Client Appointments Slowed to a Trickle? Try One of 4 Ideas

Are you like my friend* Julie, whose business as a life coach has taken a nose dive in recent months?

Maybe you're in the same boat with my colleague Arty, whose counseling clients are getting fewer and farther between?

Or, is your situation more like my client Dr. Genefer, who is considering closing down her naturopathic medicine practice and working as a natural supplements sales rep?

There's no question that the recession is impacting the bottom line of the solopreneur in the healing arts. But before you start cleaning houses, flip burgers, or throw in the towel altogether, ask yourself if you have tried enough creative, alternative ways to generate income in the field you love.

If not, here are 4 low cost, quick to start, in your field ideas to consider. BTW, these aren't as much for generating quick cash as for consistently keeping your pipeline full.

1. Start a Group

• Pick a dire need that your clients are desperate to end, improve, or achieve
• Make sure the target market is viable enough to be willing to pay for group membership
• Be direct and grounded in how you market the group
• Do it in person, by phone, connected to a networking organization, or sponsored by a company

2. Write a Self Help E-book

• Focus on a specific, definable problem with easy to describe steps to end, improve, or overcome
• Limit profesional jargon, maximize step by step instruction, and keep length to 15-50 pages
  
• Include pictures or clip art, and worksheets
• Include a plug for your regular services at the end
• Be assertive and persistent in how you market the e-book, whether as a free tool, or for a small fee**

3. Produce One or More Downloadable Self Help Audios

• Use a free conference call service on the internet if your computer isn't capable of recording
• Script out what you will say and rehearse it with a friend before recording
• Be clear in your diction, simple in your words, and slow-ish in your speaking
• Invite several friends or clients to participate in the recording with their questions
  
• End with a call to action for buying your e-book, or making an appointment for regular services
• Capture the wav file and save to your computer, then load onto to your website
• Market via social media

4. Develop a Creative Payment System

• Borrow and adapt from concierge or boutique practices
• Offer bonuses or discounts if clients will pay for a package in advance
• Seek out private contracts with small business owners to serve their employees
• At the least, get a shopping cart or PayPal buttons on your website and start taking credit cards
  

*Of course these aren't the real names of my friend, colleague.

**Check with your state -- in some places electronic products like ebooks and audio downloads are now taxable when sold.

One Deadly Personality Trait That Kills Business

For some mysterious reason, there seems to be a rash of solopreneurs from the healing arts who share a deadly, self-sabotaging personality trait. It's curious, because they are highly skilled counselors, coaches, and naturopathic doctors.

But there's just this one habit that is really holding them back from achieving success. The prime saboteur, I call it.

So what is it, already?

It's feeling like you need permission.

• Permission to invest time, money, and energy in your business.
• Permission to charge what you're worth.
• Permission to promote your practice by talking like a specialist.
• Permission to set policies and boundaries that make your work easier.
• Permission to believe in the value of your own experience and the level of your competence.

Maybe this comes from a misguided sense of politeness. Perhaps it's a delay in developing an internal locus of control. Or not enough chance to grow into your own personal power.

Whatever the reason, this sabotaging mindset comes across in client attraction marketing like you are asking for your prospective clients' permission or approval to offer or provide something. It makes you reluctant to voice firm details about how you work.

It's quite self destructive when it risks you being viewed as a naive professional who isn't seasoned enough to help others.

I know that sounds overly negative, and perhaps a bit harsh. But think about it from the perspective of a person who is ready for your services and is in process of sorting through the field of options to find the best provider for them.

How much direct, grounded, comfortableness with being in business you exude becomes how much confidence that person will have liking and trusting you enough to hire you.

So let me whisper in your ear:

• You already have all the permission you need.
• It's already deep down inside you -- it's the urge that's called self-authority.
• You can trust the self-authority instinct that tells you it's okay to be bold, clear, and direct.
• You can soften your style of directness and still be clear in your boundaries and statements of what you want, need, and expect.
  

7 Ideas for When You Don't Have Time to Market

When you think you don't have time to market, that's a problem. Your practice may have enough clients right now, but do you have all the things in place that you need to ensure that there are always people coming into the pipeline to replace those who "graduate" from your services?

Ideally, to get a private practice in the healing arts off the ground successfully, conventional wisdom says you'll need to be engaged in marketing tasks 4 hours a day 6 days a week for 6 months to a year.

I can hear a lot of you groaning about spending that much time.

About half of my business coaching clients aren't new at their work, just changing status from agency or clinic or corporate employment to private practice. Some are moving away from taking insurance to being completely cash-based. Your practices have been successful for a while, and you don't want to feel and act like a beginner, putting that much time in.

Okay, here's what I'd recommend when you're in transition or have very limited time. Missed and cancelled appointments are perfect times for accomplishing any of these marketing upkeep tasks.

What you'll need: a laptop and internet access in your office.
What to do: pick just one of the tasks below to fill your available time.
Assumes: you already have a website, are on some locator directories, maybe do some blogging.

1. Review and refresh your website. Make sure has strong, emotionally compelling messages on the home page. Ensure that the target niches are current. Check all the links to make sure they still work and eliminate the ones that send people off your site. Time expense: 2 hours to half a day now, and once every year).

2. Add visitor capture widgets -- some way and reason for people to provide you their email address in exchange for something they can implement immediately, like a tip sheet or a quiz. Time expense: 30 minutes or less, once.

3. Add articles you've already written. Recycle old blog posts, ezine topics, publication articles you've submitted to update references, statistics, etc. Time expense: 30 minutes or less for adding to website, 2-3 hours or less for revising each article, one per week or month.

4. Review and refresh all locator directory profiles. Make sure they are consistent with your refreshed website, and are speaking to your current target niche market. Time expense: 1 hour or less per profile, once a week until done.

5. If all updating is complete, brainstorm a list of questions your clients ask you. If you have a blog already established, and if you can post in draft mode (unpublished), start a new blog draft with each question. This forms a ready prompt for later. Time expense: 30 minutes - 1 hour.

6. Pick one blog draft prompt question, and off the top of your head start writing a conversational answer. Voila, you have a blog post. Edit for spelling and grammar, and publish. Time expense: 20-40 minutes.

7. After publishing new blog post, go to your Twitter account and Tweet it, thus driving traffic to your blog. Time expense: assuming you already have your professional Twitter account established, 5 minutes or less.

Amazing Statistics of Socialnomics

I admit to being an early skeptic of the value of social media for building a solopreneur private practice. Unlike a friend of mine, I have a low tolerance for trivial minutia of daily life, and just don't care to know who's having beans for breakfast.

However, I've been getting my toes wet in the universe of Twitter, Biznik, LinkedIn, Xing, Plaxo, and other SM sites and am starting to see the remarkable value for counselors, coaches and NDs. More on that in future blog posts. For now, you can view how I'm using Twitter at http://twitter.com/NoHypeCoach.

Today I want to share with you this video linked by Coach Reporter. If you brain is as old as mine, you may have to watch it twice to catch all the details, but it's well worth it.


To make it readable, click to full screen with the button that's second from the right. To return to the blog, hit your ESC key.