Planning our grand opening

[Pompal 09.]

Hi guys! Well, this has been an eventful month for us so far! not only am I actually, honestly, officially licensed now (I should be receiving my papers in the mail any day now!), but I noticed our massage establishment license shows up on the state's web site now too- so that should get here to us pretty soon too!

Now we need to plan our grand opening. We had hoped to hold it the first weekend of April (the 3rd/4th, Friday/Saturday), but not knowing when the establishment license would be here (and we are supposed to wait until that is in-hand, we can't just print the info out from the web site like I can with my own license), we decided to push it back. Well, what with the following weekend being not only Easter weekend, but also the last weekend before Tax day, we thought that can't possibly be a good time to have our party. The weekend following could be, but is it too close to Tax day still? Folks might still be a-tremble from that.

So we'd decided to go with the next weekend after that- the 24th/25th of April. Two weeks after a major holiday (Easter), enough time that many folks'll start getting their tax refunds in, and two weeks prior to Mother's Day. Seems like a fantastic weekend to hold our grand opening party!

Ah, Mother's Day.... That reminds me, I plan to specialize in prenatal massage (I certainly have enough experience on the "needing" side of that table, although we didn't "discover" massage until right before our 9th was conceived : ). I will need to take some classes to certify for that, right? But man, what a great time to be advertising prenatal massage- right before Mother's Day!

There is a lady about whom I've heard some fantastic things, who is local (Fort Worth, under an hour's drive for me), who offers a "mini" prenatal class (6 hours) and a "certification" prenatal class (21 hours). I went to her web site this morning to sign up for the mini class, and as soon as I finished registering, I noticed that she DOES have one scheduled before September. I registered for the mini class to "tide me over" until I could take the full course! I would *much* prefer to take the full course right off the bat.....

We haven't printed anything off yet. Haven't done a thing as far as setting dates "officially" yet. I'm thinking..... I HAVE to take this course! It would be so fun, so great to be able to honestly advertise prenatal massage right from the get-go. I also feel that, fresh out of school as I am, I maybe won't have too many "bad habits" settled in yet, and be more "teachable" than if I were to take just a "mini" class and try to wing the rest until later.

But- what do we do about the grand opening? Hubby can't host it without me there! Even if he wanted to..... LOL! Is it *imperative* to have a "Grand Opening" on a weekend? We had originally thought to schedule it for a Friday and Saturday, afternoons or evenings (maybe 3-7 on Friday- to catch the "coming off from work" crowd- and then Saturday from 12-4 or something like that. But if I'm in that class, which will be all day Saturday and Sunday, we can't do that Saturday, although we *could* do Friday, all day if we wanted!

Waddayathink? We want to have food, and giveaways (I think I can make up some massage-themed gift baskets, have a drawing for a free massage, push gift certificates, etc.). Hubby will make some of his "famous" salsa- that is always a hit, and we were thinking of bringing the grill out and doing hot dogs, chips, sodas, etc.. People *will* come for free food, right?

But the timing..... should we go for the weekend in between Easter (tax week) and the date of the class? Or have it the following weekend (too close to Mother's Day, in my opinion- I want to leave enough time for it to settle in with people- to buy gift certificates, etc.)? Or leave it for that Friday (the 24th) and forget Saturday (so I can go to the class)?

Ideas? Opinions? HELP! This is a fantastic thing, I just need to figure out how to get it all done!

 

[Aymee]

If it were me... I'd wait on the class. As much as you want to have pregnancy massage on the menu, what is a few months to add it. Clients always love how we add additional services from time to time and that we are ever-learning. I think it's a good idea if you are going to all that effort of a grand opening to have it both Friday and Saturday, and the timing is good too for Mother's Day and High School graduations. Just my 2 cents. Those with more experience may see it from a different angle.

And...CONGRATULATIONS!

