on a regular. But in the mean time I am not doing them completely free as long as the are TIPPING!! Other wise those would be empty spots on the book and nothing at all to show for that time

Permalink Reply by Tracy Seegrist on September 3, 2010 at 3:32pm

Frank, I think you're genius! It makes sense, since the "free" slots would just be empty anyway. And even if the person receiving the "free" massage doesn't rebook, they're going to tell people they know about you....and, they'll remember you when they need another massage. I like it!

Frank J said:

Update: this is the third week that I have done the free half hour massages. I announce them on sunday night and they are gone within minutes. I have had 5 different ppl come in one has come twice. But all but one has given me some form of cash payment the least was $10. I haven't asked about the upgrade just yet but i want to see how well this works first. the goal is to get them or someone they know to come on a regular. But in the mean time I am not doing them completely free as long as the are TIPPING!! Other wise those would be empty spots on the book and nothing at all to show for that time

Permalink Reply by Tracy Seegrist on September 3, 2010 at 3:34pm

Diana, I love the add-on and use it for my existing clientele. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work for me in getting new people in the door. :( These are all great ideas to help fill the books and keep them that way

Diana Moore said:

Hi Frank,

It seems like you are reaching people on Facebook, which is awesome. What so you think of the idea of offering free add-ons, rather than free sessions? We feel it may be a better way to get people in who are willing to pay for your service, i.e. people who are more likely to become clients.

I wrote an article on this you can read at: http://www.naturaltouchmarketing.com/NTM-Article-Archives/6/Marketi....

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Diana

Permalink Reply by Frank J on October 20, 2010 at 5:49pm

Update on my stategies for free massages. Although it is still young in development. I haven't gotten a lot of clients from this stategy but i have picked up a few more clients and a little more traffic. Some of my clients that i had before I started this come more often. And they told their friends and they are getting on the bandwagon. Although it is suppose to be free some people do tip which is a plus. I think it is working out ok because other wise that time would be spent doing nothing and not getting anything. So i say a little bit is better than nothing. No one has yet to reschedule from the free massage but like I said it is still young so we will see what happens in the future

Permalink Reply by Wendy on October 20, 2010 at 8:18pm

Get a copy of the book Guerrilla Marketing. One of our biggest Return on Investment strategies is speaking to groups. Find a runner's group...there are tons of them, or something similar. Tell them why they need massage if they are in training for a race. There are a million ways to market that are less labor intensive. Any time you are not massaging--market. Market 40 hours a week if you have to...it's a full time job.

Permalink Reply by Tiffany on December 12, 2010 at 10:41pm

Frank, that sounds like you really created a buzz! :)  Have you tried running a contest on your Facebook for a free session yet?  I'm really curious how it would work for a massage clinic...

We're thinking about it for one of our other businesses...and I know there must be a great way to create some chatter this way...maybe get people to nominate a friend on our wall for a massage, and we could give one away for the holidays, or something similar. 

We do a lot of non-profit collaboration, donating for silent auctions, and have given away many sessions for potential strategic partners to experience our work...it sounds like you do similar work to our clinic (orthopedic?)...so, when we were building our practice, we would offer chiropractors, naturopathic doctors, physical therapists, personal trainers, etc, sessions, with the intention of developing a relationship with them that would benefit us both.  This kind of networking can be SO effective, and instead of only getting one person, you have now started tapping a potential 'Power Partner', or 'Strategic Business Alliance'. :)

Someone else mentioned add-ons...we have offered a 30 minute add-on to push our internal marketing in the past, and people tend to remember to refer their friends in to us, when they get a half hour add-on to their massage...who knew?! ;)

Thanks for sharing this, it's so great for everyone to be able to share successes like this!! :)

Best,

Tiffany

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