Posts Tagged ‘attracting clients’

Helping Others with Holistic Health

May 18th, 2011

I've yet to meet someone who has an interest in training in a holistic therapy who hasn't a passion for helping others.  That's the real motivation factor for most in the holistic health field.  So how can you help more people? How can you help more people book an appointment with you? Because you know your therapy can help them.  Well first of all it's necessary to help them come to a decision.  Prospective clients are looking at your brochure, website or business card for specific information. They have a problem they are seeking help, and it's that problem that's top of mind.  Does your brochure, website or business card "speak to them"? Does it connect with what they want, does it position you as the expert and help them feel understood?

When a client feels understood, it can be a huge relief to them.  That you are the answer to their prayers.  Think about how you can help your clients even BEFORE they become clients.  You see if they don't connect with you, it doesn't matter how pretty your logo is, or how professional your website looks, if they don't undrstand what you offer, if it's difficult to find your contact details, they'll probably not pick up the phone.  It's scary for clients to pick up the phone, to trust another person and go the holistic route.  I think sometimes we underestimate how difficult that can be for others.

So to summarise:

1. Make your message clear

2. Ensure your message is relevant to your target market

3. Each page should have one clear objective – what do you want each page to DO.

4. Remember, your client is looking for a solution – they actually don't really care what therapy it is, only that it'll help.

5. Trust is a big issue for new clients, so demonstrate your expertise, share testimonials, and have a keep in touch system so they can get to know you over time.

If you want to help more people, get clear on who you can help.

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Posted in Marketing Plan, Websites

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Is your practice frequency based in faith or fear?

October 27th, 2010

As holistic practitioners we know about frequencies.

We talk about the universe “sending” us clients, and if it is quiet on the client side of things, then it’s because we need a break, a treatment even, or some other reason. And it is often the case that when we are busy we don’t have the time to look after ourselves properly, and so having a quiet week is a welcome break.

But if your clinic is on the quiet side more times than it is busy, then your business probably feels more like a hobby, and is certainly not bringing enough funds to make “a living”. Pretty scary eh!

We all have fears, it’s one of the fundamental emotions associated with the Law of the Five Elements – Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood – fear being related to the Water element. So it’s a natural feeling and a healthy feeling – at appropriate times.

But just as there is a balance to all emotions, experiencing too much fear can make us feel a resistance to many things we know would be valuable to do in our holistic business. That’s when fear becomes an obstacle. The solution to all that fear is to take the first small steps of Action and defeat that fear, through to success.

So are you building your business with a foundation of fear?

  • Your fear of failure
  • Your fear of success
  • Your fear of what others will say about your
  • Your fear of getting stuff “wrong”
  • Your fear about the current economic environment
  • Your fear of money
  • Your fear of lack of money
  • Your fear of not enough clients
  • Your fear of lack of skills

If you are experiencing any or all of the above fears, then it’s likely you feel a victim to them, you feel there is little you can do, because people who live in fear are easy to control, and you are being controlled, and even feel overwhelmed by these external factors.

So today I’d like to help you get further faster, and ask you to turn those fears around.

By focusing on the power of the words that you say to yourself, to become aware of when you’re seeking perfection before doing anything (really a sign of insecurity), and to really focus on ways you can make your holistic practice a financial success in the long term.

Today I want you to decide how you are going to grow your business, and create your future you desire.

And instead of fear, decide to build it with a foundation of faith. Faith that you have the skills to help people. Trust that everyone who walks through your clinic door you can help in some way. Be confident in that, and excude that confidence – it’s infectious!

When you decide, trust and take action, it will help you be released from that fear.

Somewhere in your past you have already experienced the power of faith. Maybe it was when you put your trust in another practitioner to help you heal from an illness. Maybe it was when you decided to trust a particular therapy school to provide you with your training. Maybe it was trusting that the funds would turn up so you could pay for your training in the first place!!

When you decide to live in faith, it helps make things happen. It changes the vibration of your frequency. It changes your mood, your energy, and more importantly it makes you more “magnetic”.

“Yes, but Siobhan …” I hear you say. You’ve trusted before and you’ve still failed.

That’s OK. Think of a toddler learning to walk. Do they give up just because it didn’t work the first time? Listen to that statement – it’s based in fear. Moving forward takes time, and you need to forgive yourself for those times when it seems like it hasn’t worked. Here’s a quote I like:

“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”
– Michael Jordan

You know that the power of the mind affects the health of the body, it also has the power to affect the health of your business.

So listen for when you say something that comes from fear. While it may feel like a risk to write some articles, to follow up with clients who you know you can help, to give a talk or take a booth at a health show; remember that somewhere, someone needs you to do what you do. Don’t stay a victim to fear, defeat that fear though success, and grow in faith.

