Facebook is one of the most popular web services online and should reach an incredible 1 billion users this year. That’s right: A billion users!

Marketing gurus over the past few years have been singing the praises of Facebook as one of the most effective ways to get new customers. The most popular way businesses promote themselves on Facebook is through a Facebook Page, often called a Fan Page.

Although Facebook encourages businesses to set up these Fan Pages, they don’t really give visitors much opportunity to find out more about you or to get to your website. Just check out any small business Fan Page for yourself and see how quickly you can find a way to contact the business, by visiting their website, by emailing them or by phone.

From the perspective of Facebook, it makes sense to make this process as difficult as possible so that you stay on their site and view the Facebook ads that provide their revenue.

So when a potential client reaches your Facebook Page you want to make it as easy as humanly possible for them to be able to contact you.

That’s why it’s vitally important that you create a custom banner for you Page, so they know instantly who you are and how to contact you.

Take a look at screen shots of these two Facebook Pages. Which therapists would you be most likely contact?

The one to the right, of course!

The phone number and website address in that custom banner catch the eye immediately. The branding is obvious. It’s clear what this business is and what they do. There is no hunting around trying to figure out how to contact this therapist. The website address and phone number are prominently displayed. And the top of the banner invites the visitor to “Like” the Page as it draws their eyes toward the Like button.

How do you get your own eye catching banner?

I was surfing through Facebook to find example of people who use banners effectively. Examples were difficult to find.

Then I started searching for designers or services who would create these. I had a difficult time finding any providers to refer you to. One I found charged a minimum of $50 and more were in the $80 to $100 range.

I knew that most therapists wouldn’t want to pay that much despite the fact that it is a worthwhile investment, so I decided to help you out.

I have a full time graphic designer named Bryan on staff and I am setting aside a large portion of his time this month to work on creating Facebook banners for you.

How much?

Just $20! That’s a price anyone can afford. And is a fraction of the price you would pay elsewhere.

I’m only going to do this for January, then I’ll have to put him back to work on other projects. So if you want to make your Facebook Page more effective instantly, then order your banner today.

Click here to order your customized Facebook banner now

Here are some examples of what these might look like:

Making your banner work for you

You can request any information you like on these, but I’ll point out some of the features that will make your banner effective:

1. At the top there is an image that draws the visitors eyes to your “Like” button and encourages them to click it.
2. There is a clear call to action like “Call 416-555-1212 Today!” or “Visit our website for this month’s special!”
3. You phone number or website is clearly displayed to give visitors a way to easily contact you without having to hunt around for contact info.
4. There is the opportunity to outline your service area or the benefits of your service to motivate visitors to take action.
5. A logo helps brand your business and improve instant recognition.
6. A photo of you puts a personal face to your service.

Also notice that you can choose a portion of the banner to use as a thumbnail. Your thumbnail appears beside every post you make to catch people’s attention and to reinforce your brand image.

Click here to order your customized Facebook banner for just $20 ($100)

Your banner will likely be complete within three business days (note: because of the large volume of orders the estimated delivery time for orders placed after January 20 will be from six to ten business days) and I’ll send you a link to a video that explains exactly how to get it on your Facebook Page. It’s a very simple process. This offer expires at the end of January. That’s just days away, so order now.

Please click one of the buttons below and share this with your friends and colleagues before the offer comes down.

 Michel Lotito was an extraordinary man. This elegant Frenchman had a love for food and a fondness for eating unusual objects like bicycles, shopping carts and televisions. His odd appetite earned him the nickname Monsieur Mangetout (Mr Eat Everything).

I first heard of Lotito when he consumed a Cessna 150 airplane. The fact that somebody would eat a plane is bizarre to say the least and I can’t really tell you why he did it.

However, can tell you how he did it. Oddly enough, his approach to eating a plane can go a long way to helping you build your massage practice.

Doing the impossible…

Before we look at how Michel was able to eat a plane, let’s talk about building your massage practice. The two are very much related. Yes, I know it takes a mental leap to go from an airplane to your massage table, but stick with me.

