How to Re-Establish Your Massage Centre After the Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a tremendous toll on many businesses, including massage therapy. Since this industry relies entirely on in-person, hands-on services, many professionals were forced to close their doors, sometimes even permanently. Some had to look for new opportunities and ways to make a living, while others managed to stay afloat during the hard times.
Now, as more and more people are getting vaccinated and the pandemic seems to be finally slowing down, it might be a sign for the massage centres to open up again. However, to be successful, such a process requires a careful approach. Not only will you need an effective communication plan to get back in touch with your old and potential new customers, but you will also need to make sure that both your employees and clients feel safe. This all might sound overwhelming at first, but don’t worry – in the article, below we will guide you through the essential steps you should follow when re-establishing your massage business after the pandemic.
Provide Testing
For starters, it’s crucial to state that no law requires your staff to be tested for coronavirus. However, to ensure peace of mind for everyone, including yourself, you might want to consider bringing in regular testing as a part of workplace policy. This might prove beneficial for massage centres, as it’s virtually impossible to work and avoid direct contact with others. Before implementing any new policies, have an open talk with your staff. Make sure that everyone is on board with the idea and explain the reasons behind your decision. Address issues such as salary for the days spent in isolation and how the testing data will be stored and protected. You should also discuss how the testing will be carried out, how staff will be able to access their results, and what will happen when someone gets a positive result.
You should take time and do lots of research to find a medical company that provides COVID-19 self-testing solutions. Remember – the sooner the issue gets spotted, the better for the safety of both your staff and customers.
Communicate That You’re Back
It might sound quite obvious, but some business owners still tend to forget that if they don’t put enough effort into communicating that their establishments are open again, a part of their customers might simply overlook it.
Try to take time and craft a unified message that you will be able to spread across multiple channels. Start with your website. Update the home page, so the reopening schedule and safety protocols are clearly visible. Then, go to your social media and create a series of posts that you will consistently push out in the days leading up to the reopening. Keep in mind that people might ask questions, especially on social media. If you leave them without answers, they might feel ignored, so make sure that someone responds to them promptly. If you have ever sent email newsletters, you can send information about being back in the business directly to your clients’ inboxes. Text messages sent straight to their phones might also work well, but in contrast to the posts on your social media, try not to overwhelm anyone with dozens of texts. One or two should be perfectly enough.
Eliminate Unnecessary Contacts
When re-establishing your business after a pandemic, you want it to be a place where everyone can feel safe. That’s why you should do everything in your power to ensure that there’s no unnecessary contact between people who work and visit your massage centre. For instance, you can try to eliminate the waiting room. Let the customers know that if they have an appointment at a particular hour, then that’s the time they should show up so they can enter and go straight to the massage without having to get in contact with other clients. You can also implement a virtual check-in system or send out text messages to confirm the appointment an hour before.
Automate If You Can
Now is the perfect time to carefully reconsider how the customers communicate with your facility. If they’re used to coming to the reception to make appointments, let them know that this is no longer practised and that from now on, they can make a call to book their massage session.
If your budget allows it, you can also invest in software that will enable customers to make appointments online. For example, there are highly rated appointment scheduling and booking software tools such as Picktime or Timely start from $10 per month.
Final Word
To sum up, in the beauty and wellness industry, you can’t provide services without personal contact. This might leave you or your clients worried in the times of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Luckily, as you can see in the article above, there are ways to combat this uncertainty by taking preventative measures and using innovative technology.
To ensure that your staff feels safe, you can provide them with regular testing. Before reopening your business, you should let your clients know that you’re coming back so this event doesn’t go unnoticed. You also might want to take a closer look at ways to eliminate the unnecessary contact between different clients and your staff. If possible, try to automate some processes, such as making appointments. Good luck!
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