Private Clients: The First Key to Business Success as a Coach or Therapist

This will be the shortest of the posts on the “four keys” to success as a therapist or coach because it is the one I speak about on the most regular of basis. So, in this article I am just going to run through a very simple checklist of everything you want to be doing to get private clients.

As I said in a previous entry (read it here), you need to do two things to be successful:
1) Define your niche.
2) Dominate your niche, so you are the first (and preferably only) person people think of when they are looking for someone in that niche.

1. Decide on a Niche

It doesn’t need to be totally original, but it needs to be something specific that sets you apart from the rest of the coaches and therapists out there. Think of a niche as a “need”, what need in people can you fulfil?

2. Define what you do in 90 seconds or less

If you cannot explain your niche enough to get the person so interested they ask for more information in 90 seconds or less (preferably less), you niche is not defined enough.

3. Shrink that 90-second sales pitch to one sentence, this is your strapline

It should be striking and memorable and explain a bit about what you do.
I like Joe Vitale’s “I can make you famous in 90 seconds or less – GUARANTEED!”

4. Get your marketing “literature” sorted

I put “literature” in inverted comments as I also include websites in this category.

Firstly, get yourself a website. It doesn’t need to be fancy (in fact I would recommend simplicity), but needs to explain what you do and how people can book you. Don’t worry with any fancy nonsense like video yet.

Then get yourself some well-designed business cards (not rubbish free ones!). Your business card is still your number 1 marketing tool.

Recently I have been advocating more “old school” methods such as A6 flyers.

5. Develop a presence and reputation

a) Online

Social networking is brilliant for this. Get yourself a blog, a twitter account, a facebook account, a linked in account, etc and start putting relevant, interesting and informative content on there (using social networking to overtly sell is a big “no, no” and won’t do you any favours, although people appreciate you are running a business, so asking for clients, etc, whilst giving  good quality content is OK).

Also, add yourself to as many free directory sites as possible, like DMOZ, Gumtree, Googlemaps, Selfgrowth.com and any other relevant directories for what you do, and work on your Search Engine Rank (suggestions on this will be in a future entry).

b) Offline

Deliver your leaflets (or get them delivered), they are no use in the box in your office!

Give out your business card to everyone you meet, go to (free) networking events (your local chamber of commerce will have details).

Get yourself in the media. Write a press release (it has to be interesting, newsworthy and relevant, don’t just send out a release telling everyone about who you are, that is just selling and will get binned) and send it to local TV, radio and newspapers. National media may be a good ego boost, but local media is what will get you clients.

It is deceptively simple (in principle) to become successful in this key area, but it does take a lot of hard work, perseverance and consistency. The secret to being successful in this key (and in all the other areas) is to develop an effective niche. Once you have that everything else will drop into place.

Matt

PS If you liked this post, please bookmark it on Digg, Stumbled Upon, Twitter, etc. I would really appreciate it

Back To The Old School

I was having a very interesting conversation the other day with an NLP trainer. He said he was going back to “old school” marketing methods like flyer drops, mail shots and calling people up, as the internet was too crowded and it is too hard to be heard above the din of everyone else (also, he had some mean things to say about “online marketing techniques”, but I won’t go into that…)

Does he have a point? Is the internet too crowded with everyone else trying to sell you something?

You see, the great thing about the internet if you are setting up your first business is that it is cheap. Very cheap, compared to the traditional costs and it is much easier to find customers (or it should be, more on that in a minute).

However, the fact that the internet has made setting up your own business cheap and easy is a blessing and a curse.

Because it is easy and cheap, you can set up your coaching or therapy practice at a fraction of the cost it would have been 10 or 15 years ago, but because it is so cheap and easy, much more people are doing it, therefore the competition has increased.

The recession hasn’t help, as people, in desperation to make some extra cash (and understandably so) have turned to the internet, lured in by the promise of creating an internets business you can run in your bedroom in as little as 1 hour a week (not possible by the way…).

It is getting more and more complicated to get heard, with ever more subtle and expensive methods cropping up (how successful these are I am not sure). Marketing on the internet and staying ahead of the curve is turning into a full time job. You could easily spend all your time marketing on the internet and leave no time to do the work you are marketing (if you are solely selling products, this isn’t necessarily an issue, but it is dull!).

In light of these changes, I have been thinking about how to incorporate more offline methods into my marketing strategy. I have recently been experimenting with A6 flyer drops around my local area to promote my coaching practice, it is too early yet to report on the success, I will let you know how I get on when I have something to report.

My advice, at the moment is, actually, what it has always been. You cannot rely on one avenue of marketing. The internet is important (you are no one nowadays without a website!), but it shouldn’t be your only means of reaching out to clients. You need to balance your online and offline marketing strategy and test, test, test and test some more to see what works for you.

To get 10 simple and free strategies to help promote your business have a look at the “Professional Practice Builder Handbook“.

So, what do you think? Are you abandoning the internet to return to more traditional marketing methods? Is the internet still working for you as marketing medium? What are you doing that works? Post any thoughts in the comment box below, I look forward to hearing them.

Matt

With the internet becoming more and more saturated with people trying to sell you something, is it worth going back to “old school” marketing methods?