Prices

[Can]

Exactly how do you go about setting up a deal with a huge
company of about 1,000 employees? I have never heard anything
about corporate massage. I have many connections into some
big companies, but I am not really sure how it all works. Also,
what do they generally charge?

 

[Emanuel E]

Disclaimer: This got long... But I wanted to provide a lot of info, so I hope it helps

For us (my husband and I are a 2-MT team) it depends on several factors...

When someone inititally calls us for chair/corporate massage, we ask how many ppl, and how long each session will be. Average ranges from 5 to 20 min each. This helps us figure out how much time we will need. We always add in about 2-3 minutes in between for refreshing/sanitizing/chatting with clients before & after.

Some arrangements need just one MT and others need more than one. Usually, my husband (also an MT) and I can handle it by ourselves. Massaging 1000 will probably require some help, even if the massages are really short, unless they plan on spreading it out over several days

Compensation works this way: we bill hourly, and we insist upon a block of consecutive time. A common arrangement is for an MT to be on-site for a certain length of time, people know the MT is there and sign up for however long they want, and each pay the MT directly. From what I have heard, this is generally a BAD arrangement (with a few exceptions). You set aside your whole day and are not guaranteed to make anything for your time. Clients can sometimes flake out and not show up, or try to pay with different forms of payment than you accept, etc etc. We find that it is not hard for the coordinator to take care of things on their end, get people together and make the most efficient use of the time they're paying for. They just hand us a schedule at the beginning of who is coming in when, and that's it. No headaches, everything is taken care of, and we are compensated no matter who shows up. You'd be surprised at how much Human Resources or PTA budgets can stretch to accommodate a therapist who stands his or her ground on pricing

We have a base price that we start at, of $80/hour, for 1 of us for 1 hour. The price can go up with parking/toll fees or long distances to travel or for events that take place later on a Friday night when traffic is hell, etc. The price goes down the longer a block of time they want, and it also goes down if they want both of us, or if they've used our services recently (encourages frequent flyers ) The lowest we go is $60/hr. (And we do NOT refer to it as $1/minute, because that makes it very hard to raise prices later, and it also implies that people can just sign up and pay whatever at the time of service.)

People will call you, get the details of what you offer, hem and haw and try to talk you down ("we only have so much in our budget, so we were hoping for $50/hr"). STAND YOUR GROUND. We did this recently, and even though we felt a little funny (we thought, "well, $50/hr is still good") we wouldn't budge from $60. I researched competitive prices in our area and I was very surprised to find that most chair massage providers HAD moved away from the $1/min marketing and were charging $70+ per hour. ONE company advertised "rates as low as $60/hr" (Bold added by me). Most companies? They made you contact them for a quote and didn't even publish their pricing schedule online, and this was by far the most common finding. BTW, lo and behold, the coordinator we stood our ground with DID call us back and the tone changed from "gosh, that's too much, we'll call you back" to gushing "we'd be HAPPY to have you!" (The event was a total blast, BTW!) So, don't sell yourself short--massage is NOT unskilled labor!

And never fall for the "it's a great opportunity to promote your business" or the "we'll even let you bring your business cards and promote yourself" bits. First, employer-paid chair massage that is free to the client does not usually turn into client-paid table massage at your location. Second, as your own small business, you pretty much retain the right to promote yourself wherever you want, and implying that you can't do so is like hiring a lawn crew (or any other service) and requiring that they show up in an unmarked vehicle without their company information on the door.

Hugs,
~Jyoti

 

[Twinklestar]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record...

1) Company-Paid Chair Massage prices should be HIGHER than your in-call table massage price

2) Employee-Paid prices should be HIGHER than Company-Paid work

3) Big events require a lot of work and put your reputation in the hands of others. But big events are usually where they want $60 / hour. If they flake, you take the hit to your reputation and bottom line. So make it worth your while by charging enough to leave yourself with a tidy profit for your efforts - see Rule #1

4) Ignore the competition that undercuts you. Just because they are foolish enough to charge $1/Min does not mean you should. You won't find anyone here rushing to meet Massage Envy's prices -- don't follow the lead of the Massage Envy pricing mentality toward chair massage.

 

[Hally M]

Amen, R&R!