Rebooking a client after a massage session can feel challenging, especially for newer massage therapists, but it is an essential part of the therapeutic relationship. This article explores how the client rebooking conversation isn’t just about filling your schedule or generating income—it’s about continuing to meet your client’s therapeutic goals. By viewing rebooking as a natural extension of the session review, therapists can approach the conversation with professionalism and confidence.
Key Takeaways
- Rebooking is part of the therapeutic relationship, not the business relationship, and should focus on the client’s needs, not just income.
- Trust your professional judgment when recommending additional sessions, as it’s your responsibility to guide the client toward their wellness goals.
- Practice using neutral, professional language that makes clients comfortable without feeling pressured.
- A relaxed and confident demeanor reinforces your recommendations and helps put clients at ease.
- Rebooking conversations may feel awkward at first, but repetition helps build both skill and confidence.
Where It Fits
How can a re-booking conversation be part of the therapeutic relationship? Isn’t the purpose to fill our schedules so we can make more money? No, it’s isn’t. Not if you’re doing it right.
At the end of a session, when we’re reviewing the session, we may also talk to the client about the need for more massage. Since we are conscious of the financial advantage of a client re-booking (Yeah! More income!), we think of it as part of the business side of our life, especially if we are new-ish therapists. The re-booking conversation is actually a bookend to the intake conversation.
Think of it this way:
- Intake: We meet the client, review their health history form, and set the goals for the session.
- Session: We conduct a session that honors what we learned during Intake, respond to what we find in the body and, hopefully, meets the client’s goals for the session.
- Session Review: We talk with the client about what we learned during the session, discuss whether you were able to meet the client’s goals, and discuss where to go from here.
- Closing: We accept payment, if necessary, and book additional sessions if requested.
The Intake and the Session Review “bookend” the session. The “where to go from here” (in Session Review) may include a referral to another massage therapist or medical professional. It may include advice on stretching and exercises. It may also in your professional opinion and capacity include recommending another session.
You will find the re-booking conversation more comfortable if you remember it is not part of the Payment step. It is part of Session Review, part of your professional therapeutic responsibilities.
We are, of course, conscious of the financial advantage of clients returning for more sessions. If we aren’t recommending rebooking, though, for the benefit of the client first and foremost, we reduce our clients to dollar signs and most of us are not going to enjoy that for very long.
Your Opinion Matters
There is a power imbalance in the therapist – client relationship which is why I keep saying “in your professional opinion and capacity”. While the client makes the decision, our advice carries extra weight.
If you believe – as the professional in the room – that the client would benefit from another session then a rebooking conversation is a natural part of making sure the client is receiving the best of your expertise. If you don’t recommend another session when you firmly believe it would help them achieve their goals, you are being professionally irresponsible.
Recommending isn’t pressuring, insisting, or pushing. That’s over-stepping our professional boundaries.
What if the client, in your professional opinion, doesn’t need another session but might enjoy another massage? You can still offer to book another session as an act of customer service, as a courtesy. If they decline, you accept their decision graciously.
Trusting your judgment
If you are new to massage you are probably asking yourself “but how do I know if they need another session?” That, honestly, takes some time. It takes going through this process over and over with many different clients. Like so many things massage-related, it takes practice.
In fact, when polling some massage therapists about how they got comfortable with rebooking, the most common advice was to just do it, over and over. Eventually you’ll get comfortable with it. It takes time to master massage strokes, body mechanics, and virtually everything else in massage. It takes time to master the rebooking conversation too.
Fortunately, there are ways to help you determine if you should recommend rebooking to your client.
- Listen to your body: If you close your eyes and listen to your instincts (generally found between your xiphoid process and your pubic symphysis), a yes or no may appear. If you then ask your instincts how many sessions, you may find a number floating up. While listening to your body, ignore anything that comes into your mind (generally found north of your eyebrows.)
- Review the session in your mind: Do you have the sense you met the client’s goals? Did you feel that you didn’t have enough time to get to everything? Were there places that could benefit from more attention?
- Review the session with your client: Do they feel like they got the results they sought? Did they also sense there were places that could use more attention? Did the session bring up issues they weren’t aware of? Would they keep going with this session if you both had the time?
When you are doing this as part of the Session Review conversation it will feel more natural.
Preparing yourself for the conversation
If you want to be ready for the rebooking conversation there are three things you need to work on:
- Your mindset. How do you understand the purpose of the rebooking conversation? What unhelpful messages float out of your brain? (It’s usually the above-the-eyebrows real estate that does this.) How can you confront those unhelpful messages and take them out of play?
- Your words. With practice (trial and error) you will find the right phrasing to convey professionalism and neutrality when recommending additional sessions.
- Your body language. If your body language conveys discomfort, you are undermining your recommendations.
Let’s look at these a little more deeply.
Your mindset is often based on how confident you are in yourself. In an earlier article, I wrote “If we don’t believe in ourselves it’s almost impossible to convey the kind of confidence that helps clients feel secure.” Do what you can to be coming from a place of professional confidence when you are discussing the need to more bodywork with a client.
Language is another challenge. It’s only a few words yet we can trip over our tongue many times till we get it just right.
Melissa Cope of Asheville NC recommends saying “’Would you like to set up your next appointment now or get back to me?’ That gives them an out if they don’t want to book right now.”
She goes on to say “Whether a client does or doesn’t re-schedule may have nothing to do with you. Some people don’t want to plan ahead or don’t have time in the moment.
“Sometimes a client will say ‘I’ll get back to you’. When that happens I say ‘great, I’m booking about xx weeks out right now’ to give them an idea of how much lead time they might need if they want to get back on my schedule.
“If they’ve seen you more than once you can assume they want to come back.”
Another way to frame the conversation is to tie it to what you both discovered in the session. For example, “We both learned that you’ve got a great deal of tension in your legs and we weren’t able to take care of all of it today. I’d recommend two more sessions in the next 2-4 weeks. How does that sound to you? Is it feasible for you?”
Your mindset and your words come from within you but your body language is right out there telling all the world how you really feel about what you’re saying. You’re more likely to be believed when your face is relaxed and smiling, you aren’t wringing your hands, mumbling, or avoiding eye contact.
Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror as you practice inviting a client to re-book? Yes, it’s going to feel weird initially but it’s a good way to practice your wording and notice your body language. Watch how your body language changes as you get more comfortable. Do your shoulders and hands relax? Is it easier to smile authentically? Does your voice become more normal?
Having a relaxed body eases your mind. Having a confident mind relaxes your body. Get them working together and everything gets easier.
First, though, you’ve got to quit thinking of the re-booking conversation as part of the business relationship with the client. The re-booking conversation properly belongs in the therapeutic relationship, not the business relationship even if it coincidentally generates income. The more you embrace that truth, the more comfortable you’ll get with the conversation.
About the Author
Kelly Bowers is the owner of the Healing Arts Business Academy which specializes in helping massage therapists set up their private practice and navigate the first two years in practice. She is an author, presenter at regional and national conferences, an instructor in professional training programs, an NCBTMB-approved provider of continuing education and a retired massage therapist. She lives in Durham, North Carolina. (NC 16669)
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