The reason I even bring this up is that a lot of therapists scoff at some of the claims I make. I say things like,

• You can get 60 new clients in 60 days
• There’s no reason why you can’t make $60,000 a year
• You can easily double your business

For therapists who are barely scraping by and who have tried building their massage business in vain, those claims sound ludicrous. They sound as impossible as eating a plane. But if you take some lessons from the plane-eating Frenchman, you’ll see that having a successful massage business is in fact extremely doable.

So how do you eat a plane?

I’ll be the first to admit that Lotito was a little strange. He suffered from pica, a psychological disorder in which people compulsively eat non-food items such as dirt and plastic. Lotito’s condition was first diagnosed around the age of nine, when he started munching on parts of the family TV set.

To make a long story short, he came to realize that he could turn his compulsion into a career and became an entertainer of sorts. He ate beds, chandeliers, television sets through the years until turning his attention to this little baby…

… a Cessna 150 airplane.

Which brings us to the question: How do you eat an airplane? Seems impossible, doesn’t it?

Not if you eat it one bite at a time, apparently. And that’s just what Lotito did. He chopped the plane up into tiny bits. Parts small enough that he could swallow them easily. Each day he ate about two pounds of tiny plane pieces. And after two years…

…it was gone!

What this means for your practice…

Oftentimes when we look at growing our practice the task seems insurmountable. How do you increase your sales an additional $30,000 a year, for example?

To increase your sales that much means an extra 500 hours of massage for the average therapist. That is 12 ½ forty-hour workweeks! How do you do over 12 weeks of massage non-stop?

And that’s exactly the kind of thinking that hangs you up and stops you from moving forward.

Instead of looking at your “massage plane” and saying it’s impossible to consume. Start breaking it down into manageable chunks.

$30,000 means about 500 hours of massage per year. That means about 40 hours of massage per month. Ten massages per week. And only two massages per day.

Lotito ate two pounds of metal a day to reach his goal. Could you do an additional two massages a day to reach your goal?

Sure! Now that seems entirely possible. You could even relax on the weekends and take two weeks holiday per year.

Now it’s a matter of determining how you get the equivalent of two extra massages in per day.

• You could raise your prices 10%. It’s a small amount, but it’s a bite. And it makes a difference. If you saw just ten clients a week, raising your prices by just 10% would be the equivalent of doing 50 more massages per year without any additional hands on work.
• You could ask existing clients to upgrade from a 60 minute to a ninety minute massage. For every two people who upgrade, you add the equivalent of another hour of massage revenue.
• Get new clients. Whether you choose to believe it or not, they are out there. There are not enough therapists to meet consumer demand. I’m involved in a large think tank this fall with major stakeholders in the massage profession to try to find some solutions for getting more people to take up massage as a career to fill the need. There is a clear shortage of massage therapists.

If you are having difficulty getting clients, it’s not because they don’t exist. You just need a little marketing knowledge to reach them. Unfortunately, a lot of what you’ll learn about massage business and marketing in school and from the “massage gurus” is just plain outdated and ineffective. Welcome to the 21st century… 11 years later!

There are innovative, unconventional, but super simple systems that will allow you to easily get at least one new client per day, like my 60 Clients in 60 Days strategy (shameless plug). Every one of those clients has the potential to be an ongoing weekly client, to refer others to your practice, or to purchase gift certificates from you.

Clients seem to dribble or float into your practice. The workload is entirely bearable. The process completely painless. There’s no big drama. You work through the process just a bite at a time.

And then it happens…

…the impossible becomes reality! Your “massage plane” has been eaten!

So learn from the crazy Frenchman. Refuse to get overwhelmed. Break your goals down into manageable bite-sized pieces and take little actions every day to get where you want to be in your career. The impossible will become possible.

Take care,

Eric Brown, Grand Massage Poobah

www.bodyworkbiz.com

PS If you need help getting clients, seriously give the 60 Clients in 60 Days a try and follow it to the letter. It is super simple and it works. Anyone can do it:

http://www.bodyworkbiz.com/60days.php