After the last post on collaborating with your colleagues to help your practice, I thought I’d share the ad we put together. This is a full page newspaper ad that we were able to buy for very little cash since we split it five ways.

If you’re interested in giving your practice and profession a boost by doing something similar, here’s a little more behind-the-scenes info on how the process worked.

First of all, why the newspaper? Our community is reasonably small, so the local paper gets a decent amount of attention. We got a special rate on the full-page size, too, so in terms of value, it was a great way to start off our collaborative efforts. (If you can’t see the ad, you’ll find it here. ) In the end, it was a simple project that we could easily come together on.

The objective was to expand the slice of pie - to increase the percentage of the population actually using naturopathy. All our logos appear, but the ad is really about our profession, not us as individual practitioners. We started out with each practitioner submitting 35 words about what makes their practice unique, but I ended up scrapping the blurbs so we could focus on promoting the profession.

Some of the challenges in expanding the market that we tried to address:

1. Helping people understand the level of training required for ND’s to be licensed in our jurisdiction. Naturopaths make a massive time and financial investment before they even open their doors, but as a rule, the general public isn’t really aware of the level of training and education required.
2. Differentiating an ND in our area from other practitioners who are using the same title without proper licensing
3. Dispelling the misconception that you can’t see both an MD and an ND at the same time. People believe it’s “not allowed,” or that the two professions can’t collaborate.
4. Understanding one of the key differences of the profession, which is that ND’s are heavily focused on finding and treating the root cause of health concerns, not just palliating symptoms.

Working Together: Some Thoughts

I think our process was made easier by me doing the artwork (for better or for worse ). If you’re doing something similar, but working with a designer, I’d say your best bet would be to pick one practitioner to be the contact point for the designer. They’d bring the ideas to the designer, and have the authority to work with them to the point of 1-3 acceptable samples that everyone can comment on. Anything else would be chaotic and cost a lot more.

All told, though, it turns out we’re a surprisingly agreeable bunch. There were a few tweaks to the ad based on everyone’s input, but it was really quite easy to collaborate. The biggest challenge was getting everyone’s logo in the right format for consistency. Other than that, collaborating in this way turned out to be an amazing process. We highly recommend it!

Post from: AlternativeHealthPractice.com

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Why, you ask? Because for us, competition really is good for business and patients. Here’s why turning your competitors into collaborators benefits everyone.

1. Collaboration Creates a Bigger Pie

My guess is that about 5% of the people in our area are users of our particular brand of health care. So of the many thousands or so folks that could potentially use naturopathy, only a fraction of them actually are (and that 5% is being generous, I think). That leaves a really big pile of potential patients. Really, really big. And our area is small - the same idea applies just about anywhere.

The real opportunity, then, is not to fight over the same slice of pie (the 5%), but to expand the size of the slice - to tap into more of the 95% who aren’t users of our profession. There’s a whole world of pie out there - why fight over the same old slice of apple?

The challenge of course, is reaching and engaging that other 95%. That’s where competition helps. The more people who say, “I see a homeopath,” or, “I use a chiropractor,” for example, the better off the whole profession is. Competition raises awareness, which creates acceptance and momentum, and expands the market for your services.

• What to do: Reach out.  Pick up the phone or email a practitioner in your field. You’ll be surprised at how many of your competitors really do want to talk with you. They’re just too scared to take the first step. Open a dialogue with a practitioner in your area. Be generous. Share your vision. My guess is that you’ll all sleep better at night, and discover something marvelous along the way.

2. You Can Flex More Muscle

Of that huge untapped expanse of pie, a huge percentage of them use conventional medical care, so the problem isn’t health care need, it’s health care awareness. You need to reach those folks who don’t use your stuff.  Tapping into that group, though, can be an expensive and time-consuming prospect - it’s hard to make enough noise to get the attention you need.

The good news is that there’s strength in numbers. By combining forces, you can create a larger presence and do some marketing that gets attention. In our case,we’ll essentially becoming our own lobby group, promoting the benefits of naturopathic care in order to reach more people than we ever could alone.

