Taking an Eco-Centric Approach to Spa Treatment Design

August 21, 2007 at 3:39 am (Massage & Spa)

portrait.jpg While at least some spa treatments (wraps, scrubs and masks to name the basic protocols) are usually found in a section on the majority of spa menus, they tend to lead a rather dormant life overshadowed by their more commonly requested relatives massages and facials. More often than not they decorate menus with adventurous names while flirting exotic ingredients. Considering the expensive products retained to perform these services and the equipment held available it is a pity that spa treatments are not given the place they deserve and could conquer.

Spa treatments are one of the menu-items that have not even been tapped into as a resource by the majority of individual practitioners as well as health spas of all styles and sizes.

While massage and to a good degree esthetics have matured so far that they are being accepted and understood as a solid part of every spa menu and a core service offered by the individual practitioner, spa treatments are still struggling to make their mark.

Spa treatments offer numerous advantages for clients, providers and for the spa business itself. Some of which are for clients that they pose an alternative to massage and a different approach to health and wellness altogether that utilizes a chemical rather than a physical approach. For providers they offer a rest from the physically challenging nature of massage and an opportunity to provide the client with more post treatment products that will extend the effects of the treatment. And finally the spa business itself for example can attract additional clients and renew client relationships more often with attractive treatments as well as expand the business with related products that help clients enjoy their spa experience at home as well.

So while there are many reasons why spa treatments tend to be less requested, we would like to pick one in particular that is rarely addressed. One of the explanations we find why clients do not opt for a spa treatment and providers and front desk staff have a hard time recommending them is that they cannot relate on an emotional and cultural level to the services offered.

One fundamental reason is that the services were not designed taking local ecological, social and cultural existing and pre-existing conditions into account, but rather have been imposed as a concept from the outside, importing foreign concepts that evolved under different circumstances and foreign ingredients that need to be imported. These concepts will surface in menus as “a traditional treatment from Bali” in a Mexican luxury spa or as product driven treatment featuring “caviar” designed by a vendor and wrapped around their protocol.

Now while at first glance the appealing description and mouthwatering descriptions might seem attractive, upon closer examination there are some major flaws in the design. Ingredients, the verbiage, the philosophy, aromas, and especially the client concerns originated somewhere else and lack the connections to the local facility. The ideas first spark interest and a certain sense of attraction to the mysterious but than fall short of following through with a feeling of being grounded in the here and now and offering benefits that embrace the local environmental and cultural heritage.

There are some very concrete reasons to pursue an eco-centric approach. When taking the time to research local healing traditions, one inherits many years of refining regionally available resources to address locally prevailing ailments and concerns. While looking into nature’s plant systems one finds plants that have thrived on the local geological and climatic environment and retain substances and essences that can heal conditions that are a result of just that environment. In observing weather patterns one can address the seasons and the changes between them. And most important, treatments designed with an eco-centric approach are grounded and feel complete as they are deeply embedded in their environment.

Taking local conditions into consideration while designing spa treatments is not difficult and well worth the effort. Besides the relationships you will develop researching the local resources, the resulting understanding of local culture, flora and climate will give the spa treatments you design a completely different level of integration with clients, providers and staff.

More about eco-centric spa treatment design at www.spa-college.com

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Staying in Business as a Massage Therapist.

August 20, 2007 at 10:07 pm (Massage Business)

portrait.jpg One would think at first glance, that being a massage therapist is a great way to do wonderful things for people and make a good living. Massages are priced at anywhere from $70 and hour to $100 for an hour. And besides a massage table for a few hundred dollars, sheets and oils there is not much more that needs to be purchased. Does that not translate into a substantial amount of money in your pocket?

Well, the reality is often very different than what massage therapists imagine when they consider this profession, and if you are thinking of making massage therapy a career, there are some things you need to know.

I have been a massage therapist and for many years. I know many therapists and as an instructor, I am in touch with many of my students. Being connected with the reality of massage therapy has not only helped me understand the dynamics, but also aided me in developing my own practice when needed. Some of those insights I would like to share here.

One of the most disturbing issues is that many therapists only last a few years on the job, and that is if they can even get their feet on the ground to generate an adequate income.

So what seems to be the problem?

As a therapist you are either employed (even if your employer calls you an “independent contractor”) or self-employed (or maybe you are like many colleagues a combination of both). Even if you are employed at a spa facility, gym, chiropractor or other health and wellness operation, chances are you will have private clients outside of your job and juggle a few different venues which puts you in a position of managing your own supplies, transportation, taxes and so on.

The first mistake that many therapists make, is that they neglect to see themselves as a business.

Many small (and larger) businesses make the exact same mistake when they launch their venture: They fail to plan their business and fail at their business. When therapists leave the field it is primarily for one reason: They do not make enough money to pay the bills.