That way you’ll have clients coming to you who love what you do, who will talk about you to others, and you’ll grow your business by word of mouth.

Remember, you don’t have to know how everything is going to work out, because with faith you don’t need all the answers. Fear stops you because you think you need to know everything. You feel resistance to the very things that will grow your practice.

And my final F in today’s post is to remember, that life (and business) is supposed to be Fun. If you can inject some fun into your business, you’ll be happier, your clients will be happier, and your business a constant source of fulfillment to you.

Let me know your opinions in the comment box below. I look forward to reading what you think :-)

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Posted in A-Z of Marketing and Motivation, Mindset

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A-Z of Marketing and Motivation for Holistic Healers

August 21st, 2010

Let’s start this week with “A”

Alive

When do you feel alive, really alive? For me, I still remember the feeling when I first experienced Reflexology and then when I first experienced Kinesiology. Wow, I felt so … well … Alive!  And it keeps on happening, it’s almost surprising in a way.  So I imagine, when you receive a treatment in the therapy of your choice, you also feel it?  Another time I feel alive is when I come back after a busy day with clients – because of the positive impact I’m making to the world around me and the people in it.  I think for most holistic therapists, it’s why we felt drawn to train in the first place, to fill this need to help other people.

Ambition

I remember a teacher of mine saying, “no one becomes an holistic therapist to make their millions”. And maybe she’s right.  How many professions IS it possible to become a millionaire from, and is it what YOU want?  What is possible in your mind?  I was at a seminar earlier this year, when the speaker pointed out that it is possible to live like a millionaire on a LOT less.  If you had more money, what would you do with it? More holidays every year, bigger car, bigger house, pay off debts, go on another holiday, make charitable donations, give it away to family, buy an expensive watch, buy a boat?  He suggested making a list of all the things you’d like to buy, things you’d like to do, and find out – really find out, how much it would it all cost. You might be surprised how little you would need to live like a millionaire!  However, all this really depends on your Ambition.

So let’s look at this word, Ambition.  What does it say to you, how does it make you feel? Is it a word that strikes you as positive, or negative.  Because essentially, success boils down to -  How much do you want it? … “It” being whatever you dream about.  What stops you from pursuing your dreams – old patterns? Resistance? Fears?

Fears hold you back from taking Action, so change your mindset or attitude to one away from that fear. Make a decision to move forward.

Abundance

You see, there are enough potential clients in your local area (regardless of town size, population, or competition). Truly, there are!  “So why don’t more of them come to see me?”, I hear you cry.  Well, they’ve just never heard of you or don’t know you can help them. Make a list of all the ways that potential clients can currently can find you.  That’s what marketing is all about.  How do people KNOW that you are in practice?

Action

Nothing happens until something moves.   Think of when a car breaks down and you have to push it.  It takes so much more energy to get that car rolling than it does to keep it moving.  The biggest hurdle people face is taking action, anything to get started.  But when you start, you build momentum, and motivation.

You can change your life today by simply spending 10 minutes doing something that will bring you closer to your goals, do something today to start building the momentum.  I believe everyone can find 10 minutes in their day.

So write an Article, Answer some frequently Asked questions to get you started with your first Article.  Just DO something, because with that first Action step, you’ll start to build momentum, have an Abundance of clients, and more people will feel Alive, as a result of your Ambition to do good in this world.

Wow, A lot of As!!

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Posted in A-Z of Marketing and Motivation, Article Writing, Marketing Plan, Mindset

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How To Fill Your Appointment Book

August 10th, 2010

What 3 kinds of systems should therapists have, to market their practice?

Find out the 3 Best Ways to Connect with Clients

What should you say on the phone to get that appointment?

What should you say in the session to get repeat business?

Should practitioners create multi-treatment programs?

Learn the 3 Top Simple promotions to use that are fun and create a buzz for your practice/clinic.

Where should practitioners/therapists be putting their time and energy into finding their ideal clients?

All this and more will be covered when Siobhan Guthrie interviews Irene Diamond of SuccessfulMassageTherapist.org on Thursday 12 August. Click here for more details

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Posted in Charging Fees/money, Marketing Plan, Mindset, Uncategorized

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5 Simple Steps to Writing Your First Article FAST

August 9th, 2010

Like the idea of writing articles, but struggling to know what to say and how to get started?

Let me start by saying a blank page is NOT a good place to start.  I’m sure you’ve heard me say that writing articles is a great way to share your expertise and help your prospective clients find you.  Through the article they get to know you and trust you can help them.  However, if you’re stumbling at the first hurdle – WHAT to write about, let’s first of all address what’s underlying this very real block – the fear of getting started.

