Podcast

Weekly Roundup

• 9 Foundations of a Healthy Building
• Two Reproductive Rights Resources:
• Plan C Pills 
• The Brigid Alliance 

Discussion Topic

• Scheduling Exploratory Calls for All Potential New Clients

Quick Tips

• Headline Capitalizer

Sponsors

• ABMP 
• The Original Jojoba Company 
• Happyface

Transcript: 

Sponsor message:

This episode is sponsored by the Original Jojoba Company. We believe that massage therapists should only be using the highest quality products because our clients deserve it as do our bodies. The Jojoba Company is the only company in the world that carries 100% pure first press quality, jojoba, and we're thrilled to be partnering with them. Jojoba does not go rancid. It does not contain any triglycerides like many products, so it won't go bad. This makes jojoba a great carrier for essential oils as well. Jojoba is non-allergenic, you can use it on any client and every client without fear of an allergic reaction. Jojoba is non-comedogenic, it does not clog pores. If you have a client that is prone to acne breakout jojoba will not cause this reaction, in fact, jojoba can help clean out and clear the pore. Jojoba does not stain 100% cotton sheets. Between this and the last point, massage therapists will spend less money on supplies because their sheets will not develop rancid odor, which necessitates purchasing new sheets. You, my friends can get a 20% discount if you use our super special link for our podcast listeners only, and that is massagebusinessblueprint.com/jojoba. Again, 20% off your purchase when you shop through our link, which is massagebusinessblueprint.com/J-O-J-O-B-A. 

Michael Reynolds:

Hey everyone. Welcome to the Massage Business Blueprint Podcast, where we help you attract more clients, make more money, and improve your quality of life. I'm Michael Reynolds.

Meg Donnelly:

And I'm Meg Donnelly.

Michael Reynolds:

And we are your host today. Welcome to our show, a little bit different today, as you may have heard by now, I've got a co-host Meg Donnelly. Allissa is out this week, and we thought we would invite one of our friends and great contributors to our community Meg Donnelly to join us today as my co-host. So Meg, I am thrilled you're here. Thanks so much for being here.

Meg Donnelly:

I'm so excited to be guesting. It's wonderful, thank you so much.

Michael Reynolds:

Yeah. It's great. Hey it takes the load off me, so I get to kind of kick back and listen to the stuff you're going to share today, which is awesome. So thanks so much for being here. Meg, you want to give a quick 30 second intro on a little bit about you?

Meg Donnelly:

Yeah. I'm a licensed massage therapist and a mobility coach in Virginia. And super active in the massage business blueprint community since I was in school, which was awesome. So I really got to start out my career and start everything out on the right foot, I definitely feel like, and make those connections with people that you don't always get to make. And yeah, so happy to be here.

Michael Reynolds:

Awesome. Well, thank you. And Mercy has stopped by already on Facebook to say hello. Mercy says, "Meg." So you already get a shout out early in the episode. So thanks Mercy for stopping by on Facebook. And just a reminder to everyone who's listening, it's a good time to bring this up, we do broadcast this show every Wednesday at 9:00 AM Eastern live, and we do it on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Most people stop by on Facebook, but if YouTube or Twitter is more of your jam, you can find us there again. 9:00 AM Eastern on Wednesday mornings. So if you want to get the freshest possible version of this podcast, join us and you can post comments and questions in the chat as well. And we will bring those up too, just like Mercy did. All right. So Meg, what are you reading? You got a lot of stuff on your mind. So what's on your mind right now, what are you reading?

Meg Donnelly:

I do. Well, what I've been reading, I listen, by the way, mostly when I say read, most of it is listen-

Michael Reynolds:

Yeah. Same.

Meg Donnelly:

... because I do a lot of audio books. But I've been, and I use Libro.fm, which I like, because then I don't have to give my money all to Amazon through audible. So I use Libro.fm, and I've been listening to Healthy Buildings, which is basically about indoor space, how indoor spaces can like drive performance and product productivity. And it's super cool because there's nine different ways that a building can be healthy. So I obviously with COVID and everything, I think we're automatically thinking about air ventilation, but it goes into all these other differences with noise, and with water, and everything else. So it's been really an awesome listen and helping me think about changes I'll make not only in the office, but also at home as well. So I'd recommend this.

