Networking Ideas

[Karan]

So I'm starting to promote my private practice around town and I'm also trying to network with other businesses who might be interested in massage therapy, and offering it to their clientele too.
Well, I've had one experience where I went into a tiny Hair salon, (it only had 3 chairs) and I talked to one of the owners/stylists and introduced myself and told her we should talk about some ideas and work together. Well, she almost seemed like she brushed me off and said, "oh we already use 2 massage therapists....yeah just leave your card." and her tone was like, dismissive! It kind of made me wonder if she thought I was just trying to leech off of her exsisting clients or something! (All other business owners were really positive though) What I want to do is give something, like an incentive to the owners and employees for giving me business, not just have them do free marketing for me, come on lady, :roll: lol.
So I made these coupons for new clients only that I'm giving to businesses where they can then give them to their clients as a "thank you" in their holidays mailings on their behalf or what not. But in return I wanted to offer them something for doing this too. As a business owner, you always have to tell people what's in it for them, right? So of course I want to make it appealing. I'm trying to come up with several promotion ideas to offer these other business owners/managers, so that way they can also choose to do something with me that they think is worthwhile.
One idea that another massage therapist suggested to me was that I should do something like punch card for frequent masasges. after 5 massages you get 30 minutes added on to your service or you can save it. once you reach 10 massages you get another half hour so it can then be redeemed for one free hour massage. What I'm worried about this though, is that once I get too busy, how long can I run this thing, you know? But that won't be for awhile since my business is so new..
Anyway, does anyone have any ideas that they found sucessful when trying to network with other companies? Also, I wanted to offer a one time discounted massage for the manager/owners so they can experience what I have to offer. All I need is to get my hands on them once!
Thanks for reading!