What is going to make the difference between creating success and not creating success?

 

Fully expressing your power.

 

I believe this is true no matter what your desires - to become a successful and profitable holistic practitioner, to become a millionaire, to create passive income streams so you can travel the world, to be a great parent and raise joyful children.  Your thoughts tend to be the thing that holds most people back, and are also the one thing that can shoot you forward to phenomenal success in record time.

 

Your thoughts can also bury you alive. You need to be aware of them and control them.

 

Unleashing your power

 

Many aspiring holistic practitioners feel stuck somewhere between their current existence and their dream of freedom and success as a holistic practitioner. These practitioners know that they are capable of achieving so much more, but are stuck where they’re at, either unsure where to go next or unclear how to move forward, paralyzed with fear and indecision.

 

When you dream, you see yourself becoming and being the phenomenal success you know you are capable of. With a clear vision, focused purpose, and deep gratitude you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.

 

Controlling your mind is the key 

 

Your thoughts allow you to fully express your own power. You can do this by examining your thoughts and beliefs. Think about where these beliefs manifested. Where do they come from - your parents? The media? Interpretations of past experiences?

 

Take charge of your thoughts and mind through meditation. Use discipline and eliminate noise and unsupportive beliefs and stories, and learn and integrate new behaviors and beliefs into your daily routine. Create balance and clear clutter in your life.

 

Visionary and psychologist William James said, “Believe and your belief will create fact.” Remember this as your unconscious mind relives old stories and repeatedly undermines your dreams with negative thoughts.

 

Take control of your thoughts and change your behaviors so that your true power can express itself. Expressing YOUR unique self is how your will achieve your dreams and create the life you envision.

 

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.amarketingconnection.com  

Working in the healthcare industry is different than working in any other industry. In healthcare, you will usually work with people who are experiencing a pain - whether physical or mental. In addition to stopping that pain you know there are a lot of other ways you can help people. You know that you can help people live a healthier and happier life.

 

There’s so much more to life and living pain free. That is a minimum achievement. You can teach them not only how to live pain free, but how to have more energy. You can teach them how to live a life filled with health and wellness.

 

In your healthcare business you see the same things over and over again. If you stop, or even just lessen your client’s pain a little bit, they stop coming to see you. Frustrating as it is, you don’t know how to stop this cycle.

 

Is your teaching part of your problem?

 

There is something that you CAN do to help these people. Teach them. What’s that? You already know this? You’ve been teaching them everything you know since day one! Well… That may be part of your problem.

 

Let me show you a scenario I see all the time. Sally, a patient at your chiropractic practice, started coming to see you about three months ago. She was having unbearable migraines and had been experiencing neck pain since her car accident earlier in the year. Right away you saw what the problem was and began treating her. Right away you lessened her pain. She loves you!

 

The first few weeks she came to her appointments you had handouts and packets with all sorts of information about subluxations and Cervicogenic Headaches. You explained to her how the convergence of afferents from the trigeminal nucleus, pons and the upper three or four cervical spinal nerves provides for various patterns of referred pain. You explained to her that this implies an anatomical and physiological connection between the nerves of the cervical spine and the mechanisms of headache.

 

Sally is such a polite and friendly client (one of your favorites) that she doesn’t really have any questions for you, but she is really glad you are stopping the pain.

 

Don’t be too technical in your teaching

 

It may seem obvious in my exaggerated example here, but the truth is that Sally doesn’t understand a thing you’re saying. She’s too polite to say anything to you. She didn’t want to look stupid and admit she couldn’t understand the handouts you gave her. Obviously you’ve been giving them to your other patients and they understood them. Sally’s been coming for a while and you’ve become friendly. You’ve covered all the basics of her health and how chiropractic care benefits people. And you don’t want to bore Sally by being repetitive.

 

Now when Sally visits, you are comfortable around each other and share stories about your kids and upcoming holiday plans. But there are several problems here. Sally didn’t understand what you said the first time and was too shy to ask questions. She’s much more comfortable now talking about her family and other small talk.

 

However, what is also clear is that for you to keep Sally as a client, you need to educate her about what’s wrong and how to fix it. To keep her as a client once you’ve stopped “her pain” you need to teach her how ongoing chiropractic care can help her in a million ways.

