I recently got an email from a massage therapist dealing with the challenges of getting a massage business up and running. In particular, he had rented a massage space during the day, but was having a hard time filling his schedule with clients during those hours. He had no problem finding folks who wanted evening appointments. He asked for my advice and this is what I suggested:

As far as getting clients to come during the day… I have found that a lot depends on who your clients are. For example, I have often attracted massage clients who are also in the healing arts, many of whom are self-employed and have flexible schedules, like therapists and counselors. Or they are in professions like nursing which also does not have regular 9-5 hours.

If most of your clients have “regular jobs” it may be harder for them to take time off during the day. So maybe take a look at your target market and see if their typical work schedule is a match for the massage times you have available.

Once you get yourself established and start to get more and more referrals from existing happy clients, you will find that folks are more willing to take the time off work for a massage, just like they would for a doctor or dentist appointment.

But in the beginning, when you are building your massage practice and want to attract clients who can schedule during the day it will help if you target clients who don’t have 9-5 jobs.

If anyone else has suggestions that would help we’d love to hear. Just hit the comments link below.