How can a therapist overcome the resistance to wanting to promote themselves and the mindset that suggests that actively promoting themselves is somehow a bad thing?

You can find a bit about that in ‘I am no good at selling myself‘.

However, it is worth thinking about some more, because it is a huge issue with many natural health practitioners.

Where does the resistance come from?

Its source might be found in the fact that many practitioners start out because they develop a love for a particular treatment as a client. That prompts them to learn the skills to administer that.

When they finish many feel that they are not experienced enough. This is communicated through potential clients who react with uncertainty or worse. (I think this communication happens on an unconscious or energetic level.)

And therapists pick that up (unconsciously) thus heightening their insecurity.

To stop getting rejections, they avoid promoting themselves.

So I don’t think many practitioners think it a bad thing to promote themselves. The reluctance comes from protecting their emotional balance.

Focus on the Benefits

That is the single most important suggestion I have. Stop thinking about promoting yourself. Forget selling your services. Keep one thing in mind: How can you benefit the people around you best?

The first thing this does is to help you to listen better. Understanding other people, asking for more details to get the full picture, delving into their beliefs.

If appropriate or asked, think of whether you can help them.

Helping them does not even have to mean with your services. It could be giving them another contact. It could mean suggesting a product or doing a specific thing.

Solving a problem for your target market

It also means offering your services, promoting yourself.

This is where target market comes into play. The more clearly you have defined who your clients are and what problem you are solving for them, the better you will become at exactly that. That increases your certainty and the easier it will be to promote your services in that area.

If you have not yet received my free report: The 7 Biggest Business Mistakes Health Practitioners Make, just enter your name and email and I'll send it to you. Name: E-Mail: I respect your privacy and will never sell, share or pass on your details.

After my last post, I received a few questions regarding the business cards:

1. Why did you use the picture?
2. Was there an offer on the back?
3. Did you really produce no other marketing materials?

Massage Business Cards with Photos

Using a picture on business cards (especially massage business cards) is a great way to make people remember you. When I proposed the picture to Caroline, her reply was: “Car sales people and Real Estate people use them. I think that is too tacky”. (more…)