Two things this week....

[Beautifully Broken]

Ok, we have two marketing events scheduled for this week. Somehow, I've been less than excited about either of them- I hope I'm wrong!

#1: The first is a Chamber "Holiday Bazaar Luncheon", which is tomorrow. I know that the best way to market is to keep our faces/name in front of as many folks as often as possible. We went ahead and signed up for the luncheon ($25 each for two people going) and for a booth at the bazaar beforehand (another $10). We've been told that the purpose of this deal is to have "something that folks can walk out with", so we're going to (try to) sell some gift certificates. We're going to bring dh's chair, *just in case* someone wants a massage at the event- but the actual sales part of the event is only an hour long, so I'm doubtful that anyone will want to spend that time. He's had LOTS of interest wherever he's brought the chair so far, though, so you never know. In my mind, we're taking the chair as "an attention-getting prop", and while we're always going to hope for at least one or two clients, we're not counting on it.

For this deal, we've been told (after signing up and paying for it) that they would like for everyone to submit a "door prize" to be given out at the event. Ok, we can handle that. In the past we've always given a gift certificate for a 60-minute massage. I was thinking today, though, that since this is a business-to-business event, maybe the door prize could be something a little more... business-y. Like to go to their place of business with the chair for one hour of chair massages for their staff/employees (with an "up to x # of people" cap), and hopefully they'll decide to extend the time with a second, paid hour, if they happen to have more employees than can be seen in one hour (and this time, for sure, to use that timer!). What do y'all think of that idea? We *probably* shouldn't be doing the Bazaar thing at all, but we've already paid for it and can't get a refund now.

#2: We've been working on a marketing plan targeted at a specific industry here locally. We'd go in to the office and set up the chair, and he'd work on x number of people (who've signed up in advance), and in return for their time, we'd present them with our pitch for massage and why our gift certificates would be a good choice for their client gifts. This is an industry that does often provide "Client gifts" so we're not way off base here. (So far we've not gotten any actual GC sales out of this, but it's only been a couple of months, we've only done this at two offices so far, and we have gotten a couple of new clients out of it.) BUT...

Last week I approached office #3, who were delighted to let us come out, and suggested that we come this coming Friday, because that's when they're having their Christmas party and "everyone will be there". And "they'd love to have us join them for dinner" (at the party- I am guessing that it will be catered.) Ok, so.... now I'm feeling a little foolish, because we'd mentioned going out for FREE in exchange for pitching the GC sales. So we'd be doing the Xmas party FOR FREE.

I guess we can still pitch the CG's, and maybe even do better b/c folks might be looking not only for client gifts but also for friends/family gifts, not to mention the ever-present possibility of gaining new clients from the deal. And I am positive that the person at the office was not inviting us that day in order to "take advaneforum.xxxe", but was honestly thinking that it would be a great time for us to go because everyone would be there.

I don't feel right about turning around and telling them that "because it's a X-mas party, we'll have to charge". I suppose nothing is really different, except knowing that the people there will be in a different sort of mood than the other times. And I guess we can go and set up the chair and offer the massages for a specific time frame, like the usual 2 hours, and then we're closed (or just pack up and leave). I'm not sure how 'ethical' actually participating in the party would be in this case.

Did we totally screw up by accepting the date of the party? What should we do about the timing? (I was told to get there at 11 and 'folks usually start packing it up around 4'). Go for the usual 2 hours and leave, or stay, as we've been invited? I'm just not sure how to handle this situation. Any advice?

 

[Mustbe]

I have had great luck at business bazaars take your appointment book, GC's to sell. I make little info packs with brochure, magnet card, biofreeze sample, coupon in it. Take turns going around and talking to as many people as you can, visit everyone's booth.
As far as the X-mas party, I would go this time for free since it was kind of a miscommunication. However, I would arrive at 2pm and massage only until 4, then pack up my chair, come back in and enjoy networking/dinner.

