06/23/2022
Here's an article preview for you, submitted to Massage Massagzine per their request, delving deeper into the benefits that client management skills offer you.
This article looks at practical ways to make your massage practice more successful.
We all desire to be successful, yet the road to achieving it often appears elusive and difficult. One explanation for its mercurial nature is there exists no single definition. Success has many measurements and qualities. One descriptive starting place is viewing success being when your actions fulfill your desires and abilities.
No two people are the same or have identical goals. What makes one person happy may not satisfy another. The same holds true for massage therapists and their practices. Some prefer to work part-time, others full-time. Some practice privately, others as employees. Some measure success by how much money they make or how many clients they see.
Others place more value on the quality of their experience: how satisfied are they in practice, how pleased are their clients, and does their practice afford them a balanced lifestyle? Successful practitioners typically find a balance that leaves them feeling satisfied with their overall situation.
It's often said that “success is an inside job, it’s all in your head.” That's partially true, yet having a successful practice involves other ingredients worth mentioning.
Countless workshops and numerous presentations on the subject reveal that success leaves clues. The first one I’d like to describe is that your chances of actualizing your full success potential are directly related to how well you engage your heart, hands, and head in your endeavors.
Another way to frame things uses a simple success roadmap that incorporates the Three Success P’s. The first “P” to having a more successful massage practice is getting in touch with your passionate purpose for practicing. Some might say this is the heartfelt part of what you do. In other words, what is your primary mission or reason for being in practice? What motivates and drives you? Hopefully, it’s to help facilitate clients feeling better and being healthier.
Your heartfelt, passionate purpose is tied to your belief system of why you are in practice and doing what you do. Are you motivated to do what it takes to actualize your passion, or are you held back by limiting beliefs or circumstances you need to change or overcome? One word of caution: it’s fine to aspire to make a good income, but if money is your only objective, it’s hard to have lasting and satisfying success.
The second “P” is to plan how you will actualize your success-driven purpose. This includes your business as well as personal decisions. For example, do you want to practice privately or as an employee? Do you want to practice in a spa, doctor’s office, or another setting? How many clients would you like to see per day and for how long? How will you attract new clients into your practice? How many days per week would you like to practice, how many hours per day, and which days?
As fundamental as these questions are to ensuring you have a more successful and enjoyable practice, too many practitioners blindly ignore them before jumping in and opening shop. Of course, no one plans to fail, but what happens too often is people fail to plan, which can be just as costly.
Above all, please avoid this mistake that too many massage therapists encounter: if you are planning to work as an employee, first get crystal clear about your needs, such as the days and hours you can work, pay expectations, and duties required of you before you sign any agreements.
If you’re already practicing massage, maybe some areas or aspects keep you from becoming as satisfied or successful as you would like. It’s never too late to identify them and seek ways to make changes and improvements.
The third P embraces procedures that are necessary for your success. Arguably, the two most important procedures are your hands-on abilities and your client management skills.
Beyond your belief systems, passionate intentions, and well-thought-out plans, quality hands-on massage skills are essential for your practice success. Your hands-on massage approaches and applications are the essences of what you provide for your clients. It’s where you non-verbally interface with their tissue, nervous system, and very being. There’s no way to skimp on the importance of providing your clients with great hands-on care.
If your massage applications are not satisfying to clients' needs and desires, it's unlikely they will return to you for further care or refer others no matter how savvy your marketing strategies may be.
But be aware that not all massage therapists, nor practitioners in other health care fields, develop successful practices just by having good hands-on skills, no matter how talented they may be.
Most practitioners find that their hands-on skills alone aren't enough to command the client retention, referrals, and financial rewards they were hoping to achieve, which is a major reason so many practitioners continue to stress and struggle to reach the level of success they desire.
Many massage therapists are now discovering the next big step to building their confidence, credibility and success –– applying well-proven, standardly accepted client management skills which empower you to confidently guide your clients through essential areas of care. It's an empowering skill set that allows chiropractors, osteopaths, and PTs to guide their patients' care with assuredness and it can do the same for massage therapists.
Client management falls under the “heady” part of practicing. It includes skills such as applying clinical reasoning to evaluate health history information, consulting with clients about their presenting complaints, properly examining them, assessing findings, providing specifically-designed treatment plans, and measuring and monitoring progress. Good client management communicates each process to clients and confidently answers common questions they often ask.
It's been said by top practitioners how trying to heighten practice success by hands-on skills alone is like whipping a horse to go faster, whereas applying good client management skills steps on the gas pedal.
This article would be amiss without mentioning how some practitioners focus on acquiring clients through advertising. But talented hands-on and client management skills cannot be replaced by promotional means because they boost clients’ trust in your professionalism which increases compliance and generates quality referrals.
In four decades in health care, I’ve seen how practitioners who earnestly combine their heart, hands, and head tend to have the most satisfying and successful practices. They also have the ultimate toolset for providing their clients with the best overall care.
The road to having a successful massage practice is paved by first recognizing areas of your practice needing improvement, then breaking through habituation patterns and comfort zones to acquire or improve upon skills that serve you and your clients better.
You don't have to do it alone. Teachers, mentors, and courses are available to help you.
As you can see, many components contribute to your practice's success. We touched upon a few important ones, leaving two more important catalysts––persistence and practice.
Whatever procedures you learn to help you achieve more satisfying and lasting success, please avoid the all-too-common mistake of not practicing their implementation.
Applying a new procedure doesn't mean just giving it a try or two and then giving up on it if it feels awkward or challenging. On the contrary, it’s important to persist in practicing to refine it. Whether you are implementing new hands-on or client management skills, give them a fair period to see how well they can work for you and your clients.
Many practitioners reach higher levels of success not because they are smarter or more talented, but because they persist in practicing, refining, and even mastering important skills.
It’s been said that success is a journey, not a destination. There always exist areas in need of improvement. I like to think of our success journeys as ongoing opportunities to seek newer and better ways of doing things. Sometimes just a little tweak is enough to create a big shift in your success. That little “extra” that you put into learning and practicing a skill is often the difference between an ordinary practice and an extraordinary one.
There's a saying, if becoming successful is important to you, you will find a way to make it happen. If not, you'll find an excuse.
Now you know a basic formula for creating a successful massage practice: commit to fulfilling your passionate purpose, plan out your course of action, and practice refining skills that help you improve upon critical areas. You’ll be on your way to a far more satisfying and rewarding practice. You’ll be glad you did. So will your clients.