Meg Donnelly:

I do have to say first couple of chapters, a little hard to get through the author, little bit of an ego, which I guess you kind of need to do that work, but if you can get through that, you're good. And then, well obviously to anybody that knows me, right now I'm really digging into some reproductive rights resources. So even if you're just starting on Instagram, which is where I started, there's some really great information through Plan C pills and Bridget Alliance to start with. And then they can take you to some further resources as well if anyone's interested in that.

Michael Reynolds:

Yeah. Thank you for sharing.

Meg Donnelly:

Nice ways to make sure that you're action oriented rather than just blindly posting.

Michael Reynolds:

Yeah. On both those topics, do you have any specific nuggets? I don't want to put you on the spot. So you can say no, if there's nothing that comes to mind, but do you have any specific nuggets from either the Clean Building material of reading or reproductive rights that you think our audience would be interested in?

Meg Donnelly:

Yeah. I mean, from the reproductive rights resources, I would just say just to think about the actions you can take, and if you have the money the time or the resources, then obviously there are places you can donate to, and places that have been doing the work for a really long time and know how to do that in a really safe way for people. In regards to Healthy Buildings, a lot of it is the stuff we already know, but just drilling it in. And so I still think first and foremost, number one, air ventilation is the best thing that we can do. So how can you open windows in between sessions? Can you get a fan that's pulling it out? Can you have your HVAC system, or have your landlord check your HVAC system? What is humidity like in your building? Do you need a humidifier? Do you need a dehumidifier? Those sorts of things.

Michael Reynolds:

Awesome. Thanks Meg.

Meg Donnelly:

You're welcome.

Michael Reynolds:

Appreciate that. And Allissa is joining us on Facebook. She's on a train. So she says, "Good morning. I'm on a train." Allissa. So thanks Allissa for joining us from the train. And then, and Analisa is joining us as well on Facebook saying, "Hey there." So we get a lot of good mornings here. So some good shout outs from our audience on Facebook, so thanks everyone. All right. Well, before we move on to the topic today, let's give a shout out to our friends at ABMP, our next sponsor. And I'm going to talk about the apps today. I feel like we talked about the massage body work magazine, the learning center quite a bit. I'm going to give a shout out to the app.

Michael Reynolds:

So ABMP has an app called Five Minute Muscles and ABMP Pocket Pathology, actually two apps. And the landing page is abmp.com/apps. These are quick reference apps designed to help you quickly find information that you might need to make a decision for session planning, or use outside of a session just to refresh muscle and pathology knowledge. The ABMP Five Minute Muscle app includes muscle specific techniques and palpation videos for the 83 muscles most often addressed by professional massage therapists. These progressive web app technology in order to take up less space on your phone or device. Am I wrong, is this one app or two Meg, do you know?

Meg Donnelly:

No, they're two separate apps.

Michael Reynolds:

That's why I thought two apps. Okay. Got you.

Meg Donnelly:

So there is Five Minute Muscles. I mean, honestly, a lot of times you'll use them in conjunction with each other, because you'll kind of look up the pathology and Ruth will give you a good overview, and then you go on, okay, now I kind of know where I need to work.

Michael Reynolds:

So it sounds like you like these apps, you use them in person?

Meg Donnelly:

I do. I use them a lot.

Michael Reynolds:

Awesome. Great. So again, these apps are included with your ABMP membership and the landing page to get those apps is abmp.com/apps. And they also have sample demos of each app for non-members to try. So if you are not ABMP member yet, maybe just try the demos and hopefully that will be one more reason to encourage you to consider a membership with ABMP. So thanks ABMP, we love the team at ABMP. And we have another visitor from England. London, England. Looks like Mahali from London, England is joining also a longtime podcast listener. Thanks so much, we appreciate that. All right.

Michael Reynolds:

So Meg, in thinking through what I was going to do this week with Allissa being out, I was thinking who could we bring on, and Allissa quickly, immediately mentioned, "Hey, Meg has a great topic. That would be awesome for our audience." And the topic is scheduling exploratory calls for all potential new clients. And before we started the recording of this, or the broadcast of this, I was talking to Meg and saying, I love tools. I love very productive, tangible, like, hey, here's a tool you can use. And Meg's the same way. So we're a kinder spirits when it comes to tools and techniques that we can apply very tangibly to our practice. So I'm loving this. So Meg's going to talk a little bit about scheduling exploratory calls for new massage clients. So Meg, what are you thinking, what do you got?

