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Author Archives: David
Calculating Services for a Pre-Paid Event
This question recently came in from a long-time chair massage practitioner: Is there is a calculation for figuring out in advance how many people in a group (office, convention, health fair, etc.) will get a chair massage at a one-time … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, Marketing
2 Comments
Interview with David Palmer
At the 2013 World Massage Conference (WMC) David debuted his first webinar entitled The Future of Professional Touch. After the presentation and discussion, they premiered a video interview that had been shot in April 2012. You can view it here. … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, Politics, Videos
1 Comment
Chair Practitioner as Wellness Coach
This article originally appeared in the May 2013 issue of Massage Magazine. The focus of the issue was on the business of massage and I was asked to respond to the question: “How can I best position myself as a … Continue reading
Four Ways to Market Workplace Chair Massage
Outfitted with education, experience and selling points (see related article: 21st Century Workplace Seated Massage) for chair massage, how do you locate some likely business prospects? 1. Finding receptive companies can be as simple as reading the business section of … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, Marketing
5 Comments
21st Century Workplace Seated Massage
This article originally appeared in MASSAGE Magazine‘s October 2012 issue. From the first days of professional seated massage in the mid 1980s, massage in the workplace has been a significant market segment. When my business was providing chair, or seated, … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, Marketing
Tagged chair massage, seated massage, wellness, workplace massage
4 Comments
On the Side of Angels
There is a successful company in Australia, 3-Minute Angels, that started in 2002 providing 3-minute chair massages in pubs and clubs for free. Customers would pay whatever they thought the service was worth. Today the business has grown into a … Continue reading
How Culture Mediates Massage
Whenever customers sit in my massage chair, I know that their subjective experience of my touch will be the result of at least four factors: Their genetic profile (Are they male/female? Do they have biological disorders such as autism). Their … Continue reading
Positioning for a Chair Massage Without a Massage Chair
I love to introduce people to massage. I have massaged people in restaurants, on airplanes, at dinner parties and even outdoors in parks. When I go to visit my family on the East Coast, I consider it my pleasure to … Continue reading
Viewing Massage Through a Holonic Lens
One of the critical topics in the massage community is how to define and label what we do. How we define massage influences how we market our services, how we regulate them and how we educate new people coming into … Continue reading
Posted in Bodywork, Business, Education, Politics, Touch
Tagged FSMTB, holarchical, holons, integral theory
2 Comments
The Canyon Ranch Think Tank
Have you every wondered why the National Certification Board of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork (NCBTMB) has such an awkward name? What’s with that business of “Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork?” Couldn’t they have stopped after the word “Massage?” You can credit … Continue reading
Haptics: The Science of Touch
Last week I saw a commercial for the new Cadillac XTS that featured an innovative touch technology called the Safety Alert Seat. The system sends vibrating pulses to drivers through the seat cushion if they drift out of their lane … Continue reading
Introducing Touch
Whenever I am in an unfamiliar room, full of people I don’t know, my shy parts come out. I feel isolated, vulnerable and fearful and immediately begin looking for the nearest exit. However, I also know that the best thing … Continue reading
Animate Your Support
A good way to add value to your services is by passing along useful information to your customers. YouTube is a great source of short, well-produced videos that are free for the linking. My colleague, Russ Borner, sent along one … Continue reading
Micro-Movements
Since I work primarily at home, I spend at least an hour a day in the kitchen. Most of the time I am fixing a meal, but sometimes I am just warming up water or leftovers in the microwave. The … Continue reading
The Travolta Clause
When John Doe #1 recently filed suit over John Travolta’s wandering hands in the massage room my immediate reaction was, “Well, there goes the first shoe.” Sure enough, over the next few weeks other massage practitioners came out of the … Continue reading
MTBOK: Missed Opportunity?
Reading the impressive 58-page paper entitled Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge (MTBOK) was both exhilarating and disappointing. Developed by a coalition of six national massage organizations, Version 1 of this effort was published in 2010 and is a landmark document … Continue reading
Posted in Bodywork, Politics, Touch
Tagged massage therapy, MTBOK, personal care massage
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Stand Up and Get Fit
Last week I caught a Fresh Air interview with New York Times columnist, Gretchen Reynolds, author of The First 20 Minutes. One of her science-based claims that caught my attention was the importance of standing regularly to break up periods … Continue reading
The Great Frame-Up
While dozens of massage chairs have been developed since the first one debuted in 1986, today there are only four basic designs that have survived the intense competition of the marketplace. What distinguishes each design is the unique metal frame … Continue reading
The Fainting Phenomenon
This week I got an email from Katy who writes: “I was about 20 minutes into the chair massage when the massage therapist began to work in and around my right shoulder blade. I began to feel clammy and tried … Continue reading
An Outsider Analyzes Massage
I was a mama’s boy. The youngest of four males born to my parents within five years, I was the baby of the family and spoiled rotten. There are a number of family stories dramatizing that fact, my favorite of … Continue reading
The Realms of Massage
The first professional massage I ever received was around 1970 in an old Russian Banya on the near-North Side of Chicago called the Luxor Baths. The clientele was a mix of the old Jewish expats who had moved to the … Continue reading
Posted in Business
Tagged business, David Palmer, health care, massage, massage therapy, personal care, wellness
2 Comments
Chair Massage: A foundation for fitness
While I am a big believer in making every moment a fitness moment (see Creating a Fitness Lifestyle), the reality is many people don’t have even the most basic motivation to move to a healthier lifestyle. That’s where chair massage … Continue reading
Change-ability: Mastering the Inevitable
Note: This is the fourth and last of a series of articles called “C”-ing Your Way to Success about the value of Conviction, Clarity, Consistency and Change-ability in business. The first three “C”s discussed in this series (Conviction, Clarity, Consistency) … Continue reading
Hygiene Protocol for Chair Massage
While there are probably more infectious agents on the doorknob customers touch as they enter your massage space than are on your massage chair, the public nature of chair massage makes a solid hygiene protocol essential. It is a matter … Continue reading
Posted in Chair Massage, Videos
Tagged chair massage, David Palmer, hygiene, TouchPro, video
3 Comments
How Sticky is Massage?
In the world wide web, “stickiness” refers to how long you can keep a user on your website or how often you can get them to return. It is a measure of user engagement and loyalty. So how loyal and … Continue reading