There is such a thing as a free lunch!A few years ago I went to lunch with an acupuncturist I met at a local businesswoman's networking group. The food was wonderful. I happily paid the check Over lunch, we talked about our lives, our businesses, our husbands and our favorite types of clients. I learned that, besides acupuncture, she did nutritional counseling, energy work and hormonal testing. She told me she had a masters degree in counseling but had decided not to pursue licensure. She followed her passion of Chinese medicine. We discussed how our clients could benefit from both Western psychotherapy and Chinese medicine. It was an energizing lunch for me. I left excited to have met a new colleague. Over the years, there were many lunches. We began to refer clients to one another. Some of my bipolar clients did very well with acupuncture treatments. I was able to help some of her clients who were having chronic depression and relationship difficulties. When I tracked how much money I had made from this one referral source, I was amazed. It paid for that first lunch a hundred times over. An introvert's secret to marketing a great practice.Many times people ask me if you have to be a card-carrying extrovert to build a great practice. They look at people like Dr. Phil or other therapists in the public eye and exclaim "I could never do that!" No problem. Introverts can build wonderful practices! The secret is to know how to talk about what you do so others will say "Hey! That's me!" and "I want that!" Then just say that to as many people as you run into. This can be done in one-to-one situations such as with your dentist, eye doctor or child's piano teacher. It can be very helpful to meet other people who offer non-competing services to your target market. For example if you want to help people grieving over a lost pet, go meet the front-desk person at your local veterinarian's office. I did this once. I wrote every vet in my local area a letter introducing myself and speaking about the grief that can be overwhelming when one loses a pet. I enclosed some cards. That was over 4 years ago. Three weeks ago, someone called telling me their vet had referred them since they had just lost their beloved pet. In fact, one of the veterinarians asked me to come into his office and do some team building. One of the wives of a vet to whom I'd sent my card came in to do some grief work with me. This didn't take a lot of extroverted activity. It didn't fill my practice completely but it did bring in a few clients. In summary: 1. Identify your ideal population |
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