The Therapy Builders Blog

Postage Goes Up on May 12

admin — Sat, 10 May 2008 15:07:12 +0000

It seems these days that everything is costing more, gas, food….

On Monday May 12th, the United States Post Office is raising the price of stamps. But you can purchase Forever Stamps and lock in the price of the current rate. This must be done before Monday May 12th.

So when your out today running errands or just enjoying your life, stop by the post office and pick up some stamps.

Take a Lunchtime Meeting: On the Phone

admin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:35:16 +0000

Are you tired of feeling isolated in your private practice and wish you had more time to meet with other practitioners? Why not schedule a phone meeting. In the privacy of your own office, you can grab lunch and meet with other like minded clinicians. The phone meeting is the perfect solution to feeling alone in your practice and those high gasoline costs.

Clinicians and coaches have been using teleclasses to promote their practices with much success and you can use the same technology to have a meeting with other therapists. There are companies that provide free services to host these telemeetings. Register with one of them, two that I know come to mind, www.freeconference.com and www.freeconferencall.com. After you register, set the date and send out an email to those therapists you want to meet with. You will get what they call a bridge line and the only cost is the cost of a long distance phone call.

Somebody has to act as the host and it’s usually the person who has arranged the meeting and the conference line (also known as the bridge line). If you have never been on a call like this, it may feel different but it is just like a telephone session with a client. If you want, you can even record the call and send it to all the participants. I like that feature for a couple of reasons. If you can’t make a meeting, you can listen to it at another time. My favorite reason though is if someone says something absolutely brilliant on the call, you can listen to it again.

So go ahead and schedule a meeting by telephone.

How You Can Help Our Troops

admin — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 05:33:13 +0000

I don’t know if you are as outraged as me about the treatment of the Iraq War Veterans at Walter Reed Hospital. I have been concerned about the mental help needs of our returning veterans for a long time now. These men and women have had too many tours of duty and their mental health needs are enormous. The VA system does not have enough professionals to provide for their psychotherapy and from what I’m reading, services are unevenly delivered, depending on region or state.

My friend told me about a not for profit organization, Give an Hour, geared to forming a national network of volunteer mental health professionals. They are looking to provide free mental health services to military personnel and their families. Services can be provided in a number of ways, either in person or by telephone, by group or individual counseling. All they are asking for is a one hour a week commitment. For me, this is a way to give something back to these young people fighting overseas. If you are interested in finding out more about this valuable program, go to www.giveanhour.org

To Market or Not to Market

admin — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:01:30 +0000

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”
Anthony Robbins

Are you are still marketing your practice today the same way as you did 20 years ago? Or do you even market your practice? Back in the 70’s and 80’s before managed care, you could open a practice, send out announcement cards, call up your friends and sit back and wait for the referrals to roll in.

Today’s market is different. I know I said market. Today’s prospective clients are therapy savvy. In order to not only survive but thrive in a managed care environment, what is needed is to increase the self pay clients in your practice, get off managed care entirely, become a workaholic…or develop a different marketing strategy. Whichever you choose, your marketing strategy will require you to think outside the box.

I don’t know about you, but I did not take a marketing 101 course in my professional training. So we need to learn some simple, easy to implement marketing tips that can begin to make a difference in attracting the clients we want to work with.

Here are 5 tips to begin to market your practice

1. Think of your practice as a business. This does not mean that you have to view the work you do with your clients as a business; it does mean that what you do to support the practice needs to have a business focus.
2. Remember the WIIFM (What’s in it for me) principle in all your marketing. Too many practitioners put more emphasis on their credentials, training, and specialties in promotional material than the actual benefit gained from working with them. It is more effective to focus on what is important to your prospective clients. What keeps them up at night? Gear your marketing materials to what you can do for your client.
3. Create a vision for your practice: Where do you want your practice to be in a year? In five years?
4. If you have not already done so, join the technological age. Do not be afraid to use technology to promote your practice. You don’t have to do it all by yourself, there are people to help you. If you already are comfortable with technology, look at developing a website to promote your practice. In future posts, I will talk more about this.
5. Form a marketing support group. Hire a Practice Building Coach, just like you would hire a clinical supervisor to upgrade your clinical skills. A Practice Building Coach can help you develop a vision and strategy for your practice.

In future posts, we will talk about developing strategies that can help you promote your practice.