Step One View yourself as a business.

What this means is that you need to balance your income with your expenses and write a business plan for yourself. In order to stay afloat your income must match your expenditures that include every single expense from supplies, to the amount of money you need to have at your disposal to pay the rent, your car, your clothes and your pet food as well as resources for the future.

Step Two: Write a business plan.

When you start writing your business plan and ask yourself the question: How many sessions can I do every day, you might discover some interesting facts about your business. You may find one of the reasons why therapists have a hard time making ends meet and ultimately leave the field: You can physically only do a certain number of sessions in any given time period due to the sheer physical and emotional challenges that of this work. Right now you might not think so but and still experience a rush doing 4 or 5 sessions a day. But imagine doing this day in, day out for years. Not really an option, is it?

What this means is your income from massage work is restricted by the number of sessions you can offer. Finding this out in the planning phase is a huge advantage because it means you can prepare for the reality of only doing a few sessions a day.

If you wait until you are active in your practice, one of two things might happen: You will either perform too many sessions because you need the money and sooner or later burn out and leave the profession or you will leave the profession to find another job.

Part of your realization might also be that you will have to charge more than you anticipated for a massage. And you should. As a business you cannot afford not to.

The second issue that many therapists face is that they perceive a contradiction between the type of work they do and selling their services. I discuss this at length in my book The Successful Therapist, but one of realizations I had is that I cannot be of service at all, if I cannot sustain myself through the work. And looking at it from that point of view was very helpful.

Step Three: Develop a massage marketing plan Clients do not just walk through the door. You have to attract them and then retain them. There are many ways to advertise your services and as many ways to spend a lot of money with no results. Before you spend any money, spend some time thinking what kind of client you want to work with and what solution you offer to a problem that they specifically have.

Then spend some time formulating and developing that solution as a headline and a service. I spent some time in Australia and worked out of a small bookstore in a crowded pedestrian area. My sign on the street said: “Relieve your headache in 15 minutes” and it worked. There were enough people with headaches mulling around and not enjoying their shopping experience. The reality is that no one cares about you. They care about what you can do for them.

Once you know what solutions you offer, it will be much easier to target those people directly and efficiently. Visit your local hotel and talk with the concierge about referring clients to you. Visit senior citizens homes and assisted living for seniors’ massage and offer the people who work there a referral fee. Talk to the HR department of a large company to offer an introduction to in-house chair massage. Go to prenatal yoga classes with flyers to offer pregnancy massage, etc.

Step Four: Plan for additional revenue streams. Even though you might be doing all the massages you can and want to do, you will definitely want to have additional income resources in place to utilize the client contact you have through your massage traffic and marketing activities. There are many ways to do this for example retail related products. But there is also one idea that I want to suggest here: Offering spa treatments. Spa treatments not only capture a clientele that might not want a massage but they also add to your reputation, are much less taxing on the body and offer a very nice way to promote products you can sell after the treatment.

Nicolay Kreidler is a licensed massage therapist and massage instructor at Touching from the Heart and a facilitator at Spa College He is an active consultant to the spa industry and author of the book “The Successful Massage Therapist” now available as ebook through Spa Pros

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Expanding Services as a Massage Therapist by offering Spa Treatments

August 20, 2007 at 10:05 pm (Massage Business)

portrait.jpg Scrubs, masks, cocoons, wraps, fango packs, glows and polishes, to name a few, are all services that are typically offered at day and resort spas in addition to and in conjunction with massage therapy.

All spa treatments have therapeutic qualities, address issues and concerns from sunburn to stress. Many utilize natural ingredients and an application that focuses more on the therapeutic qualities of the product(s) used, rather than the physical aspect of massage modalities. Two main components of spa treatments are exfoliating (scrubs) and moisturizing to maintain a healthy skin. In between there are a myriad of possibilities ranging from invigorating to relaxing and from detoxifying to nourishing.

As a massage therapist faced with the reality of injury and burnout related to the physical challenges of doing deep-tissue like massages or manipulations, the question arises what other forms of revenue can be generated using licensure, training and equipment.

Developing a menu of spa treatments is one great way to not only distinguish oneself from the competition, but also to perform additional sessions without taxing the body.

Many spa treatments can be performed without needing to have a shower available. They can utilize products that can stay on the body or the therapist can use moist towels to remove the product before proceeding to the next step of the treatment. In fact I even have a selection of spa treatments I offer for out-call massages.

If a shower is available, there are virtually no limitations to the kinds of treatments one can offer. For some clients who receive treatments at home and have a shower, I offer full spa treatment experiences that include a massage.

Many spa treatments can be offered as an upgrade to a massage or be specifically designed for a body part such as a moisturizing foot and hand masque or a calming décolleté treatment.