• What to do: Pool your resources to create joint marketing efforts. For example, you can take a full page ad out in the local paper for a fraction of the cost of doing it alone, and make some noise. You can have a large booth at a trade show that really attracts attention, or run some amazing clinics, info sessions or classes that offer some real value. Get five practitioners together and you can do five times as much without spending any more time or money than you would alone.

3. Collaboration Generate More Referrals

You and your “competition” might all be massage therapists, or chiropractors, or acupuncturists, or nutritonists, or herbalists or homeopaths, but you’re all unique, too. It’s the ways in which you’re different from each other that offer the greatest opportunity. What do you each love? What do you hate? What are you best at? What does one offer that the other can’t/won’t/doesn’t?

In our group, for example, there’s an ND who’s a doula, and an ND who specializes in cosmetic / spa applications of naturopathic medicine. They’re both great services that we don’t offer, but that many of our clients would love. We’re happy to refer to them for those things. And in return, we can offer things like IV therapy and colon hydrotherapy to their clients. Patients gets better care, practitioners get more business. It’s great for everyone.

The trick is, of course, you need to connect with these folks to truly understand their specialties and explain yours. You can’t do it by reading each other’s websites on the sly or peeking in their windows after hours. You need to reach out.

• What to do: First, connect. Do a lunch or breakfast offsite, as opposed to in someone’s practice space. Get to know what each of you love and do best. Next - and this is the most important part - refer. Send a client to your competition as soon as the opportunity arises. It’s a smart, patient-focused act of goodwill that will benefit everyone, including you.

Start Now

This is a sum of the parts thing. You and two or three other practitioner can generate more total business cooperating than the three (or 6 or 15) or you can working separately. Don’t be shy. You’ll find most practitioners pleasantly relieved to have open dialogue with you.

Focus on your differences, your passions, and the strengths of your professions as opposed to your practices, and you’ll find more patients, more fun, and more pie than you ever would have alone.

Post from: AlternativeHealthPractice.com

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One of the real advantages to this process was that we came out of it with a concrete, concise template for how to move forward when things get dicey. I’ve gone through the plan and pulled out the strategies that I feel are making the biggest difference during challenging times:

1. Look for Prospects, Not Patients

It’s easy to think that you need more patients, but the truth is that before someone becomes a patient, they often make a pitstop along the way. In sales, they call it being a “prospect” - that’s someone who might become a patient.

In a slower economy people are more careful in their spending. They’re cautious when it comes to resources, and as a result they don’t necessarily want to leap from stranger to client in one step. They want to kick a few tires first.

In practical terms for us, that meant pushing our 15-minute “meet the doctor” visit. It’s a complimentary appointment for people to find out if naturopathy is a fit for them, and how we can help. It gives prospects a risk-free way to explore the idea of becoming patients without leaping right in. It’s a stepping stone to becoming a full-fledged client, and in a slow economy, you need those stepping stones. (And is it worth it? I think so. Over 90% of our 15-minute prospects become patients.)

What risk-free “stepping stones” are you offering for people to discover you?

2. Build MD Relationships

Health care is publicly funded here. That means that a recession doesn’t really change whether or not you can see an MD, or visit a hospital. It may affect how long you wait, but you can do it regardless of your income. The same applies for people with insurance coverage.

The impact of this is that in slow times, MD’s still see a lot of sick people. While CAM usage tends to be out-of-pocket and hit harder by economic changes, MD’s in many countries stay busy. We’re working to create more relationships, and nurture the ones we have with MD’s. The downside? These often take time to build. But like planting trees, if you want to have big ones, you need to start with small ones as soon as possible.

3. Cut Costs

This one isn’t rocket science, but it’s a critical piece of the plan. Here’s what we did:

• Created a quick spreadsheet containing most of the expenses in the clinic
• Used the spreadsheet to calculate the savings on each item, and overall, if we could cut 15% across the board
• Assigned areas, where possible, to the staff. The admin and other support staff tackled things like medical and office supplies, we did things like payroll and others. (Even in a one-person office, it’s actually pretty easy when you just itemize it all and get going.)

