Evan Carmichael advises a shiatsu therapist in rural France to stop chasing individual clients and instead target local businesses for corporate wellness programs and tourists through hotel partnerships. She can generate bigger contracts by positioning shiatsu as employee benefits and team-building events.
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Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael. Welcome to another edition of Ask Evan. In today's episode, I'm going to answer a question from one of my newsletter readers, Francis, who is in France. So hi, Francis from France, and is running a shiatsu clinic and is having a hard time getting past the survival stage. She's grown her business so she can kind of barely support herself, but wanted to grow the business to the next step. And she sees local businesses leaving flyers under people's windshields on their cars, and she doesn't want to do that kind of stuff and was wondering how she could grow her business. So she's in a rural city in France and wanted some advice. So Francis, I think for you, what I would do if I was your business, I would look at who my target customer is. And it sounds like you're kind of targeting the people who are in your local community. And I would look at 2 things. One, I look at business. I try to get in with the business customers and have them buy it on behalf of their employees. So a big trend right now with employers is keeping their employees happy, making sure they're not stressed out, and this might be a good way for you to be able to get in with them. So you can have the businesses buy shiatsu services on behalf of their clients, and you can have some kind of budget, or you have the shiatsu day where people come in, or you go to their office. The great thing about going after business clients— there's a couple things. First, usually it's much bigger ticket value. So if you're going after individual customers, they often are penny pinchers and they may not have the money right now, and they only come when they really need it, and they may not come for a number of months or only come one time, and it's low dollar value every time, where businesses will often spend a lot more, especially if you can find a way to make it an ongoing thing with them where if you're showing that their employees are really happy with what's going on, then they're gonna wanna keep doing it. So if you can become an important part of their business, then they're gonna always wanna work with you and you have ongoing repeat business from clients who are paying a lot more money. So I'd look at trying to get in with the businesses and be a part of the program to help their employees. And companies can use it as a way to thank their employees, recognize their top employees, Use it as a recruitment tool for when somebody is trying to join the company to say, you know, here are some of the services that we provide for employees. So look at the local businesses and see if there's a way you can integrate with them and be part of their, their health program and health and wellness program to help with their employees. That'd be the first thing. The second thing, you mentioned you're in rural France and the area that you're in is really picturesque and really beautiful. So I would try to see if there's any market for tourists. Now I don't know how many tourists are in your city and how many tourists you get every year, but if you have any kind of tourism industry, I try to partner up with whoever is bringing people into the city and have your service as something that people could buy as well. That could be a great thing for tourists to come in and do and relax. If you had especially some kind of nice setting, or you can go on location to hotels, for example, or inns, wherever people are, that could be part of a package that they offer, then this could be a great way to be able to get people. Because people are spending money on trips, they want to relax, they want to feel healthy, they may have had a hard time traveling and they're doing a lot of things when they do on a vacation, so this could be a great way for them to relax. And people are a little looser with their money when they're on vacation as opposed to when they're, you know, just kind of living their day-to-day lives. So I think for you what I would do is just try to change who my target market is, go after the business customers and try to attract more tourists. In terms of specific things that you could do for business, instead of— you can go and obviously start talking to entrepreneurs, business owners, get in there, introduce yourself, explain the benefits of working with you. I'd also try to see if I can get a column written. So I'd look at my local media, whoever is the local paper, and try to have a regular ongoing column about workplace workplace health and wellness. And if you can create content for them on a regular basis, part of it can relate to shiatsu, otherwise it's just general health and wellness. And obviously you have a link back to your website or where people can contact you for more information. And if you're seen as the expert in wellness for corporations and businesses, then when they have a need, they're gonna call you, and there's an opportunity to be able to sell them. So I try to see if I can get in the media somehow You know, if you have radio station, try to be an expert, try to host your own show potentially, or try to create a column. Doesn't have to be big if you're selling to your local area. Whatever local media you have, try to get in with them. And if you're selling to tourists, I would try to create online content. So I don't know if you have a website or not, but I definitely create a website. And here I would start talking about not only the benefits of using shiatsu and how you can help tourists who are coming, but also talk about your city and how picturesque it is and take pictures and maybe partner up with the local inns or hotels to be able to offer some kind of package deal and create that kind of content. Because there are people who are in North America and elsewhere who want to come to rural France and enjoy that experience and have the lifestyle that is relaxing, and they might want to buy a shiatsu massage at the same time. So Why do they pick one rural city over another city? You know, it's what they research and what people tell them about. So you can be part of that process and create a site that has content that promotes your city and how picturesque it is, and, and take pictures and profile the local businesses so you can show how great a city it is and encourage tourists to come. And the people who do come are gonna wanna buy your shiatsu services as well. So hopefully that helps. There may be a couple new ideas that you haven't thought of. That's what I would do if I was running your business. If you guys like the video, please give it a thumbs up below, and I'd also love to hear what you have to think if you want to leave a comment under the video. And stay tuned for the next episode.
