Are you one of these?

Are you one of these? A Massage Therapist that is listed in the telephone book, listed on the web and listed in some form of locator service? Do you have your cards or brochures in places where potential clients might take your card?

If you are one of those. Do you return calls from potential clients? Do you return them within 24 hours? Or do you just bag the call and never return calls?

My questions above are kind of harsh. However I wrote them mostly for myself. It forces me to re-evaluate my priorities. I am listed in the phone book. I have my cards on desks of Chiropractors and other medical professionals. I return calls to potential clients when they ask, if they leave a voice mail saying when they are going to be in. I also return calls in between clients and always before I close my office for the day.

I will be the first one to admit that I get some very strange calls There have been times when I was not really ready to take a call and I did and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I made that week.

What am I saying here, mostly that our clients and other businesses expect return calls. If they don't hear from us, they will call the next practitioner in line. I have been witness to this practice, and I do it myself.

My examples are this, one time I was really in need of a massage. I called just about everyone that I could find in my network of files. I waited nearly 24 hours between calls and out of the six calls that I made only one called to tell me that she did not have any appointments for nearly three weeks after my call. The other example is a local inn that I work with. I was not able to get to the phone or answer the call till one hour after they called. The called the next therapist in line and she got the job. I lost out on two hundred dollars. Plus the ability to help a guest feel better.

So if you find yourself as one of these people it might be time to re-evaluate how you handle your business methods.