You see although this approach did work in some ways it was not an efficient way of operating a business. So I took a step back and started to apply some of the business lessons I had learned from my previous career in business development. By changing my approach and strategy I suddenly found I have plenty more clients and was earning more money as well. Having a well thought out Hypnotherapy Marketing Strategy transformed my business and no doubt it could yours as well.
Simple Ideas to Help Your Hypnotherapy Marketing Strategy
Not all Clients are Equal - Applying an accountants eye to my clients it soon became apparent that I actually did not want some clients. Why? Because some would make me much less money that others. Attracting clients takes time, effort and in some cases money. Every one of you will have a cost associated with obtaining a client. Now if that client is only with you for one or two sessions you are actually making very little from them. If they are a client who is doing a multi session program with you then you will earn more. Why was I spending the same time and effort attracting both? Now I concentrate on a number of niche markets where my advertising is tailored and which brings me in clients who generally stay with me for at least five sessions. That means that I am booked well in advance and generate more revenue.
Show me the Money - When I book a client now I always take a substantial deposit or the whole payment for their session in advance. Why? Because when I didn't take deposits a significant number of bookings would simply not bother to show up. Now anyone looking to come and see me is told that they need to pay a deposit to confirm the booking. Once the booking is confirmed they get a confirmation email and a notice of my cancellation policy. I now no longer get time wasters at my practice and I am no longer left with empty slots that are earning me no money.
Less is More - Talking on the phone for hours with a potential client is all very well but it takes up considerable amounts of my time. Time where I can be seeing clients or working on new products. Now I am more than happy to fully discuss a treatment with a client before they book but I now speak to them for no longer than twenty minutes. Why? Because I found that in 80% of the cases where I spoke to people for longer I wouldn't necessarily have a great chance of getting a booking. Anxious clients sometimes rang for reassurance when they were feeling panic so I was being used as an online therapist for no fee. Other people had no intention of booking but just wanted to know more about hypnosis. Others had told me they had already rung, 3, 4 or 5 other therapists and were still making up their mind. Now that is great for the people calling but not so good for my business. Now people get an opportunity to ask relevant questions and if they want to find out more or have a therapeutic discussion they need to pay for my time.
No I Don't Want to Go for A Coffee - As I became more successful other therapists wanted to talk to me so that they could tap into some of my knowledge. Of course they wanted this for free and an easy way of doing this was chatting to me on social media and asking me if I wanted to meet for a coffee. Now whilst it is lovely to meet other therapists and share ideas it is not ok if it is one way traffic and it stops you from getting on with other work. Every time I met someone for a coffee a couple of hours out of my day were gone. Hours which could have been spent seeing other clients, marketing or building my business. Now if people want information about how I have successfully built up my business I refer them to one of my online mentoring programs or to my Hypnotherapy Marketing Ebook. When you run a small business you simply cannot afford to give all your knowledge and time for free to people individually. If you do you will never get anything done. Now I have learned to say no my business has gone from strength to strength.
Networking For Dummies - Networking is great for your business but not all networking groups are equal. Seeing the same people again and again week after week in a networking group isn't always great. In fact some of the groups that I attended were little more than glorified coffee mornings with a bit of cross selling thrown in. In other words I would be telling the people attending about my products and services and they would try and sell me theirs in return. There was very little evidence that I would sell anything to anyone outside the group. Pointless. Choose where you spend your time and money carefully and note where you will get the best return.
Now these are just some of the elements that I use as part of my Hypnotherapy Marketing Strategy which I thought would be fun to share. Of course these are just the tip of the iceberg and in my Hypnotherapy marketing mentoring sessions with my clients I discuss many more. Are you ready to take your therapy business to the next level in 2015?
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