Full spa treatments can take the usual 60 minutes and include foot, hand and scalp massage while the client is taken through a number of steps that feature resting times during which a specific product unfolds its therapeutic qualities.

A simple wrap for a sunburned client, who comes in wanting a massage, could be using propolis and aloe vera to heal, lavender lotion to cool and calm and coconut milk to seal in the effects and moisturize the skin. Apply the products, wrap the clients in a sheet and proceed with a gentle scalp massage. Half an hour later, the products will have been absorbed and the client can take home a bottle of lavender lotion (and some sunscreen).

You can charge a premium for product use and as you see, retailing products will become a natural extension of your care for your client.

The products needed for spa treatments can be purchased from a vendor who wholesales to the spa industry or even more fun, put together from natural, organic ingredients you can often buy at the local health food store. Salt and sugar scrubs are a great example, honey. A little study and you can assemble simple treatments on your own.

There are also other options such as Spa College. They have designed classes specifically for therapists to learn all they need to know about putting together a spa treatment menu.

Nicolay Kreidler is a licensed massage therapist and massage instructor at Touching from the Heart and a facilitator at Spa CollegeHe is an active consultant to the spa industry and author of the book “The Successful Massage Therapist” now available as ebook through Spa Pros.

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Niche Marketing for Massage Therapists

August 20, 2007 at 9:59 pm (Massage Marketing)

portrait.jpg Massage therapists often have an inherent resistance to “selling” themselves. If you find yourself reading this article: Congratulations! And just so you know, you are not selling out. You are providing a communications platform so that those who need your services can actually find you. That is a service in itself.

There is a logical principle that if you solve a client’s problem better than your competition, under the same conditions (price, availability etc.) and communicate this to your potential clients, success (however you define this for yourself) is unavoidable. This simple statement opens up a whole drawer of possibilities of refining your communications practice to attract more of what you want.

Define problem?

What many do not realize is that it is not the product or service that the client desires, but rather the feeling, emotion and sensation that ensues when their problem is solved or improved. This should be the result of using the product or experiencing the service. A client’s problem is not finding a massage therapist. The client’s problem is that they are not feeling the way they would like to. And you might have the solution to that problem.

Here are some examples so you get the gist:
Starbucks does not sell coffee, they sell a community meeting place.
Mercedes does not sell cars, they offer status symbols.
Gatorade quenches thirst.

What is your solution?

Anticipating client problems, associating them with a demographic profile and offering a solution is essential to being able to address them successfully and critical to attracting that client group.

Every demographic has there own common set of problems. Yes, everyone is different, but based on commonalities such as age, profession, location and other keys we find that certain groups have similar needs. We often can define groups based on age, income, mobility, education, employment status, and even location.

Some examples of the more obvious groups are:
Seniors
Business people
Traveling business people
Pregnant women
Athletes

Some examples of the less obvious are:
People with fibromyalgia
Children with Down syndrome
Runners
Bikers
Shoppers
Young parents
Bereaved parents
Business leaders
Chemically sensitive
Hospice care
Cancer survivors

What does this mean for your practice?

When you define your product or service, think about what you really provide. You may not always be able to directly call it by its name, but you should try to get as close to describing it as possible.

And then think about whom you can really relate too. Often this is based on your own life experiences during which you developed a deep understanding of a situation and are relaxed about it. It’s important that you can relate without judgment to others experiencing the same situation and dealing with these people will not pose a difficult situation for you. The area where you can develop a deep rapport, is where you will likely be most successful.

The more accurately you can define your solution to an existing problem, the easier it is to communicate with your target market. Does that make sense? If you know that you are catering to senior citizens, it is easier to find out where the congregate, which publications they read and what other forms of communication they tend to prefer. It is also much easier to formulate the solution(s) you offer.

The question is always: How can I improve the client’s experience in their current state by guiding them to a future state in which they have a better experience of themselves.

The next question is: How can I convey this information to them?

While there are many details that can be refined in this process it is important to return to the original thought of: “What problem am I solving here”. I find that there are primary issues and secondary issues and sometimes even a third or fourth layer that offer opportunities to provide a unique service.

Let me provide an example. Most likely the primary reason your client is showing up (for the first time) is that they have a PAIN in their… Probably one of the main reasons is that they have not spent the time to RELAX and by booking a massage they are giving themselves permission to do so. Maybe underneath all that is that they find themselves in a situation that will not allow them to take TIME AWAY from the circumstances and by visiting you they are doing so.

While the primary issue is often addressed by many: example: “relieve your pain with massage therapy”, secondary and tertiary layers often go unmentioned.

For example: “Get immediate relief from your migraine headache, relax deeply and give yourself the time out you deserve”.