Meg Donnelly:

Yeah. Well, first I want to say that both of us love tools, however, Michael is much better about being succinct than I am. I tend to go on and on. So I've done a, I think a good job of kind of narrowing down the focus as much as possible.

Michael Reynolds:

That's all right, brain dub. We need your wisdom.

Meg Donnelly:

Michael will bring me back to path if I need to. So first of all, people call it a lot of different things. So I call it an exploratory call, but other people may call it an introductory call, a consultation. There's lots of different things that you can call it, but what is it? So about 60 days ago, I changed from offering availability to schedule massage appointments online, to having people first schedule an exploratory call. So if any potential new clients will schedule an exploratory call, which is typically online, so I use a HIPAA compliant format or it can be also done over the phone if I have somebody that's not technologically savvy. If you want to be HIPAA compliant, what I do is use Google voice. So as long as you've signed the BAA, then actually over the phone is compliance as well.

Meg Donnelly:

So why? I think to what we were talking about earlier, the ABMP apps are awesome because when you've got that person that's in your office and you're like, I haven't worked on someone with X, Y, Z for four years. Nobody's come to me in four years, I need a refresh and you kind of talk to the client, you do all the things we're supposed to do. So you ask them kind of tell me how it affects you, tell me more about that. And then you're looking up the app in real time. So by scheduling this call ahead of time, what ends up happening is I have the time to really dig in 15 minutes, ask questions and I have the ability to ask questions about their goals and talk about what my approach is, and have time between then and the time that I'm going to meet with them to dig in further if I need to learn more about something or if I want to explore some techniques I haven't used in a while.

Meg Donnelly:

So we also, during that call go over studio policies. So a little shout out to Leslie, our member who coined the term, COVID conscious, but I am a COVID conscious studio. So we go over what those policies are. So I'd never have to worry about someone coming in without a mask, someone coming in and arguing what we're going to be doing, and how I'm going to be making the space as safe as possible. And then we also go over how and where they'll fill out the online secured intake form, the client form ahead of time, how to get to the office, all those little things that tend to happen during a first appointment, we're able to take care of those on the front end. And I think all of us know we include those in our confirmations, but they don't, I know I don't always read it. I look at the end and I go, okay, great. My appointments for this date, Michael can speak to that, because today I was like, wait, where do I log in?

Michael Reynolds:

Actually, I'm just now telling you, I didn't actually send the link beforehand. So it's not your fault.

Meg Donnelly:

Oh, nice. Okay. So we'll take dual credit.

Michael Reynolds:

Meg is always prepared. No worries.

Meg Donnelly:

And then the third benefit of this is, what we end up doing is starting to create that therapeutic bond with potential clients before they're entering and before our first in person appointment. So now what I'm finding is a lot of clients, once they come into the office, they're like, "I'm so excited to be here ever since we spoke. I'm so excited to be here." So I'm already building a better bond with them because they understand what my approach is, where I'm coming from, and it solidifies everything that Michael and Allissa have taught us to put on our webpages and put out there on our social media. We're solidifying that in with a conversation.

Meg Donnelly:

All right, so now how do you do it? So it's technology and communication. So first thing I did was set up an appointment type in acuity, so just like any other appointment, it's just called an exploratory call. And an explanation of that is in the comments. I've updated my website to include schedule your exploratory call, and I put that button above the fold on the homepage. So for anyone that doesn't know what that means, basically when you pop open a webpage, whether it's on your phone or on your computer, above the fold just means it's right there in front of you. I have that right, right. Michael?

Michael Reynolds:

Yeah. It's at the top of the page. Yeah. Okay.

Meg Donnelly:

Perfect. Top of the page. See always, always much better at being more succinct than me. I love it, so new clients. And then there's on my scheduling pages, I've broken that up as well. So there is a section where new clients can book the exploratory call. And then I have another page called existing clients only, and that has standard availability. That page also has a reminder note that sends new clients back to the exploratory call. So could someone potentially open up my existing clients, only book an appointment and they're a new client? Yes. But it's pretty clear that's not what they should do, and I haven't had anyone do that yet. But in the flip side of that, you want to still make sure that your existing clients can easily go to your page and make an appointment as well.

