Networking Tips for Therapists Who Think They Don't Know How to Network
People refer to people that they know, like, and trust.
It’s easier to know, like, and trust someone when you’ve connected with them face-to-face.
And guess what? As a therapist, you meet with people face-to-face every day, and you are actually uniquely equipped to be a great marketer! Many of the skills you use for work translate into a marketing strategy.
If you don’t know where to start with in-person networking, you’re in the right place. Today we’re going to cover all the basics so you can get going.
Making relationships
Given all the options we have that will give us instant “likes” online, making connections in-person can easily get overshadowed. First off, it’s not always the easiest thing. For some of us, it can come with a set of social anxieties that sitting behind a computer does not. But, it is likely to have a greater yield as far as the number of clients it will actually bring in your door.
This is why I said that you are uniquely equipped for marketing. The secret to marketing is that it’s really all about making relationships. Here’s how it works:
Step 1) Make sure you understand who your ideal client is. This is going to help save you time because your efforts will be more focused, and less of a scattershot approach, and it will improve your return on investment.
If you need some help identifying your ideal click here to download my free Ideal Client Workbook.
The key to getting the kind of clients you want, is to connect with sources that see people you want to see!
For example, if your ideal clients are parents, you might want to make connections with people who see kids. If your ideal client is women going through a divorce, you might want to connect with couples therapists.
Step 2) Brainstorm some ideas about sources. Now that you know the type of client you are trying to find, next we want to think about two different categories of people.
1) Therapists who might send you referrals
2) Non-therapists who might send you referrals.
Meeting other therapists
Go to in-person training events/conferences on topics you are interested in. You will meet therapists with similar interests. This is how I’ve made most of my strongest colleague relationships, and then almost all the other relationships have stemmed from there.
Make referrals to other therapists. If you see individuals, you can refer to a couples therapist, or group therapist, or a therapist who has a clinical specialty that you don’t. It sounds weird but it’s a great way of making a connection and getting your name out there and people’s minds. Take a moment during the process to actually connect with that colleague, ask them some more about their practice, and share something of yourself.
Do peer supervision. The whole “know, like, and trust” thing really comes into play here. In supervision, people get a sense of what your clinical work actually looks like, as well as getting to spend time with you in a social way (because let’s face it, most peer supervision is 50% about wine and cheese).
Volunteer at an organization, become part of a committee or help with an event.
Join a professional organization for an area of clinical interest, and attend their social events. Or even consider joining their Board if they have one.
Give a talk on a topic you are experienced in.
Offer to help your colleagues. This is kind of general, and of course you need to have boundaries with yourself about your availability and capacity, but I add this to the list to get you thinking of the idea that marketing is actually most effective when you are offering something. People will tend to remember you more if you’ve given them something than if you are just asking for something. If there’s anything you have expertise in, or if you can help them solve a problem, do it, it will be good karma (in the form of awesome clients).
Meeting non-therapist referral sources
Here are some things to consider about your own unique ideal client:
Think about other professional services your population might access. Maybe your specialty is chronic pain, so you reach out to primary care doctors, chiropractors, or acupuncturists. Or if your specialty is eating disorders, maybe you reach out to area dietitians.
Think about the place where people spend the most time: work and school. If you want to work with children and families, you reach out to the local schools. If you’re interested in issues related to college-aged students, reach out to colleges. If you help with stress management, you can reach out to businesses in the area.
Think about where your ideal clients spend their free time in your community and, where appropriate, see if you can connect with people there. For example, if you want to work with expectant moms, maybe you reach out to some local prenatal yoga teachers.
One other thing re: non-therapist referral sources
A by-product of doing good work with your current clients is that you are actually creating referral sources. When clients get good care, they share that information. I’ve gotten so many 6-degree of separation, friend-of-a-friend referrals, it’s been one of the best sources of referrals for my practice! So know that just by doing good work, more clients will find their way to you.
Step 3) Get out there!
Nothing new is going to happen if you don’t do anything new. Put on your grown-up shoes and go meet some peeps!
It’s a good goal to try to schedule one thing a week. And, when you’re really new and don’t have a ton of clients it’s a great time to use those extra hours to pound some pavement (or let’s be honest, drink a lot of coffee or wine with some fellow therapists).
Wait, but what exactly am I supposed to say when I network?
First off, so much of networking is just about making connections. Those connections might not even have to do with clinical work at first. Just think about making a human-to-human connection, listen well, ask questions and be curious about the other person (bonus, you’re already good at that because you’re a therapist).
Second thing, here’s where some of our therapist internal messaging about not self-promoting comes into play. “Isn’t self-promotion kind of gross?” Trust me: 99% of the time people are really happy to hear about your services because it gives them some relief to know they have somewhere to refer people!
Bottom line: Marketing is providing a service! They can’t send people to you if they don’t know you’re there, and you can’t help people, and alleviate suffering if you hide out in your office all day!
So here’s what you say:
“My name is _______ and I have a practice in _________ (location) and I love to work with clients who __________ (fill in the blank with a quick 10-word description of your ideal client)”
For that last bit, I recommend you do some work on narrowing that down and making it as specific as possible. Even if it doesn’t encompass every person you see, it should really be focused on who you want to see more of. Again, this is where the importance of knowing your ideal client comes in.
