*** Every weekday for 30 days, I’m giving you one “big idea” to solve your toughest marketing challenge. To submit your problem for consideration, follow the format today’s subscriber used, and then hit “reply” with your own specific details and challenges. My assistant will filter through these replies and forward me the best ones to review. MOST important – if you like what you are reading, forward this information on to a few of your friends and associates. ***
Today’s question comes from Dr. Robert Vano – a chiropractor out of Imperial, Pennsylvania. He says, “Craig, I operate a very unique chiropractic practice in the suburban Pittsburgh, PA area. My “best customers” are in the 26 – 60 age group and are mostly women. Still, I see a lot of men too. What makes us unique? The following points should sum it up…
1. We offer a membership to those who want chiropractic for maintaining their health, rather than symptom relief (patch-up care).
2. I am a doctor who is not afraid of rejection when I tell people the full truth about 100% pure, all-American chiropractic care. Hint: Chiropractic is not a backache profession, regardless of what one might think.
3. I use a non-medical-like approach to rendering care.
4. I love chiropractic! It’s not just a job to me. It is my life. I offer care to my community like I would to my wife and children.
My biggest challenge? Getting my community to shift their thought processes from symptom management to quality of life and health and performance enhancement. Largely, my community is mis-educated about “real” chiropractic care. Other chiropractors violate the basic foundation of chiropractic thinking and as a result, they are mostly like medical doctors instead of offering pure chiropractic. So, when people leave them and come to me, my job is more difficult in an effort to change their paradigm about what I am here to do for them. I want to grow my membership and get away from insurance companies playing a role in payment. But that means I need people who are more health-concious about health maintenance than just about patch-up care.
So, I guess finding a way to communicate, via marketing or writing, why it is better to follow my lead than to not follow it, and why the benefits of my approach are far more rewarding, is my real challenge.
Sincerely, Dr. Robert Vano”
This is a great question because it’s something LOADS of business-owners struggle with.
Basically, they are so strongly committed to what they’re doing, they have an almost evangelical passion they approach the marketplace with.
The problem is, unless you are speaking to the right people — meaning, people who are interested in your message — this evangelical passion isn’t going to get you qualified clients. All it’s going to do is make you frustrated and miserable.
And here’s why: the most effective marketing you can do, is marketing that attracts those people who already want to buy what you’re selling. And in fact, this is the basic foundation of direct-response marketing.
Trying to convince someone what you’re offering is what they ‘should’ want to buy, as a consumer… is as difficult as trying to convince someone to have a personal relationship with you.
People buy what THEY want to buy, and that’s it. Period. No getting around that one, and thank goodness for that, when it comes down to it.
That’s called ‘capitalism.’ You can’t convince anyone to do anything, especially when it comes to giving you money or “seeing things your way.”
That’s the bad news.
Now for the good news: You are FAR better off finding those people who are ALREADY sold on what you have to offer, and then simply explaining why they should buy it from you, than trying to convince someone to buy something from you, anyway.
Your marketing should only address those people who want to buy what you’re selling. Who cares about what your non-buyers want… or what other people in your industry are doing?
All that does is bring negative energy on you and waste valuable time you could otherwise be using to attract qualified prospects and sell them goods and services.
If you want to spend your spare time running ‘convincing clinics,’ that’s fine. But if you want to feed your family, you’d better focus on spending your time with those people who actually want your services.
Look, some people stop by your business, and their purpose is to help you pay your mortgage that month. Other people stop by your business and their purpose is to help you pay your mortgage every month for five or ten years.
In fishing terms, it works like this: put out the right bait, and you will catch the right fish.
If you want to find people who are into some kind of overall health and wellness, then advertise for it. Write a report called “7 Steps To Drug-Free And Pain Free Health And Wellness” and offer this in an advertorial. Then inside this free report, offer a free health and wellness exam for the first 10 people to respond before a certain date.
Or, offer a local Drug-Free Pain-Free Health And Wellness workshop locally, and after you educate your workshop attendees, make them a special offer to sing up with you for a package deal over 24-months, 12-months, and 6-months.
Somewhere in this combination is a winning formula, Doc.
Let me know how it works out. And stop worrying about all the unhealthy people out there in the world. Unfortunately, you’re not going to get them to take care of themselves any faster than you’re going to get smokers to stop smoking… drug users to stop using… and bad marketers to stop sending you irritating marketing messages.
Now go sell something, Craig Garber
P.S. Discover how I turned a small failure into a small fortune in Chapter 15
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