One of the most effective ways to bring in new patients predictably, especially when an acupuncturist enjoys teaching, is by doing talks. It can also bring in another stream of income, beyond just seeing more patients one-on-one.
Speaking is a good way to educate, and reach more people all at once. Although the public is more receptive to Chinese medicine and acupuncture now compared to 10 years ago, there are still many misconceptions, and a lack of full understanding of the medicine.
For example, physical therapists can performing dry needling in certain parts of the country, as approved by legislation. Medical doctors can also take a course to practice acupuncture—the public doesn't always understand the difference in their education, versus having an acupuncture degree.
Educating the Public
It is up to the acupuncturists and the profession to educate the public, and other medical professionals. Speaking can also build up a practice quickly when using it as a marketing strategy. For example, many of the acupuncturist clients I work with inspire 40-60 percent of the audience to become patients from their talks. Forty percent conversions mean that out of an audience of 25 people, 10 new patients move forward with care. It is one of the fastest ways to bring new patients in the door when a practitioner is effective with this strategy.
There are three common challenges I see acupuncturists run into when giving talks to either educate people, or to inspire new patients to seek out their services.
Solution to Challenge #1
In an informal poll from an article I wrote on my website (fillmyholisticpractice.com), 38 percent of responders said they get extremely nervous each time they do talks; 26 percent say they don't get extremely nervous but get butterflies, and 34 percent said the thought is so nerve-wracking that they don't do talks.
I remember when I first started speaking to the public, I was so nervous. I grew up in a family with strict parents. Beginning in the third grade, I dreaded Sunday mornings—instead of being excited to read the comics (like I imagined other kids did), my dad would have me read an article in the paper, and then do a current-event talk. I hated it. My dad was a research scientist, and a PhD educated engineer. He would critique my talks with a stern approach, and it made me feel like I was inadequate. I dreaded giving talks—I had so much performance anxiety.
When I first started speaking after I started my second business, I would get nervous a lot. I remember speaking at a national conference and having my whole talk written out—I held it in my hand in front of me, because I felt so much anxiety about speaking. Now fast forward five years later, I find myself more comfortable and rarely nervous once I get into my talk (I still get nervous before the talk). I have found that when you are prepared, it's easier to get into the flow without extreme anxiety.
What can you do if you get nervous?
A quick tip about what to do if you have butterflies in your stomach is to do the Simhasana yoga pose (otherwise known as Lion's Pose taught by many yoga studios in North America). Here's what you want to do—inhale deeply through your nose. Open your mouth wide, stick out your tongue as far as possible, and exhale forcefully by quickly, strongly, and deeply contracting the abdominal muscles and the pelvic floor. At the same time, roll your eyes up and focus at the center between your eyebrows.1 Try this to help you calm your nerves quickly before you do your next talk.
Solution to Challenge #2
Having trouble finding places to speak, or are you disappointed with the turnout? One of the biggest mistakes many acupuncturists make when trying to get booked for talks, or when hosting their own talks is not being clear about what talk topic is the best to speak on. What title is the best to use to promote the talk to attract patients? When the talk topic and title is not the most relevant to attracting patients into the practice, the topic may seem interesting to you but it may not inspire your ideal patients to show up to your talk. You may either experience having a low turnout, or the people who come don't end up coming in for care. Is your talk title interesting? Is your topic engaging?
It is also a common mistake to not be strategic about where to speak. Simply having many opportunities to speak does not always lead to new patients. Are gyms, libraries, or community centers really the best place to speak? Or are there better places to speak?
Solution to Challenge #3
Doing talks, but feeling disappointed that few patients come from all the effort. Have you ever experienced speaking and people seem to enjoy the talk, but few new patients come in afterwards?
One of the biggest mistakes is giving too much information and overwhelming people. As clinicians, it's easy to over-educate people by sharing your knowledge and expertise. Clinical knowledge is second nature to us, and it may be hard to relate to how the public is often hearing these things for the first time. If we share too much, it can feel like a foreign language and people can feel overwhelmed or bored. Overwhelmed or bored people don't tend to be in an energetic space to desire moving forward with care, or with what you may have to offer. The right balance of information and inspiration is an art and skill.
Another big mistake is not letting people know what you have to offer (at the end of the talk). The idea of being pushy or salesy is not appealing, so many acupuncturists either don't tell people what they offer, or feel awkward when it comes to that part of the talk. People's lives get busy and forget about booking an appointment even if they had the best of intentions.
What is the best thing to offer? How do you talk about it so people "get it" and appreciate that what you offer can help them? There's a way to be authentic and inspire people to move forward with what you have to offer, without being salesy or pushy.
Just to provide a sense of how important it is to think through the right offer, I had a client of mine who loved giving talks. The challenge he was experiencing was that he would do a talk and people would come up to him and say "great talk," but he would rarely get patients for his efforts. It started to feel like free public service after awhile, without being able to really help people deeply with their health issues. He loved speaking, so what we did was:
Do you have an engaging and compelling talk that you can use over and over again, where you don't have to reinvent the wheel? Or are you often recreating a new talk when you speak, and never reaching predictability with conversions from your talks? If you place your focus on these three key things you will educate and reach more people, and inspire new patients to seek out your services. For questions about how to get new patients and/or getting paid to speak, create a talk or find places to speak, email me at mentor@fillmyholisticpractice.com.
References
Chronic pain afflicts over 20% of the adult population. Sadly, most MDs have essentially no education in treating pain, beyond offering a few toxic medications. Then they tend to steer people with pain away from those health practitioners who are trained. This puts the acupuncture community on the front lines for addressing this epidemic.
When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated. This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation. If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy. These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.
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One of the things that makes acupuncture so difficult to measure is that the medicine actually does contain some esoteric aspects. There have been numerous studies that demonstrate the neurochemical reasoning behind why acupuncture points stimulate the autonomic nervous system to enact change However, not all the benefits of TCM can easily be measured by randomized, controlled trials. But does that make them fundamentally and definitively untrue?
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