Consultancy for massage businesses
Clients who have a poor massage rarely complain. They are undressed on a table with the therapist’s hands on them, and research on hospital gowns links being undressed in a professional’s care with feeling exposed and disempowered, women more so.1 Most pay as normal and don’t book again.
Friendly staff make this harder to spot. A client who liked the therapist won’t raise problems with the rest of the visit. A year-long study of restaurant customers found the same.2 The feedback you hear is positive. The lost repeat business doesn’t show up anywhere.
The audit finds it. I book an ordinary appointment and score the visit against 122 fixed checks. You get each fix ranked by the repeat business it should win back against its cost. Many cost nothing to put right.
Why it pays
Most of a client’s value comes from repeat bookings and recommendations. Research on service businesses found that half of people who change provider find the new one through word of mouth. A study of 2,544 people found that a recommendation lifts the chance of buying 76% more than a warning lowers it.3 The bigger cost of a client who leaves quietly is the referrals they never make.
What you get
- The scored sheet.
- A written report after the visit, with fixes ranked by value against cost.
- A one-hour face-to-face meeting to discuss it.
Massage technique is subjective and isn’t part of this assessment. A qualified therapist is taken to be competent at it.
Results are confidential. They are not processed or shared for any other purpose.
Fees
From £499
The fee covers one visit to one site and everything listed above. Travel outside the Preston area is charged on top.
For the audit I book one of your own massages as an ordinary client. You pay me its price in advance, on top of the fee. I pay for it at your desk like anyone else.
Questions
Will my team know?
Your decision. I won’t announce it, but I may be recognised.
What if we pass most checks?
The report confirms what is working and ranks what is left.
How soon can you do it?
That depends on your booking queue and my diary. I’ll give you a date when you get in touch.
How far do you travel?
Anywhere in Lancashire. Further by arrangement.
References
- Morton, Cogan, Kornfält, Porter and Georgiadis, Baring all: the impact of the hospital gown on patient well-being, British Journal of Health Psychology, 2020 (online survey, n=928). The gown is “often leaving patients feeling exposed, self-conscious, vulnerable, uncomfortable, cold, embarrassed, and disempowered. These findings are exacerbated for people living with a long-term health condition and women.”
- Martin, Vernes, O’Gorman and Sandstrom, Staff interactions and individual influences on complaint behaviour in restaurants, International Journal of Hospitality Management, vol. 141 (98 customers followed across 994 restaurant visits over a year, plus a survey of 790 diners). Staff “empathy reduces both the likelihood of perceived dissatisfaction and willingness to raise issues verbally”, and friendliness reduced the tendency to complain.
- East, Hammond and Lomax, Measuring the impact of positive and negative word of mouth on brand purchase probability, International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2008 (2,544 respondents across many categories): “PWOM produces a mean shift of 0.20 and that NWOM produces a shift of −0.11, making PWOM 76% more influential than NWOM.” The authors also cite Keaveney (1995): “50% of service provider replacements were found in this way.”