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New Tips Newsletter, Issue #004 -- Golden 20% Crowd

Contents:

  1. Some People Really Like You

  2. Ask Them Why Before You Hug Them

  3. Attract The Best Clients

  4. Completely Practical Tip

Massage Marketing Bones

Some People Really Like You
I bet in your massage practice you have two basic types of clients. Those that really like you, that come back often and tell lots of people about you. For whatever reason, you have made a strong connection with this group of clients. And the other group does not come as often and does not send you many new clients.

Now don’t judge these different folks. For what I want to talk about, it does not really matter why they are so different. But what is important is noticing the difference so that you can make smart marketing choices.

This falls into what is called the 80/20 rule (or Pareto Principle). You probably have heard about the 80/20 rule in terms of wealth distribution. Twenty percent of the people have eighty percent of the wealth. In retail sales, typically 20% of your products will make up 80% of your income. In time management the 80/20 rule comes up. Often 20% of your activities will account for 80% of your results. Pareto, an Italian economist described this principle in 1895, and called the “vital few” the top 20%, and the “trivial many” the other 80%.

Economists can really make me cringe, the way they box people up like this. In college I had an economist professor who would (attempt to) read while he walked, because he figured it made better use of his time.

I think the key is to pull their insights into the real world. So how does this fit into massage marketing that you can enjoy doing?

Well, in almost all massage practices it is almost always true that 20% of your clients will make up 80% of your income. If you lose one of your 20% clients, it hurts. If you lose one of your 80% clients, it does not make much impact in terms of your income.

So here is what you do with that fact. Don’t put your energy into attracting the 80% crowd. Use your marketing dollars and time to get more clients like your current 20% crowd. Because they are the ones that like you the best, get the most results, come most often, spend 80% more, build friendships with you, send you lots of friends, and enrich your life on many levels.

Support that group more. Reward them more. Acknowledge them. Thank them. They deserve it.

Of course, give an equally good massage to all. I am not asking you pick and choose on that level. But from a marketing and business standpoint, recognize who gives back more, and acknowledge it.

Massage Marketing Skin

Ask Them Why They Like You Before You Hug Them
In order to attract more of your 20% crowd it is important to take a good look at who they currently are. You need to do some tracking and testing to figure out why they like you. First, make a list of who visits the most often and who spends the most. Figure out who provides you with 80% of your income. Now, talk to them. Ask them what they like about you and why they come so often. Ask them why they refer people and how. Ask them if there is anything you can do to help support them more.

Also, see if you can see any patterns in the type of people they are. Do they live close or work close? Are they of a similar age? Do they have similar problems that you help them with? There is often an overlooked relationship between your best clients. Recognizing this similarity can make a huge difference in being able to contact more of that same type of crowd.

You can ask these questions person to person, which is a great idea. You can also conduct a mailed or e-mailed survey. Be straight forward. Tell them that they are one of your top clients and you are trying to learn how to attract more people like them. Tell them that you want to learn how to support them more. This group of your clients will love to hear that you value them so much, and will want to help you.

Massage Marketing Muscles

Attract The Best Clients
There are a few good ways that you can market with a focus on your 20% crowd. First, make sure you market to your existing 20% group. A newsletter is very important for this reason. If you have a physical newsletter (and the associated expenses), then I suggest that you regularly go through your files and remove anyone from your newsletter mailing list who has not been in to see you in the last 6-8 months. That way your marketing dollars are focused on the people who see you most often. If you have an email newsletter it is generally not necessary because there are very little costs associated with sending it to as many people as can.

Also consider developing rewards for your best clients. Instead of offering big discounts for new clients, and discounts to get clients to come back in, consider offering rewards for your clients who come regularly. If they come a certain amount of times per month, they get a discount. Or if they prepay for a certain amount of massage a month, they get a discount, or an added value extra – like a free massage or extra time.

When creating marketing for new clients, always create marketing focused at attracting those people that are like your 20% crowd. If you have surveyed your current best clients, you will often find some interesting similar characteristics. Like, many of them are business folks who work near by. Then focus your marketing dollars on reaching more local business people.

Sometimes you are not sure how to reach those same types of people. Sometimes there is no apparent connection between all of your clients, except that they really like your services. So a referral system then becomes the next best way to reach similar people. Because people have friends that have similar tastes to them. That is one of the basic reasons people are friends with other people. Because they like the same things.

Also always keep in mind the intention to attract the best type of clients. The intention does two things. On an energetic level in the world, your intention alone will help attract this crowd. And when you are actually creating marketing, having that intention in mind will guide you in your decision making processes. Without a clear intention you will have no focus, and you will end up creating marketing targeted at everyone. So keep your intention clear and you will naturally evolve into marketing that does a good job attracting more of your 20% crowd.

There is one final point I want to make about this. You can spend 80% of your money attracting a crowd that only provides 20% of your income. Or you can get smarter and spend only 20% of your money attracting clients who provide 80% of your income. You will spend less, and earn lots more. Just one new client of the 20% crowd makes a huge difference for your income. This is just another way to target market.

Completely Practical Tip You
Can Put Into Action Now!

Make a marketing list. This is a list of marketing ideas that you want to develop, or continue. Prioritize the list into the 80/20 categories. Try to figure out what items on this list you expect or know will be in the 20% category in terms of creating results for your business. Now most people do the easy things first, and leave the hard ones for last. But the big tip is to always do your most effective 20% items first, if they are easy or hard. Focusing on the most effective marketing tasks first, every day, every month, will really boost your results. So make a habit of making that list, prioritizing it, and keeping it in front of you on your work space. And next, set a deadline goal for each task. I do this myself every day. And when I don’t, I flounder around wasting 80% of my time.

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use." - Earl Nightingale

"Meditate.
Live purely. Be quiet.
Do your work with mastery.
Like the moon, come out
from behind the clouds!
Shine."
- Buddha

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