Private Practice Success Newsletter

April 2008, by Lynn Grodzki, LCSW, MCC (Master Certified Coach)
www.privatepracticesuccess.com

Fearless Marketing, Part 2: The Ask

My friend works as a fundraiser for a non-profit and told me about “The Ask.”

The Ask is that moment when a fundraiser looks a potential donor in the eye and asks for money. “It’s hard to do The Ask with class and clarity,” she said. “In my profession, we recognize the fact that at the end of the day, no matter how good the relationship you have built with a donor, it comes down to The Ask. But without it, we in the non-profit world would cease to exist.”

According to the clients I coach, asking may be the most feared act in operating a private practice. Ask and you run the risk of looking foolish, getting rejected, seeming unprofessional, or at worst, regarded as pushy.

And if that wasn't hard enough, now we need to consider that asking brings with it some gender inhibition. According to Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever, authors of the book "Ask For It: How Women Can Use the Power of Negotiation to Get What They Really Want," women are much slower than men to ask or make simple requests and as a result, miss out on all kinds of financial goodies, including higher starting salaries, store savings, and other benefits.

But in a small business, letting other people know about your business needs is a neccessary interaction. As business people, we need a way to communicate our legitimate business needs, such as our need for referrals (the life blood of our business), in a way that matches our sensibilities and ethics. Here's how to do this with grace and grit!

"He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever." (Chinese Proverb)

Knowing how to ask for what you need is a form of tremendous empowerment. Having the courage to ask often opens up unexpected and wonderful opportunities. I have seen people build a profitable business using just one major strategy: their willingness to ask and ask again for what their business needs.

What does your private practice need that you could ask for? How about referrals? Better fees from an insurance company? Lower rent? A discounted hotel room? A better contracted rate with an EAP? Associates to work with? Help or collegial support? Information? Flexibility from your clients regarding shifting evening sessions to early afternoons?

Start by thinking about your practice as separate from you, as a beloved child. What does it need? Make a long list. Feel the power of possibility that comes from simply asking.

"If you are not moving closer to what you want in sales (or in life), you probably aren't doing enough asking." (Jack Canfield)

Consultant Michael Kanazawa suggests 3 rules to asking for help. Here they are:

1. Build real relationships when you don’t need anything. Get to know people at a more personal level. Develop a genuine interest in getting to know others so that you can be helpful to them. Don’t expect anything in return, but rather make meeting new and interesting people the benefit itself.

2. Know what to ask for: Get to know others well enough that you understand what they are interested in, where their strengths are, who they know and what they are trying to achieve. Not only can you then try to help them more, but you’ll also be able to understand how they might be able to help you.

3. Asking for help is resourcefulness, not a weakness: Go ahead and ask for introduction, connections, advice, or feedback on something. It is amazing the resources that people have if you just take the time to get to know them and simply ASK!

"If you ask the wrong question, of course, you get the wrong answer. We find in design it’s much more important and difficult to ask the right question. Once you do that, the right answer becomes obvious." (Amory Lovins)

For example, many of us in private practice want more referrals. The most straightforward way to ask for referrals is to craft a simple declarative statement that lets the person you are speaking with know that you are interested in seeing more clients, and then ask for their help. The sentence I like to use is:

“I have some openings in my practice that I am interested in filling.”

Other statements that work well include:

“I am building my business and I would appreciate if you could become one of my referral sources.”

“I welcome any potential clients that you think would be good for me to work with.”

“I prefer to only see people who have been referred to me by someone I know and trust, and would like to have that kind of referral relationship with you.”

“My practice is built on referrals and I would greatly appreciate getting referrals from you.”

Then ask, "Can you help me with this?" or "How would this work for you?"

This month: Practice asking. Be compassionate with yourself, this is a new skill. Play with this process and be open to opportunities. Notice what happens when you ask and ask again.

