Are therapists risk averse or ignorant about risk?

Picture me jumping up on my bandwagon now…

Imagine this too common scenario.  Someone puts $20 a month into the hope of finding clients.  This person does get a client.  The client doesn’t really pan out.

Income generated: $125.  Expenses: $60.  Net profit: $65.

This person ends the $20 listing because “it’s clearly not working.”

What’s the problem with this, my darling therapist profession?

Another therapist says oh, it’s too expensive to even spend $20 a month, it’s not in my budget.

That person sits, for months on end, not attracting any clients.

Potential money spent in say, 6 months: $120.

Money LOST from lack of income in those 6 months?  Let’s say they even had 3 clients, each staying for 6 sessions.  And we’ll put the rate at $75/hour that the therapist charges.

Income lost: $1,350.  Money saved in not advertising: $120.  Total earned money thrown out the window by that lost opportunity: $1,230.

 

Let’s look at things in a counterintuitive way.

Why do the most successful, busiest therapists do the most marketing?

They know you have to constantly market to keep business thriving.

They know it’s penny wise and fool hardy to stop marketing because you’re busy now.

They know marketing is not a sprint, but a marathon.

They know the more places they plant the seed of possibility, the more clients will grow

They know how shockingly cheap almost all therapy marketing is.  Afterall, what other business can pay $200 for a year’s worth of advertising and potentially earn thousands upon thousands of dollars? 

 

OK one more flippy do of this frugal nonsense.

You don’t want to pay to get your website up to snuff, because you think it’s pretty good and you’re CHEAP.

You do, however, struggle getting clients, so you decide in desperation to pay for Google Adwords Pay Per Click.  But, because you’re frugal, you don’t want to pay anyone else to set it up.  You’re smart, you can do it!

Let’s say then you put $5/day in.  You have no idea how unrealistic that dollar amount is.  You have no idea how horribly you set up the ads and that you’re going to spend $2 for one click from someone who lives two hours away and isn’t even wanting therapy.  And you have no idea that your website is so bad, even the local fish you catch via your ads leave your website fast because it’s ugly, poorly organized, or suffers from Me Me Me Syndrome (where the entire website is a fancy version of your resume and doesn’t actually talk to the client at all.)

What have we now spent?  Over $1,000 in a year, at $5/day.  We have probably wasted $1,000 over the year because the ads suck, the website sucks, and you didn’t realize marketing isn’t about doing just one thing and hoping it works (thus wasting months not experimenting with other things.)

Money lost:  thousands upon thousands.

Ego harm: huge.

Feelings of helplessness:  high.

 

I see this all the time and it pains me greatly.  The mislogic.  The false cognitions.  The fear of risk while not seeing the REAL risk is already happening: not getting clients.  Putting money in the wrong place.  Not knowing how to monitor results or analyze numbers.

I’m putting together some really cool services to help therapists find themselves in all the ways I can help guide, educate, consult and increase their client load.

Two are up now, and I’m working on more.  One new service is called Website Conversion Disorder and it’s an awesome service package to help you greatly with the numbers side of things and the converting marketing into clients problems you may be having.  (And it’s actually got the potential to save you 2-4 times the amount I’m charging for the analysis….how cool is that?!)

Another much needed service is called Website Arousal Disorder, geared to get the panicky, uptight therapist online for the first time in the most painless, fun, simple way possible, based not on what I think is “the solution”, but based on your budget, personality, needs and wishes, and where you’re at developmentally with your mindset around marketing.  You should read the Website Arousal Disorder page even if you’re fine because I cracked myself up re-writing the criteria set from the DSM.  :)

The DSM is my inspiration and I’m working on wrapping up a few more services to be posted on my website soon.  They include Selective Internet Mutism Disorder and Narcissistic Website Disorder service… that not self-aware Me Me Me problem is rampant in therapy marketing land and it MUST END!

And remember, are you really averse to risk or are you simply ignorant about risk?