How feedback helps your massage practitioner
The benefit of giving your massage practitioner feedback
By Nicole Webb
This kind of service your massage practitioner provides is very human interactive, and I guess in many ways it stirs baseline human interaction etiquette and social necessities. I find I can get my best work done when people feel safe enough to break through these paradigms.
Too often I see clients who are in the midst of massage practitioner shopping because they simply weren’t happy with the treatment/s they received. I learn of what they did, or didn’t do that didn’t meet expectations. They are very happy to tell me, and I am very happy to learn of these ( it helps to know to not do these things they are speaking of )
Then, once I have gathered this information, I always ask them; did you tell the massage practitioner of these things? My clients answers are almost always no, they didn’t.
Why do we find it hard to say something?
I have found over the years of practicing ( 20 years this year, I almost can’t believe that – phew ), I learn the most, grow the most and thrive the most when I hear of feedback from my treatment that wasn’t so good. Each and every time, I make the necessary changes to accommodate the client, and for some of the feedback, it’s making the changes to all my clients.
This has got me thinking. Why do so many people feel they can’t say anything to the practitioners that they are not happy with? Do they feel uncomfortable? Do they feel silly? Do they feel they need to be ‘nice’ by not saying anything at all? These massage practitioners have each missed opportunities to grow and adapt because they are none the wiser of what they could do to become great for that client.
Each treatment is different
Each client is different, so each treatment delivered is also different. Even from treatment to treatment. For example, I just had a client this morning who normally loves her cupping. She found that she wasn’t enjoying it so much today. She had just come from the gym, the stimulation was too much considering she just went for a 45 min run of treadmill I was thrilled for her to say something at the time – because I was able to adapt accordingly. If she hadn’t said something, she would have not enjoyed the rest of the session very much, and I would have had an unsatisfied client. And, worst still, I wouldn’t have known.
Always curious to know why
Whilst I love hearing what clients don’t like about other treatments they have had from other practitioners, because it means I can tailor (hopefully) a really great session for them, it equally saddens me that other amazing massage practitioners out there have missed the opportunity. Did they not hold the space enough to allow for feedback? Did they not check in enough during the treatment? Did the client feel uneasy in any way to not say anything?
Leaning into the yuckiness paves the way to things getting better
I do understand it isn’t easy to deliver not so great information directly to the source. I can understand it feels awkward, maybe people don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings? I need to say something here; if they take your feedback personally, they have a lot of work to do to separate themselves from their treatments Its not your stuff if someone does that, but giving them the opportunity to develop a kick arse treatment style, tailored just for you; that is something you and your massage practitioner won’t regret. Heck, even if the rapport wasn’t strong enough to develop, they can still have the opportunity to change for other clients.
Important thing to note
Please note, I want to make it clear that I am not talking about gross negligence, of breaches of code of ethics or conduct. If you ever see a practitioner (of any modality) that breached their code of ethics, or did something that made you feel uncomfortable in any way, you can contact the appropriate association directly.
Here are some links
https://www.massagemyotherapy.com.au/Home
