After meeting, interacting, consulting, and using several LMT/RMTs over the years, which have all been more or less fantastic at what they do, I have come to realize there are some commonalities that all or most have; commonalities that massively dampen their success and growth.
I completely relate to these because I and others have had very similar issues in the martial arts and wellness business that plagued me for years. I learned, as I hope you will too, that these are pretty simple to fix…and if you do fix them, you will unlock huge amounts of your earning potential. Not just earning potential, but your potential to reach a wider audience and help more people.
In every industry it’s the same story; 20% of the businesses make 80% of the revenue, get 80% of the clientele, and therefore 80% of the market share. Just like in my industry, the massage therapy business is the same. Also, just as in my industry, the top 20% are not super geniuses. In many cases, they are not even as smart as the bottom 80%.
Your industry is the same I guarantee you. If you met many of the LMT/RMTs in the top 20% of your industry, if you haven’t yet, I am sure when you do you will be quite surprised. You will find that even though they may make 4 or 5 times the revenue that you do, they are not 4 or 5 times smarter than you. They are not 4 or 5 times better than you. They just do a few things differently. These few things are what I like to call “little hinges that swing big doors”.
These little hinges are typically the same in most service industries. Here are the most common ones that I see for your business. Tweaking these simple things can drive you to the top 5% of your industry. I know this, because just like my industry, 95% of the business at the bottom are NOT doing them.
1. Having No Pricing Strategy
Simply put, this means not charging enough. How did you come to your price? For most RMTs, they set up shop, find out what the lowest price competitor is, find out what the highest price competitor is, and then settle somewhere in the middle.
This is kind of pricing is set solely on your comfort level. Being too cheap will make you uncomfortable (as it should), and also being too expensive will make you uncomfortable. It has little to do with what end result is offered to the client, or what the client is willing to pay. It is arbitrary except for that it lines up with what everyone else is doing.
Remember, if you are happy with the results that everyone else is getting, then continue to do what everyone else does. If you would like different results, you must take different action. In the service industry, unlike the commodity industry, we have a vast amount of price elasticity we are not using. Most RMTs have no object proof that they are charging the right amount, and that they can’t raise it. It is merely based on what everyone else is doing, and what they are comfortable with.
Although we all have our money hang ups and money stories that fool us into believing we are only worth so much, once you take an objective approach to pricing, not based on your limited thinking, you will discover that with only a few small tweaks, you can probably raise your price at least 25% for new clients going forward. This means you will give yourself a 25% raise without doing any extra work. This starts with merely the simple belief that you can.
2. Not having an upgrade
At the very least, if you feel you can’t increase your prices, offer an upgrade. I am amazed how many LMT/RMTs don’t do this. Following that 80/20 Pareto principle I mentioned before, the truth is, believe it or not, that at least 20% of your current client roster is willing and able to pay you 80% more for a higher level of service.
Many LMTs/RMTs have no idea because they simply never ask. Granted, 80% of the current roster will say no, which may be uncomfortable, but on the other side of that, you’re missing the 20% who will say yes because of fear of the discomfort. That discomfort has you leaving a potential raise of an 80% increase to your gross on the table.
There are a variety of ways to fix this, from simple to the extravagant. Simple could be adding some kind of aromatherapy, reiki, special oil, and extravagant could lean all the way toward an ongoing private member health seminar put on by you monthly for upgraded clients only.
There are infinite ways to run any kind of upgrades. You just have to do what feels right for you and your client roster. You will have some trial and error to do, but in the end that will be much more profitable than just charging the same flat rate for every client.
3. Not asking for referrals
Word of mouth is not a referral strategy. I am amazed at how often I hear entrepreneurs or business owners, when I ask how they acquire customers, reply with “oh, mostly word of mouth”. If you are good enough at your technical work to get clients via word-of-mouth, that is not an extraordinary feat. That is the bare minimum.
If you are not good enough to occasionally get word-of-mouth referrals, then you truly shouldn’t be in business anyway. Likewise, if you are good enough to get some word-of-mouth referrals, imagine how many referrals you would get if you actually had a system in place to track, encourage, and reward referrals.
There are countless referral systems you could either design or borrow from other industries, but the bottom line is, you have to ask. Asking looks something like this: “Did you enjoy your massage today?”, “excellent, glad to hear. Just so you know, I am currently accepting new clients onto my roster, and as you may also know, I am picky about who I take on as a client. I am looking for high caliber clients just like you to add to my roster. Can you think of anyone like yourself in terms of respect, punctuality, and overall demeanor such as yourself that would benefit from my service?”.
This puts a feather in your client’s cap and makes them think of a specific person. This is much better than just asking them to throw a bunch of business cards on a counter somewhere in hopes someone will see them. If they mention a name or two then ask, “oh, that’s great, would you be able to connect us”. Now you have a new prospect or two.
4. Not actively getting testimonials
If you are good enough to have repeat business then your clients generally like you. If your clients like you, they will have no problem giving you a testimonial. Often, we are afraid to ask because we are afraid of what they may say (maybe not as positive as we would hope). If however, we get in the habit of asking the write way, we can quickly amass a heaping pile of testimonials that will blow your competitors away, because most of them are not doing this, they are not actively cultivating testimonials, they are just working and hoping.
The frame work is very simple. “How was your massage today on a scale of 1 to 5?” If they say anything other than 5, you then ask “Thank you so much for the feedback, what do you think I could do next time to make it a 5?”.
