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What would you say is one of the biggest challenges of being a successful Massage Therapist? How did you over come it?

I am a student and I enjoy having different body types to practice on. I work it as if I have a business already, but without pay. I have found that many don't take our profession as serious as if it was another health profession. I say this because I have had some who forgot their appointments, or call 10 minutes before appointment time and say they have something else to do. I am sure I am not the only one who experience this. I would like to find ways to make recieving a "MASSAGE" as important as having a annaul medical or dental check up and this is my mission as a Therapist. Please share your expereinces as we are here to help one another.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth (Cassie) Christensen on May 31, 2011 at 11:21am

at school ( an in my practice) they viewed Massage as important and our time as important. If the client was more than 15 minutes late then they would be re-scheduled. They were allowed one No Show and had to cancel 4 hours before the appointment to NOT be a No Show- My rule is 24 hours in advance, I am not busy enough to fill in 4 hours. AFTER ONE No Show they were charged for missed appointments. 90% of people were respectful and followed the policy and of course if they had the flu or a one time emergency- exceptions were made.

I handled clients, including friends, setting up the expectation that they respect my time and my time was valuable. I didn't rebook clients (even friends) who didn't respect my time. I had 2 no shows (not previous clients) and never had to worry about my appointments being filled. I actually had to move things around at the end so that I could fit a few clients in before I graduated.

I found respecting myself led to the respect of my clients.

Cassie

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth (Cassie) Christensen on May 31, 2011 at 11:25am

one more thing:

I ALWAYS kept my appointments, The ONLY time I had to cancel or move appointments was 1- during 2 snowstorms when the school closed and 2- the week I got the Flu& my Stepmom died so I had to go out of town for a 3 days.

In order to gain the respect I never asked students to take a filled appointment and NEVER canceled on a client without a GOOD reason, (above) the school, front desk, director, my clients, KNEW my Yes meant Yes. and that that also garnered there respect.

Cassie

Elizabeth (Cassie) Christensen said:

at school ( an in my practice) they viewed Massage as important and our time as important. If the client was more than 15 minutes late then they would be re-scheduled. They were allowed one No Show and had to cancel 4 hours before the appointment to NOT be a No Show- My rule is 24 hours in advance, I am not busy enough to fill in 4 hours. AFTER ONE No Show they were charged for missed appointments. 90% of people were respectful and followed the policy and of course if they had the flu or a one time emergency- exceptions were made.

I handled clients, including friends, setting up the expectation that they respect my time and my time was valuable. I didn't rebook clients (even friends) who didn't respect my time. I had 2 no shows (not previous clients) and never had to worry about my appointments being filled. I actually had to move things around at the end so that I could fit a few clients in before I graduated.

I found respecting myself led to the respect of my clients.

Cassie

Permalink Reply by Sarah Trueb on March 12, 2013 at 9:36pm

Biggest challenge is having customers, clients, (and no so much the loyal clients) understand that it's not bad business if you have a medical need that you have to attend to as a professional. I have epilepsy. When I do have it, sometimes I can not contact them until later in the day and sometimes as soon as I can (following day)! I can only simply reschedule them. But understand that I am not being unprofessional, disrespectful or do bad business. I deserve the same respect as if the client had some ailment or problem. I also cannot give the massage for free and/or issue a refund as some expect this after the fact. It's really tricky because I cannot plan on having a episode.