Massage Referrals Systems
Grow Word of Mouth

Massage Marketing Muscles #6

Why use massage referrals? Almost every therapist gets the majority of their clients from word of mouth. It makes sense to say that word of mouth is the easiest marketing you have working for you.

It is worth repeating that every AMTA, ABMP & Massage Today study I have seen shows that over 55% of new clients come from a referral.

But if you are like most, you may not think about massage referrals as marketing. You may appreciate the good word of mouth does for your business, but you don't feel that you have anything do to with how it happens - except for giving a great service.

The common approach to building word of mouth is to improve service. And then wait for that to have an effect.

Think about this. If word of mouth is the very best marketing you have, without doing anything, what would happen if you did try to make it better? I can tell you. You will rapidly increase your massage referrals rate, and your business, at almost no expense.

If you ran an amazing ad in a newspaper that got you lots of clients, and you wanted more, you would run the ad more often.

Well, you can do that with word of mouth. Realize that word of mouth is marketing, and it is marketing that you can improve.

Remember when I mentioned in the Risk Reversal page that massage referrals offer fantastic Client Problem Solving Marketing opportunities? It is worth repeating that every time a client comes to you without a referral they are taking risks.

  • They are risking that you will not be good.
  • They are risking being uncomfortable.
  • They are risking a sizable bit of money.
  • They are risking wasting their time.
  • They are risking feeling like a fool in front of their friends, family and co-workers.
  • They risk taking off their clothes around a stranger.
  • They are risking not coming at all because of this discomfort, and that is a huge risk, because it may mean they don't get the treatment they need!

Getting a referral from an existing client reduces or solves all of these problems and more.

It is true for many, many people, that going to a massage therapist the first time without a referral can be an uncomfortable experience. Yes, there are a few bold people who are not bothered by such things, but the majority of people are.

So believe that your primary motivation for encouraging your clients to give you massage referrals is to help solve all of these problems for your client's friends, family and co-workers.

Now that you have this conviction, it is time to start asking your clients to help their family and friends and co-workers avoid these problems.

And tell them why. Tell them you don't ever want one of their friends or family to have that negative experience. Let them know that as a client of yours, you expect them to help solve these problems for other people. Their job as your client is to keep their ears open for the opportunity to solve this problem. And keep their ears open for people who have physical problems that you can help solve as well.

Let them know that you believe in this so strongly, that you are going to reward your clients generously for doing the good deed of referring someone to you. Every time they refer a new client to you, they will get 30 minutes free on their next full hour massage, or $15 dollars off their next hour, or a free upgrade to an extra 30 minutes on their normal treatment. You will keep careful track of this for them.

Continue - Referral Systems - Page 2

Explore these Massage Marketing Products

Return from Massage Referrals to Massage Marketing Tips home