Aug
27
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Last week I was approached by the owner of a Portland owned coffee shop with a proposal to offer massage as a benefit to her employees. She borrowed the idea from Portland’s own Stumptown Coffee Roasters. Stumptown offers their employees massage as one of the benefits of working for their company. The important thing about this interaction that I’d like to convey here is: I met her at my weekly networking meeting.
I’m learning, once again, the power of networking.
I started going to an early morning networking meeting at the beginning of August. It was a safe bet for me, as the group was just getting started. The idea of walking into a more formalized group of people and being the new kid doesn’t really appeal to me. The first meeting I attended only had two other people there. As the month has gone on, we have about six regular attendees and are always trying to recruit more. The goal is to create a strong network of business entrepreneurs who strive to get to know one another in the hopes of creating a referral base for the clients of our various endeavors.
I am usually not one to put myself out there in a business sense. I still struggle with the act of presenting myself as someone who has something to sell. I’m in the business of selling healthcare, more specifically, massage. Massage can act as an option for a range of concerns - someone experiencing acute pain, preventative medicine, palliative care, stress - you name it, massage can probably help in some capacity. I’m learning through networking that selling massage has turned out to be something more complex than I thought it would be. I have a serious need to refine my thoughts about just who it is that can benefit from my style of massage. What am I calling my style of massage these days anyway? I’m taking all of my education and experience from the last three years and turning it into a session that I don’t know how to describe anymore. I do know that I have pretty good results and that people come back to me, so it must be working.
I know that my sessions are effective, the trick is how to get clients in the door in the first place. Massage, like many other health care practices, is a very personal thing. It often strikes me as bizarre that I am a massage therapist. People hand over the care and trust of their bodies - in such a way that I can’t think of many other situations in which that would occur. Because the work I do is so personal in nature, I believe that networking is an integral part of my marketing plan. It allows a person to become comfortable with me on a one to one level before entrusting me with the care and keeping of their body for an hour. If I am successfully able to convey that I am a trustworthy, professional person at these networking meetings, the chances that I am going to be the go-to for a massage referral is pretty high.
In the month that I have been attending these meetings, I have made several connections with some of Portland’s long-time residents and entrepreneurs. They will help to support me as a burgeoning entrepreneur, as well as help to supply me with referrals and some business acumen. I can only imagine what will come of my success as I continue to make these connections.
Amanda Barp, LMT
Comments
2 Responses to “The power of networking in natural medicine”
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Amanda,
I am also starting out on the journey of promoting my shiatsu practise. And I empathise with your struggle to present yourself as a business owner with a product to sell.
I too joined a breakfast networking meeting and quickly found out how different it is talking about your therapy to non-therapists. We have to do one minute pitches at each meeting and it is a struggle to neatly describe shiatsu in those 60 seconds. But the experience is a valuable lesson and taught me a lot about what shiatsu really is.
But networking with these people has got me a treatment room,a photographer to do some publicity shots and an editorial advertisement in a local magazine. That article generated a few clients one of whom may lead me onto a another treatment centre.
Networking is hard and does not yield instant results. But once the group starts to learn who you are and what you can offer your practise will start to take off.
Tony
Hey Tony,
Thanks for replying. I’m happy to hear that your networking group has worked out well for you. I appreciate that you comment about how sometimes it can be slow going. I have found that often things turn up in the future that you didn’t expect from networking groups. I wish you luck with your future networking!
Amanda