What is the first thing you should do to sure-up your customer base during the phase-in?
Not this.
Glad to be back on your table, Mark!
Glad you’re here, Marvin. By the way, there’s a helluva lot of laundry to do now and I have to space clients out and I have no idea if there’s going to be another shutdown so I’m going to need to charge you another $5/hour. So, how’s Keisha doing? (Raising your price happens in a month or so.)
The first thing you need to do is to have and execute the best Covid-19 safety policy in town.
I see you nodding off. Preventing sickness and death is sooooo April, especially since you simply have to assume that you’re helping to prevent the spread of Covid-19, and you can’t actually see the impact of your safety measures on the health of you and your clients.
But here’s the thing, most clients will assume that your safety measures are helping, too.
And that is a huge psychological comfort for your regulars, especially those who are on the fence about coming in.
Granted, some of your massage junkie clients won’t care how safe or unsafe you are.
And some regulars may even put up a fight.
I anticipate a couple of scraps with old-time clients who think they’ve earned special privileges.
Oh, come on, Mark, you don’t have to wear a mask with me!
Actually, I do. It’s mandated. (By the way, if I were in a state where it wasn’t mandated, I would lie and said it was. Or I would say it was mandated by the state massage board. Or I would just say that it’s my policy to ensure everyone’s safety.)
Really?! You have to check my temperature?
My bad, Tom, I forgot that you don’t care if you get me sick.
Sorry, I meant to say…
It’s for everybody’s safety. I check my temperature, too.
(Eye roll from Tom.)
And that’s when I hit him with that’s it’s going to cost him 5 dollars more an hour.
Haha.
Besides keeping clients, a kick-ass, Covid-19 safety protocol can be great advertising, too.
When potential clients hit my website I want them to know that we’re taking their safety more seriously than any other outfit in town.
I’m not going to overwhelm website visitors with policy. I’m going to point out key safety features we’re employing, like forehead temperature checks, masks, disinfecting and limiting the number of people we have in the office at one time.
And I’m going to give them clear direction on how the appointment will go down so that there is no confusion or ambiguity in their minds.
Basically, I’m addressing these barriers that may be preventing that person from calling:
(1) Is massage safe?
(2) Is this place safe?
(3) How safe is this place compared to other places?
Now the last thing I need to need to connect all the dots with my safety advertising strategy is to tie it into my Google My Business (GMB) page.
Massage Safety on Your GMB Page
For those of you who are not familiar with GMB, it’s what shows up in a local search.
Search Google for “pizza near me”.
What comes up are three businesses in a box, in this case, pizza shops that are near you.
That’s GMB, also known as a local search.
Now replace “pizza near me” with “massage near me.”
That’s when you come up (if you’re Googling near your office).
In order to access your GMB page (where you write and change things), you need to have claimed your business.
If you haven’t claimed your business, go here. Do the few steps necessary to claim your business.
Once you do or if you already have access to your GMB page, sign in and look at the tabs on the left. Click on Posts.
Now, look at the post tab in the top-middle of the page. See the Covid-19 Update? Click on that.
It’s for Covid-19 work status (as in, when will you be back to work), but I also add our Covid-19 safety information—masks, temperature checks, disinfecting, and limited contact with people in the office—here, too.
You could also write your safety info post in the Update tab.
But if you write the post in the Covid-19 Update tab, that post will become sticky and always be the first post the viewer sees.
Boom. You’re done.
You’ve optimized your safety message on your website and GMB page. By the way, here’s my GMB page.
Lastly, I’ve also texted my regulars to let them know how I plan on keeping them safe, and I’m going to send out a safety email to our email list as well spread the word on our Facebook page.
For our full safety plan check out: Covid-19 Safety and Operations Plan.
Okay, hands in.
Let’s keep ‘em safe as possible.
Ethically it’s a no-bainer.
And for advertising it’s a no-brainer, too.
Next we need to get more reviews before we raise our price to cover increased overhead.
That’s in the next post.
If you want to get my latest info, sign up for my email list. It’s free:-)