Many business owners and entrepreneurs are very hesitant to do this, because they don’t wan their ego hurt, or generally just don’t have the courage to know, but if we want to be at our very best, we need feedback, it will make us better. Granted some of it many not be quality feedback, but we need just the same.
In this case however, you are not primarily looking for feedback, you are looking for a testimonial; If they say, “oh, definitely a 5”, then you add in, oh I’m so glad to hear. I’m trying to fill a few spots on my client roster, would you be able to just put a few words in writing for me so I could show it to qualified high quality prospective clients like yourself?”.
If you have your google business page ready, you can just quickly send them the link so they can give you a 5 star review on the spot. If they don’t you can have them write it down, or just ask to record it via voice or video. If they give you voice or video you can transcribe it and put the text on your website. Making a habit of this regularly will get you a large pile of testimonials in a short time.
You don’t need to be in business for another 20 years to get a whole bunch of testimonials that will enhance your credibility more than any degree or certificate ever will (as far as your clients are concerned.
5. Not scheduling the next appointment/no retention system
Only booking clients when they call you, and hoping to get repeat business is not a retention strategy. People get busy, forget, have things come up. Months can go by quickly, and what used to be a monthly visit to the LMT/RMT can turn into 3 or 4 months, meaning you just lost 75% of your revenue expected from that client.
If you know you are going to see a client every 60 days, don’t wait for 60 days to pass and wonder where they are. If they see you usually every two months, then at least try and schedule their next appointment right before they leave at the end of the current appointment. They schedule a follow up reminder a few days before.
Not everyone will agree, but even if half do, now you have scheduled out, expected income. Remember, it’s MUCH easier to keep a client than it is to get a new client. It’s easier, cheaper, and less risk because you don’t need to vet a new person. Simply making the rule to book in the next appointment (even if it’s 4 months in advance) will prevent people from falling through the cracks.
6. Not having a marketing plan
Just like “word of mouth” is not a referral strategy, it’s definitely not a marketing strategy. What the majority of entrepreneurs or self-employed people fail to fully realize and understand, is that once you strike out on your own, you are no longer simply a technician.
When you are employed by someone else, a company, firm, organization, etc., you can get away with being a technician; A technician meaning someone who has the technical know-how of how to do a job.
Once you are in business for yourself, booking your own appointments and paying your own expenses, you are no longer merely a technician. At this point you are also your own manager and your own CEO.
The best way to understand this is to read Michael Gerber’s “The E-Myth”. Once you are your own boss you can’t be successful only getting better and better at the technical side of your job. Without exception, you need to be the manager.
The manager looks at systems in your business model, analyzes them, makes them more efficient. You also need to be the CEO and chief marketer. This means you must also make sure the business is marketed and promoted properly so it can keep growing. This requires a steady flow of incoming business.
As the marketer, you simply can’t rely on word of mouth. You must unwaveringly dedicate time to acquiring new clients through a variety of methods. The methods include, but are not limited to print media, direct mail, meet-and-greet style events, information seminars/webinars, organic social media and paid social media.
This all may seem overwhelming but when you learn to chip away at it bit by bit you will see it is very easy to outperform your competition, because most of them are not doing it right, if at all.
The first step is just realizing that you need to wear, and dedicate some time to, both management and marketing of your company. Even if your company consists of only you. If you don’t really know how to market your business that well, as long as you first dedicate the time, you can use that time to learn.
7. Not having a retirement plan
Obviously, because the job is very physical, no LMT/RMT is under the illusion that they can do it forever. Most LMT/RMTs I have met, although they know they can’t work forever, don’t have a solid retirement plan in place. Maybe they have one that let’s them survive, but few have a plan that let’s the thrive. Having a plan to own your own commercial real estate for your practice can be a great way to build long term wealth, but many think this is too far out of reach for them, or that they would need a massive amount of money. Neither are necessarily true. When I purchased my first commercial building for my business I had barely anything other than cashflow. I bought it when almost no money and for 10 years I had the other tenants in the building pay down the mortgage, until I sold it at a profit.
Many would bock at this idea, thinking they wouldn’t be able to do it. Before you do that, ask yourself, have you met many landlords? Do they seem extremely intelligent? Are they more intelligent than you? Probably not.
If you haven’t many, please take my word for it. They are not smarter, better, luckier than you. They may have had even less money than you have when they started out. In some cases, they just found the right deal and acted when the time was right.
Spending the next 5 years planning to buy a commercial building that pays you is much better than spending the next 5 years thinking it’s impossible for you. The first option has a good possibility of working if you keep focused. The second option will definitely not work.
What's Next?
Do you find yourself relating to one or two of these that also affect you? Would you like more detailed help on overcoming them? If so, I invite you for a free 60 minute strategy session with me personally where we can take a deep dive into what you can do immediately to start massively improving your reach, revenue, and clientele without having to sacrifice your integrity, or put in a ton of extra hours that you likely don’t have.
I am confident that this hour may be one of the most productive and educational hours of your professional career; So much so that if I am wrong and you learn nothing useful, I will pay you your regular session fee for the hour, whatever your current rate is. That way you risk nothing.
Additionally, I'll also throw in some of my most popular development courses:
-Renegade Time Freedom (a course that sold for $297 value)
-Renegade Goal Setting ($297 value)
-Morning Mediation Through Movement ($397 value)
A total value of $991 as a Gift!
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