When we’re starting out, we’re often excited about what we do, but we are in desperate need of clients and patients. So we do what we can to promote our practice without having a specific marketing strategy. I’ve noticed this often and it’s what I call ‘a little of this and a little of that’ syndrome.
Since we were not trained in marketing, we do not know how important it is to develop a strategy. We offer free sessions because we’ve heard they spread the word about what we do. We could give a random free talk at a health food store. So we start attracting customers here and there, but there is no real strategy behind our marketing.
Soon, clients and patients start coming to us, and we start to get busy in our practice and problems and challenges start to arise that weren’t there when we started. We begin to feel that we are floating on water.
In between seeing clients and patients, we try to manage these issues and these challenges. But I reiterate, no one has given us a manual or formula, or instructions on how to deal with these issues that are emerging in our Practice.
Issues like dealing with last-minute cancellations, people falling behind on their payments, handling demanding clients, or even deciding when to hire your first assistant. Or maybe when to expand your office staff.
Again, we have not been given instructions on how to manage or how to handle a busy and active practice, or how to handle these challenges with grace. So what happens, as Practitioners, we start to feel like we are putting out fires at this stage of our business.
We wonder if things could possibly work better. Sometimes even practitioners begin to doubt why they decided to practice in the first place. And I totally get it because I’ve been there.
So let me give you three keys that you must have in place to have a smooth and successful practice.
1.) Be clear about your unique flavor in your practice. I’m sure you’ve heard me talk about this before. His unique flavor to his practice is how he does what he does.
In the overall scheme, his unique flavor is the vision of his Practice; what you want to experience. It’s how you want your practice to look, feel, and operate.
More specifically, I’m talking about being clear about how what you offer is different from what other practitioners offer. Whether you are offering acupuncture, classical homeopathy, or nutrition, you need to stand out in the marketplace and among other holistic practitioners, both in your field and beyond.
When you are clear about the unique flavor of your practice and clearly communicate it, marketing is easier, more affordable, and certainly more effective.
2.) Market and promote your practice in a way that suits your personality. Many times I find that practitioners have tried a marketing strategy or idea, but didn’t follow it and weren’t consistent with it because it didn’t feel right to them.
Professionals will tell me that when using a particular marketing strategy, it “feels too pushy” or “it doesn’t feel authentic to who I am.” It’s really important that you’re comfortable with how you market your practice, because you want the marketing strategy to be consistent.
If you’re not comfortable with the way you’re marketing your practice, chances are you won’t move forward. You will procrastinate and stop doing it.
When I help my private clients create a marketing wheel (I call it a marketing wheel instead of a marketing plan), I first figure out what comes naturally to them. I also find out more about their personality and then build marketing strategies on that knowledge.
When practitioners feel 100% positive about their marketing strategies, it’s easier for them to follow through.
3.) Create simple systems. This is the area where many practitioners will often cringe. When I talk about creating simple systems, they tell me they “prefer to go with the flow,” that having a system “feels counterintuitive to their nature,” and that they “don’t want to feel rigid.”
I encourage practitioners to consider simple systems as the framework that will free them to be more intuitive. When you have established structures for how to do things, repetitive things that are done day after day, practitioners can go more with the flow.
Having simple systems is like having a solid foundation from which you can then dance. First you have to have that solid foundation to plant your feet firmly.
Simple systems include:
– Have correct forms and policies.
– Have an easy way to schedule your clients that your staff can follow. Whether you are hiring a new assistant or someone who has been working with you for years.
– How to handle the frequently asked questions you and your staff are asked over and over again.
– How to handle and manage last minute clients.
– How to deal with people who are negligent in their payments.
I think you will find that when you are clear about your unique flavor in your practice, start marketing and promoting yourself and your business in a way that feels authentic to you, as well as creating simple systems, you will see and feel that running a practice smoothly and successfully is not only possible, but certainly achievable.