 

[chren03]

I think if I were in your shoes re: the holiday bazaar I would give out a gift certificate that required an upgrade. For example: "first half hour free when booking 90 minute corporate chair massage", or "get a free gift certificate for you when your company books us for a corporate chair massage package* (*subject to the following policies...)" Also slip in a little "gift" like a small pouch of bath salts, or a cute stress ball.

When I give away charitable gift certificates I do them in 30 minute increments and write directly on the GC "upgrade to a full hour for $xx." Then I give two of them away so I have twice the chance of getting a new client out of it and have a slighter higher tax write off since two 30 minute sessions cost more than one hour session.

 

[Blame it on tha BooGie]

You may want to check in with the folks doing the Christmas party event to clarify the details a bit further.

1) Find out if it's okay with them if you at least have a donation box set up for the folks who go for the chair massage. That way perhaps you'll cover your gas money expenses.

2) I would certainly take your appt. book & offer a limited promotional certificate of anywhere from $15.00, $20.00 to $25.00 off for appointments - so long as they book while they are at the event, or for gift certificates they may wish to purchase during the party.

3) Aside from that, you may want to work on people earlier than later in the party. The main reason I'm suggesting that is because people will be drinking alcohol & the longer the event the more they will have had! And more than a couple of drinks would be a major issue - possibly resulting in someone tripping or falling getting on or off your chair as well. (could be come a big liability problem for you & the company sponsoring the event)

 

[Linda S]

Chamber event - it's a great idea. Have the chair there and do mini-massages. Either charge for them or not, or have a tip jar out. I do this at a networking luncheon, but because I don't charge, they don't charge me a booth fee.

What is your target market at the Chamber - massage in the workplace or individual massage back at your office?

If it is for individuals, have all the handout suggestions that others have made. If it a Christmas event, can you include an upsell gc for everyone there? I make my own coupons, about 8 to a page. Then I got a strand of red, green and gold sparkly tinsel from a dollar store, cut it into about 70 pieces and hot glued it to the gc/coupon. It looks great, costs almost nothing and people will thank you.

Some sort of upsell gc for the workplace is a great idea for the door prize donation and costs you nothing. Make it look pretty!

For the office party, bear in mind that once people have had something for free, they are reluctant to pay for it!

For another time, I think you need to establish what your goal for the event is.

Is it to get in and do chair massage or table massage at the company? In that case, the only person you really need to massage is the decision maker, the person responsible for 'letting you in'. I definitely would not do 2+ hours of chair massage for nothing.

That said, you have committed to the party this time. For the party. you need to clarify with them what is expected. If they are finishing at 4.00, is the food there at lunch-time? Sorry to riversinger, but I think you should go in right at 11.00 and do your two hours then. I would have no hesitation in having some of the food. You have more than paid for it with your free massage. Mingle with the people and give out your cards or upsell coupons. Or offer an upsell coupon to everyone at the party - if the company is willing, make it look like it is joint effort between the company and you.

When you call the company to clarify the details, do not be apologetic!! Be confident - you are doing them a huge favour and you just want to clarify. Explain that normally you only do a session like this when you have the opportunity to talk about massage afterwards. Ask if there a time when you could come in to do this in the new year.

Another option would be to explain that you can come for two hours - what would the best two hours be for them? Just do as many two - three minute massages as you can fit into the time. These are a taster - just like at Costco, not the whole meal.

Most of the ideas I have given are taken from the Bodywork Biz courses by Eric Brown. For more ideas, look at http://www.bodyworkbiz.com/courses/menu.php

 

[Taylor]

Wow- thanks for all the replies. Great food for thought, y'all!

First of all, the Chamber event today. It was a bust. It was worse than a bust. We had both been feeling a "catch" about it all along, but went along with it anyway. Should NOT have even gone! Should NOT have paid for the table in advance (this time) either! I stayed up past midnight working on some table decorations (we don't "do" Christmas at our house, so I had NOTHING "ready-to-use" in the way of decorations at all!).