Meg Donnelly:

And then it creates this sense of more connection that your existing clients have their own page. So navigating timing to stay on schedule. Running theme for me today is I tend to be long-winded. So 15 minutes is what the call is, and that is so I can fit it in between my existing client appointments. And so to stay on schedule in the first 10 minutes, I ask the client about their goals, what's been successful so far, what challenges they've had and also about their past experience with massage, what they loved, any bad experiences. Then in the last five minutes, I'll talk about how I plan to address their goals, or what research I'm doing in the lead up to their appointment. And then we schedule their first appointment or if I'm not a good fit, because I'm definitely not always a good fit, I'll refer them to someone better suited.

Meg Donnelly:

A great example recently is I had someone that had some pain and I've not, based on what they gave me, I sent them to an orthopedist because I was like, "You need to get this checked out and make sure that it's not something worse." And fortunately that's the route they took because it was, and they needed a different care than what I could offer at the moment. Keeping it secure is another thing you want to think about. And so you can do your video calls through Zoom or another HIPAA compliant tool. I understand that not everybody needs to be HIPAA compliant, and it's a gray area on whether a massage therapist should or shouldn't be, but I'm always like, you know what? Let's just err on the side of caution, make sure it's compliant, make sure you're keeping things as secure as possible. It's just a good, best practice.

Meg Donnelly:

So all that being said, some people might wonder about results. And so in terms of results, I've found that there are some mutually positive results. So since implementing, I think I talked about this before, but I'm finding my clients are coming into their first appointment, more excited to work towards their goals, and my rebooking rates are increasing as well. Because people have in their mind, this is someone that is not just working with me once, but this is someone that I can come back to that has helped me with my longer term goals. Also I've been able to refer out a couple of clients for things that I don't specialize in rather than turning them away at the appointment, which is the worst. Somebody comes in, you're sitting down and you're doing that intake and you realize, oh, we can't work together today.

Meg Donnelly:

So I think those have been really great as well. So downside, for me it's not a downside, but certainly by requiring an exploratory call, I'm sure that I'm possibly losing some clients that just want to book their massage, or people that are looking for something last minute. However, since I work part-time and I only have limited time on my schedule, this allows me to take the clients that are the best fit for me, for those that are actively working towards a goal. I should know too though that Michael and everyone listening, I don't require clients to book weekly, monthly bimonthly or quarterly.

Meg Donnelly:

Sometimes a client's goal is one session, and that's absolutely 100% okay. But I find that those that who are willing to chat with me first, tend to turn into repeat or loyal clients. And a couple even recommended me after their exploratory call and before their first hands on appointment. So that was kind of cool too. So yeah, that's the big rundown of how I've set it up. And certainly I would love to hear from everyone else if they have something similar and set it up differently, because it's new for me. I've just been doing it for about 60 days now.

Michael Reynolds:

Awesome. Well with just quite a bit of interest and Analisa earlier on said, "I've been wanting to know more about these calls." So, Analisa's mentioning a lot of interest in there and Allissa joins from the train as well saying, "It's such a relief for clients to know that you're a good match before they drop a ton of money." So that's great insights. And I love this. So this is a playbook from the business world. I mean, if you're in the business to business world, if you're working with a software company, or a consulting company, or something, and you're about to consider buying a service, or a product or something like it's very common for a salesperson to have a discovery call, introductory meeting or something to match, fit and see if it makes sense.

Michael Reynolds:

And it's really a great tool in that context. And obviously we don't want to think of ourselves as sales here or sales people in the massage therapy community in our practices, but the technique makes a lot of sense because the best clients are the ones that you have kind of pre-screened in advance to make sure the fit is there, are the ones that are going to be most loyal and ideally become repeat longtime clients as well, because you've explored that match together before they've committed. So I love this technique and I'm surprised more aren't adopting it, but maybe after hearing your experience more massage therapists will.

Meg Donnelly:

I do want to bring up one thing, you brought up a really good point and it's something that really frustrates me with those other businesses that some people, it depends on how they use it, but a lot of people will have an exploratory call listed, or an introductory call, or a consultation call and you can't find their rates anywhere on their page, and that drives me up a wall.

Michael Reynolds:

Just tell people how much stuff costs. Yeah.