 

Get back to the basics

 

YOUR job is to do this in a way SHE understands.

 

The key to doing this successfully is to teach Sally in small amounts.

 

Small chunks at a time.

 

While you’ve spent many, many years learning all this technical stuff, she has not. Teach your clients one concept at a time, teach them every time they come in, and teach them using as many of their senses as you can.

 

For example, you can tell Sally things about her headaches and how your spinal adjustments are helping her, but you also want her to have something written down that she can read and learn from later.

 

Your job – to translate the technical jargon

 

You also want to make sure you are talking to and writing to Sally in layman’s terms. The daily newspaper writes to a fourth grade reading level. And so should you. Don’t make copies of articles from your industry journals and leave them out for your patients to read. They can’t and don’t want to understand them. Your role, as their healthcare educator, is to translate.

 

Look at some of the ways you educate your clients. Are there any you can improve upon? (Hint: Our New Media Marketing Package can help with this exact situation).

 

To Your Success!

Kelly Robbins

www.amarketingconnection.com

Asking for something is simply the best way to ensure you get it. However, asking is often something many of us shy away from. Fear of rejection, shyness, feeling awkward or uncomfortable, assuming you are going to get a no, and just plain being afraid of the word NO are big reasons we don’t ask for things we want.

 

 

The easiest and fastest way to get something you want is to specifically ask for it. Would you like a referral from a client? Ask them for one. Don’t worry about appearing desperate or needy. That is YOUR belief, not theirs.

 

 

 

Do you think you deserve a discount from a vendor? Want to pay less rent? Want your spouse or kids to help out more around the house? Ask! The worst thing that can happen is they will say no to you.

 

 

Now, if you can garner up the courage to ask for something you want or need, then you should go to the trouble of asking correctly.

 

 

 

Be specific when you ask

When you do ask for something be very specific in how you ask for it. Here are a few examples:

 

 

 

Don’t say: “I want a discount”
Say: “I want free shipping on my orders.”

 

 

 

Don’t say: “I would love a referral to my practice”
Say: “I would love it if you gave these free gift cards for a massage to two of your closest friends.”

 

 

 

Don’t say: “I want you to help me pick up the house”
Say:  “I want you to pick up your clothes off the bathroom floor, unset the table every night after dinner, and take out the trash every Thursday.”

 

 

 

How to ask for what you want

Here are a few tips on how to ask for what you want from Jack Canfield’s book The Success Principles:

1. Ask as if you expect to get it. Ask as if you expect a yes.
2. Assume you can. Don’t assume you can’t get a discount - assume you can!
3. Ask someone who can give it to you. Canfield suggests you ask “Who would I have to speak to to get…”
4. Be clear and specific. Don’t just ask for more business - say “I would like to treat you once a week and include yoga lessons and meditations. Would that work for you?”
5. Ask repeatedly. People may have different answers on different days for a variety of reasons. Persistence is the key to achieving your goals. Look at what your kids do - they ask and ask until they wear you down! They know that persistence pays off.

How many of these can you put into practice today to get what you want?

 

 

 

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

 

 

 

Is being creative in your business really possible? One thing I have to make an effort to do is make myself slow down and find the time to let myself be creative. After finishing a large project I find myself running off to do the next thing rather than taking time to relax and think; to do some personal brainstorming. I’m not taking the time to stop and refocus my mind and my energy and it affects both my ability to focus and my ability to relax.

I think that you need to foster creativity in yourself before there can be creativity in your professional life. You can enhance the creativity in your workplace by asking yourself questions like: How can I do things differently? Where can I make more money…with less effort? What if I did this instead? Where does asking these questions lead me?

Cultivate your creative flow

There are many reasons why we don’t have a creative flow in our lives. We have too many demands on us, we lack focus, or we just don’t know what to do with the energy we have. It’s good to know why we don’t have a creative flow, but what can you do to cultivate creativity in your everyday life?

