Moving my business to another city. What do I do??

[style_trek]

I currently have a massage therapy practice in city A. I live in city B and will be going to school full time in city B for the next 2 years. These cities are about a 35 minute drive from each other. For various reasons I plan on moving my business to city B by the end of October.

In order to get some of my clients to follow me so I don't have to completely start from scratch, I'm considering implementing the following: each current client who schedules an appointment with me between certain dates (for example November 1st - December 23rd) at my new office in city B will receive a card that's good for 50% off future appointments with me, valid for 6 months.

Does anyone have any feedback on doing something like that?? Because I'm in school full time, I won't have a lot of time to work on marketing so I'm hoping to have at least a few people from city A follow me. A temporary 50% discount can allow me to at least pay my bills while I slowly build up my client base locally (though if they'd continue to see me after their discount expires that would be really great!).

My second question is regarding gift certificates. What do I do about clients who have bought GCs at my business in city A? Those clients will of course have the option of receiving the 50% discount, but what if they don't want to drive that far? It's as if they wasted their money on a GC they can't use now. Do I offer them a refund? Is that something I should just post on my website or should I attempt to contact each client individually? I have the GC money in a separate account so I have the money to give them a refund, but I'd obviously much rather they come see me in city B instead!!

Feedback would be greatly appreciated!

 

[eclipse dkm]

Moving my business to another city. What do I do??

How busy is your current practice? How many outstanding GCs do you have?

You may want to make a deal with another MT to take over/buy your practice (website, phone number, location, etc.) and have them honor outstanding GCs as part of that deal.

 

[Joana]

Moving my business to another city. What do I do??

Offering to honor the gcs at your new location is one option. Another one is what a local MT did when she had to leave the state due to a family emergency for several months. We were on good terms with her and she asked us to honor any of her gcs (she left her site up and also posted a notice on her door as well as on her voicemail) and she reimbursed us for the work we did on her gcs. That way, if people don't want to travel, they have a local option.

 

[yasmin]

Moving my business to another city. What do I do??

You can also sign an agreement with another existing MT practice (or several) in your old city. The agreement would stipulate that they will honor your GCs and you will reimburse them as the GCs are redeemed. They would present you with the redeemed GCs and you would cut them a check each month. After 1 year, the agreement expires and they can honor your GCs any way they wish (probably for partial value) or not at all.

I recommend finding 2 or more MTs that would sign the agreement, so your old clients aren't stuck with just one option. Once you have the MTs signed up, notify clients with outstanding GCs ASAP.

Don't do this on trust. Spell out EVERYTHING on paper and put signatures to it. You and the other MTs need to be on the same page. They should be willing, as it's a chance for them to gain clients. However, you must be trustworthy and timely with repayment when they have redeemed some GCs, or the deal will fall through. Some clients will be mad or wait too long or whatever, but there's only so much you can reasonably do.