Online directories are the first place that a prospective client will let their “fingers do the walking”. While online directories can be a good place to advertise, this is not where you will get most of your clients, most of your clients will come from other clients or professional referrals. The size of an ad in the yellow pages or an online ad probably does not make much difference. Prospective clients will either go to the largest ad or just proceed alphabetically, or perhaps they are going to pick the closest facility to either home or work. Do not spend a lot of money on a print ad, the return on investment is poor.
Save your money for a good answering service or a cell phone. A single or double line ad in bold will serve most needs for yellow page advertising. Remember, your yellow page advertising representative works for the company that profits from your advertising, they like to encourage larger ads.
Your well designed and eye catching business card is your most important piece of advertising. Cards can easily be placed or left in a large variety of locations. Your business card should be simple and contain only the information that pertains to your professional credentials and how to reach you. Artwork or photographs are a good idea, but the plain professional card is just as good. Your business card should list your training and association memberships. You can even add a brief slogan or statement like, “your health is our concern”. Leave your business card in the following locations:
With all health care professionals
- Anywhere you make a business call
- Health clubs
- Health food stores
- Associations that services client populations that you treat
- Medical clinics
- Dental clinics
- Psychology clinics
- At all group athletic events
- Health fairs
- Public bulletin boards
- With the waitress that served your lunch
- With service clubs and organizations
- With support groups
- Anywhere that makes sense to you
The locations mentioned above are also the contacts that you want to develop as referral sources. For example, health food stores see a lot of health conscious people in a single day. If you offered to provide discounted classes or training to health food store staff, the staff in turn would probably not hesitate to refer clients to you. Psychologists see many clients who are experiencing various levels of stress. Psychologists are a good source to market, they frequently practice in groups and you could offer them discounted services in order to educate them regarding your services.
Some weekly newspapers are a good source for inexpensive advertising. It is not the size of the ad that is important, but rather, consistency in advertising. In other words place a small inexpensive ad and leave it in place for weeks or months. A single ad or a short term ad is usually not very effective. The best buy in most small newspapers is the classified ad section, it is usually very inexpensive and in a small weekly paper it is usually read about as well as the rest of the paper. A one or two inch ad is usually a good purchase and once again in a small paper still gets the attention of most readers. If after an ad has run for two or three months no one seems to have seen it, find yourself another paper. If you live in a small area with only one paper then every one will see your ad. If you live in a larger area then find out which paper has the best readership and use that one. For example, a business coach atlanta would benefit from placing an ad in an Atlanta business paper. Never underestimate the power of a small inexpensive ad, it can bring results that you never expected.
The keys to successful marketing
- Keep your message simple.
- Use a bold headline or attention statement and then a simple, short message.
- Be consistent, leave the ad in place for weeks.
- Don’t think that you have to spend a lot of money, you don’t.
- Develop a program of regular consistent marketing and advertising exposure.
- Spend time every day marketing your practice.
- Look for free and easy opportunities to educate people regarding your business.
- Remember the most important education and marketing is done in your facility and during the client visit.
- You can grow your chiropractic practice or massage business, or bring more clients into your physical therapy or personal training program, but those new patients will come mostly from referrals and not from advertising.
Successful Business Building
First of all, here are guaranteed ways to fail in business:
- Do not answer your telephone on a consistent basis.
- Use an answering machine.
- Do not establish regular office hours.
- Do not spend time daily planning your practice growth and development.
- Do not think about your business.
- Do not tell people about your business.
- Do not educate your clients.
- Do not ask for referrals.
- Do not work full time at building your practice.
- Create a “bankers hours” schedule. Never work evenings or weekends.
- Practice like everybody else.
- Over charge for your services.
- Act like you don’t care.
- Do not act or dress in a professional manner.
- Do not return phone calls promptly, within twenty minutes, or at all.
- Do not visualize or pray for your personal success.
Using an answering machine or voicemail to run your office is a guaranteed way to assure your failure in business. People want to reach a real human being and not a machine. In this age of advanced telecommunications you have many communications options. The best method of handling incoming calls is with a cell phone that you personally answer ten to twelve hours per day. The second best method is an answering service with a live operator answering your telephone and then paging you with the message, then you return the call within twenty minutes.
Client retention and business building begin the moment the client enters your office. Client education should be provided while the client is at your facility. This educational process serves several important functions, but the most important thing that it does, from the perspective of this guideline on business building, is it increases client retention and repeat visits. An educated client is more likely to seek future services.
If you want a successful exercise business you must behave and conduct yourself like a professional at all times:
- You must have regular and convenient business hours, this should include one or two evenings per week. Some clients need early morning appointments, you should accommodate the needs of your clients.
- You should be either in your office doing paperwork or making marketing phone calls, or doing business building activities outside of the office.
- You should attempt to schedule one or two contact lunches with either other professionals or services organizations per week.
- You should always be available by telephone or pager, and you should follow the twenty minute rule, return all telephone calls within twenty minutes.
- You should establish a reasonable fee schedule that describes both the services that you provide and the fees you charge for each service.
- You should seek out specialization programs like posture specialist certification.
Lower cost care allows more clients to access your services.
The 10 Essential Rules for Exercise Business Success
- Be professional at all times.
- Develop a realistic and affordable fee schedule.
- Be responsive, available, and in communication at all times.
- Educate and reschedule the client.
- Look like a professional.
- Keep regular hours.
- Promote yourself and your business every day.
- Give referrals and seek referrals.
- Go out of your way to serve the needs of your clients and other exercise and health care professionals.
- Put service ahead of profit.
