I received a disturbing email from a friend of mine yesterday. He was letting me know that he was seriously thinking about leaving the help industry and getting a job. I personally know this practitioner, I've used his services for an issue and I'm surprised that he isn't completely swamped with customers; but he isn't.
In fact, his business has slowed to the point he's ready to leave for good. Maybe it's a good thing, maybe it's not. But it got me thinking because we've all had those thoughts and I believe that we as healer and health practitioners, need to do something before we lose another good man or woman to the evil empire.
What are we as health and healing practitioners going to do to change this? If you are in the health or healing business, lets talk about what we can to to support one another and come up with some practical solutions.
I, for one, think that if we are going remain competitive that we are going to have to adopt some of the methodologies that have come about through the internet.
Some of these things I've resisted like the plague because I feel that they cheapen or sensational our skills and abilities. For one is "sales and squeeze: pages. This tactic is where you force the potential customer to signup for your email list before you allow them access to your content on your website and then you bomb them with emails everyday until they buy something or they drop off the email list.
The bad news is this type of marketing works. And it works so well that many "successful or expert" marketers use it and make tons of money selling mostly information products to "help" you sell your products and services. The problem is I've never really seen want of these "successful" marketers come up with anything that really increased my customer inquires. What seems to work the best is "word-of-mouth" referrals.having said that, I'm going to be thinking about how I can increase the number of referrals that I give to my colleagues so that their can stay in business.
Here are a few tips that you can use to immediately improve your business and get more PAYING customers.
Tip #1
Tell everyone what you do and that you CHARGE for your services. There still seems to be an enigma about talking and money and being a health or healing practitioner. If you feel uncomfortable about asking for or about, getting paid remember you are providing a service. did you notice that the last time you had your oil changed that the guy wanted his money BEFORE you got you car back? it's the same thing here. If you provide a service you can have an expectation to receive compensation for that service.
Tip #2
Adjust your website. Make it possible for your customers to contact you so they buy your products and services directly off the website. Most people put content on their website but never get around to asking their customers to buy something. The easiest way to get some to buy something is to ask them they can always say "no" but if you don't ask you've already got a "no"
Tip #3
Give a gift. If the internet has taught me nothing else this one thing makes a huge difference in getting your potential customers off the fence and becoming your customer. FREE gifts, FREE trials and DISCOUNTS on services for buying in bulk or packages. I would never buy shoes or clothing or anything else without trying it on first, give your customer the same option.
Tip #4
Pay a referral fee. I pay one-time referral fee to ANYONE who sends me a customer, including my customers. Everyone like to get paid and you should see your customers face when you give them a check or cash for a referral they made that resulted getting a new client.
Tip #5
Treat you business like a business. This might sound obvious but I've done enough business coaching to discover that people treat their businesses as if it's a hobby. Set regular hours of work and regular hours of off-time and NEVER, NEVER, NEVER mix those hours. When you start acting like a health or healing professional then other people with treat you with the same regard.
Tip #6
Be selective about your customers. This might be the strangest suggestion I've made so far but what we do takes time, energy and commitment. When you are in business, any business, 80% of your problems, no-shows, slow-pays and "last-minute" cancellations are coming from 20% of your customers so GET RID OF THEM. You can use that extra time you've created by not messing around with people who don't really want any help or don't really want to heal, with customers that do. When you do this you will automatically start getting a higher quality lasting change for your customers who want to be there and higher quality of referral from them.
I look forward to your feedback and contact me if you have any ideas that we can implement as a group or an individual.
Michael Harris, PhD
1 comment:
There is an interesting dynamic between those who are successful marketers and those who live their lives to be of service. Unscientifically, I'd say the two groups of people are hard wired differently in how they process information and show up in the world. The marketer is seeking wealth and opportunities to increase wealth. The more they focus on what is necessary to achieve financial success, the more successful they are likely to be.
Most healers I know do not have the same level of drive for success. Their energy and focus is about being of service and they seek opportunities to provide their service. They do want to be compensated but the gathering of wealth is not as much of a priority as the quality of service they provide. This is my experience of a number of healers I know and as a healer myself. Over the years, I have been in professions in which I have had to do a lot of marketing such as when I had my own nightclub back in Los Angeles. But I built the club not so much to make money (there are much easier ways to make money, believe me) as to be of service to musicians and the music I love.
While I certainly appreciate money and would like to make more of it, my available energy is about helping people help themselves. That's when my brain functions the best.
This may be a reflection of how people show up differently in society. Observations have been made about relationships in which one person always shows up as a giver while another shows up as a taker. Maybe the successful marketers are good takers (although they do have to have something to give) while the healers put their focus on becoming better at giving whatever art or service is their passion.
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