Tips to Letting Go Of The Fear of Marketing

Many therapists fear rejection when marketing their practice. It can be hard to hear "we don't need your services" or "we don't have time to have you come in and talk to the team". I’ve compiled a few tips to help you work through that fear:

1. Reframe your thinking about rejection.

Rejection isn’t necessarily bad; it can be a great teacher. Every time you are rejected, take some time to reflect on what you could have done differently. For example, did you try to talk about what you can offer or did you ask them about their business and what their struggles are? What time of day did you go in? Were you talking to the “right” person?

I know that I’ve fallen into this trap numerous times. I do not like rejection, like oh, 100% of the world, and like, oh 90% of the world, I had a hard time believing at my core that it wasn’t about me; that I wasn’t a failure. However, this was an important lesson for me. When I took a step back and realized that I am a random person calling a busy doctor’s office, AND I don’t know exactly what I’m saying, I was setting myself up for getting rejected. I started thinking about who I was calling, why, who the best person to talk to was, the best time of day based on all my previous attempts, and how I could make it worth their while to have me talk to the right person.

2. Set realistic expectations.

It is important to remember that not everyone will be interested in your services and that's ok. People don’t know what they don’t know. But also, if you’re calling doctor’s offices, you’re not calling for the receptionist to get therapy. You’re calling to help their clients. Some of the receptionists may not understand this or may not care enough to pass your information on. It’s ok. (See tip number 3).

Here again I struggled. I constantly made it about me when I was rejected making calls. When they say “No” it’s not a reflection on me. The office I called was busy and they don’t know what they don’t know. My expectations of my calls had to change in order for my spiel to change.

3. Be persistent.

Don't give up if you don't get immediate results. People are being bombarded by information from every angle every minute of the day it seems. It is near impossible for people to remember someone they spoke to on the phone one time. Keep calling, go in to see them, bring them something that will help THEIR business. Build relationships with them.

I struggled here too. Do we see a theme yet? When people told me “no”, I took it as “no”. I mean, aren’t we supposed to do that? Otherwise we’re being pushy, being a bully, being disrespectful, or hurtful. Respect it when someone says no, right? Oy, this was a hard lesson to learn. Go back to number 2 if you need to. Have you ever heard of or known someone who asks someone on a date multiple times before they say yes? If done properly, it isn’t disrespectful or pushy. The same goes with marketing. Build relationships. When they say “no”, don’t give up. Make it your personal mission to build one relationship at a time if you need to. For me this helped!

4. Be confident.

Believe in yourself and your ability to help people. You know how to ask the right questions to get people to open up. You are good at what you do. The world needs to know you exist.

I used to freeze when thinking of what to say to someone when marketing my practice. It wasn’t the same thing because they’re not coming to me with a problem. I have to start the conversation and don’t even know if they want to hear it. Not to mention they’re busy and probably don’t have the time to hear it. Part of tip 1, reframe rejection, is understanding why you are good at what you do. What is it about you that people like? What is it about you that people will open up to you? Use those qualities to understand their practice better. Make it about them, just like you do as a therapist.

5. Remember that rejection is not a reflection of your worth.

It often means that they don't need your specific services at this time or are busy or don't understand what you can do for them. This too, goes along closely with tip number 1.

We are taught at a very young age that “no” means I did something bad. “No don’t put your finger in the light socket” “No don’t run into the street” “no don’t jump on the bed” “No don’t climb on the counter to get the cookies”. No is wired into us as we did something bad and the survival response believes that our literal survival is threatened (our survival system is not logical; it has the algorithm of “if this, then that” with no other parameters. We need to keep the logic brain on; “no” is not a reflection of my worth despite what my survival system says.

6. Refocus your efforts.

If you're not getting the results you want from one marketing strategy, try something different. None of us are good at everything. Find where you shine and keep doing that.

I started with a lot of online marketing. It is easier and less threatening. It also allowed me to hone who I want to work with and what I’m best at. It gave me time to build my confidence in who I am. From there, I was able to go out and talk with friends and family more before venturing out to doctor’s offices. Speaking of doctor’s offices, I started with sending letters or fliers and never following up. Once I felt more confident in who I was and how I helped, I was able to make my marketing about the office instead of about me. I still like online options better, but I do go out and speak with people.

7. Don't give up.

Rejection is a normal part of business. Don't let it discourage you from pursuing your dreams. Practice what you teach. It takes time for any change to happen. We have to go through all sorts of feelings and awkward actions before we are good at anything.

As a therapist, I wonder how many of those tips sound familiar. We teach our clients the same things. It's much easier to say than do, huh? We're not taught how to sell in school. It doesn't feel natural to us. But when we learn to take our own advice, we become amazing at marketing…because what is marketing at its core? Building relationships; something we do every day!

If it's still really hard, I get it! I have an 8 week marketing program, Marketing your private practice, geared to helping you overcome the barriers to marketing. You can contact me here to learn more about this program.