~Sandra

 

[hollie]

Thanks, Sandra. DH and I agree that I should go ahead and take the class now- it is good timing as far as my schedule goes, and we have the $$ for it now, and also, it will give us the ability to actually advertise that we CAN do prenatal massage. I don't really want to wait until September- I know pregnant people now, LOL!

We've also been considering gearing the actual "party" to his already established clients, and for the locals/newcomers, having a flyer/coupon advertising the "grand opening specials- come in and meet us and get a free 10 minute chair massage throughout . This way, we can sort of "separate" the old timers whom we already know, and focus on their excitement with us over the new location and me getting my license, and give us more time to meet/greet the locals/new people (we are in a slightly different area, which is why I say "locals") as they come in from the newspaper/flyers/etc..

 

[Mister Wise Guy]

That sounds like a winner...

 

[wuffer]

What we did at a local health fair recently - we didn't want to do free chair massages since the line would be to the other end of the mall and so few of those people become clients - but wanted to give something away. We filled a huge glass jar with preprinted slips of paper. There were a lot that said "$10 off any single service" and some that said "FREE CHAIR MASSAGE!" Those were redeemable on the spot, Everyone who passed got to pick a slip so everyone got something, whether it was for that day or in the future. We've had a few come back already so it worked.

Funny thing is, we got called to have a table at the fair because the organizer had been in before Christmas on a downtown 'scavenger hunt' in the local small businesses and got to tour the place while looking for our 'item'. Things lead to another!

 

[drdjjt]

That's a cool idea! We are planning to attend/be a vendor at our town's local events (4th of July, etc) this year.

Did you then actually charge for that day's chair massages?

I'm thinking about having a "fish bowl" thingy for the grand opening month (which will be April), where folks can drop in their business card and we'll draw for a freebie at the end of the month. It'll also give us an idea of where we might be able to coordinate "reciprocal advertising" in the area. I already know a handful of businesses that have said they'll gladly let us set out fliers in their places, but I want to get in with MORE of the local businesses. This little area seems to be very strong on the "local businesses supporting each other" concept. I love that!

I'm actually chewing on an idea for a drawing... not for an individual chair massage, but for businesses..... like, we'd bring our chairs to the place of business to give chair massages (10 minute limit per person) for so many people (maybe an hour or two's worth of time). This could endear us not only to the business owner/manager, but also to the employees. I still need to talk to hubby about this. He doesn't like to think that I'm "giving all his time away", LOL! I have to figure out how to present my ideas so he understands the value in them.

 

[hanizee]

All the chair massages were free that day to the people that drew those particular slips. It was about a 10 minute one, each time, just enough to let them feel our touch and feel how good even a brief chair massage could be.

We've partnered with other small businesses too, since our downtown area is struggling. One small lunch counter sells lottery tickets. They have all non-winners put their names and numbers on the back and draw one out every week, then they asked the other business owners to contribute some type of small item or gift certificate. We gave tem 4 free 10 minute massages (it's the MT's choice to do chair or table). One woman won one last week, hasn't redeemed it yet but came in on her lunch to get her eyebrows waxed. The next day, she brought her brother in to get an hour massage and then she made an appt for her to get one next week, saying she'll use the freebie some time on her lunch. We participated in the local First Night program, giving free massages - people were able to throw a tip in a jar if they wanted and we just divided it up amongst us when we were done. And on slow days, I've hauled my chair down the block to a little local restaurant that does a brisk lunch trade. I just tell them it's free and if they want to throw a tip into the jar it's up to them. Everyone does and it's another marketing tool. We've also traded massage certificates to a guy across the street who publishes local advertising magazines, when we were short on ad money. There are a lot of advaneforum.xxxes to being downtown and partnering with others.

 

[UnlimitedPorn]

The little local newspaper is just down the street from our house. I have been thinking about seeing if we can print up some really nice coupons for two-fers (buy one get one free OR good for a couples massage for the price of a single) and see if the paper'd give them to couples making engagement/wedding/anniversary announcements. It'd be a nice way to "give in" to the community, as well as marketing.