Clinton Power, founder of www.AustraliaCounselling.com.au, an Australian directory for counsellors and psychotherapists presents on the essential mindset you need to develop to create a successful therapy business.
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-here’s me with my trainer Dr Michael Reed and colleague in final year of Gestalt -6 years of training- not one class on marketing -I was working for a large national relationship counselling service being paid small amount and having clients paying $150 an hour -out of frustration I left to go out on my own -had another job to keep myself going -created beautiful website- all about me -got business cards, rented a room and waited expecting clients to come through the door -clients didn’t come- I was struggling to make a living from clients- 2 or 3 a week, very inconsistent -realised I knew nothing about marketing- I had no goals, plan or strategy -decided I had to learn- hired marketing coach, educated myself- did marketing workshops, courses, studied copywriting, researched internet -discovered I had a passion for this, which helped, but I actually started to enjoy marketing -my passion was online marketing and I learned how to create website and write copy that got more conversions and my website ranked higher -now 99% of my business comes from Google- I have an associate -I created Australia Counselling and wanted to teach others how to do what I did
-how has your story influenced you as a therapist? -how has this influenced who you work with and love to help? How does your history inform the way you work and what modality appealed to you to go further -your story can be an important part of your marketing -many therapists leave out their story in their marketing -example- this week I had a person in the creative arts see me- because I used to be a musician and used Gestalt- he connected with my story
Identify: What makes you happy? What are you passionate about? What are your skills and experience? Where do you do your best work? -this all informs your niche later on
Mindset: - your attitude about your business -being an advocate for your business (not get confused that you are your business) If you know who you want in your caseload, you are likely to get them. Once you know who you want to serve, then you can let those ideal clients know who you are, what you have to offer and how to reach you. Talk easily about what you do and how you help people. To have your phone ringing and your appointment book filled you must be able to articulate what you do so that your ideal client says “Hey, that's me! And I want what she has to offer!” Let the community know you. To truly have a full caseload, you must have a plan. A plan that lets the community know what pain you help to reduce. (You see, people want to come to therapy to have their pain reduced.) Be paid well. Finally, you must decide that you are worthy of being paid a good fee. definition of a successful therapy mindset: Choose to work with clients you really enjoy. Work in a location that appeals to me. Create a schedule that suits my lifestyle. Set, negotiate, and collect fees that are in the best interest of both the client and me. Take care of myself physically and emotionally.
-fear of getting started -being exposed -fears of being criticised or judged by peers -fear of being unethical -fear of being overwhelmed -fear of looking stupid -fear of making mistakes/not being perfect -fear of looking like you’re selling Overcoming; -focus on your goals -be an advocate for your business -don’t personalise things -expect the ups and downs of business
Know what you don’t want. Identify what you do want. Write it down. Figure out how to get it. What is your goal? How will you know if when you get there? Work backwards and create actionable steps -write down your goals- 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years -revisit and revise your goals on a regular basis -make progress rather than perfection!
-strategy is the plan you’re following to meet your goals -strategy includes your daily and weekly marketing activities -strategy is about working backwards from your goals and working out how to get there -strategy is clear and actionable steps you can take on a daily/weekly/monthly basis -
intersection of 1. what you love to do and are passionate about/do your best work 2. what you’re experienced and trained in or want to specialise in 3. need or want for your services in your community When you figure that out, then ask yourself “Who needs that information?” And then you ask yourself: “ Do they know that they need it?” “ Would they say they need it?” “ Would they pay for it?” PICK A SPECIALTY FOR MARKETING PURPOSES This means picking a population you enjoy or a problem you like helping to resolve. And then telling your community about it. It absolutely does not mean excluding or limiting your practice. You can see whomever you wish. when you pick a specialty to market, your practice fills better, you feel better, and you have more consistent referrals over time. WHAT SPECIALIZING IS Specializing is about choosing a population of people you enjoy and crafting your marketing to appeal to them so that you can enjoy more of them in your caseload. Specializing is about identifying a particular pain that you’d like to help people reduce and letting our community know that you do. WHAT SPECIALIZING IS NOT Specializing is not excluding clients because you only see certain types of people or problems. With every intake call, you decide if you want to see that person. You get to choose. Specializing is not about only seeing one type of person or problem. We will go into this more in a moment.
-important part of marketing is building authority -not about mindless self-promotion or calling yourself an expert -authority is something that happens over time through you having a clear marketing message -you reveal your personality -you make yourself visible -you add value to your community
1. not having a clear niche or ideal client -being a generalist does not bring you more clients -search engines love specialists 2. not having a marketing plan, goals and strategy -ad hoc approach does not work -you need to have written goals, long term strategy and marketing strategies that will get you there 3. being inconsistent in marketing or not marketing at all - feast and famine approach-marketing when there are no clients and stopping when they are coming in 4. not asking for the money - most therapists undervalue their services -do you want to offer a sliding scale- yes or no- don’t be ambivalent 5. trying a marketing activity and then giving up without understanding how to implement it -trying something for a short time, but not using it properly -not educating themselves about how to market a practice -enormous amount of free information- spend an hour a week educating yourself