I bought a glass "trifle" bowl from Wal Mart and took some sparkly blue wire-ribbon and some white/clear sparkly wire-ribbon (with silver snowflakes on it) and hot-glued the blue ribbon around the edge of the bowl, then (spent a long time making!) made a bow and glued that on where the ribbon came together. I also took some blue-and-white/silver "winter" themed fabric and hot-glued a hem around it to use as a table "runner" (we had been told to decorate the tables, NOT that they would already be "clothed" in bright RED fabric!). Got some white pillar candles with blue/silver snowflakes on them (one taller than the other) and some silver, blue, and white star-shaped "floating candles". I printed off a sign in coordinating colors advising folks about our gift certificates and put it into our "sign holder with business card holder" thingy. Also got two silver stands to prop up samples of the two different designs of holiday-themed gift certificates we already had printed out.

So, we got there this morning (feeling dread-full all the way there), walked in, and OMG, it was AWFUL! They had this square set up with the tables (everything was BRIGHT RED- it hurt my eyes! Even the furniture and table decorations and I think even the FLOOR were bright red!), and a couple of "walk-through" spaces so folks could get into the center of the square. Rather than being able to pick our own spot, as the guy had insinuated, we had been assigned a spot- right in the middle of the ONLY row of tables that was up against a wall! There was no way to even get back behind the table ourselves without having to pretend like we were trying to get out of the aisle in a very crowded movie theatre. We had been told that we could try bringing the chair, but it was more of a "selling" venue than an "expo" venue, so we might not be able to use it. Well, there was no way to even get the chair back behind toe table to use as a "prop"!

And there was another MT there, who had actual STUFF to sell- some Bongers and I don't know what the other things are called- canes or something- and music. She had a great setup, don't get me wrong! In the brief time we were there I gained LOTS of ideas- for next time (but likely NOT that particular venue). But dh and I were so confused by how the whole thing was supposed to work. And then poor dh ended up trying to talk to the "guy in charge", and they got to... misunderstanding each other. I shooed dh out the door, nodding to the other fellow to "don't mind him, he's not having a good day". I need to call or email him in the morning to apologize and try to smooth things over. I'm afraid that we made ourselves look VERY bad, not only for the poor confused, unexcited-to-be-there attitude we had, but also because we left!

So I drove us back to the office, and we dropped the decorative stuff off there, and then I thought for a long time, and drove us out to the RV park that we lived in for 2 months when we first came to this area. I reminded him "2.5 years ago, we called this place 'home'. 3 years ago today, we handed the keys to our house over to the new owners and drove off in that RV to make a new life. Look how far we've come since then!" We drove and talked for a while, then went home. I was to take oldest ds to the DMV to take the driving test today, so we left for that, and dh went and decorated the office (it is just one simple little room in the salon) with the stuff I'd bought/made for the bazaar. I went back later to "help" him with the decorating, and he'd done a fantastic job, so I had nothing to do but practice using the new cupping set on him (and vice versa, but for him it's not practice, LOL!).

And a lady who'd been at the bazaar came by the salon, looking to sell the tamales she'd made for the bazaar, which hadn't sold. She is also a sometime-client of dh's. So we bought some tamales, went grocery shopping, dropped the groceries off at home, and went to a barn where he had a "horse call" for the evening. And horses always refresh us.

So, we've had some huge learning curves lately. We're not certain whether we will even stay with the Chamber. Not that it was a BAD idea, just premature for our size and budgeting ability.

Overall, it *ended up* a pretty nice day, but we sure had a rough beginning to it! We have realized that we have still got a LOT of learning, growing, and thinking to do regarding this business, not the least of which will be deciding whether I should go to work "somewhere else" or dedicate all my 'working energy" to working with him in this business. "Common sense" says to "go get a steady job that can get us by while he builds the business", but we both know that he can't run it by himself. He just doesn't "think" like that. So..... ????