This whole process did feel a bit squishy at first - like scarcity thinking, or a step backwards - but one we got started, I realized there were some things we should have done long ago that had nothing to do with the economy. They were just smart business decisions.

4. Stay in Touch with Your Clients

These days, it’s easy and cheap to stay in touch, particularly by email, and when things slow down, there’s no excuse for not connecting with patients. We do a few email newsletters and a couple of print mailings a year, and we’ve stepped that up a bit with targeted mailing to certain groups within our patient base.

If you’re looking for an easy way to start your own email newsletter, we’ve always recommended iContact. Lots of templates, and those great little signup forms for your website, too. No geekiness required, and you get a beautiful email newsletter delivered to your client base for pennies apiece. Two thumbs up!

5. Increase Advertising (but Measure Return)

It’s tempting to cut your advertising when money’s tight, but the truth is that as long as your marketing is working (bringing in patients), then there’s no reason not to spend more.

If your advertising generates more profit than it costs, it makes sense to do more of it.

The trick, of course, is to actually know when it works. We track the source of every new patient so that we know whether a splashy ad, or our website, or a trade show, or an open house are attracting patients. It’s not hard - we just ask patients on our intake form, and clarify as needed - but it’s unbelievably valuable. If you also know the annual value of a patient, then you can pretty quickly see what’s paying off and what isn’t. If we run an $800 ad, and 7 new patients come in as a result, we know exactly whether or not that ad was worth it.

6. Consolidate Debt

If you’ve got business loans, student loans, operating lines of credit, credit card debt, etc., it’s worth trying to consolidate them into one loan in one spot. Easier to manage, and you can often get away with a smaller payment, or a shorter term. It’ll depend on your situation, but it’s worth half an hour with your banker to find out.

7. Expand Operating Credit

If cash flow is tight going into a recession, you’ll need some extra breathing room to be able to advertise more, get through a lean month, etc. If you don’t have a business line of credit to help you through the swings in business, it’s worth checking into. if you do have one, consider expanding it just in case. You don’t have to use it, but you’ll sleep better if you have it.

8. Monitor Your Media Consumption

Unless you’re prepared to take action on bad economic news, there’s no need to be micro-informed about every bit of bad media out there. I’ve ditched news radio in favor of music, changed the news I see on my browser’s home page, and I stay away from television news wherever possible.

This isn’t head-in-the sand behavior - I know these are challenging times and we’re taking action. I just don’t need to hear it 24×7 - I can tune in briefly once in a while to get the big picture. This one wasn’t in our strategic planning, but it really is important. Too much bad news keeps you frozen in place and makes it really difficult to execute these strategies. I’m not usually troubled by any of this stuff, but I can honestly say that avoiding the bad-news mania has made a real difference.

If you’ve got a question about how to implement these strategies or you’d like to share a few of your own, leave us a comment!

Post from: AlternativeHealthPractice.com

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The challenge is that these are pretty big projects, and it’s easy to bite off more than your practice can chew. Instead, I like to think of one principle to focus on in the coming year. It’s a bit like herding - I need one idea that can guide all those tiny details, decisions and actions in the right direction. Each “cow” might have its own unique path and nature, but at the end of the year, I want all those bovine bits to arrive at the same place.

The guiding word for this year? SERVE.

Why Service is Everything in Practice

It’s hard to be the cheapest in this industry. Or to have the biggest selection. It’s not usually that helpful to be the fastest, either. So how do you compete?

The truth is you’re not really competing with the practitioner down the road, you’re competing with a preconceived notion about what health care is. You’re competing with ideas in the minds of prospective clients. Things like “free”, “covered by insurance” “requires an MD”, “needs a white coat”, and “happens in a hospital only”. These are ideas that pop up when someone needs care, and they stop people from choosing you.

So how do you compete, and grow? In this industry, you can best compete by providing incredible service, all the time. You grow, in other words, when you serve. It’s the word for this year, but it’s probably the word for every year.

As Gandhi said:

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.”

What We’re Doing About It (and You Can, Too)

We have two pushes on for the year to help us serve better.