For many it brings you right back to school and when you had to write essays for teachers who would assess how “good” it was.  We become very self-conscious and worried, and we get stuck asking “What would I say”, “who would listen”, “would it be good enough”. We have to overcome the fear of failure, fear of success, the fear of standing out and being different!  And the only way to BLAST through these fears is to take Action.

So here are my 5 simple steps to writing articles, and making it easier to get over Writers Block.

Step 1. Get yourself into the right “state”.
You are the expert. Believe in what you know.  What I’m saying is YOU already know way more than you even realise.  You’ve trained often for years in holistic health and your therapy. You are an expert, so now it’s time to share it with others who really need to know about your service, solutions to their problems, and relief from their pain.
BREATHE

Step 2. Pick a topic around what you do (that you LOVE to talk about)
Maybe it’s around massage, reflexology OR maybe it’s around the a health problem you help with.  Then list 3, 4 or as many “tips”, or  “steps”, as you like, that you can write one line about. For example – 4 Workouts for Summer Confidence; 3 Ways to Avoid Back Pain; 5 Tips to Beautiful Skin etc etc. Then list Tip #1 – Tip #2 -   And write just ONE line.
BREATHE

Step 3. Start with the end in mind.
Many writers like to start with the ending. This means they can backtrack but know where the story is going and what’s going to happen. You can do this too for your articles, and gives great clarity to the process. Think about what do you want your ideal client to know by the time they read your article.

Step 4. Take each tip and expand it.
Write one paragraph for each tip that you’ve written in #2 above. It could be something that is useful for the reader, a health suggestion, or even something to avoid. It’s up to you and what you’re writing about.  This is not about what the teacher says. It’s about what you want to say to your reader – so use your natural voice.  Imagine you’re saying it to one person, your ideal client for example. Keep what you say simple.
BREATHE

Step 5. Write and publish.
They say Revenge is Sweet – and if you have a teacher in your past who didn’t “like” what you wrote, now is the time to prove them wrong. Keep Step #1 top of mind. You are the expert, what you know is valuable to others.  It does not need to be perfect, but it does need to get finished.

  • Spell check it
  • look at the overall layout,
  • read it out loud – does it flow?

Start writing your articles using Step 1-4 above and give yourself a deadline to help make this a shorter process than it could be become.  Then look at how you’re going to get your articles out there.  Writing them is the first hurdle, the next hurdle is to get them seen.

Publishing -

  • submit your article to online article directories such as EzineArticles.com,
  • put them on your website,
  • send them to your local newspaper,
  • send them to clients via your own newsletter,
  • leave them in your clinic reception for people to read.

There is no value in writing lots of articles, if you don’t let them be seen!

Good luck. Make a decision today to write your first article, set a deadline, choose a topic, and start writing.  Oh, and BREATHE!

Then let me know what your first article topic is going to be about – just submit a comment after this post.

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Posted in Article Writing, Marketing Plan

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How to charge for multiple treatments

July 21st, 2010

I got a question recently from a subscriber.

I’m sharing it with you because I think it’s important to discuss the various issues it raises. Here’s the question:

What do you recommend when a client requires more than 1 treatment in a week e.g 2 or 3 – would you reduce the fee or leave it?

There are several ways to look at this question, and various ways to answer it too!

So here’s my take on this: Sometimes acute clients do need shorter times between treatments for 1 week or 2. I would ask you, how often does this happen? Is it a rare occurance or are you seeing clients who regularly need more than one session a week?

If this happens regularly, then you might like to offer a “3, 6, 10 treatment” package that clients can use over a short period of time or a longer period of time. Call it your “fast track to … better health/weight loss/clearer thinking/more energy” for example.

Underneath this question though may be a fear about the client not being able to afford your fee, or a worry about “overcharging”.

We are often more concerned about this than the client! However, they know their financial situation – you don’t. You also don’t know their priorities. Maybe you’re going to be able to solve the very thing they’ve fretted over, been in pain about, for YEARS and your solution is what they’ve been searching for and probably paid thousands trying to solve already.

Why would you deny them the best service – the best service being you need to see them 3 times during one week? I like to offer clients a 3 treatment commitment package – they are commiting to coming for 3 treatments and by pre-paying they get a discount. Making a commitment to their health, helps the treatment be more successful. (By the way, this also helps to reduce “no shows”). They of course have the option to just book for one session, and pay as they go, but by offering it they can decide.

Essentially if you do want to discount for multiple treatments be sure of your reasons. If it’s out of fear that the client won’t come back, or, you think they will think you’re doing this “for the money”, then you’re coming from the wrong place.

Be proud of what you can do for your clients, offer them the best option, and give them enough information so they can make a decision. Ultimately it is they who will decide how to spend their money. Treatment spacing is an important part of your overall plan.

No one likes to “SELL”, and people certainly don’t like to be “sold” (but remember people do love to buy things… especially something that will be of great help to them).

