For the past 13 years, SpaFinder Wellness 365 has issued its Global Spa & Wellness Trends Forecast, which examines trends that will shape the wellness, hospitality, travel, and spa industries and impact wellness consumers in the coming year. Among some of the trends that emerged for 2016 is the growing importance of wellness to meet major societal challenges, such as stressed out, over-anxious children; wellness festivals that celebrate health and well-being; and apps and on-demand services that are providing more immediacy and convenience to wellness services such as massage as well as a beauty treatment.
I found the most exciting (you can download the complete report at http://www.spafinder.com/blog/trends/2016-report/) was “Workplace Wellness Wakes Up.” SpaFinder Wellness 365 points out forward-thinking companies are increasingly realizing the importance of wellness on productivity and are creating “an all-encompassing environment that fuses company welfare to employee wellness.”
This new trend provides a great opportunity to sell your services to corporations. You can offer on-site chair massage or work out a contract to provide massage to employees in your own spa or massage practice. To present your services and build relationships with companies, you’ll want to do the following:
Start with a plan
Think through what massage services you can offer and what benefits they provide the companies you want to reach. Before you make contact, find out as much as you can about the company, including the decision-maker for the types of services you offer. If you have contacts in the company through your participation in local business groups or social channels, find out if they can put you in touch with the right people.
Create a Presentation
Prepare a slide presentation or possibly a short video to review with companies when you arrange a meeting. It should highlight the benefits of massage in the workplace by lowering stress and improving health to boost productivity and reduce the number of days employees call in sick. Include what kind of massage you offer and testimonials from clients, if possible. During your meeting, ask a lot of questions so you can come back with a more targeted proposal, including costs.
Market far and wide
Make your spa or massage practice more visible in your community. Look for opportunities to guest blog on the topic of corporate wellness, with the emphasis on massage. Even contact your local newspaper to see if they would be interested in doing a story on the topic and offer yourself as a source on massage. Also, consider partner marketing to boost your visibility among local companies. Work with a local fitness center to offer companies employee discount membership packages and a package of massage sessions. Also, consider participating in community events to get in front of more people, some of whom may be good leads to corporate opportunities.
As SpaFinder Wellness 365 points out in its trends report, workplace wellness moves from annual checkups and smoking cessation to a culture of purpose to achieve healthier and happier workers, lower healthcare costs, higher productivity, less absenteeism, and less turnover. Clearly, this is a great time to expand your services to the corporate marketplace.