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Do you have special offers that encourage re-booking? What sets your practice apart, and makes clients want to return?

Tell me your best client-retention strategies in the comments below, and your input might be featured in an upcoming issue of Massage & Bodywork magazine!

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I don't do special offers but my prices are lower already ($50/hour, $70/90 min) - I work from home and don't have rent/utilities, etc.  The price alone makes it easier for people to come back.  However, what really sets me apart is that where I live, I'm the only therapist who is doing certain modalities; I'm the most trained in CranioSacral Therapy (and working toward certification); I'm the only one doing Til Lucau's MFR; the only one doing LDT; the only one using heated bamboo and Body Rocks.

Additionally, I work with each client based on where they are for each session.  We chat before they get on the table and I find out what they are experiencing at the moment so that I can tailor each session specifically.  I also work really hard to solve problems; my goal is to get clients to a point where they don't need me.  My clients know that I am listening to them at many levels - not just what they are verbalizing but what their bodies and tissues have to say as well.  Many times it's the first time anyone has listened to them in any real way.

This is an intense way to work for me as a therapist; I limit myself to 20 clients per week maximum and generally prefer having somewhere between 15 and 20, spread over 6 days.  Many of those are 90 minute sessions.  I don't think I could work this way if I had more people in a week!

I never do specials. I teach my clients, that come to treat a condition to continue after it is resolved, the benefit of monthly maintenance. My weekly schedule is 50% maintenance, 40% regulars for an acute problem, the rest are referrals and walkin. I also do corporate chair massage by contract twice a week. This is how I fill six days per week, about 30 hours. Referrals were the key and took 2 years to build on. I am in my 14th year and I transitioned slowly to full time massage from my previous career.

So glad I say this post. I actually just wrote an article, The 80/20 Rule , about this on my blog. 80% of your business will come from 20% of your clients so the key is to really make sure those 20% are happy. The most effective way I have found to do this is to write your top 3-5 clients a personalized letter telling them how you appreciate their business and their loyalty to you as their massage therapist.

As for retaining new clients its all about reputation and their experience. If you really show them that you are an expert in your field and they enjoy the experience, there will be no other choice than you for their next massage (I wrote another article awhile back on this called Be the Expert. Discounting only works so much, exceed their expectations and the regular price will be fine. Clients understand the phrase, "You get what you pay for" so give them the best and show them you are worth every penny!

If you exceed their expectations every session, they will rebook after every session.  Loyalty is never a given. 

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