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[Scary Halloween Mask]

Business is S-L-O-W right now. When you were first starting out, or during slow times, do you have a marketing strategy to jump start things?

 

[DaMan]

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My way last summer was discounting services. When I raised my prices back to normal rate, the majority of those clients didn't come back, but I'm betting they'll be back for this summer when I do another 'summer special'. The lack of repeat business from them didn't bother me so much, because they provided what I needed at the time.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Now's the time to sit down and put together a bunch of presentation packets for (potential) corporate chair massage clients. This will take up some of that slow time you have and also keep your mind off all the time that's passing by. Check out the local yellow pages and start going through picking out IT companies you think might be a good place to give chair massages--apparently those with call centers have a dire need for regular chair massage.Put together a coupon booklet and have a bunch ready in your office for when clients do end up coming in. These booklets (if you sell them) will virtually ensure you repeat customers because they'll obviously want to use morethan just one or two to get their money back from their purchase of it.Hope these ideas help ya out  ;DBe well,Jen

 

[Ricky]

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Seforum.xxxg, how much did you lower your prices? Did you do it for the entire summer? I live in a small town that turns huge in the summer due to tourism. Lots of lakes, lots of vacation rentals, summer homes, cabins, etc. I'm hoping to tap into that market. I've brought or sent my info to nearly every resort in town. So I'm hoping I won't have to lower my prices at all but I can see how that could get things moving if I had to.

 

[Pompal 09.]

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SpiritedJen,I too live in a summer vacation "meca". As you know, I'm sure, the vacationer will usually pay your set price. So, info that I take to hotels, realestate rentals etc. is really just my brochure. I've thought about offering a free massage to a manager or agent so that they know what they are recomending when they refer people to me. However, I'm also trying to build a local year round clientele. Recently I printed up some 15% discount cards on the back of business cards, stapled them to brochures and dropped them at health clubs, fire stations, local style hair salons that don't offer massage or esthetics. I'm hoping this will "jump start" things with the locals. For the out of towners I'm really relying on the web page and the yellow pages ad that will be out in June.Good luck! :-*

 

[#$^!#^&!]

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Last summer I really worked my bum off. I live in an area where 3 cities are right next to each other. I ran a special for all the police officers in those 3 cities. I offered them a free 1/2 hour massage, with the option to upgrade to an hour for only $25. 80% or so of them did the upgrade (who would turn it down? lol). MANY people came in for the special, and I offered each of them a continuing discount. If they referred one person to me, their NEXT massage was only $25, and if they referred two, they get a free massage. I was pretty booked with this. I wasn't making much money per client, but I was getting a lot of clients.My regular rate for 1 hour is $40, and 1/2 hour is $25, so if you're thinking about doing this, change the prices accordingly.This summer I'm running another special, $30/hr for the month of June, as I need to be REALLY booked, REALLY fast for next fall, when I'll either be teaching massage, or attending college again to continue education (I think I'll be taking a LOT of marketing courses, lol).

 

[big red bon bon]

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Chair massage is a tough sell in summer. Too many folks on vacation to get decisions made or for companies to do it as a reward.Your fastest way - sadly - is to give more for less. But there are better ways than discounting. Give away a candle or other product (costs you half of what it costs them, so the perceived value is higher), free hot stone upgrade on any 90 min. massage. Just don't cut the price of your bread and butter service, or that is what you will be eating for dinner each night!

 

[JUSMI]

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Right. I definitely don't want to give such a drastic discount that people won't want to pay my regular rates later on. Right now I'm trying to establish some relationships with resort owners. Almost everyone I've talked to has invited me to leave my information with them. Some owners have asked about my coming out to their resorts to work with their guests. I guess that brings me to another question. I haven't done outcall work and don't know how much more to charge. Do any of you have a formula for that? Do you charge per mile as well? Thanks in advance!

 

[JackHoleJaike]

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Outcalls should be the same price within whatever range you choose to service.Charge at least 50% over your office rates.

 

[Save the wolves.]

Wow, really? I charge $50 an hour here, which would mean $100 for an outcall? I like the idea but I don't think people would go for it around here. Whoops, came back to edit. I have a terrible lack of math skills, lol. The outcall at 50% more would be $75! That makes a lot more sense huh?  :

 

[Click ?]

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Is it possible to speak with a resort owner and ask if you can set up in a shaded area right on the property and offer 30/60 min. massages? You could contact several resorts and tell them you could be here every Wed. or Thurs. between 4:00pm and 7:00pm. {pick your day/time} I think being visible and possibly walking the beach to hand out or let tourists know you are here might spark an interest. Or, you could go simple and bring a chair and foot soak bowl, creams, masks and do foot massage. Might be worth a try!

 

[jw2par]

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Wow, really? I charge $50 an hour here, which would mean $100 for an outcall? I like the idea but I don't think people would go for it around here.

Whoops, came back to edit. I have a terrible lack of math skills, lol. The outcall at 50% more would be $75! That makes a lot more sense huh?  :

R&R has the key there... Charge within what others are charging in the area. In my area, I was charging $40 for an hour massage, and $25 added to that for an outcall fee. If I were driving to Houston, where people pay over $100/hr for an outcall (from my own research, this isn't EVERY area in Houston), I charged $140/hr. If they tried to haggle the price, I let them know it takes me one and a half hours to drive there, set-up time, the massage, tear-down time, then the drive back, I was using my whole day. Some would pay that amount (the ones who lived in the high-end areas, that is) and some would not. I personally didn't go by mileage, I went by how long it would take me to get there.

Have you thought about having an Open House this summer?

 

[ILLMW]

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I haven't thought about an open house...how exactly does that work?

 

[kurtiobst]

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When we had an Open House at the chiro office I worked at, it was basically us providing drinks and snacks to any guests that arrived, showing them each of our offices, explaining what we do, having brochures available, and just kinda standing around chit-chatting about what each of us do (including the guests, as we were all business owners that showed up, lol). Are you a member of your local chamber of commerce? We did no advertising for the open house except through our chamber of commerce. They faxed and mailed flyers announcing it, and came out to do our ribbon cutting ceremony at the same time. You can offer chair massage (though if you're in your very own place, you'll need someone to do tours and such of the office), make sure to have PLENTY of brochures and business cards, have a raffle to win a free massage, give away gift bags to the guests, etc. Make sure to have plenty of snacks and drinks available, or people will leave earlier (people don't like to leave with plates of food, and most people feel bad if they don't stick around a little while after eating a few snacks.) Sorry I can't help too well with the open house ideas this morning, my creative side hasn't kicked in yet today, lol. A lot of people on the board have had open house events though, so they could probably help out a lot! ;D

 

[eukusera]

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Seforum.xxxg, I love those ideas. Thanks! I'm going to talk to the salon owner and see what we can come up with.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Jen,I have had a few open houses.  One went very well and one didn't.  The successful one I had around the winter holidays.  The one I had in the summer was not well attended.  A lot of people were away on vacation.One fun thing that I did at one of the open houses was to have balloons.  In each balloon was a coupon for a certain amount off.  The person purchasing a gift certificate would pop the balloon and they would receive the discount listed.  I offered the same discount for each certificate.  For example, if they got $10 off that applied to each individual certificate they purchased.  You could also offer the discount for products too.I also did a mini massage class at one open house.  Just a simple lesson on shoulder massage.  It took about 15 mins.  Everyone really enjoyed it and some had come back just for the class.  I had a handout ready for them to take home with everything that I did during the class.