Five Surefire Ways to Attract Patients and Clients
By Nancy Heimstra, DC
Wondering how to get new patients or clients into your practice? Wondering how to distinguish yourself as unique from the other practitioners in your community? Here are five surefire ways to get visibility in your area.
1. Get to know your community. In my county there are two very large retirement communities. There is a lake with an association. I am in Southern California, so the beach is close. There are sailing clubs and surfing clubs. There are athletic clubs. From the list you generate, find what excites you. What could you write about and speak about with enthusiasm? Every one of those choices has a very specific niche that could be targeted.
2. Take this information and create a written report. What would your target audience like to hear about? The retirement community would love to hear about arthritis research, or new facts regarding longevity. Don’t get too technical, but do not assume your audience does not know anything about the subject. My father had sciatic problems and knew all the latest research from doing internet searches. Make it interesting and very specific for your target audience.
3. Contact the appropriate organization. If your audience is the surfing community, find all the clubs and associations having to do with surfing. Find out if they have a newsletter and submit your article. Inquire about writing a column. You do not have to make your article or report lengthy. Appeal to the mindset and really think about what problems they might have and offer a solution. Establish yourself as the person to go to with a problem. You are the expert! You are familiar with the problem and you have a solution.
4. Take your article or report and turn it into a presentation. There are so many opportunities everywhere to do public speaking. There are clubs and associations that are begging for speakers. Does the organization you submitted your article to have meetings that have guest speakers? Do not limit yourself to thinking you have to do the standard speech. You do not have to educate them about your field. You are there to establish yourself as the expert in your niche.
5. Contact your local newspaper and send out a press release. Let the paper know where you are doing your presentations.This is another way to raise your level of recognition in your community.
Remember that all of these are designed to establish yourself as a credible expert in your field. Your intention is to attract patients and clients by planting seeds. All decisions to buy a product or hire someone for a service are emotional. When you have made this connection with them, and they trust you, they will be more likely to either come to you as a patient or refer to you.
Remember to take baby steps. If you are not ready to do public speaking yet, start by writing the articles and getting them published.
Nancy Heimstra, DC, is a life coach living in California. She can be reached by visiting http://www.coachforchiros.net/. Copyright “Chiropractic Economics” magazine. Reprinted with permission.