Here are 5 tips to help you get started:

1. Make sure you set some time aside everyday to just think. To some, this may be meditation, for other just a quiet time to write things down and bring order to everything going on. Do this every day, and try not to save it until the end of the day when you are ready to pass out from exhaustion. Giving yourself this treat, which may be 10 or 15 minutes, maybe a half hour, is paramount to keeping your sanity. I listen to an audio CD of relaxing sounds and meditate.

2. Do something that’s not related to work. Something that’s interactive with other adults. Join an online book club, play tennis, meet some friends for coffee. We get so busy sometimes with our to-do lists that we don’t allow time to just be and do something fun.

3. Take charge of your schedule. Develop routines so that time is not wasted. Plan time for work and play. Set aside time to spend on marketing; time to go to your child’s baseball game, etc.

4. Make sure you take a vacation. You may be surprised at this, but many successful business owners get their “great ideas” while on vacation or relaxing. Your creativity may flow best in these situations. Plan your next trip now!

5. Get enough sleep. Make the time to rejuvenate yourself. You need energy and focus to be creative. Walking around with a fog around you will block the creative flow.

You never know where stimulation will come from. Keep your senses alert and take care of yourself. Allow your creativity to flow. You will benefit. Your business will benefit.

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

Caring about your clients and your product or service shows through in a hundred subtle ways to your clients; regardless of whether you are in the healthcare industry or not.

In my experience, I’ve found that people that either work in healthcare, or start a business in the healthcare industry do so because they really, truly care about helping people. I also have found that most people in the healthcare industry - no matter if they are chiropractors or coaches or copywriters - are very passionate about what they do. They truly care about making someone’s life better.

And because they know at the core of their being that they can help you or someone you know live a better, possibly pain-free, healthier life they tell everyone they know about it. They do a good job talking about it and often give talks in the community and with their clients.

Communicate your passion through your written materials

My question to you is…does this passion, this sincerity, this caring show through in all your marketing materials too? Does it shine through on your web site and your brochures? In the handouts and flyers you put around town? When you talk with people your sincerity and passion is shown by not only what you say, but in your body language, the tone of your voice, the sparkle in your eye…and people pick up on that energy. Communicating that in written materials is not as easy because people can see all of these subtle yet powerful things.

Here are a few things you can do in your written materials to demonstrate you’re caring:

• Know what keeps your prospect up at night and be sure your sales letter or web site talks about those concerns in a friendly and personal way. It may be a pain in their leg, not being able to ski with their family, or not having the energy to make it through the day.
• Know about their pains and fears. When you are truly concerned about your prospects welfare it will shine through in your writing.
• Write like you talk. Be conversational and write to a fourth grade level. No big words or words that you have to explain their meaning.
• Picture one of your clients (or a good friend that’s experiencing a pain) and talk to them. Write how you talk, not how you write. Writing marketing materials is different and it’s ok to break the rules. You are not getting these published in academic journals or writing your dissertation.
• Give examples of people you’ve helped and how it’s affected them in a positive way.
• Be yourself and let your personality show through. Don’t be humdrum like so many other practitioners out there — let your passion shine through!

 

Is there anything you can rewrite today to show that ‘sparkle in your eye’ to your clients?

 

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

A client I met with recently was looking to streamline their advertising. I met with them right after the yellow page rep had been there to renew their account. They had a full page ad in the yellow pages (they were very proud to be the first page in their category) and were spending thousands of dollars a year for this large ad.

These chiropractors are savvy marketers and ask every new client how they heard about them. Not a single one was from the yellow pages. So why had they been advertising with them so much for so long? And what was it going to take for them to stop?

I started asking them questions.

The first question I asked them…Who is your ideal client?

Their ideal clients are employees at large corporations in the area. These patients have good insurance, word of mouth referrals are abundant throughout the corporation once they are in, and the patients rave about the one stop care they receive at this practice.

Second question…Do you ask your new patients how they heard about you?

An enthusiastic “Absolutely every single time” was the answer (right answer).

Third question…Do you get patients from the yellow pages?

No.

Fourth question…How active is your website?

Not very active. We just redid it last month. They informed me that if they’re not in the top three listings no one will click on you (which is not true) and we don’t want to spend $6,000 a month to be in the top three listings.

Knowing this, are the yellow pages the right place to spend thousands of dollars?

