Marketing theory tells us that businesses can compete in 3 ways - cost, product differentiation, and client focus.
Which of these do YOU think is the easiest to achieve? And which will be the most effective? Let's see what these 3 things mean to us as massage therapists:
Cost: if we decide to compete on price and cut our fees to make ourselves cheaper than the competition, will this have the desired effect of building a successful massage business? It may well bring us more clients initially, clients for whom price is an important factor in choosing to buy services/goods. However, this group of clients doesn't always stick around for the long-term, as they are continually on the look-out for the next bargain. Lowering fees could also, of course, put off clients who equate price with quality - they will perceive our bargain price as an indicator of an inferior quality treatment and service. It will also reduce the amount of money we take each month; how little can we afford to be earning and still feel that it is a fair exchange for our efforts? And is it sustainable in the long term? We will be doing the same amount of work for less money - which over time can often lead to us feeling resentful towards our clients, even though we set the prices in the first place!
Product differentiation: a fancy way of saying "What sets us apart from the massage therapist down the road so that clients will choose us rather than them?" Some clients love new, different, exotic therapies and extra special touches. It's definitely worth finding a way of making your own massage treatment, or way of practicing massage, unique to you, as this will make you memorable and special; clients will be more likely to return and refer others to you. But - make sure you are memorable for the right reasons! By trying to make yourself different just for the sake of being different, you run the risk of becoming "gimmicky", and this can trivialise what you do. In fact, it seems to me that by "just" doing a really great hands-on treatment, offering excellent customer service, and showing a real commitment to improving your knowledge and skills you will already be head and shoulders above the competition! What clients really want is a great massage from a reliable, professional practitioner - and sadly that seems to pretty hard to find according to many people that I speak to.
So by all means find your own unique style, but not to the detriment of your "core" services - excellent massage and great customer service.
Customer focus: in other words, customer service, or client care - putting the client at the centre of everything we do, and making sure we are providing what they want and not what we think they want.
There are many massage therapists out there all offering pretty much the same treatments as you, and all at a similar price. Making your levels of client care the absolute best is one of the simplest, quickest, and cheapest ways of getting clients, keeping them for many, many years, and getting numerous word of mouth referrals.
I say simplest - but simple doesn't necessarily mean easy; it may mean a radical change in your mindset if customer service hasn't really been on your radar up until now. But that's also the reason why it's relatively quick and cheap to implement - a change in attitude costs nothing more than taking a little time to give it some serious consideration. Figuring out ways to change your practices in order to offer clients their best massage experience ever is a sure-fire way to get and keep loyal clients; the foundation of every successful massage practice.
No comments:
Post a Comment