Meg Donnelly:

Exactly. So I still have on my services page, how much everything costs, it's just on that first page. You can't book those appointments, but it's still all clearly listed out so that people understand. Because I don't want to set up a call with someone, and I've done this before with marketing companies or with webpage companies, where you set up the call and then all of a sudden they drop like a $10,000 fee at you. And I'm like, that was a waste of an hour for the both of us.

Michael Reynolds:

I hate that so much. put your price is on your website people.

Meg Donnelly:

Yes. Yes.

Michael Reynolds:

Just do it. You may have mentioned this and I apologize if I missed it or spaced out on it, but do you have a gut reaction of percentage of how many people become clients, versus not after these exploratory calls?

Meg Donnelly:

So here's the, again, only 60 days, So I don't think we can use this as a template, but the only people that haven't booked after booking an exploratory call were the two people that I referred to someone else.

Michael Reynolds:

Okay. So it was your choice to make the decision to say I'm not a good fit. It wasn't them?

Meg Donnelly:

Correct. Yeah. Absolutely.

Michael Reynolds:

So far that's pretty interesting early success.

Meg Donnelly:

Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, there will definitely be some people that will just be like, you're not going to meld with everybody, but so I think that percentage will go down. But so far, yeah, it's been really successful

Michael Reynolds:

And how great is it that people can join virtually from anywhere it's very easy and convenient to book, and it's complimentary, there's no cost to it. So it's as opposed to, like Allissa said dropping, oh, I'm going to spend 100 bucks on a massage. I'm not sure if I'm going to like it, I'm not sure if I'm going to jive with the therapist, a lot of unknown, it's like, oh great. Let's do a quick call with Meg, see if it works out, it's super convenient. It's virtual. And then that lowers a lot of resistance and questions I think.

Meg Donnelly:

Yeah. Absolutely.

Michael Reynolds:

Love it.

Meg Donnelly:

Absolutely.

Michael Reynolds:

Love it. Well, thank you, Meg. This is really awesome. Mercy has popped in with a comment as well. Mercy on Facebook is saying, "I have passed over so many businesses that do not post their prices. So frustrating. Also businesses that nickel and dime clients." Agreed, get those prices on your website. I think most of us do that. I think most, most people that we interact with in our community and our listeners, they put their prices on their website, but there's some that don't and I encourage people to get their prices listed. So it's very transparent and very clear. So Meg, thank you.

Michael Reynolds:

I want to also give a shout out just to Meg in general, for our listeners. Meg is an awesome contributor to our community. In our blueprint mastermind community. Meg is always there answering questions, facilitating sessions and accountability groups, and just contributing to our community in a huge way. So if you would like to follow up with Meg and ask Meg more questions about this topic or anything else, definitely you can find her in our community, blueprint mastermind, feel free to join if you're not a member yet. I'm sure Meg will be fine if you wanted to reach out with random questions here and there too. Are you okay with people just kind of reaching out and-

Meg Donnelly:

Oh yeah-

Michael Reynolds:

... saying hello, saying anything?

Meg Donnelly:

... definitely. Anyone can reach out to me at any time. I mean, listen, I switched careers when I turned 40, like a lot of massage therapists and I did it because I'm passionate about it and I love it. So anytime somebody wants to talk about the business side or anything else, when it comes to massage, I'm always open and willing. And plus too, I will also add in the community. I ask a lot of questions too. So I'm still learning.

Michael Reynolds:

You give more than you received Meg. You are a great contributor. So thank you.

Meg Donnelly:

Thanks.

Michael Reynolds:

All right. Well that is, we're wrapping up our show here. We're going to go ahead and give a shout out to our last sponsor before we get to quick tips at the end here. So let's give a shout out to Happyface. So this episode is also sponsored by Happyface, which produces face cradles that are comfortable. They're super comfortable for clients. Most face cradles can be uncomfortable for a client. There's pressure, there's stuffiness, it can ruin the whole massage experience, but Happyface is the most comfy face cradle so that you can give the most relaxing massage of your client's life. The innovative heart shape design means no sinus pressure, no eye pressure, no need to adjust mid-age, no wrinkles or makeup smearing it's made the USA. Happyface is seamless with easy to clean surface. And it's about the same dimensions as other massage face cradles.