At the end of the day, whether you offer a discount or not, it has to sit with you right. But don’t feel you HAVE to offer a discount, but if you decide to, make sure you’re coming from a place of service, not of fear.

Hope that helps!  Let me know what you do in this situation

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Posted in Charging Fees/money, Mindset

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T is for Thoughts

January 15th, 2010

The most important factor to your success

I learned from my instructor while training as a practitioner that the most important word in the dictionary is – attitude. Attitude you might say? What about love, respect, happiness even? Well his reasoning was while all those are good contenders, everything relies on your attitude.

While two people can witness the same thing, their attitude, the way they see things, feeds different information to them. They literally DON’T see the same thing!

There are many other words that are used when we talk about thoughts and attitude – mindset, belief system, feelings, way of thinking, opinion; lots of words, and the important thing is that because of them, we can stop ourselves succeeding in business. We can literarally be blinded by what we believe.

Having been a complementary therapist and instructor for over 12 years I know that if (and when) I’m feeling overwelmed, or I’m procrastinating, or my attitude or mindset aren’t quite right, then it really doesn’t matter how good I am at anything. Nothing gets done. Things are put on the long finger, the day drags. It’s hard to do something if our heart isn’t in it. So I agree, our mindset and attitude trumps everything.

The other day I saw this YouTube video. And I thought wow, I have to show this to you.

Sometimes we forget the role we play in other people’s lives, when we are encouraging our clients to makes change in their lives. They don’t always believe in themselves; sometimes we don’t believe in OURselves either.

Click Here

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Posted in more C.L.I.E.N.T.S

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How to get more clients

October 18th, 2009

Why do we need to do ANY marketing at all? Sure if we are good at what we do, won’t clients find out about us from their friends and colleagues. You know, that is SUCH an engrained belief, that I want you to stop and think about that sentence.

If we are good at what we do, clients will find us.

You see intellectually we might already know that word of mouth may be unreliable, but I want you to really examine whether you still secretly want that to be the way it is. You see our beliefs affect us, and often stop us from doing the very things we need to do, to make our holistic business successful.

I would hate it if you gave up your practice because you didn’t know how to get more clients.

But relying on passive ways to attract clients is not the way to go. Yes, word of mouth momentum can happen, but it takes time. And time is often what struggling practitioners don’t have. Of course it is LOVELY to get referrals and it is true some people DO build their practice that way eventually. But the rules may be different with your type of therapy. So you can’t be passive when it comes to creating the business you want to have. You must seek it out. At least a little!

New clients need to know about you, they probably are more likely to like you a little, and they need to trust you, before they become clients, or long term clients. The type of client that returns to you year after year. Not just for one session. You can’t build a successful practice if clients only come to you for one session.

So what can you do TODAY to get one or two new clients in next week?
• Put a sign up in your local health shop?
• Put your flyers in the gym/fitness centre?
• Place an advert in your local paper?

All good but not strategies that develop that “know, like and trust” factor. What I recommend as more of a long term strategy is to write some articles. Articles are better than advertising as they have long term value. Articles

• Are more likely to be read (over adverts),
• Are more likely to be kept (if they contain advice, info etc)
• demonstrate your expertise and position you
• have multiple uses
a) magazines
b) website
c) newspapers
d) your newsletter

ACTION STEP
So articles are a good idea. But now you’re thinking, eeeek, what do I write about? What do I know? But you know what, we always underestimate what it is we do know, that what comes easy to us. But people are interested, in fact are desperate for the solutions you know about.

So over the next few ezines I’m going to give you a few ideas about article writing topics, to get you started. It is a powerful strategy to “publish” articles, ebooks (online), reports, health guides etc. But for it to work you need to take Action.

Without action nothing moves (or happens).

Article Topics #1

Clients want to know more about you.
I would recommend you start writing a couple paragraphs about you. Now, not the I went to x school, learned x therapy, etc etc. The real you. What drives you? Who you want to work with? Why you want to work with them?

The thing about articles is they don’t have to be LONG. 300-500 words is plenty to get you started. I mean this article, the one you’re reading is about 500 words.

Want to know my Rules about Writing Articles quickly and easily?

Article Writing Power Rule #1
Give yourself 20 minutes to write one article. No editing, just writing. As quickly as possible. Don’t edit yourself, just “mind dump” the information. (Editing can be done once you’ve written your masterpiece!).

Article Writing Power Rule #2
Set a timer to give you that 20 minute deadline, shut off all distractions (email, phone, etc) and write your article.

Article Writing Power Rule #3
Done one article? Now write 3-4 articles in one hour. Again no editing, just writing/typing.

Without action nothing moves (or happens).
www.ClientAttractingSecrets.com

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