Practice Punts

Massage therapists are not all alike when it comes to their understanding of how to build a practice. I have heard lots of explanations as to why bookings stay low, very few explanations of why they are full.

            

How to develop a practice is an art just as much as massage. It requires some close self-observation and sometimes an outside hand to help therapists along. Often when I catch an episode of some show like Salon Take-over or Bar Rescue or Hotel Impossible, I am reminded very quickly of what it takes to have a consistent practice.

 If you catch one of these shows the clichés are numerous. The owner wants help to make their business pay, but they don’t want to hear anything critical of their skills. The help is interested in making money, but stymied and discouraged by unsolved problems. Often there is a sacred cow: a lazy staffer or manager whom the owner wants to avoid confronting - or an unworkable idea that the manager/owner won’t drop. The bottom line is that the bank wants its money, not excuses. 

I enjoy these shows as a kind of self-therapy even though the environments are very different. Most massage therapists work alone. They are the owner, staff, manager and investor. The outlay to start a massage practice tends to be small, and there are very few therapists who make anywhere near “six-figures” when it comes to gross income. 

In common, though, are some basic universal truths. The formula for success is not a secret requiring an expensive marketing class or a practice coach. It is, just like the roaches in the kitchen of a failing restaurant, right in front of a person with eyes to see. 

Yes, darn it, arrive on time. Be clean. Do not wear jeans. Listen to the client. If it is a return client, go over your notes before they arrive. No notes? Where are they? Why be paid professionally if you don’t practice like a professional? Do you report your cash? And yes, a warm room and a clean heart. 

Argh. 

No shortcuts.