I was introduced to a business networking and marketing organization early on in my first year as a sole practitioner in Ottawa, ON. In this organization, every chapter could have only one representative of any field, and chapter members would promote that person to their own circles – business, personal, social, etc. For example, the realtor would be selling a home and would refer their client to the home inspector in our chapter, or the interior decorator; the family lawyer would be talking with a friend at an event experiencing stress and would refer them to the massage therapist. The car mechanic would refer their customer who they knew was building a business to the website designer. This networking group met weekly, and emphasis was strongly placed on providing referrals to other members.
I took to this model immediately. As someone in a field that is highly based on referrals, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity.
Every week we had 60 seconds to talk about our business, and then in rotation, we would do 10-minute presentations, usually every couple of months or so. We were also expected and encouraged to meet with each other at our respective places of business and have longer one-on-one meetings to further explain what we do and give each other the confidence necessary to make solid referrals.
My chapter had a massage therapist and a chiropractor, and between the three of us, all treating the same things, we were in effect all representatives of the same field – healing. So it was very frustrating for me that when a member of the chapter had someone with a pain condition, they would automatically refer to the chiropractor. And when someone wanted stress management, they would be referred to the massage therapist.
Nobody really knew how to send referrals my way, and I wasn’t helping matters.
I was using my 60 seconds to talk about Qi and energy and meridians and Chinese medicine. I’d talk about the World Health Organization’s list of conditions that acupuncture helped. But still, my colleagues looked at me with glazed eyes. When I met with them in “one on one” meetings in my clinic, I would show them the needles and discuss how acupuncture stimulated healing responses. They smiled, shook my hand, and didn’t send me any referrals.
What was I doing wrong?
After seven years in Ottawa with a modest practice averaging about 20 – 30 patients per week, I moved to a small town in Arizona defined by being strongly Republican and conservative. How was I going to build an acupuncture practice – something people thought of as alternative and “woo woo” – here?
I decided that I had to look at goals.
Not my goals – my patients’ goals.
Why were people coming to see me? I can tell you straight up it wasn’t for acupuncture. They were coming to me because they had pain and they weren’t getting relief from the conventional methods they were being exposed to. They were tired of all the medications and the surgeries and the unhelpful physical therapy that didn’t address the underlying causes of their suffering. Many of them were trying acupuncture as a last-ditch effort. I can tell you they honestly didn’t care what I did to help them – just that I got them out of pain and allowed them to get their lives back.
Once I realized this, I completely restructured how I did my networking and marketing introductions. Instead of talking about Qi, about needles, about points and meridians, I talked about helping people with their health conditions, reducing or eliminating pain, and helping them regain their quality of life. I stopped mentioning acupuncture completely. My key words became “pain free”; “eliminating the problem that’s causing the condition”, and “getting your life back”.
And my practice grew from 30 patient visits a week to 100. And once my patients recognized the value of what I provided – the value of being pain-free and having their lives back – they went from just seeing me for acute conditions to becoming lifelong patients seeing me for health maintenance and illness prevention. And they were so happy with the results they were seeing, they became my biggest fans, referring their own friends and family.
Because when it comes down to it, they don’t care what you do to them – they just want to get better. And if you’re the one who is helping them achieve their goals, then they will help your practice will grow.
Your value is not going to be as an “acupuncturist” – heck, that word is so misunderstood and misused that most people don’t even know what it means (a subject for another post). Your value is in helping your patients reach their goals.
Once you’ve shown your patients the value of what you do – the value of your treatments – THEN you can educate them on what acupuncture really means, and we as a profession can begin reclaiming the word and controlling the definition.
It’s a win-win. Your clinic grows, you become more successful, and you get to be a part of reclaiming our profession.