1. Project 52: We’ve been rolling out a big service push at our office - it started back with the parking bowl phenomenon, really, but our niche has always been high service, and I want to take it up a notch. We’ve started what we call Project 52, which is our goal to make one customer service improvement every week all year. It’s fun, it’s tangible, and everyone gets on board.
2. Random Acts of Service: Sometimes an opportunity appears to go that extra mile. We’re going to try to seize more of them. A client is an avid reader? We send them a book that will really help them. A client loves the warm slippers we provide in a treatment room? We mail them a pair. These are little things that we don’t do for everyone, but that we do when we know someone will really love it. It feels wonderful to do it, and it’s great for business.

The great thing about this stuff is that it’s inexpensive. I bet most of our Project 52 ideas will be free (so far they are) - they’ll be tiny tweaks and improvements that really aren’t hard or costly.

People Who Can Help YOU

Here’s some 2008 gratitude and some 2009 well-wishes to the people out there who are doing their best to serve YOU so you can better serve others. I think these folks are an important part of what we’re all doing to help people get better. I’d say most aren’t making millions doing this - they’re just jazzed about helping you so you can help others. You should pay them a visit. They’ll help you serve.

To all of the following, in no particular order: thanks for all you do to serve, and thanks for the great interactions we’ve had in the last year. (If I’ve missed you please let me know!!)

• Acupuncture Clinic Marketing
• The Healthcare Marketer
• Alternative Growth Streams
• CAMLAW Blog
• Chinese Medicine Notes
• Professional Practice Success
• Acupuncture Business School
• IntegrativePractitioner.com
• Advance My Practice
• Chinese Medicine Tools
• Marketing Matters
• The Healthcare Marketing Connection
• Create a Thriving Business
• Insights for Acupuncturists
• Natural Medicine Business Success
• Community Acupuncture Network
• Build Your Dream Practice
• AltMD Pro Center
• Holistic PR
• The Acupuncture Marketing Blog
• TheBodyWorker.com
• The Integrator Blog
• DC Practice Tools

To all of our regular readers and visitors, and to practitioners everywhere: Thank you, and may 2009 be as remarkable as you are.

-Dan and Tara

Post from: AlternativeHealthPractice.com

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There is no more important thing than having the right people. I’ve watched the transition of a single person on or off the roster make a difference of tens of thousands of dollars in a very short time, not to mention the impact on morale and joy in the office. It’s phenomenal. Here are a few tips we’ve learned along the way.

Find The Right Candidates

You’ll be most successful when you’ve got lots of options. Attract good quality applicants to choose from using these tips:

• Don’t Advertise… Seriously - forget about the classifieds ads and the internet listings. First of all, it’s time consuming to sort through the resumes, and second, it’s hard to read people from a sheet of paper. You’re just as likely to toss a winner in the shredder and interview five bad fits as you are to identify a great candidate.

• …Unless you Have To. The exception to this is when you’re recruiting for a position that needs some legitimate certification. If you need an ND, DC or an LAc, for example, you may have to advertise to find licensed candidates? Front desk? Nope.

• Network Instead… The best jobs are found through networking, and so are the best candidates. Not all, but on average, the best are. Spread the word through your friends, family, colleagues and patients. CAM offices are great places to work - you’ll get response if you get the word out.

• …Or Headhunt. There’s a great chance your ideal candidate already has a job - go find them. If you have a great experience with someone in another business, why can’t they work for you? The job you have to offer might change someone’s life - don’t be afraid to offer it to someone already working.

Choose the Right One

Once you’ve got a pool of applicants, it’s time to find your winner. Here are a few rules of thumb:

• First impressions matter. Reception/front line jobs tend to involve short bursts of surface interaction. A moment here, a smile there. A quick swipe of a credit card and a brief chat. A voice on the phone. Make sure you get a good first impression, and be wary if you don’t.

• Trust Your Gut. Your intuition is your best friend at hiring time, particularly when it comes to negative vibes. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.

• Hire for Personality First. This is health care, not widget-making - great people skills are critical for almost all positions. You can teach most hard skills, but a great way with people is almost impossible to learn.