We also learned today that there is a "spot" coming up for lease in a retail strip literally right behind our house. It is on a main throughfare in our small town, right down the street from the library, right next door to a Sonic, in the same building as a Curves and a hairdresser who'se been there for a long time and who "stays pretty busy", according to someone I know here in town. I KNOW the space is "too big" and would be "too expensive", not to mention require building out, as it is currently a little retail store. But I think I'm going to call about it anyway, just to do some real market research and see what something like that would take to get into. Who knows but that it might not come available again when we're ready for a move like that?

 

[Military Gurl Condria]

For the office party, bear in mind that once people have had something for free, they are reluctant to pay for it!

This, we have learned the hard way, yes! He says that from now on, he won't give 10-minute massages away, but will stick to 2-3 minutes and try a trick one of our instructors told us about- only doing one side! Kinda mean, but.... LOL!

For another time, I think you need to establish what your goal for the event is.

Is it to get in and do chair massage or table massage at the company? In that case, the only person you really need to massage is the decision maker, the person responsible for 'letting you in'. I definitely would not do 2+ hours of chair massage for nothing.

The original idea with this was to get in and give 'free samples" to the sales agents, to open the door for pitching the gift certificates to them as an option to buy the GC's for their client gifts. Like when a vendor comes by, they give away 'freebies" to encourage folks to listen to their pitch. Not really to provide "chair massage" to them.

That said, you have committed to the party this time. For the party. you need to clarify with them what is expected. If they are finishing at 4.00, is the food there at lunch-time? Sorry to riversinger, but I think you should go in right at 11.00 and do your two hours then. I would have no hesitation in having some of the food. You have more than paid for it with your free massage. Mingle with the people and give out your cards or upsell coupons. Or offer an upsell coupon to everyone at the party - if the company is willing, make it look like it is joint effort between the company and you.

At this point, I'm afraid that dh is too discouraged to want to agree to "giving away" much of anything anymore, even 'upsell coupons". I like your idea of the printed-out and decorated coupons. We could easily do that with printable business cards (if I can ever find them and get the template worked out!) I think that's a great idea!

[/quote]When you call the company to clarify the details, do not be apologetic!! Be confident - you are doing them a huge favour and you just want to clarify. Explain that normally you only do a session like this when you have the opportunity to talk about massage afterwards. Ask if there a time when you could come in to do this in the new year.

Another option would be to explain that you can come for two hours - what would the best two hours be for them? Just do as many two - three minute massages as you can fit into the time. These are a taster - just like at Costco, not the whole meal.[/quote]

For the first option- of coming back next year, did you mean INSTEAD of going on Friday, or to go on Friday, but also ask if we could return for the "regular program" later on?

I will ask dh what he thinks. Again, I'll have to be careful to approach him about this when he's feeling more upbeat, rather than defeated as we have both felt a good part of today. This is not a good day to be making decisions!

Most of the ideas I have given are taken from the Bodywork Biz courses by Eric Brown. For more ideas, look at http://www.bodyworkbiz.com/courses/menu.php

Thanks for all the detail. I appreciate the time you took- Marion, and everyone else too!

 

[?????????????????????]

No, you have committed to going on Friday, so I think you have to go. It will not be suitable at the party to give any kind of presentation, so I was suggesting that you ask them if you can come and do your presentation (that you would normally have done right after the freebie massages) early in the new year.

I think it is important to grin and bear it when you get to a setting. The same as when anyone asks how your business is doing, give a big smile and say 'It's going great, but I always have room for referrals.'

At the beginning I gave away lots of free or low-cost massages - it is good because you get to work on lots of different people and people remember you, especially if it is a smaller community. Even if they don't come to you, they might well send you people. Now, not so much. Well hardly ever really!

Decide if you or your dh like networking. I happen to love it, but it is not for everybody. Perhaps another form of marketing would be better for you.

Could you compromise on the work front, and get a part time job to cover expenses and still allow you time to work on the business.

 

[Love Life]

I am sorry the event at the Chambers wasn't what you expected.

I love to point something out though:

You went into it with dread..... starting with that attitude, its no wonder it went bad. Perhaps you should read the Secret. Many times the setup isn't what we would prefer but like the other poster said, we have to grin and bear it. Because if not, if we make a scene of negatvity, it won't matter how pretty your table looks, folks will remember that bitchy guy who was a massage therapist. And folks always remember bad stuff and gossip about it.

