Yes, People Want to Help You
Copyblogger points out that People Really Want to Help You. In his post, Brian Clark summarizes research by psychology researcher Felix Warneken. Warneken found that behaving altuistically (helping someone when there’s nothing to gain) is innate in
humans, and can be seen in babies sometimes younger than 18 months old.
Yes, people do want to help you especially if you tell them what you need.
Counselors and healing professionals often feel it is wrong or inappropriate to ask others (especially clients) for referrals or help with getting the word out about their practice. What they don’t realize is that most people are very happy to help. For
example, simply saying something to a client like, "I have room for
more clients right now, if you know anyone who could benefit from my
services, I would appreciate you sending them my way" can make a big
difference in the number of referrals you receive. Many clients will feel good about being able to do something for you and will gladly spread the word. Often, they do know of someone that they wouldn’t have thought about otherwise.
It is also important to remember that the more you give to others, the more inclined they will be to help you. When you approach marketing from this persective, you will not only enjoy the process of marketing more, you will see the results reflected in the number of referrals you receive.
Finally, remember to give for the sheer pleasure you receive from giving. In Brian’s words:
It’s up to you to give, give, give. You’re not being altruistic, because you do
have something to gain. But you should give like you’ll never get
anything back, and simply accept it when on occasions you don’t. You’re
going to have to work hard to cut through the cynicism and get back to
human nature.
A Short Marketing Plan
A lot of counsellors and healing professionals don’t like the idea of developing a marketing plan and feel very intimidated by the thought of putting one together.
I find that counsellors and healing professionals don’t need a complicated plan, they need something that they can understand and that they will use. And if you are one of those professionals who thinks you don’t need a plan or that having one isn’t important, do think again. Every professional service business needs a plan if they serious about being successful.
I have a marketing plan template that I developed for my clients that is simple and easy to use.
I just discovered another interesting marketing plan template while reading Guy Kawasaki refers to that you might want to check out. It’s called the World’s Shortest Marketing Plan and was created by Kelly Odel. Guy revised it and you can download a copy here.
You can also get an article I wrote on developing a marketing plan on this page if you are interested in reading a little more on the topic.