• Test-Drive Before You Hire. This is a great strategy, and has saved our butts more than once. You simply can’t trust an interview entirely. If you’ve narrowed your choices down, then bring them in for a half or full day and see how they do. Pay them for their time for the day - it’s worth the investment.

• Aim to Be Amazed. Don’t settle for someone you know isn’t right. Set your sights high. If it’s an emergency, then hire someone on a clearly defined temporary basis while you look for your dream person. They really are out there.
• Consult your Team… If you’ve got other staff, get them involved. A bad fit will cost you. Let the other people in the clinic help out.
• …and Your Patients. Remember that test-drive? Make sure you get some patient feedback. You might even consider asking some wise patients to drop by that day, or participate in the interview process.

It’s easy to second guess yourself in this process, so make sure you have help. And take your time - finding the right person makes all the difference.

Post from: AlternativeHealthPractice.com

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Here’s are 6 reasons why cutting your hours might just take your practice to the next level:

1. You’ll Be More Efficient

Parkinson’ s law states that “work expands to fit the time available.” You’ll be amazed at how quickly you can get through things if you don’t have unlimited time to do them. You’ll also be surprised at how punctual your appointments can be if there’s someone else waiting.

If your scheduled hours aren’t consistently 70+% booked right now, then you need to carve back your available patient hours until they are.

If you’ve just started up, or have very few patients, you might find yourself carving back too much - use a minimum of 12-15 hours a week, spread over 3 days. That will give your patients more options then just one 8-hour day. You can adjust for your own market and comfort level, but remember:

Being available to see patients all the time isn’t growing your practice.

Really - it isn’t. Providing incredible service is (for one), but you don’t have to make all your kick-ass incredible-ness available 50 hours a week. Putting in all that non-patient face time at the office isn’t helping. So stop.

2. You Can Solve The Staff Dilemma

The natural medicine professions are plagued with staff problems. More accurately, the problem is that small offices and solo practitioners don’t have staff. I know that this works for some modalities, and certain types of practices, but we see far too many practitioners who don’t have any help, and it’s driving them into the ground - personally and professionally.

This is not a case of “easier said than done.” Staffing really can be scalable. One of the scariest things about staff is having them kicking around a too-quiet office. However, if you’ve got an effectively booked schedule, you can cover just those hours that are booked, without falling into the trap of hiring full-time staff to cover a part-time gig.

3. You’ll Create Scarcity

If you’ve ever traveled, you may have discovered that the best food is often the stuff made out on the street. The good traveler’s rule of thumb, though, is always eat at the cart with the lineup. Why? It’s probably safer and better than the vacant street-meat-mobile.

This applies to your office, too. Things that are in demand send a message: there’s something here - you should check it out. We’ve touched on this in scheduling discussions: being perceived as “busy” or “in demand” can be good marketing, and booking patients effectively helps create that.

4. Your Practice Will Become More Profitable

Why pay for a host of expenses during hours that you don’t really need? If you can see more patients in less time, you can reduce your overhead, or even share your space (and costs) with additional practitioners.

That in turn leaves a little extra money each month that you can use during your new-found time off.

5. You Can Find Balance

If you’re on the road to burnout, then less is most certainly more - particularly when we’re talking about working less and earning more. If you’ve got slack in your schedule, then scale back your hours a bit and enjoy it while you can. You can always work more when demand justifies it.

If your schedule is jam-packed, though, you can still cut your hours, find balance, and…

…6. You Can Continue the Shift from Practice to Business

Working less creates an interesting challenge in your practice:

If you’re going to work less, how will you continue to earn the same income, or more?

The answer is in the shift from practice to true business - in finding ways for your practice to generate revenue in other ways besides selling only your time. That generally means involving more people - other practitioners and professionals who can add to your revenue without strapping you tighter to the grindstone.

Working less is a simple way to force this transition, and that’s a good thing.

Objections

You’re going to hear the complete opposite of this advice at times, and that’s fine. Here are a few common objections we hear to working less:

“My clients need me to be open all those hours.”

No they don’t. What they really want is for you to be open 24-7 so they can come in anytime they feel like it. Are you willing to cater to that?

