Recently I read an article written by another massage industry expert. The first half of the article made me nod my head in agreement. The remainder of the article made me frown and shake my head in disbelief.

You see, this expert spouting the virtues of offering huge discounts to get new clients in the door for massage therapists. Their rationale was surely you’d get a flood of new clients and probably pick up an extra thousand or two in sales.

This expert explained… If people will pay $30 for your half-price introductory special, then they would gladly pay your going rate of $60 for an hour of your professional massage technique.

After all, the big discount coupon works great for industries like restaurants and dry cleaners… so it should work for massage therapy too, right?

BZZT WRONG!

Now this expert has some name recognition. Their article was published in a notable massage periodical. But this advice misses the mark by a country mile.

Rather than trash their honest effort to help, I’m going to point out the holes in their marketing idea. That way, after you read this article, you won’t make this business-smashing mistake.

First, people are very price sensitive when it comes to massage therapy prices. It’s usually based on their finances, their perceived budget (what they think they can afford to pay), and how much they value massage therapy.

I’ve experienced losing clients over a $5 per hour increase in their massage rates – an increase that hardly qualifies as a major price hike.

The fact of the matter is some one who will gladly pay $30 for an hour massage will rarely pay $60 or more for their next massage appointment even if it’s with the same therapist that they loved their work.

Either they can’t afford to pay your going rate… or they are too cheap to pay it and came in for your introductory bargain deal.

If they believe they can’t afford it, then you might be able to convince them on the value of your work, but it’s a hard sell nonetheless.

I don’t mean to knock someone’s personal finances, but it’s been my experience more than once in my career that if massage therapy treatment is a top priority for a client, then they will find a way to pay for the massage. Just as important, they will make the time to get the treatment, even if they are an ultra-busy person.

Second, since you won’t be able to make your going rate then you’re going to try to make your usual (or preferred) amount of monthly income on increased volume.

That leads to increased risk of overuse injuries like tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome – which in severe cases can become career-ending injuries.

Third, the expert is missing a major point for most massage therapists. Therapists want to make more money while doing less hours of massage each week. It’s only human nature to want to make more while working less. In fact, it’s a theme that is used often to sell home-based businesses.

Most therapists aren’t going to be interested in doubling their workload to make the same amount of money. The only therapists who will are the ones who don’t have any clients. Even then, it won’t take long before they tire of the high volume – physically or mentally.

Finally, massive discounts mean you need to do a lot more massages to make up the difference. If you run a 50% discount coupon for the first visit, you’ll need to do twice as many massages to make the same amount of money.

Here are my suggestions that don’t have nearly as many drawbacks:

1.Instead of blanketing the area with cheap massage coupons, pick a target market to go after. There’s more target markets out there than you could ever imagine. As a quick example, a general target market is golfers.

2.Make an offer to that target market. Use targeted marketing or even advertising to reach them. For marketing ideas, read some of the past articles on this blog or the past massage marketing newsletters at http://www.helpyourpractice.com

3.Use an enticing offer for either a free upgrade or a small discount. You want new clients who will accept that $10 off their first massage appointment is just a nice gesture on your part. You don’t want people who expect to pay $30 per hour each time because “you’ll make it up on the next client”.

Until next time,

Michael