Hey Fabulous Health Professionals,
Today I want to share the story of what happens when clinicians get BRAVE: brave enough to make a new connection, reach out to someone new and share a simple thank you for the good that others are doing in this world.
As business owners, we often wonder where the next referral or client is going to come from. We know that putting ourselves out there is required if we want to get something in return.
But the act of actually doing what we know we need to do is a whole other story.
Who do I speak to?
What do I say?
How do I make people like me?
How do I not come across as a money-grabbing, desperate therapist with nothing to offer?
Woahhhhhh…. slow down there. As you probably already know, our inner monologue is very good at talking us out of taking action.
So with that in mind, I want to help you break out of the analysis-paralysis and step into the arena.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been running a very small relationship marketing group for clinicians in private practice.
I’ve been challenging our group to reframe how they see marketing. It doesn’t have to be intimidating. You don’t need tactics. And you don’t have to schmooze and sleaze your way through it.
Effective marketing is built on trust and rapport.
…. Just like your practice. And just like your work with your clients.
So STOP telling yourself that you can’t market, and that you can’t do it without feeling like a fraud. You can! You already do it every single day with each client you see.
One the assignments I set our group was to find an organisation in their community who:
- Does valuable, important work
- Could be a source of referrals for their practice one day
And send them a note of thank you.
Some of the group members sent beautiful handwritten letters:
While others appealed to our sweet tooth with cupcakes:
And some went old school and couriered a bunch of flowers to people who do important work in their local community:
The results were astounding – even to me, because while I know this stuff works, I couldn’t believe that our group members were getting new referrals within days.
Now normally, it takes to time to build a relationship – I typically say it takes 6 weeks to develop real trust and rapport.
But isn’t it amazing what happens when you’re brave enough to put yourself out there, not to market and talk about how great you are, but to just say thank you, and “I’m here to help if you need me?”
Who can you thank today?
I love this. Yep 6 touches for people to “get you” Thanks for the remind of how to reframe and how simple it is to focus on relationships instead of marketing.