Patients want the most convenient appointment they can get, but they’re flexible - we all are. You can’t meet everyone’s timeline or you’ll be running a 24-7 CAM drive-thru. Pick some manageable, sensible hours, book them effectively, and focus on being remarkable in other ways besides your ability to work super-human hours.

“What about staff? No one wants a part-time job.”

Sure they do. That’s a myth, and with our current demographics, there are all kinds of people who want part-time work. Just look for them.

“I can’t take the pay cut.”

This isn’t about pay cuts. It’s about the same money (or more) in less time. But if you’re booked solid, and worried about cutting your hours, then it’s time to start making the transition from practice to business by bringing in someone else to work some of those hours.

If you’re not booked solid, then just cut back your hours until you are. You can always add them as needed.

Another plea for work-life balance from the good folks at AlternativeHealthPractice.com.

Post from: AlternativeHealthPractice.com

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In that same spirit, we’re excited to announce Train For Humanity, a non-profit organization that I co-founded with a handful of like-minded bloggers, including Mark Hayward, and Leo Babauta of ZenHabits.

How TFH Makes a Difference

The premise is as simple as it is effective: TFH “everyday athletes” (like me) train and participate in endurance events such as triathlons and marathons. The money they raise from sponsors online goes to humanitarian causes.

We’re aiming to raise $50,000 during this pilot phase, 100% of which will flow through to the Darfur Peace and Development Organization. Darfur is currently the scene of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, the biggest U.N. aid operation, and the 21st century’s first genocide.

How You Can Help

1. Sponsor Me

As one of the three pilot project “everyday athletes”, I’ll be running the Niagara Falls Half Marathon on October 26, 2008. You can sponsor my run here. You can sponsor for any amount you like -even a dollar can make a difference.

2. Help Spread the Word

Helping isn’t just about money. If you have a blog, a website, a Facebook or Twitter account, or just an email address book, I’d like to ask you to take just a few moments of your time to post, Digg, Stumble, forward, tweet, email, or otherwise help spread the word about Train for Humanity. You can find pre-written blog posts, badges for your site/blog, and other easy word-spreading ideas right here.

3. Become a Participant

We’ll soon be opening TFH to other “everyday athletes”. Anyone with a desire to make a difference can participate - the only requirement is that you take part in an endurance event, such as running, walking, cycling, or swimming. The distance isn’t important. Some TFH participants will run marathons, others will walk a few miles, but they’ll all be making a difference. You can signup here.

Thank you all in advance for your time, and for helping to make a difference.

With much gratitude,

Dan

Post from: AlternativeHealthPractice.com

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As word spread, it became a common sight to find people scattered about the various shady spots outside our makeshift clinic waiting for la doctora, and trying to get a some relief in a place where a dollar day wasn’t an uncommon wage.

Despite our best efforts to offer free care, though, it wasn’t long before payment started to arrive anyway. Sometimes it was mangoes, other times mandioca, bananas, corn bread and other locally grown goods, but it was payment just the same.

One of the first and most memorable of these, though, was a large plate of home made cheese.

The idea of cheese as money kinda stuck with me, and in a strange way, it’s been a helpful metaphor. So from the good people at the Dairy Department of AlternativeHealthPractice.com, here are a few Gouda ideas about money and practice…

1. Don’t Manage Your Patient’s Cheese

Tara has an expression she uses when helping other practitioners: Don’t manage your patient’s wallet. Your services may be expensive for your client, or they may not be. The point is, you usually have no way of knowing for sure.

In practice you’ll find millionaires who won’t pay for their next treatment, and others who are struggling financially but never miss a beat. Value is subjective, and it’s your patient’s job to manage their cheese, not yours. Your job is to accept the cheese, should they choose to offer it.

2. Unclaimed Cheese Doesn’t Last Long

Accounts receivable are not like old cheddar - they don’t get better with age. And they’re not like Cheez Whiz, either, which, never seems to change with age at all. The money your patients owe you is very likely to be spent on other things if you don’t receive it. The lesson? If you have receivables, keep an eye on them - don’t let your cheese go bad, or be claimed by someone else.

