Let’s start with 2 facts about massage therapists:
- In my experience, massage therapists are terrible at asking for referrals. They are such nice, caring, humble people and they seem to feel bad about asking for more business.
- Most massage therapists I know would love to be seen as health care providers, rather than a luxury service. Massage can help treat pain and a number of other ailments yet the massage community still struggles with this gray area between health care and personal luxury services.
There has been some great discussion in the massage blogosphere about tips vs no tips and it sparked an idea in my head. How about exchanging tips for referrals?
Try this in your massage office:
Place a nice, tastefully-designed, clear sign at your front desk that says something like this: “I appreciate the opportunity to play a part in your health care plan. I do not accept tips, but instead would ask that you take one of my cards after each session and give it to someone you know who could use my help. Thank you!”
Obviously, be sure to have a business card holder next to the sign. The wording is important here, as is the use of bold formatting. Notice it says “health care plan”. This creates an understanding that you are a health care provider. The phrase “after each session” is also important. This trains your clients to get into a routine of referring you after each session. This ensures a steady stream of new referrals.
Notice that you also don’t have to say a word about it! This addresses both problems mentioned at the beginning: the desire to be seen as a health care provider and the reluctance to ask for more referrals.
If massage therapists want to be seen as health care providers, they must start acting like it. Doctors don’t take tips, nor do chiropractors or dentists. Eliminating tips from your practice helps place you closer on the spectrum to the health care community.
It also has the added bonus of relieving your clients of the stress of worrying about how much to tip.
Finally, this message sets an expectation of continuous referrals. Isn’t this one of the most significant lead sources in your practice?
I absolutely love how simultaneously brilliant and simple this is I do not take tips, but have stumbled through my answer when folks asked me all flustered “Why not?” Thanks for this!
Have you done this in your practice? If so, have your sales increased enough to offset the loss of tip income?
Hi, Cath!
I’m a former massage therapist and I came up with this idea after I stopped practicing so I have not had a chance to personally try it out but I feel the idea is strong. I would love to hear of others trying it out. Let me know if you see any results from it.
Thanks!
Michael Reynolds
Hi Cath!
YES. I first instituted the ‘no tipping’ when I moved to a new office (my own space, versus renting space in a chiro office) and simultaneously raised my prices.
At the time, about 40% of my clients were tipping me. That may sound low, but I was in a chiro office, AND I was the business owner, not an employee or contractor, AND I had been kind-of discouraging tips already.
There were 2 clients who had been way over-tipping me, so they actually ended up paying me less, BUT I got one guy to start coming in every 3 weeks instead of 4, so ultimately I make more money from him annually.
Raising my prices and not accepting tips increased my income overall just slightly when I first made the change. Some people may find it just evens out. If that’s the case, raising their rates again in a year would be a wise move.
Maybe do the math? See what you take in now, remove the tips and see what you would take in with a higher rate & no tips, with the same # of appointments?
This is a process, but I think it’s an important move towards:
1. Moving from a luxury provider to a wellness provider, which is good for longevity & riding out economic downturns
2. Removing an unnecessary emotional issue that can happen with clients who don’t tip more or less than others, which can affect the therapeutic relationship. But that’s a whole other blog post.