Now, if your communication says (and this is a real example):

“[Name Removed] Massage Therapy is one of the more experienced massage practices in Los Angeles (located in North End, LA). I draw from 23 years of experience in healing work and massage therapy and a strong, intuitive, compassionate, and uniquely healing touch. I am versed in Swedish, Sports Massage, Deep Tissue, On-site Chair Massage, and Energy Healing.”

This statement not only requires the client to figure out on their own what the benefits are, but also leaves everything open to interpretation.

Would it not be better to say the following?: “If you are looking for someone who will really listen to you and knows how sensitive you are, can alleviate the little aches and pains with comforting touch and send you off feeling like a new person, your should call … for a free consultation.”

Nicolay Kreidler is a licensed massage therapist and massage instructor at Touching from the Heart and a facilitator at Spa College. He is an active consultant to the spa industry and author of the book “The Successful Massage Therapist” now available as ebook through Spa Pros.

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Learning Massage as a Life Skill

August 20, 2007 at 9:55 pm (Massage Training)

portrait.jpg There are a few things in life I believe everyone should be able to do and I find it a little disconcerting when I find even young people outsourcing their life with anything from their breakfast, that comes home-delivered to their laundry that’s dropped off in the morning and picked up in the evening, to calling the “super” to replace a light bulb.

I could go on and on but you know what I mean!

Believe me I think it’s great that I can be more effective at what I do because I can delegate chores and needs that others do better or for less, leaving me more time to do what I like and can do best – but it is a choice, not a necessity.

Most of the things are simple but we have made them into a mystery and some are intent on keeping them mysterious as well as making them accessible so as to maintain their business.

I am sure everyone can add to this list and maybe it depends on where you live, but for what it’s worth, here are my top ten positions (not in any particular order):

• Learn how to create a budget, balance a checkbook and manage your money
• Learn how to ride a bicycle
• Learn how to find your way home if you’re lost in nature (or in the city jungle)
• Learn CPR and first aid
• Learn how to drive a stick shift
• Learn how to iron a shirt, sew on a button and hem a skirt
• Learn about cars – change a tire, jumpstart, change your oil or replace a fuse
• Learn about electrical work – change a light bulb, replace a switch and a fuse
• Learn how to shop and cook meals from scratch for yourself and others
• Learn how to give a great massage
• Learn basic html and build a simple website

Let me pick massage as an example, because it’s something I know well. I believe that everyone has the inherent knowledge of how to touch with skill and awareness. We are born with it and when challenged we know how to comfort as well as rub, hold, caress, stroke and rock ourselves and others when there is pain or discomfort. No teacher necessary.

But it seems that over time we reduce this activity to the occurrence of emergencies, acute pain and then extend it only to immediate family, to ourselves or ultimately drop it altogether as we lose the connection to our bodies in a culture that celebrates the visual but denies the physical. This has developed to an extent that touching has become a taboo and is regulated in policies and laws, especially in the workplace. Not that it has not become necessary, since clearly abuse and harassment are prevalent, but at the same time it has added to the message that physical proximity is not ok.

So when I say everyone should learn how to give a great massage I am talking about reviving the ability to relieve pain and provide comfort in way that does not invade a person’s personal space. It is a service that is unconditional and does not require the receiver to reciprocate in any way, shape or form.

Being able to give a great massage is about uncovering that inherent skill that resides in every one of us, and reminding our self what it means to be of unconditional service. The strokes and movements applied even during a “professional” massage are secondary and can be learned with ease once inspired by the deeper understanding of service.

Since no exchange on a personal level is expected, there is no agenda. The fact that a professional massage therapist is paid for their service should not interfere with this balance as the exchange occurs on different levels. The therapist is paid for their time, not for their care. Between friends and family giving a massage to sooth, relieve pain, to comfort or balance does not include any expectation to receive any favor in exchange. It is just a pure giving.

When massage is given with no expectations including an outcome of any kind, there is no agenda Since there is no agenda, the one who gives can be completely present in the moment and need not strategize or project ones own beliefs onto the other. This in itself is the core of all healing.

The basic necessary massage techniques (the “strokes”) can be learned in under 100 hours of classroom time. Achieving the necessary underlying state of mind and heart is not always facilitated, as this is something that cannot be learned but rather needs to be understood. And of course to comply with governing law, there are other subjects that need to be studied before licensing can occur and the student may practice on the general public.

But for me the most important element of this process is uncovering and understanding the principles of being in the moment with no agenda and letting a deeper insight guide the process.

Massage as basic life skill inspires the way we deal with other people and inspires us to be present in our day-to-day lives. And essential element of leading a rewarding life.

Nicolay Kreidler is a licensed massage therapist and massage instructor at Touching from the Heart and a facilitator at Spa College. He is an active consultant
to the spa industry and author of the book “The Successful Massage Therapist” now available as ebook through Spa Pros.

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