3. You Can’t Afford a Dairy Intolerance

The natural medicine professions seemed to be particularly prone to financial struggle, much of it mental/emotional. We often hear (and to be fair, we’ve said it many times ourselves), “Won’t it be great when we don’t have to deal with this marketing/accounting/bookkeeping so we can just be doctors?”

The truth is, being a CAM practitioner almost always means you’re in business. And being in business means you have to accept money as a fundamental. You can’t have a dairy intolerance. You need to count your cheese properly. Make sure you have at least as much coming in as going out most of the time. You’ve got to care about the cheese. You don’t have to love it or worship it, but you can’t avoid it either.

4. Cheese Isn’t Evil…It’s Just Cheese

Money’s a handy thing. In our culture, though, it’s infused with meaning, not all of it positive, and it’s easy to forget that money is just a simple way to exchange goods and services. Being paid in live chickens, coconuts or tangerines is not always the easiest way to run a business.

The most powerful part of being paid in cheese was recognizing that it was a perfectly valid form of payment, but one that wasn’t negatively charged. Somehow, being paid in cheese was…easier. Part of that was our willingness to simply provide the service for free in the first place, but there was more to it. Stripped of its emotional baggage, it was just…cheese. Even being used as a form of payment, it was still cheese.

Cheese is just cheese, in the end, and money’s like that, too. It’s just paper. It’s a simple tool that makes it easier to be in business. It’s a convenient, universal symbol of value that lets you be a practitioner without your patients bringing squealing pigs and sacks of grain into your office. And trust us: most of the time, it’s a lot easier that way.

Until next time, don’t worry, Brie Happy…

Post from: AlternativeHealthPractice.com

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We asked Randi for a case study from AGS’s work with CAM practitioners, and she was kind enough to share this story. Enjoy! -Dan & Tara

Maggie’s story

Six years ago Maggie started her alternative medicine practice in therapeutic massage in an affluent suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. Things were slow at first, but that didn’t dent Maggie’s spirit. She sent out postcards. She ran an ad in the phone book. She passed out flyers. Everyone she talked to she asked for their name, address and email. She recorded those names in her practice “database.”

Yes, her efforts yielded a handful of customers. However, Maggie estimated she was spending about $2000.00/month in marketing. At this rate it was costing Maggie about $1000.00 to acquire each new client.

Eighteen months later, there weren’t enough clients to cover the rent and the light bill. Maggie dusted off the list of names and addresses she had collected and decided to send out a postcard.

What Maggie never knew was that she had committed multiple marketing taboos. It wasn’t really her fault - her forté is healing not marketing.

Let’s take a look at a few of those marketing faux pas:

1. Never mail only one piece when doing direct mail (i.e., sending a postcard or a flyer to someone via US mail). Studies show it takes a minimum of two, more realistically, three times, before the person you mail to even remotely begins to remember who you are and what you have to offer.
2. Lists should be updated regularly (at minimum every 5-6 months) to ensure contact information is accurate and up-to-date (people move quite a bit in today’s economic climate). Sixty percent of the success of your mail program is tied to how up-to-date your list is and if they fit the profile of what your best client/patient looks like.

Maggie’s marketing efforts were not well-rewarded. She spent quite a bit of money and attracted few new clients. She called AGS in a panic. She needed new clients - and quickly - but didn’t have much money to make that happen.

What AGS & Maggie Did

The first thing we did was assure Maggie that she is not alone. Many of her peer practitioners have tried marketing only to be disappointed with high costs and low returns.

We asked some very specific questions about her practice to ensure that her marketing outreach had all the right components for success.

It boiled down to this …start with the basics:

1. Strategy first (what exactly are you trying to accomplish?)
2. Know thy customer (what does your best patient/client look like?)
3. Know what keeps them awake at night (What is their pressing issue or need?)
4. Show them you have what they need (your message of benefits offered)
5. Give them a reason to call you NOW (your offer)
6. Make it easy for them to learn more about you (without obligation)
7. Choose appropriate marketing tools (a way to package your story, so that you can deliver it to your prospects).

• We suggested Maggie establish a website where potential clients could come to learn about her services. She used an AGS professionally-designed website template which came with instructions for custom tailoring it to her business.

