“I’d Rather Die Than Market My Practice”
Does that sound like you?
The other day I received an email from a Counselor starting a private practice who told me she would rather die than promote or market her private practice. The day before that a Healer who had only one client told me that she goes to her office on most days and waits for clients to show up. She too advised me that she really dislikes marketing. And yesterday a Massage Therapist who was working in a clothing store told me that she was building her practice but that she is not a marketer, she is really a Healer and an Artist.
There are a lot of counselors, therapists and healers who have woken up and realized that these kinds of thoughts and behaviors will get them nowhere fast. Consequentially they have made the shift in their attitudes and actions by learning how to promote their private practice effectively.
However, I still hear these kinds of statements on a regular basis. And often with these attitudes comes the belief that somehow magically the clients are just going to appear just because they want them to.
So, what is my point? I have written about these issues many times, and I imagine I will continue to as long as I keep seeing them. I guess I am wondering what the difference is between the practitioners I have described above and those who realize that they must market, that it won’t kill them if they do, that marketing can be honest and fun, and that they have to learn marketing knowledge and skills. In essence, what is the difference between those that choose success and those who don’t?
While I already know many of these differences, I am interested to hearing other’s thoughts. I will undoubtedly be writing more about this in the future, so keep posted.
Free Teleconference: Relationship: At the Heart of Marketing
As a therapist, holistic counselor, or other healing professional, you likely have excellent relationship skills as these skills are central to your work with your clients. However, it is quite likely that you are not using them to your full advantage when it comes to building your private practice. In this free teleclass, you will earn how to develop and utilize these skills to attract more clients.
Date: Thursday, September 7, 2006
Time: 5:00pm-6:00pm Pacific Time (8:00pm-9:00pm Eastern).
To register:
1. Send an email to: mailto:rel-marketing@aweber.com
2. You will then receive an email asking for CONFIRMATION that you
have registered. You MUST click on the link in that email to
confirm your registration.
3. You will then be sent an email with instructions for making the
call.
Is Building Your Practice Overwhelming You?
A while back I pointed to a pod cast on managing overwhelm. Since it is a topic that comes up often with my clients in relation to building a private practice, I thought I would write a few tips that have worked for me when it has felt like it’s all too much to manage:
1. Review your goals. Are they realistic? Are they manageable? Are they still relevant?
Do they need to be more focused or fine tuned? It is easy to feel overwhelmed when you are lacking clarity around your goals or have not set them appropriately.
2. Plan your marketing days and times. Your marketing time should be scheduled into your appointment book just like you schedule in your clients. If you don’t treat marketing activities with the same importance as your clients, you will constantly find that you are struggling to get things done.
3. Find a structure for your marketing that you can follow. Set completion tasks for each day, week, month, etc. Develop or use systems and tools that will help you do this.
4. Know that you can’t and don’t have to do everything. Decide what is manageable given your time and energy and how quickly you want to achieve your goals. Choose a few marketing strategies that you can implement to the best of your abilities and act on them.
5. Remember to get help. Even the most experienced marketers need additional help and support from time to time. In fact, those that do best have regular input from others, whether it’s through professional consulting or coaching, a mastermind group, partnering with colleagues (joint ventures) or informal networking or gatherings tend to achieve greater success than those who try to do it all alone.
