Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/142672
chair massage By Eric Brown I was introduced to chair massage at a workshop taught by David Palmer, "the father of chair massage," in 1993. Chair massage was known as onsite massage at the time, and I thought I was taking a workshop about doing table massage in corporations. Imagine my surprise when the instructor had the gall to suggest that I, a highly trained paramedical professional, start doing back rubs. I was appalled. But at the same time, it made perfect sense that this kind of massage would be truly accessible to the mainstream public. And as a supporter of the massage industry, wasn't that my number one goal ... getting more people to benefit from massage? I got so excited that I immediately bought the chair. I tried doing chair massage virtually everywhere. I did it in corporations, I did it in hotels, I did it in hair salons and tanning salons, I did it for trade shows, I did it on the street, and I even did it in bars! What amazed me was that every environment could have been a viable market. And despite the fact that no one in Canada had ever seen chair massage before, it received a tremendous response. I also did a test to prove to myself how accessible this chair massage actually was. At the time, I owned two massage therapy clinics. As part of the test, I gave 450 gift certificates to a nearby corporation. The gift certificate entitled each employee to a free massage at one of the clinics, no strings attached. The employer, as part of a staff appreciation event, gave it to the employees. So it was very legitimate. Guess how many of those gift certificates were redeemed? Only about 10 percent. I went back to that company a short time later and offered chair massage to the employees. Again, it was a free massage. This time we had over 80 percent of the staff receive a chair massage that day. That is essentially an 800 percent increase in utilization! Why was chair massage so popular compared to my table massage services? People love massage. If you start massaging someone's shoulders, they aren't going to tell you to stop. They love it. We are hardwired to want touch. Like food and sex, touch is connected to the pleasure centers of our brains, because we need it for survival. So if people love massage and their nervous systems crave it, why doesn't everyone use it? To answer that question, you have to step into the shoes of the average consumer and look at massage from their inexperienced viewpoint: To get a typical Swedish massage you have to take a couple of hours out of your day and travel to a clinic. Without really knowing what to expect, you go into a small room behind closed doors and get naked for a stranger who is going to rub greasy oil all over you. And you have to pay a lot of money for it! Of course, I'm being overly dramatic in describing massage this way, but it hits on some of the key obstacles that prevent people from getting massage. Overcome some of these psychological barriers, however, and you have a service that is truly accessible to people. • f people are uncomfortable taking I off their clothes, then let's do the massage through clothing. • f people don't have the time I it takes to get an hour-long massage, then let's shorten up the time so that it takes no longer than a coffee break. • f it's not convenient for I people to travel to us, then let's travel to them. • f cost is an issue, then let's I shorten the time frames to make the unit cost affordable. • f people aren't comfortable going I into a closed room with a stranger, then let's do it out in the open where people can see exactly who is doing the massage and what is being done, thus removing any fear of the unknown. • oing the massage in this D way also removes any sexual association from massage. It feels psychologically safe.