Embracing Competition To Build Your Massage Therapy Business

Shifting Your Business Building Paradigm

Competition helps businesses and industries grow.  It's a positive force in any business environment although it is hardly ever seen that way.  

But think of it for a moment, saturated markets provides a working model for new businesses.  Simultaneously, it stimulate the demand side of the market.for the particular products or services.  

Competition enables choices and a wider range of selection.  It moderates prices and can even self adjusts to inefficient operations. Competition is essential to a robust market environment. 

If you read the previous blog post you would already have the answer to the question; "why buy from me?"

If you have that answer now, you can see how you can be more prepared to enter the market and stand out from the competition.  

This is an essential step, whether you are operating as an individual, or an established business you must formulate a unique selling proposition with a strategic business model.

To understand the concept of competition in marketing your business, consider a pie the total market.  Assume it represents all the massages that take place in your particular market place.  Now see that pie sitting in front of you on a table.  Can you eat it all?

For normal people, the answer is absolutely not, eating a slice usually satisfies their hunger.  The reality is that every industry is like the pie.  You are vying for a share of the market, a piece of the pie. .


We agreed that you couldn't and maybe even won’t eat the whole pie.  What if from that big pie you cut out a slice with the pink frosting?  That's what you do when you identify an attractive niche in your market.  You cannot have it all anyway. 


The piece you cut out is still more than you can eat but it's all you want.  This is your massage therapy niche, you have just reduced the number of potential clients you could approach but you have also drastically reduced the number of direct competitors in your market.  


You may be the sole player in that particular niche.  Your competition will certainly be limited. 


Now let’s introduce a cooperative element into your marketing.  Remember the left over pie.  


Think it's possible to tap into the larger segment of the massage therapy market?  If you have already carved out a niche for yourself, do you think that other massage therapist will cross paths with some of your perfect clients?  


What if you were able to get them to refer these clients to you?.  


Definitely counter intuitive but consider the advantages of being able to cooperate with other genuine massage therapists: You will have 

§  Qualified referral to your business because of  your positioning as a specialist.  You can offer to reciprocate or pay a fee. 

§  A wider variety of skill sets at your disposal  when you refer your clients to their services which you don't perform. 

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§  Benefits of focusing on your core area of expertise to consistently produce  successful results  

A cooperative strategy will require that you become familiar with a network of other massage therapists. 


This is not possible if you are still insecure and believe that the market is small and clients are limited.  It will not happen if you don't know your specific target market.  It certainly will never happen if you continue to think that you should own every massage client.  This is what one professional had to say:about massage therapists and competition. 


Competition is a reflection of your fear.  You fear that there won't be enough clients for you or that you have to take clients away from everyone else in order to be successful.  Online Quote


That's why you were asked to focus on yourself first. It is the reason why you should formulate a  unique selling proposition before ever looking at the competition.  It allows you to easily decide on your target market, identify your real competition and develop an efficient business model.


Becoming cooperative instead of competitive is one strategy but that’s only one.   


There are many ways to grow a business in a competitive environment.  The most important and I might add no cost way to attract clients is to develop, use and live with a unique selling proposition.


This is so important to your business that the next post will delve into how you come up with a unique selling proposition for your massage therapy business.