What's the deal with my 50% off stuff? Just recently I've been asked that question. More than once, actually. So, I've decided to address that here.
There are a number of factors to consider when pricing a service. Lots of time and effort, (and money), goes into learning a process for addressing a musculo-skeletal issue. Possibly a quantity of time has been spent really looking into WHY a particular maneuver works. Is it repeatable? Is it situational? These are questions I've gone around and around about for some of the techniques I employ during sessions.
Or it's just old fashioned hard work to do a particular type of massage. Many of my sports/deep tissue folks have seen that! Pricing at the deep tissue sessions takes that into account as well.
On another point, the local market tends to set a price precedent and, as a similar service, you follow the crowd on setting your prices. It's expected and sort of the polite thing to do. I happen to believe that, in my own personal current situation, that there is small amount of wiggle room on some of my costs to offer services. Hopefully that will stay true for a long time!
And lastly, to be honest, I work for myself and really enjoy making decisions about the particulars about my practice. I love what I do for a living, my job. And I enjoy trying out what I feel is a good idea, within reason.
So, that's all probably well understood ground for most people---pricing. Or, if you want, valuing.
Now...valuing. Really, a different thing altogether than the price. I've had a massage that cost me $100 for an hour and thought, 'Meh'. Price was one thing, value was something else altogether. This person had a gorgeous practice area and lots of professional this&that. And a great reputation to boot. I would have loved to have gotten a guarantee that I would not regret that $100 spent. However, it's difficult to guarantee a massage. What one person values highly, someone else might say Meh! Frankly, if I see clients for an entire year and everybody leaves just thrilled to pieces that we found each other but just one new client leaves saying 'Meh'; I'd as soon know that they left not feeling regretful they plunked down $100 bucks for the Meh. LOL!! The fact is, I won't be Absolutely Everyone's bestest and fave of massage. I know this. It's great to have self confidence to believe I could help everyone I meet. And I do get up every single day believing that.
Self confidence, I've got it. Magical superpowers, not so much. Even if I've given 1000 hours of massage, and I have; I won't click with everyone, every time. So...while I may not be capable to give a guarantee, I can know new people won't feel the regret I once did. That's as close of a guarantee as I can do; meet new people halfway on price and believe the value is higher.
On another especially personal note, I believe, as a merchant of services, valuing must come from both myself and the client. I already know my repeat clients value our time together and the work we do, together. I value my time. I value the clients time. I value the path of life my client may have done to come in to my studio. I value what may occur in a therapy session; what I may learn from the client, what they may learn and experience.
It's a deeply personal experience to come to a massage therapy session, in particular, for the first time. A particular amount of trust happens when people work together in a massage therapy session. There can be personal mental barriers to overcome to want to try massage therapy. These are real barriers. Trust and ability to be vulnerable to change. Fairly important, definitely has a value.
Cost shouldn't be a barrier to try massage therapy, at least once.
It's a difficult choice for a large number of people due to their own specific and personal financial situations.
Many, many people value the possibility of acquiring even one hour of massage time. Yet, can't afford the typical cost of a single session. Massage is a true luxury item for a lot of people. A full timer who grosses $1,500 monthly may never see the inside of a studio because of the cost barrier. A person mainly living on a small retirement savings may really value the idea of a massage but their income does not allow for them to feel capable of making an appointment to try out a massage session. These sorts of people, I value. And, typically, rarely ever meet.
Often, in medical settings in my prior employment, I would meet people who were coming to therapy only because an awful accident occurred that they were physically involved in. The insurance, or worker's comp. would cover that therapy, yet often, the client had been undergoing an issue prior to their injuries that could have been dealt with if only they had been able to come in to massage services sooner. It's terrible, to me, that there are people who will feel lucky that they were in an accident, so they could have the opportunity to get massage finally.
I value all of my clients. The ones who only come in once a year. And some who come in every week or two, because they happen to be financially capable to do so. Some of my clients come in as frequently as they possibly can and forego other items, such as daily coffees, in order to do that. I value these people. I value new people and 'once only' clients too. Every one has been worthwhile meeting.