Obviously not.

The fact is that the first place people go to find health related information is online - 80% of the time.

Do you have to spend $6,000 a month to be found right away on the internet? Absolutely not! A side note, many people, especially referrals, will use your website to check out who you are and/or look up your phone number and address.

There are many simple and inexpensive things you can do to ensure your website is found right away by your clients:

·      Change your website frequently

·      Have educational content on the site

·      Link to other businesses and have them link back to you

·      Send your clients there for information

·      Include your website address in all your advertising and marketing communications.

Having an online presence doesn’t have to be just for the big guys. Doing a few simple things can make sure you can be found - on the place where most people look for health information.

It’s ok to have a presence in the yellow pages, but dollar for dollar, you’re better off putting more of your energy online where your prospects are.

 

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

We all have clients that love us. And I mean loooooooove us. These are our favorite clients that we like to think about all the time. Clients like these are the reason we are in business and the reason we love our business so much.

 

Unfortunately, not all our clients are like this. We also have clients that, after a period of time, leave us and don’t continue using our services. We know that in business this is not unusual. Client attrition is a normal part of a healthy business. Clients get better, move forward, change their minds.

 

However, as a business owner, it’s important you know WHY these people are leaving. I am going to call these clients “inactive clients”. Why are they not coming back? Are they using your competitors? A company online? Did you alleviate a pain they were experiencing - basically you did your job - and they have no reason to see you anymore? Was there something that upset them or made them uncomfortable that they didn’t want to come back? Does asking make you uncomfortable? Don’t stick your head in the sand! You need to know this stuff.

 

Find out WHY they leave

 

While it’s important to acknowledge that all clients don’t stay forever, you need to put a system in place to find out why they don’t. You may not have ever thought about why you lose clients before. Maybe you’ve thought about it and didn’t know what to do. Maybe you are afraid to know, or don’t want to know. It’s a touchy subject and may be personal. What if they just didn’t like you? The only way to find out why a client has become inactive is to ask them. I understand this can be uncomfortable, but you need to find out. And the best way to do that is to ask.

 

Make a plan to call inactive clients

 

Asking why patients don’t come back is something that needs to be done on a regular basis - it’s a process you should systemize into your business so it happens automatically. Systems need to be put in place so that when clients do become inactive (and you need to determine when that is) you make a phone call and find out what’s going on. A less preferable option is to have your assistant call.   Saying something as easy as “hey, we haven’t seen you in a while and we’ve missed you. Is there anything going on? I noticed we haven’t seen you in a few weeks. Is there something I can do to entice you to come visit us again?” Be friendly and welcoming, but truly inquisitive as well. You may find there’s something going on in your business that needs your attention. You may also find that a client is experiencing some sort of hardship you otherwise wouldn’t have known about.

 

When you call to check on an inactive client you are doing several things. You are showing them you care. You are telling them they matter and you noticed their absence You are checking on the quality of your business; both its processes and your employees. You are being a caring friend and checking on the welfare of another.

 

This is one of those action steps that you just have to do. Your business will run better because of it.

 

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.amarketingconnection.com

What better way to get new customers than by being highlighted in your community paper. Being featured in your local newspaper or a local magazine - in an article, not an advertisement - is a sure way to have new clients lining up out your door.

Having an article about your business featured in the community news shows both your patients and prospects that you are an expert in your field, that you have cutting-edge, newsworthy things going on in your practice, and that you are on-top of your game.

The difficult part about being featured by the local press is that you have to get their attention. Most reporters receive hundreds of press releases a week. They have the challenge of finding new and different things going on in their community that their readership cares about.

Here are a few tips for getting the press’s attention and making their job easier:

1.  Try to put a local spin on what you are doing. Was a new study done in your industry? Take that information and talk about how it affects the people in your community.

2.  Keep in mind you are selling your ideas to a reporter, who is selling NEWS to their readers. You are not selling chiropractic care or how massage helps you relax.

3.  Use facts and statistics in your press release if you can. If your target market suffers from chronic headaches, are there any studies that show how many people suffer from headaches and how that affects their work?

So how can YOU help your local reporter meet the demanding needs of their job?

