“Would You Like to Feel Great Next Week as Well?”

By Coach Cary Bayer

Cary Bayer was keynote speaker at the 2006 AMTA national convention. Widely known as The Business Coach for Massage Therapists, for having privately coached more than 225 LMTs, Cary is also a CE provider licensed by NCBTMB and Florida Dept. of Health’s Board of Massage Therapy, and a faculty member of Massage Business University. He also writes for Massage Today, and AMTA publications in 14 states. His 27 publications include 11 specifically for massage therapists. His CE seminar, “Build a $100,000 a Year Massage Business” is very popular among therapists.

There is no time that a client appreciates the myriad benefits of massage more than at the moment he has to leave your table. (The only possible exception might be when he’s injured and needs relief from pain.) So, working in my capacity as a business coach for massage therapists, I recently polled some LMT clients whom I started coaching and was astonished to discover that quite a few have regularly failed to take advantage of this extraordinarily ripe moment. I’ll explain.

The first question to ask a client after he’s left your room is, “How do you feel?” Most therapists are pretty good about doing that while holding their scheduling book in their hands. (Some, however, are shy about having their book in their hands when they ask this question.) Most clients who’ve just been massaged usually reply by saying something like, “Great.” (Some LMTs then change the subject from the client’s Great Consciousness or peace by talking about the knots in his shoulders that they weren’t able to release. Talk about ruining a moment.) What a large percentage of therapists fail to ask at this pregnant moment is the critical follow-up question: “Would you like to feel great like this next week as well?” The key is to use the exact same words your client uses—great, terrific, peaceful, etc.

The question that I’ve suggested that you start asking when your client leaves your room is a two-part question, the first part of which, we’ve just seen, is clearly a no-brainer. Of course your clients wants to feel this great. If he’s used to coming in for massages every two or four weeks, let’s say, then the second part of the question—Would he like to come in the following week?–can be challenging to him. The challenge is usually on one or more of three different fronts:

A) Does he have the time?

B) Does he have the money?

C) Does he think he deserves to be free of pain and feel great like this on a weekly basis?

As for whether he has time for a session the following week, only your client can make that determination. But by bringing to his awareness that he’s now feeling great, as a result of having a massage, he may juggle his schedule around; after all, how many of the things that he already has booked are going to make him feel as great? Probably very few, if any.

As for the money part, let me just say that, as a business coach for massage therapists, I’ve seen far too many LMTs make the error of taking responsibility for a client’s financial decisions. So I’ll say it simply: The person in charge of your client’s financial decisions is your client, not you. If he feels that he can afford it, he may opt for a session the following week, if he feels that he can’t, he probably won’t. You might not be able to help him on this score unless you take credit cards that allow him to pay in the future for the treatment he receives the next week.

As for the deserving piece, this is where you can do your client a major service. You can help your client see that he deserves to feel good—often. When was the last time that he felt so good? When did he feel such peace? Chances are that it’s been quite some time—he might not even remember. A body worker, you’re also a growth facilitator for clients, inspiring them to live a life in more peace and harmony.

You’ve nothing to lose by asking your clients if they want to feel great the following week. As Jesus said, “Ask and you shall receive.”