How do you get new clients?

I just started my own practice! The chiro who sent me a ton of clients got in a bit of legal trouble...it was my time to break off anyway. The web site and matching business cards are almost done. I prefer non-medical clients so I don't have to deal with insurance. What are the best ways to attract cash clients?

Congrats on the new practice! It's both exciting and a lot of hard work.

Direct marketing, or personal contact, is the best. Here's how I built a full practice very quickly. I identified what kind of clients I wanted to target, as you have done. But state it in the affirmative. Instead of non-medical clients go with something like "high end salon clients". I'll use "high end salon clients" for the rest of my example.

Then I became a customer at several high end salons in my area who didn't already have on-site massage. I got friendly with them and asked if I could cross-market. For example, salons I contacted had an open house and I was there offering free or $1-per-minute chair massage. That worked the best.

I posted business cards on my neighborhood bulletin boards and participated in all the neighborhood functions. I always wore T-shirts made from vistaprint.com that match my business card. The front had the services I offered and my name, the back the business name. Neighbors always asked about it.

Things like that. Best wishes in your new endeavor.

If you like medical massage but not the insurance you can still do the same work, collect cash at time of service and help the client file for reimbursement. You could find out where the chiropractor's old clients are going and talk to them about referrals.

Make your service relevant to clients lives today. The AMTA president noted that while spending declines in many areas of the economy today, spending for massage remains strong. Stress and relaxation are the top reasons clients seek massage and who ain't stressed these days? Make your web site, business cards and massage space whisper come...relax...I tried the word scream instead of whisper but it wasn't right!

Oops, hit the Reply button by accident.

Do talk to chiropractors and MDs open to massage. Most of my new business comes from chiropractor or MD prescritions. Here's an interesting quote from an article I just read: As perceptions regarding the multiple benefits of massage evolve, it’s interesting to note that some of its most prevalent evangelists are doctors. This trend will continue as more doctors refer patients to massage therapists and see how it can help their patients recover from injuries, alleviate pain and ease stress.

Good luck to you!

Your website can be a great source of new clients. It is like doing targeted marketing. When people search for massage, your city your site can come up easily. You just have to learn a little search engine optimization. I have it all laid out on my website.

thebodyworker.com/creating_a_website_that_works.htm

You can also submit your website to Google Local results to get your site in the top local listings. You do that by going to the local results section and at the bottom you just click on add your business.

You can use your site to educate clients and potential clients by writing down some of the common things that you already talk to people about constantly like how muscles work and tension and injuries and that kind of stuff.

I used to do all of the networking and such but I have to say there aren't many chiropractors I want to work with anymore so my website gets me new clients every week.

You can look to see how many people are searching for massage in your city by using the free google keyword search tool.
adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Good idea Sabeena, about networking with chiros. I have an appt w/ my chiro this week and her CMT just quit. I didn't think about discussing referrals before. Maybe I should offer her a 30min massage?