Michael Reynolds:

So face cradle covers will fit just fine. It's designed to fit on massage tables, and massage chairs with a Velcro on the entire back surface. So your Happyface will stay right where you put it, won't go anywhere. So you can get 20% off your entire purchase when you use, you guessed it, our super special link for our listeners, massagebusinessblueprint.com/happyface, and you'll have a special code massage BB at checkout. But all you need to remember was that landing page because the code is on the landing page.

Michael Reynolds:

So just go to massagebusinessblueprint.com/happyface. And I personally have experienced Happyface. I've told the story before, my massage therapist I go to, I purchased a Happyface, face cradle as a gift just to go, hey, try it out. I'd love to experience it myself. When I got to my next massage session, she already had one on the table. She already bought one. So I had this extra Happyface cradle sitting here in my office so I'm just going to give it away to a community member here at some point. So if anybody needs a Happyface and they want to try it out, just let me know, I'll give it to you. So that's a very informal, unstructured, unthought out offer. Meg have you experienced Happyface? Do you use one? Have you experienced it as a client?

Meg Donnelly:

I have not. But a good face cradle is definitely something we need.

Michael Reynolds:

So you don't have a Happyface yet?

Meg Donnelly:

I don't have one yet.

Michael Reynolds:

I'll send you mine. Meg gets it. You're getting my... I'm going to ship it to you. There decision made.

Meg Donnelly:

Oh my gosh. So exciting.

Michael Reynolds:

Thanks for being on the show. Your reward is a Happyface cradle.

Meg Donnelly:

Awesome. So then I'll have to pay it forward. After I use it then I'll purchase one and give it to someone else. We'll create a nice little chain.

Michael Reynolds:

Or just post a picture of you next to it for promotion.

Meg Donnelly:

That's true.

Michael Reynolds:

I'll get it your way. All right. So with that, let's wrap up here with quick tips. Meg, do you have any quick tips today or should I go to mine?

Meg Donnelly:

No. I've talked enough today and everybody knows how to reach me if you want more quick tips. You go for it, Michael.

Michael Reynolds:

All right. Fair enough. So my quick tip is super nerdy, which Meg, I know you will appreciate. It is headline capitalizer. So this tool is at headlinecapitalization.com. And I love it because I'm obsessed with proper capitalization with headlines. If I'm writing a blog post, or an article, or a podcast episode or whatever, I'm always agonizing over, do I capitalize this word or that word? And like the word A, and the, and for and I'm super nerdy. And so this tool lets you plug in a headline and it will basically format it with the proper capitalization based on headlines. So I love it because again, I'm ultra nerdy about this stuff and I thought I would share it with our audience, for anyone who writes blog posts on your website or articles or any kind of writing with the headline.

Meg Donnelly:

I could definitely use that. Because I try to remember the and is lowercase, and the other words are uppercase, but anybody who's seen anything that I've ever posted, I get words wrong. I get it all wrong. So any of those tools I could definitely use.

Michael Reynolds:

Right on. That's said headlinecapitalization.com. And there'll be a link in our show notes here on episode. What are we? 421 is today. A couple more comments on Facebook as we wrap up, whoops, I hit the wrong button. Oh my goodness my mouse is acting crazy. Well, I just won't use my mouse then. I'll just click this. Analisa popped to say, "Thanks Meg." So Analisa appreciates what you shared. And then Joyce also said, "Thanks guys." So Joyce is also listening and appreciated the information you shared on exploratory calls. So I think we'll have a lot more people trying those calls, they're really useful. Really great idea. Great concept. All right. With that, anything you wanted to add Meg before we wrap up?

Meg Donnelly:

No. Just want to say thank you to you and Allissa and the entire MBP group. I honestly, I can't say it enough, I learn so much every week from everybody and I'm just so grateful to be a part of that community. And if you haven't joined yet, I mean, here's my shameless plug, do it. Just join. It's great.

Michael Reynolds:

Thank you. And Allissa popped in with one more comment saying "Meg, this was great." So you got the stamp of approval from Alyssa as well. Sounds like your topic was a big hit. Thank you. All right. Well, let's wrap up with couple notes here. As always you can find us on the web at massagebusinessblueprint.com. If you're not a member of our community, consider joining. It's free for 30 days. And if you want to email us, email us at podcast massagebusinessblueprint.com. And thanks for joining us. Have a great day. We will see you next time.