Quick question: Who’s your ideal massage client?
I’m not talking about who you see the most.
I’m talking about who you want to see the most.
This is an important distinction.
Why?
So that you know where to put your time, energy and money.
Ideal Massage Client Darkness
Not so long, my wife, Lisa, and I had a meeting with a PT group.
Sherry, the managing PT, asked us to describe the people who came to see us.
(BTW, when was the last time a PT asked you that? Never, right? But times are changing. Change with them: How to Get Your Massage Into Mainstream Medicine.)
We had a couple of answers.
We see clients who have pain and stress issues.
We see clients who have injured themselves and want to try massage as an adjunctive treatment to their regular treatment.
The Unasked Question
Then Sherry asked us one more question. She asked: Who’s your ideal client?
This question was a little different.
Ideal didn’t necessarily mean who walked in our office the most.
It meant who did we want to see walk in our office the most.
From a business standpoint, it was clients with disposable income who were concerned about and motivated to improve their health/wellness.
Hmm…was that where I spent most of my marketing effort?
Not really.
My Client History
Though I did have a niche market of runners and they fit into the health/wellness profile (people with disposable income who want to improve their health/wellness), I had no game plan in place for attracting wellness clients.
And when I looked at my history of clients, I had to admit that most of my wellness clients came to me by chance.
So, I’m changing that right now.
Here’s what I’m going to do.
My Ideal Massage Client Plan
First I’m going to…
1. Let other health practitioners know who my ideal client is.
Hear ye, hear ye! My ideal massage client is…
Not quite like that.
I’ll start a conversation with a health-practitioner buddy about ideal clients and just see where it goes.
2. Market people already sold on the idea of wellness.
This will be a two pronged approach.
One prong will be through existing clients who fit the bill of my ideal client.
Say a current ideal client, Tara, belongs to a country club. She’s my potential in to ideal clients at her country club.
So I’ll talk to her about how I could offer something of value to get a foot in the door at her club.
For instance, a long time ago, I hooked up with a personal trainer and we offered stretching and massage before a golfing event at a country club.
That was a homer.
The other prong will be some form of paid Internet advertising targeting people who spend money on wellness (e.g., yoga and personal training).
3. Go after Massage Envy clients.
Massage spas have a lot of ideal massage clients—and I want some!
(Imagine copyright-protected picture of Montgomery Burns here.)
How am I going to grab these ideal massage clients from big massage spas?
This one is a secret for now.
Not trying to be coy. I’m just not sure I can pull it off in a reasonable amount of time (or at all).
But if/when I do, I’ll let you know.
Well, geez, enough about me already. What about you?
Who is your ideal massage client?
And what are you going to do to bring that ideal massage client in?
If you need to bounce ideas, I’m here:-)
And if you want my latest info about making more money, building a massage practice and staying out of pain sign up for my email group below.
It’s free.