There are a number of factors to consider when pricing a service. Lots of time and effort, (and money), goes into learning a process for addressing a musculo-skeletal issue. Possibly a quantity of time has been spent really looking into WHY a particular maneuver works. Is it repeatable? Is it situational? These are questions I've gone around and around about for some of the techniques I employ during sessions.
Or it's just old fashioned hard work to do a particular type of massage. Many of my sports/deep tissue folks have seen that! Pricing at the deep tissue sessions takes that into account as well.
On another point, the local market tends to set a price precedent and, as a similar service, you follow the crowd on setting your prices. It's expected and sort of the polite thing to do. I happen to believe that, in my own personal current situation, that there is small amount of wiggle room on some of my costs to offer services. Hopefully that will stay true for a long time!
And lastly, to be honest, I work for myself and really enjoy making decisions about the particulars about my practice. I love what I do for a living, my job. And I enjoy trying out what I feel is a good idea, within reason.
So, that's all probably well understood ground for most people---pricing. Or, if you want, valuing.
Now...valuing. Really, a different thing altogether than the price. I've had a massage that cost me $100 for an hour and thought, 'Meh'. Price was one thing, value was something else altogether. This person had a gorgeous practice area and lots of professional this&that. And a great reputation to boot. I would have loved to have gotten a guarantee that I would not regret that $100 spent. However, it's difficult to guarantee a massage. What one person values highly, someone else might say Meh! Frankly, if I see clients for an entire year and everybody leaves just thrilled to pieces that we found each other but just one new client leaves saying 'Meh'; I'd as soon know that they left not feeling regretful they plunked down $100 bucks for the Meh. LOL!! The fact is, I won't be Absolutely Everyone's bestest and fave of massage. I know this. It's great to have self confidence to believe I could help everyone I meet. And I do get up every single day believing that.
Self confidence, I've got it. Magical superpowers, not so much. Even if I've given 1000 hours of massage, and I have; I won't click with everyone, every time. So...while I may not be capable to give a guarantee, I can know new people won't feel the regret I once did. That's as close of a guarantee as I can do; meet new people halfway on price and believe the value is higher.
On another especially personal note, I believe, as a merchant of services, valuing must come from both myself and the client. I already know my repeat clients value our time together and the work we do, together. I value my time. I value the clients time. I value the path of life my client may have done to come in to my studio. I value what may occur in a therapy session; what I may learn from the client, what they may learn and experience.
It's a deeply personal experience to come to a massage therapy session, in particular, for the first time. A particular amount of trust happens when people work together in a massage therapy session. There can be personal mental barriers to overcome to want to try massage therapy. These are real barriers. Trust and ability to be vulnerable to change. Fairly important, definitely has a value.
Cost shouldn't be a barrier to try massage therapy, at least once.
It's a difficult choice for a large number of people due to their own specific and personal financial situations.
Many, many people value the possibility of acquiring even one hour of massage time. Yet, can't afford the typical cost of a single session. Massage is a true luxury item for a lot of people. A full timer who grosses $1,500 monthly may never see the inside of a studio because of the cost barrier. A person mainly living on a small retirement savings may really value the idea of a massage but their income does not allow for them to feel capable of making an appointment to try out a massage session. These sorts of people, I value. And, typically, rarely ever meet.
Often, in medical settings in my prior employment, I would meet people who were coming to therapy only because an awful accident occurred that they were physically involved in. The insurance, or worker's comp. would cover that therapy, yet often, the client had been undergoing an issue prior to their injuries that could have been dealt with if only they had been able to come in to massage services sooner. It's terrible, to me, that there are people who will feel lucky that they were in an accident, so they could have the opportunity to get massage finally.
I value all of my clients. The ones who only come in once a year. And some who come in every week or two, because they happen to be financially capable to do so. Some of my clients come in as frequently as they possibly can and forego other items, such as daily coffees, in order to do that. I value these people. I value new people and 'once only' clients too. Every one has been worthwhile meeting.