Greetings Dear Ones,
Recession proof your practice and other marketing lies.
Here are some other recent AMAZING NEW, FOOL-PROOF METHODS OF MAKING
YOUR PRACTICE SOAR!!!!
Finally, an opportunity to get out of the rat race and experience life on
your terms...
Build your Ideal Practice...
In Only 2 1/2 Minutes You Can Quickly and Easily Create A Sales Letter
Guaranteed To Sell Your Product Or Service... Without Writing!...
These are only 3 of the billion websites out there selling you on ways to
build your practice to 6 or more figures faster than you can snap your
fingers.
There are over 500,000 websites that will sell you ways to "Recession Proof
your business" while the only business they are recession proofing is THEIR
own!
And there are over 100,000 websites dedicated to helping your recession proof
your practice. They are also the ones making the money!
One of them says the following: "Your potential clients are thinking twice
about how they spend their discretionary income!"
And people buy them and they buy them over and over and over
again. People waste more time and more money trying to save time and make
money than you might even believe and they do it like clockwork.
You see, most people are like vending machines and if you push the right
buttons the right stuff will come out. What are the right buttons?
Fear and greed. These will get people to do things that they are often
surprised that they did.
"A fool and his money are soon parted." Thomas Tusser quotes (English Farmer
and Writer 1524-1580)
"There's a sucker born every minute" is often credited to the showmen P.T.
Barnum...but it has never been proven that he said it. He also never
denied it.
So let's look at the psychology of influence...
Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D. is a social psychologist who is currently Regents'
Professor of Psychology and is author of the book, "The Psychology of Persuasion".
His book outlines 6 key aspects of influence that gets people to buy!
Law of Influence 1 - Reciprocity - This is a social convention found in all
societies where we feel we must repay in kind what another person has provided
us. If I give you something you will often feel a sense of obligation.
Law of Influence 2 - Commitment and Consistency - Once a choice or stand has
been made we are under internal and external (social) pressure to remain
consistent with this commitment. Once we say yes to our interest in a product or
service there is a pressure to maintain that yes.
Law of Influence 3 - Social Proof - One fundamental way that individuals
decide what they should do in a situation is to look at what similar others have
done. For years television marketers have used testimonials from satisfied
customers which infer that if it worked for them and they are like me, that
product or service will work for me as well.
Law of Influence 4 - Liking - People want to say yes to people they like.
Hence, the success of direct selling to friends and relatives.
Law of Influence 5 - Authority - Status confers greater attributes. People
are more easily influenced by those they perceive to be legitimate authorities.
This response makes great sense because legitimate authorities have typically
attained their positions by virtue of greater knowledge or skill or experience
in the matter at hand. Doctors and lawyers are often regarded as more important.
The way you act and what you say dictate how people see you.
Law of Influence 6 - Scarcity - The more scarce something is the more
valuable it is perceived. A number of unethical practices exist that are not
recommended if you want a long-term client. They include:
Limited Number technique -- Where the sales person claims a product is the
last one in the shop or the storeroom to close the sale or that there are only a
limited number on the offer.
Deadline tactic -- where a product is only available for a limited period.
This is a high-pressure sales tactic that suggests the client must buy now or it
will soon be more expensive or unavailable.
Next time you find yourself surfing on the net ask yourself, which of these
tactics are being used to get me to part with my money?
I believe in offering my clients the most up-to-date common sense information
I can and I believe in giving support to my clients in the implementation of
those systems into their practice. However the greatest factor to your
success is not a system and is not a technique. The real secret is
YOU.
Your financial success is not determined by a system or technique or a
method. Your success depends on YOU.
So let's talk about this for a moment.
Great ideas are a dime a dozen but the ability to implement them is
key.
Here is what needs to be done in order to be a successful practioner:
1. Marketing research: This includes demographics and psychographics (there
must be a big enough population with enough money to pay for your services)
2. Depending on the marketing research you must choose the correct business
model: high volume/low cost or low volume/high cost.
3. Marketing activities must include: Public Relations/advertising/referral
marketing/strategic alliances/targeted marketing materials/giving
talks/writing/building relationships with your community.
4. Sales: helping potential patients make buying decisions that are genuinely
good for them. This builds long term client loyalty.
5. An Eye on Finances: Watching what comes in and watching what goes out and
making course corrections.
6. Leadership: responsible for the vision
7. Management: doing what needs to be done to achieve the vision of the
practice
The Acupreneur consolidates these things into what I call the Ba Gua of
Success "
1. Vision and mission
2. Finances
3. Marketing
4.
Sales
5. Time management
6. Leadership
7. Patient Journey through your
practice
8. Work/Life balance
As you can see, the work of a practice owner is much larger and often
experienced as more daunting than just the treatment of clients and demands a
great deal of time and attention. There are no easy ways. There are
simple ways - often difficult to follow - but often worth following.
In the world of the "Secret" why are so many doing so badly? The answer
is greed. We have a glut of success books that talk about ways and means
of becoming successful and the messages that are contained in them are written
to be music to the eyes and ears of the reader. In other words they give
the reader what they want.
Medicine, especially Chinese medicine, does not taste good. No one
wants to hear that in order to be a success you are going to have to work your
ASS OFF!
Let's face it, making lots of money is simple. Find out what the people
want and become a supplier of it and charge as much as you can for it while you
can.
But being successful in the largest sense of the word takes a different kind
of intention and a whole other set of integrity-based actions.
Stop looking for easy ways and wasting time and money. Instead start working
hard at simple ways.
Dr. Eric
Board of Advisors
