Do you remember back in the day when infomercials would grace the television promising results? “Get abs in 30 days or your money back!” or “Shred up to 10 pounds in your first 10 days, guaranteed!” I mean, back when I was first getting started doing massage therapy I took a course on how to grow your business and one of the suggestions was to offer a money back guarantee. If the client didn’t like their massage they could get a refund.

This is one strategy that I never implemented.

How much does your massage cost? Do you take advantage of every Groupon out there only to get a cheap massage but your problems are still there?

Why? Because what I now tell my clients is “I’m only responsible for you during the time you are on my table”

If I just spent 90 minutes working on someone who is training for an Ironman, pulling out all of the stops-doing cupping therapy, Lokte Method, Fascial Stretch Therapy and some MPS Therapy work as well as given them some homework to do with the Yoga Tune Up therapy balls and they come back 2 months later still complaining of the same problems. Does that mean that I didn’t do my job right? Does that mean I didn’t get them the results that they were hoping for?

Not necessarily. Because results are rarely ever guaranteed.

I can’t tell you how many clients I’ve asked “have you done your exercises at home?” and they change the subject, or even better, tell me exactly where their therapy ball is, but never say “Yes, just like you showed me”

So, is it my fault that they’re not getting the results that they had expected from their session? Nope.

Take a look at one of my clients in this photo….her first session she came to see me because she was struggling with some range of motion issues from an increase in her activity and sports. We did the bodywork that she needed, I showed her some exercises to do at home, and she came in 2 weeks later and was still showing a GREAT improvement! Why? Because she was doing some of the work. And she admitted that she hadn’t done them as diligently as she would have liked, but she was doing something and that’s what made the difference!

So, the next time you come into a session with a broken down body, and you are expecting magical results in as little as 30 minutes, ask yourself how much time you are going to invest on your own time into maintaining or enhancing those results.

In good hands,

Rebecca Tamm, LMT