• With her website in place, serving as an online brochure, Maggie could now focus on getting new clients with AGS professionally-designed and written three-piece direct mail program.

• Critical to Maggie’s success, she took full advantage of AGS list service to ensure that she had up-to-date and accurate names and addresses. From there Maggie went to work with her newly found marketing tools.

The Results

Did Maggie’s marketing effort deliver results? You bet. Maggie has a new website and 10 new clients as a direct result of her marketing efforts with AGS. It only cost her $1.30 for each person that she marketed to.

Maggie used the AGS 3-piece direct mail campaign and mailed to 1000 people that fit the profile of her best customer. She also used the telemarketing guidelines and script from AGS to call those people as well. Her website got 300 hits (people who went to her website) – 100 of which actually spent time reviewing her practice information in detail.

She picked up 10 new clients within two months of doing her mail campaign. Maggie figures each client is worth about $1200 (in a one year period). Maggie will make $11,000 (after she deducts that $1200.00 she spent on marketing). Her return: Maggie will make $10 for every one dollar she invested in marketing. Not bad!

Next Steps for Maggie

Maggie is already preparing to mail again to 1000 new people on her list. She is also working with AGS public relations tools to help get “free exposure” for her practice with local magazines and newspapers. She is constantly adding new content (AGS research articles) to her website to keep it fresh so her clients will keep coming back to visit

Some final words from Randi:

• Being a gifted healer is table stakes when it comes to building your patient/client base. People need to know you are out there. How you optimize your outreach so that you can be found could very well mean the difference between thriving or simply surviving.
• Right Now, somebody out there is waiting to use your services… the question you must ask yourself, do YOU know who they are? And more importantly, do THEY know who you are?
• If you are not identifying your key and most profitable customers, AND getting your message out to them, you are missing the opportunity to find new and ultimately long-term clients. An opportunity lost that will go straight to your competitor’s practice.

Never lose site of your overall responsibility. The onus lies with each and every practitioner to take an active role in educating consumers on their wellness options. Then and only then can they make informed decisions.

To learn more about Alternative Growth Streams, and get more information on the marketing tools Maggie used, visit AGS online at http://www.easygettingmorepatients.com

Post from: AlternativeHealthPractice.com

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Summer’s in full swing in our part of the world, and we’re heading out for our annual 2-week hiatus. We’ll be off the grid in solar-powered relaxation mode (right here, to be specific).

A few tidbits before we head out:

Escape 101 is now available in Audio

We’re excited about this one. Escape 101 is a how-to guide for sabbaticals that we wrote during our last escape where we did volunteer health care and community development work in rural Paraguay, SA.

Here’s an excerpt from the Escape 101 post on the new audibook version:

The greatest challenge with a book about recapturing your time is that in order to read it you need to make…well, time. The result of this vicious little circle is that the people who need Escape 101 the most are often the ones who have the most trouble making the time to read it.

The solution? Enter Escape 101, the audiobook. We’ve been eagerly anticipating the arrival of the audio version for a few months. Now you can drive, jog, cycle, walk or otherwise listen your way to planning your sabbatical or career break. For the crazy busy, the audio lovers, or for those who just aren’t big readers, this is a great way to experience the book.

The audiobook is published by Gildan Media, who brought such greats as The Attractor Factor, Blue Ocean Strategy and The Go-Giver to audio, and it’s read by the wonderfully talented Erik Synnestvedt, the voice behind such classics as Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, and Timothy Butler’s Getting Unstuck. We’re thrilled to be in such good company.

You can download the audiobook directly via Audible or iTunes. Enjoy!

TCM Directory Summer Sale

Elie at the TCM Directory let me know they’re having a summer sale on practitioner listings. Using the coupon code “TCM2008″, you can get 85% off. That’s $11 instead of $74!

The TCM Directory is a resource for all things TCM-related. You can learn more at the website.

Have a great August, everyone. We’ll have a case study up for you in our absence next week, then we’ll be back with some great new practice growth content for September and onward!

-Dan & Tara

Post from: AlternativeHealthPractice.com

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