Once I started better understanding marketing and client attraction principles, one of the first things I realized is that I needed to select a niche.
I had been resisting this for quite a while because I needed more clients, and I just couldn’t get my head around how narrowing my focus would get me more clients. How could I be saying no to clients when I didn’t have enough to begin with?
I was so consumed in needing clients that it was very difficult to see this from the client’s perspective. The moment I really got it was when my son was about 9 months old. The only way he would sleep was in a sling strapped to my chest, and in an upright position. Needless to say, it was not an ideal sleeping condition for me, and I found myself really struggling from physical and mental exhaustion. I knew I needed help. I started by asking my pediatrician, asking friends, talking to my mom, but nobody could really give me a solution that could help.
That took me online for my quest.
I started searching for ways to get your baby to sleep. I stumbled upon a woman who had built an entire business around helping babies sleep. The moment I found her website, I felt such a tremendous sense of relief. First of all, I wasn’t alone. There were enough other people out there, slowly losing their sanity, just like me, that a business could be built around it.
The second thing I felt was peace. If she had helped so many other families, I knew that she could help me too. The only catch? she wasn’t cheap. my business hadn’t fully taken off yet, and I really didn’t have an extra $1,000 to spare.
So I waited, hoping things would get better on their own. which of course, they didn’t. but we all go through this stage, don’t we? Knowing that we need something to change, but not yet willing to commit to what it takes to make that change.
FREE DOWNLOAD! The Niche Selection Checklist for Psychotherapists
So I waited another week, dreading the nights, unable to enjoy my time with my precious son, and feeling like I was barely holding on to my sanity. Then I decided it was time. I bought her package, and set up our first appointment. Within a month, my son was sleeping 6 hours at a stretch. That first night, I didn’t sleep much myself. I was terrified. I was sure something must be wrong that he wasn’t crying. After that, I began to count on a solid 6 hours of sleep every night myself. After just a few nights, my world came back into focus again. I was able to think clearly, feel good again, and no longer dread night time.
It was through this personal experience that I finally got it. The reason I had reached out to this person, the reason I put my faith in her, the reason I stretched really big to pay her fee was because I knew I was in good hands. This was what she did all day every day. I had tried so many things that didn’t work up to this point, that I didn’t want to take another chance. I wanted to know that I was choosing the right person to help me.
It was through this personal experience that I really understood the power of choosing a specialty from the client’s perspective. Until then, I had been thinking about it from my own perspective. Frankly, from a lack perspective. Wanting more, and afraid of losing what few clients I did have.
Going through this experience gave me the confidence to know that I needed to do the same thing in my own business. I needed to choose a specialty so my clients could also know they were in the right place, and feel confident working with me.
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So I settled on my first love: hypnotherapy. I selected anxiety as my specialty, using hypnotherapy as my treatment method. It took me a little while to rework my marketing materials, and set up a new website but within just a few months, I noticed three very significant changes.
1. Clients were no longer immediately asking me about insurance.
When they called, they wanted to talk about the help that they needed, and some of them just immediately wanted to set up an appointment without even talking about my fees.
2. My clients took therapy much more seriously.
They saw me as a trusted authority, clients treated me and the process very differently. They were willing to engage in hypnosis, they did their work between sessions, and they showed up for every appointment. This was my first experience working with such invested clients, and I never expected this to happen.
“When it did, I knew these were the clients I wanted to keep working with.”
3. I started to get more client calls.
Of course, this is what I wanted all along, I just didn’t really believe it until I took that leap of faith. What I realized now, is that my specialty based marketing allowed my clients to know that they were in the right place. Prior to this, I was just another therapist amongst so many others. Now, they felt like I was the person who could help them with their anxiety, and they were much more likely to call me.
In the 90 days leading up to me reworking my marketing, I was averaging 2 to 3 new client inquiries per month. In the 90 days following selecting a specialty, I started to get 1 to 2 new client calls per week. After going through my own personal experience, and then choosing a specialty for myself, I became a firm believer in the power of a niche.
I know what a difficult decision this can feel like. When you’re looking for more clients, it seems so counter-intuitive to narrow your focus. However, narrowing your focus is exactly what you need to do.
So how do you know you’re choosing exactly the right specialty? The specialty that makes you irresistible to clients who are willing to pay your fees?
That’s exactly what our ‘FREE DOWNLOAD‘ The Niche Selection Checklist for Psychotherapists is all about. I invite you to download it on your way to choosing just the right specialty, and attracting a practice full of your dream clients.