You have great marketing stuff going on, just don't get discouraged! We can't control the things around us but we always have control of our attitude about the situation.

 

[Kat]

:iagree:

I also agree that you made the committment to go to the Holiday party, but that that 2p.m. - 4 p.m. with a pitch afterward is appropriate.

I'm sorry your Chamber shin dig didn't go as planned! But sounds like you got some nice decor out of it at lest!

 

[TWIGGY2]

I was told to get there at 11 and 'folks usually start packing it up around 4'

I also agree that you made the committment to go to the Holiday party, but that that 2p.m. - 4 p.m. with a pitch afterward is appropriate.

I really don't think that anyone is going to be in the mood for a formal presentation after their Christmas Party, especially if they do have alcohol there.

Remember that any contact is contact and as such is good. Of course, some contact is better than others which is why you refine your touch and your marketing all the time. Just try to spend as little as possible until the cash flow improves.

There is one women's networking group near here that has an annual fee to join and then it is a dinner at $37 per month, with an additional $10.00 for a display table. Add that up for a year and I would prefer to spend the time and money in a different way. I went to one meeting as a guest and although it is nice, many of the businesses are boutique businesses (little sidelines) and not my target market, so I did not join.

Take care.

 

[Cheetah]

No, you have committed to going on Friday, so I think you have to go. It will not be suitable at the party to give any kind of presentation, so I was suggesting that you ask them if you can come and do your presentation (that you would normally have done right after the freebie massages) early in the new year.

I think it is important to grin and bear it when you get to a setting. The same as when anyone asks how your business is doing, give a big smile and say 'It's going great, but I always have room for referrals.'

At the beginning I gave away lots of free or low-cost massages - it is good because you get to work on lots of different people and people remember you, especially if it is a smaller community. Even if they don't come to you, they might well send you people. Now, not so much. Well hardly ever really!

Decide if you or your dh like networking. I happen to love it, but it is not for everybody. Perhaps another form of marketing would be better for you.

Could you compromise on the work front, and get a part time job to cover expenses and still allow you time to work on the business.

Oh, we're going on Friday. It's just figuring out how to handle what we do when we get there.

And no, I don't think hubby likes networking. I don't mind it- I'm a little bit more of a "fire" element than he is. I still do best with one-on-one though. HE does great one-on-one, but not if he feels "forced" into something. And that's what went wrong yesterday- *I* was the one who set it up, and he didn't fully understand it, and he felt forced. It was my fault. But I can't set up a chair thing and then go by myself, b/c I don't have my license. Yet. I'm not sure what we'll do as far as part time or full time jobs, but I know that I don't have time to go get a job *right now* and still get everything else done. We'll visit that after I have my license in-hand (after the first of the year). Thanks for the help!

 

[Milky-Joe]

I am sorry the event at the Chambers wasn't what you expected.

I love to point something out though:

You went into it with dread..... starting with that attitude, its no wonder it went bad. Perhaps you should read the Secret. Many times the setup isn't what we would prefer but like the other poster said, we have to grin and bear it. Because if not, if we make a scene of negatvity, it won't matter how pretty your table looks, folks will remember that bitchy guy who was a massage therapist. And folks always remember bad stuff and gossip about it.

You have great marketing stuff going on, just don't get discouraged! We can't control the things around us but we always have control of our attitude about the situation.

Yeah, I know. I was the one who set it up, and I wasn't listening to that "little voice" that was saying "this isn't for you", I was listening to those louder voices that said "you have to get in front of people". And he didn't listen to his "little voice" that was telling him not to let me set that deal up. Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[Jacob B]

:iagree:

I also agree that you made the committment to go to the Holiday party, but that that 2p.m. - 4 p.m. with a pitch afterward is appropriate.

I'm sorry your Chamber shin dig didn't go as planned! But sounds like you got some nice decor out of it at lest!

Yeah, at least we got that! I decided to think that way too, LOL!

 

[meemeek]

I was told to get there at 11 and 'folks usually start packing it up around 4'

I also agree that you made the committment to go to the Holiday party, but that that 2p.m. - 4 p.m. with a pitch afterward is appropriate.

I really don't think that anyone is going to be in the mood for a formal presentation after their Christmas Party, especially if they do have alcohol there.

Remember that any contact is contact and as such is good. Of course, some contact is better than others which is why you refine your touch and your marketing all the time. Just try to spend as little as possible until the cash flow improves.

There is one women's networking group near here that has an annual fee to join and then it is a dinner at $37 per month, with an additional $10.00 for a display table. Add that up for a year and I would prefer to spend the time and money in a different way. I went to one meeting as a guest and although it is nice, many of the businesses are boutique businesses (little sidelines) and not my target market, so I did not join.

Take care.

I think we've pretty much decided (though haven't said it out loud to each other just yet) that joining the Chamber was premature, and too much for us activity-wise and financially right now. Since we went with the pay-as-you-go plan (as opposed to the paid-in-full-for-the-year plan), we can quit anytime. Maybe it'll behoove us to re-join at a later date.

I think what I'll do as far as Friday goes is call and talk to the lady in charge, tell her what the original plan was as far as our end goes, and ask her what she thinks would be best- waiting entirely, going for a couple of hours, or what. I will also be able to find out if they will be serving drinks there too, which could indeed make a difference in the timing of WHEN we go. I will have to get my son to the school for 12:30, but even then, *I* could leave and go right back, because the place is only 5 minutes from our house, and the school is 10; I could be back within 20 minutes to help him pack up, if we ended up there at that timeframe.

Oh, and the original strategy with that chair/GC thing is to talk to each person individually, not as a group. He does the massaging and after they are done, I talk to them for a minute about our offer. So it could be that we go on Friday, set up a little table next to the working space with our GC's on it, and just mention them when folks come over. We have set up a specific GC deal for their clients (remember, we want them to buy the GC's for their client gifts), but we could just say "we have these GC's available for the holidays and these for client gifts; here's a brochure that explains it all", and I could make up and print out a couple dozen brochures to hand them, so I don't have to "give a pitch" at all. I do think that Friday will turn out better than yesterday did. It has to, LOL!

 

[Quiet girl<3]

Ok, based on how dh and I were both feeling regarding the Friday event (i.e., not really feeling like it was the best time to connect with the folks at this office), I asked a friend of mine who is both in the same industry and who also knows/has worked with these people what she thought. She said that for HER office, for which she is the holiday party planner this year, they've decided that there won't be any vendor contact at all, not even door prizes. She said that the party is basically a time for the group to get together, relax, and enjoy the successes over the past year, not a time to have to worry about vendors. She said that maybe the other lady didn't think of that: that the basic reason for the contact between us was to promote the expansion of OUR business, and that she thought that that would be better done under different circumstances. Basically, she put into words the "catch" that dh and I have both felt about this thing. Right office, right folks, right plan, wrong time.

So I emailed the lady explaining (more eloquently than I've managed here) what we thought, and that we felt that while we appreciated their generous offer to participate in their party, we felt that out of respect for them, we should seek out another date. I just got an email back from her saying that that was fine and let's work on that after the first of the year.

It just feels like after Thanksgiving, our marketing efforts needed to take some sort of curve- not a "detour", so to speak, but a different direction than "the rest of the year". We don't have an "in" with many places here-bouts at this time because we're still so new; I'm anticipating that next year, as we're able to build professional relationships with others in our area, we'll be able to suggest hiring us for the office parties and will be received much better than "out of the blue".

I have a feeling that next year will bring some more pretty big changes for us and our business, and in one way, I can't wait to see what they are and what comes of them, on the other hand, I'm almost terrified of it, because I see such *vast* change and we don't "change well". We're learning, though, we're learning a lot!

 

[maya s]

Well done - and as there seems to be flu in your household, it's probably a good thing.