Upcoming Teleclasses

My next signature “Strong Start” Teleclass starts the April 8. Please join me to get energized and achieve your goals for 2008. We use my Workbook as our text and the professional support on our classes weaves its own magic, helping people to shift, change, and grow as entrepreneurs.

The classes are structured to help you become savvier in your approach to building your practice, especially during these times of economic uncertainty. The group experience offers lots of brainstorming, motivation, accountability, and some “aha” moments.

The program is effective no matter who you are and what stage of development you are at -- senior therapist, coach in transition, trying to get off of managed care, or new in private practice just getting started. Whatever your goals for 2008, they may be easier to achieve with the right kind of support and a step-by-step coaching program.

Dates and times:

Basic Strong Start Teleclass:
Tuesdays at 2:00 PM EST, starts April 8. Cost: $ 540 ($45/per hour). Led by Lynn Grodzki We meet for 3 weeks of each month, one hour each time, for a total of 12 weeks and 12 hours. We meet by "bridgeline" — an easy to access conference line, that you dial just like a long-distance phone number at the given time to be connected to everyone on the call.

What Others Say About The Teleclass:

"I’m in a great teleclass with Lynn Grodzki. One of the things she discusses is the concept of push vs. pull marketing. In push marketing, you are pushing yourself on other people. This includes aggressive forms of marketing (cold calls etc) as well as advertisements, where you are selling yourself. This type of marketing doesn’t work well for those in the healing professions. It tends to rub against the grain, especially if you have a hard time with the notion of selling yourself in the first place. Pull marketing is when you put something of value out there that naturally pulls people towards you.” (From the blog of Mikelann Valterra, founder of the Women’s Earning Institute)

To register go to: www.strongstartclasses.com

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Presentations

The Evolving Private Practice
Waterbury, Conn.
Friday, April 18, 2008 / 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Marriot Courtyard

This workshop is a wonderful deal! Marworth Treatment Center is hosting me for a day-long workshop and subsidizing it, so you only pay $50 for the workshop and lunch. They do this as a public relations effort for therapists and healing professionals. I have presented for Marworth before and they always create a very welcoming and lovely setting. They offer CE's and it is open to any and all who want to attend.

Call Liz at Marworth to register: 866-627-9678.

LYNN'S NEW eBOOK is on sale now! Only $19.95! Order at the website or click on the book:

Private Practice SOS: Solutions and Strategies for an Up and Down Market. An eBook By Lynn Grodzki It's a tough market out there! You don't need to face the future of private practice alone. Here is a lifeline -- my solutions to the difficult economic challenges we all must respond to today. This eBook is my newest thinking and offers you specific tips and ideas to help you create demand for your services while you minimize your costs. Learn the strategies to higher profits in today's recessionary market. Click on the eBook, order it, and get an immediate download to read on your computer or print out.

Books by Lynn Grodzki, published by WW Norton. To order, click on each book.

	The Business and Practice of Coaching By Lynn Grodzki and Wendy Allen (2005) Reviewed by author Richard Leider as "Nothing less than a radical rethinking of the essentials of building a coaching practice. A must read for all coaches, master and novice alike."
	Building Your Ideal Private Practice By Lynn Grodzki (2000) The best-selling guide to what you need to do and who you need to be in order to have a highly profitable, personally satisfying private practice. Often called the "private practice bible" this book has become a resource for tens of thousands of your colleagues.
	The New Private Practice:Therapist-Coaches Share Stories, Strategies and Advice Edited by Lynn Grodzki (2002) A groundbreaking look at the profession of coaching through the eyes of 16 successful therapist-coaches who tell you how to become a coach, what to charge, and show you how they coach their clients.
	12 Months to Your Ideal Private Practice: A Workbook By Lynn Grodzki (2003) This planned, motivational workbook will help you build the practice you desire. The workbook incorporates fresh ideas, new exercises, further skill sets and much more to give you a direct experience of being carefully coached by Lynn, month-by-month, for a full year.

More next time,

lynn@privatepracticesuccess.com
See the website for additional articles, information about individual coaching, and upcoming classes.