Making appointments with your massage clients is really an art form and it is really an important part of building a successful massage business.  The appointment is of course how you will make your living.  The more appointments and the more repeat appointments the better!

When clients are calling to make an appointment (or emailing or using your online scheduling system), you never really know what process they went through before they called or emailed.  Were they in pain for weeks before finally calling?  Did they wake up this morning and think they couldn’t take it anymore and just had to get in?  Had they gone to their doctor a month ago who recommended that they start getting regular massage because they are so stressed?  Did they get a gift certificate from someone and they really have never gotten a massage so they don’t know what to expect or what to do?  Are they regular users of massage and have had many massages during their life?  When you think about the many possibilities it can see that the one thing in common is that they eventually find you and contact you for the appointment.   The one thing you can provide is a easy way to contact you and make the appointment and set up your schedule in a way that supports you in what you need to be successful and to take care of yourself.  Creating this framework is often a process of finding out what doesn’t work and creating new boundaries to support what does work for you and the clients.

 

It is important to have set hours so that clients can know when to expect that you will be in the office.  Having set hours also helps in creating and supporting the therapeutic relationship with clients.  I also have a set of regular weekly or every other week clients who come in at the same time on the same day, making it easy to remember and fit into their schedule.  Having a regular time and day, helps take the stress out of getting to a massage and gives people a sense of security or knowing when they will see you again.  This is actually an important part of dealing with transference that happens with clients. Transference is a very complex process that happens between the client and the massage therapist.  It happens in every relationship to some extent for that matter – family, friends, schools, church – you name it really.  Transference happens in a relationship with a power imbalance.  A client will think of the massage therapists as someone with more knowledge then them about their body/muscles and will look to the massage therapist to ‘fix’ the problems.  When the pain is relieved or they feel better, they feel nurtured which also has the risk of bringing up past issues/feelings of getting their needs met as a child.  With the added touch component, these feelings can be amplified.