There was this lumberjack who made it his goal to chop down 2 trees a day. Off he went and nailed it. And the next day and the next.
He was consistently hitting his goal so easily he decided to up the ante to 4 trees. And out he went and nailed it. And the day after that. And the day after that.
He was on a roll so he upped the ante to 6 trees expecting to nail it again. Out he went. And he couldn’t. The next day he couldn’t even make 4, day after that 2 was hard work. He wondered what had gone wrong. He asked his mate what he thought, why couldn’t he even manage his original 2 trees a day anymore? His mate asked him when he had last sharpened his saw?
Ah, yes, the light dawned. He realised he hadn’t, he hadn’t had time.
He had been too busy doing, not enough time spent in prep.
Sound familiar? I know I can get like that. As a practitioner I love sharpening all the tools that can help my clients – but it is easy to forget the primary tool that drives my practice.
My marketing.
So my question (to kick off the new financial year) is “How are you sharpening your saw?”
For example, are you keeping business development time in your diary? (Or has it slipped away – maybe client time taking it over or (aargh) the dreaded to-do list of boring admin.)
Even if your work is ticking over nicely it is important to spend time each and every week on your marketing strategies. These are your key strategies that you have in place that bring in new clients and keep your existing clients returning. You should be focusing a little extra in the strategy where you are looking for the biggest bang. For example, if you are a new practitioner then your energy should be going into good Get New and Follow Up Strategy – while if you are established and booked well ahead, you may want to focus on nurturing your existing clients in a thoughtful Keep In Touch Strategy.
Even if things are happening a bit like magic it is important to know what you are doing (or not doing) in case it all goes down the gurgler. It only takes a great referral source to retire and a whole clinic can dry up overnight.
Here are a few ideas to sharpen your saw …
Up the ante on your Follow-up Strategy. Having a good follow up process is something many practitioners fall down on. Think about your follow up process, is it working? One way you can do that is think about how your potential client experiences it. Do they turn up clear about what you do and confident that you can help them? Sharpening your saw in this area will help you ‘close’ more of your perfect clients more easily.
Get New Clients– How’s your marketing? Does it clearly help your perfect clients see that you really understand who they are and what they want. Not what you know they need. Practitioners too often try to sell their modalities and outcomes rather than helping potential new clients feel understood. Remember all they want to know is that you can help them.
Share some love in your Keep In Touch Strategy. Do you keep in touch with your past clients? This is all too easy to slip to the bottom of your to-do pile. Don’t let it! Your existing clients are your biggest fans. Give them some love! Create a plan and put it into place consistently. Consistently is your key word here!
Need more sharpening?
Have a look in the Build your Business Category in my blog for heaps of great ideas. A bit of time spent now means all will be running smoothly as we run up to the end of the year. To Your Practice Success!
******** This was written with the intention of helping you to live your best life.I would love to hear your thoughts on this, And if you think someone else would enjoy it please feel free to share it around.*********
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