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

Are you one of those people that go to a trade show and walk from booth to booth filling up your bag with goodies from all the trade show booths? Do you collect pens from your doctor’s office? Keep the magnet from the veterinarian on the refrigerator?  

I do. I love collecting all this stuff — it’s shameless and it’s fun. I love going back to my room after a trade show and sorting through all the things I collected throughout the day.

I came home from a recent trade show I attended (SHSMD conference in Washington DC) with tons of stuff. My favorite pens are there every year and I was sure to grab several this time - one in every color they had. I come home with gifts for the kids. This year I came home with an electronic coffee warmer to plug in by my computer - it’s truly amazing the things companies give away.

The question is, is it worth it? As the receiver of these handouts I enjoy the overall experience of the conference more. But what about the companies handing out the promotional items? Is spending the money on these trinkets worth it? How many of you have worked a trade show, or sponsored a community event, and felt like people were taking things without caring who handed them out? They didn’t even look at your name on the mug, they just grabbed it and walked on.

I did a little research on the promotional products industry. Let me share with you what I discovered…

According to Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), the healthcare industry is one of the top ten users of promotional products in the U.S. Another one in the top ten is professionals such as doctors and lawyers. My dear readers, that is most of you!

The promotional products industry was an 18.8 billion dollar industry in 2006, so we know companies purchase promotional items. A lot of promotional items.

But do they work? Is a patient more likely to visit your practice if you hand out a mug or a pen with your talk?

According to studies done by Georgia Southern University, the answer is yes! Recipients of promotional products are reported to have:

            - a significantly more positive outlook on your business

            - a higher likelihood of recommending your business

            - a higher likelihood of patronizing the business.

The top three promotional items purchased in 2006? Wearables such as t-shirts, hats, etc, and writing instruments followed by calendars.
 
Top ten uses for promotional items? Business gifts, trade shows, brand awareness, employee relations & events, public relations, dealer/distributor programs, new customer/account generation, new product/service introduction, employee service awards, not-for-profit programs.

3 Tips for choosing a promotional products company

I asked Steve Horwitz with Consider It Done for advice on how to choose a vendor to provide promotional products. He suggested healthcare marketers:

Find a vendor with specific industry & product experience. If the vendor specializes in your industry you are safer because they already know the best manufacturers for the products that industry purchases, and they understand what you’re working to accomplish.

Not to knock independent sales people, but buying from a real company with an actual location, employees and real live people answering the phone during business hours is priceless - especially if there is a problem.    

Look for a published satisfaction guarantee.

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com

Making goals and objectives before writing your copy is the way to get to the meat of your subject.  A clearly defined purpose will help you write faster and better.  A good acronym to adopt in setting any objective is SMART: Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic, and Time-Bound. Let’s take a look at how this can be applied to writing copy.

Specific: A specific objective covers at least one of the five W’s: who, what, where, when, and why. Who does this target? What do I want them to learn? Where is it going to be published? When will it run? Why am I doing this? A general objective for a DM piece is to increase sales. A specific goal is to increase sales by getting 50 new leads per month.

Measurable: Measurable objectives allow you to be sure they’ve been met. You can easily measure the specific objective of getting 50 new leads, for example. It’s more difficult to measure an objective like educating your target audience about a new product … but still possible. You may need to use follow-up phone calls or other evaluation methods to see if the objective was met.

Action-Oriented: If your objective is to get 50 new leads a month, what action will you take to meet this objective? What will you do to ensure that you meet the marketing director’s needs with your copy? Who will you interview to make sure you cover all your bases? Where will you do your research?

Realistic: Setting realistic objectives means creating objectives you’re willing AND able to work on. If you don’t have enough time or the necessary resources to complete the project, your objective isn’t realistic and you need to revise it.

Time-Bound: Set a timeframe to finish the project and to accomplish major steps along the way. For instance, set dates to complete your research, to write the lead, to complete your first draft, to edit and rewrite, and to submit.

Setting objectives before you begin writing is crucial. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just starting, knowing who you’re writing for and what they need to get from the copy is your key to success.

To your success!

Kelly Robbins

www.AMarketingConnection.com