Believe it or not, Mark Twain was once the editor for a small newspaper in Missouri.
One day, a reader wrote in asking a peculiar question. They had found a spider inside their newspaper. And wanted Mark to tell them if it was a sign of good luck or bad luck.
Twain answered:
“Dear Subscriber: Finding a spider in your paper was neither good luck nor bad luck for you.
The spider was merely looking over our paper to see which merchant is not advertising so that he can go to that store, spin his web across the door and lead a life of undisturbed peace ever afterward.”
Unfortunately, most practitioners get caught up in the myth that all they need to do is master their craft… and then an endless stream of clients will beat a path to their door.
They spend years and years honing their skills. But in their most honest moments… they can’t help but notice their finances are still a struggle (maybe even a nightmare)…
Simply put, there’s no longer one main street in town… and one general store.
Unless you know how to market yourself, most of the people who’d love to work with you… will never even know you exist… no matter how well you’ve mastered your craft.
Even most of the holistic masters you’ve heard of are only well-known because they are also masters at *selling themselves.*
As strange as it sounds, you’d get a lot more clients, be a lot more successful (and touch more peoples’ lives for the better as a result)…
… by being only *good* at your craft… but amazing at selling yourself.
And if you took it a step further and *mastered* selling yourself… you could damn near change the world.
To help you learn this valuable skill quickly… so you can get more clients, achieve greater success, and touch the lives of so many people…
… I sat down and asked myself: “When it comes to selling yourself as a holistic practitioner, what things are most important?”
You’ll find my answers below.
Tip #1: If you care about your clients, and are truly helping the people who come to you… then selling yourself is a noble and honorable thing.
Most of us grow up in an environment that teaches us (consciously or unconsciously) a lot of “gunk” about money.
Unfortunately, many people do indeed become wealthy by wronging others. This then reinforces the illusion that anyone who’s gotten ahead in the world must be doing something immoral – or even downright wrong.
The problem, though, isn’t being in business or being successful. It’s that some people make one-sided deals where only they benefit.
On the other hand, if you’re offering something your clients truly want or need, then I’d say you almost have a moral obligation to sell yourself. Because, unless you do, they’ll never find you, and likely never be able to resolve the challenges they are facing.
Tip #2: Focus On Your “Back End,” NOT the First Sale
Most practitioners fall into the trap of trying to get a lot of new clients. Truth is, though, there’s a much easier way to grow a highly successful practice.
Allow me to explain:
- It is easier to make a second sale to a past customer than it is to acquire a new customer. This is because once someone has had a great experience with you once, they already know that your services are valuable and aren’t as skeptical.
- Furthermore, it’s also less expensive to make a sale to a past customer than it is to acquire a new customer. If you gather their email addresses, you can simply email them for free using Mailchimp.com. This is much cheaper than having to pay for advertising.
So it only makes sense to focus on making easier sales to past customers… instead of constantly working hard to acquire new customers at a higher cost.
Tip #3: Have a Targeted Marketing Message
People are much more likely to schedule an appointment if your sales messages, whether on your website or in another form of advertising, demonstrates you are the right person for them; they want to know you can help them.
To do that, your sales messages need to talk about their specific problems; needs to show them you understand what they are going through… and then demonstrate that you can help them through their challenges.
Problem is, most practitioners fall into the trap of trying to solve every problem for everyone. Doing this makes your sales messages extremely NON-specific. Vague.
This causes most of your potential clients to feel confused and unsure if you can help them at all. So, not surprisingly, not many of them will schedule an appointment.
One way to solve this is to choose a specific “niche” to specialize in. Choose one problem or one set of problems to solve for people. For example, a Hypnotherapist could specialize in a broad number of problems such as quitting smoking and losing weight.
This one simple shift will cause a dramatic improvement in your sales materials… and therefore the number of people who respond to them.
Tip #4: In order to attract clients, you must understand them
This is, in my experience, the single most powerful thing you can do to get more clients: understand your clients better.
When you understand them, your marketing messages practically write themselves…and when you’re on the phone you’ll know just what they need.
On the other hand, when you don’t deeply understand your potential clients, marketing feels extremely difficult, and you’re left wondering why it isn’t working yet.
If you were just decent at every other aspect of marketing, but amazing at market research, you’d get a lot better results than trying to learn every trick in the book.
I wish you all the best in life.
Beverly Taylor
P.S. We all became practitioners for similar reasons: we love helping others and wanted to turn that into a professional career instead of continuing the 9-to-5 grind. Sometimes, even running a holistic practice can be overwhelming, though…
…Leaving us with less free time and A LOT more “business” stuff on our to do list instead of time with our clients.
If you’d like to shovel some of the marketing stuff off your plate, so you can spend more hours each day helping your clients instead… or even so you can just have more free time with family and friends… you can find out more about my done-for-you services here: