New Virtual Speaking Strategies to Get You Through the Holiday Dip

 

Are you experiencing a dip in your practice right now? And even in the best of times, you have a dip around the holidays while you’re definitely not alone. And this is Chen Yen, 6 and 7 figure practice make-over mentor@interpretedvisionary.com and your host for our AAC show today.

So, um, I want to just acknowledge you for taking the time to be here, because as an acupuncturist, you have the opportunity to help a lot of people, even during these times that people may not be making, seeing you a priority right now.

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Disclaimer: The following is an actual transcript. We do our best to make sure the transcript is as accurate as possible, however, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.  Due to the unique language of acupuncture, there will be errors, so we suggest you watch the video while reading the transcript.

And so how can you get the word out about your practice during these times that are working, especially when, when you might be more limited by in-person marketing? So one reason why many people aren’t coming in yet is because that they don’t know about you yet, and they don’t understand how you can help.

So if you have a way to educate them about what you have to offer, then you’re more likely to, to help them. And one great way to do that is by, is especially during these times, reaching people at once, reaching more than just one person at a time at once, and you could be doing that virtually, for example, you could be actually speaking and you might think well, but I can’t really go out and speak as, as conveniently these days. What can I do? So we’re going to be talking about some new strategies that you can be using virtually right now to be, bring more patients in the door. So we’re going to look at what are some new strategies virtually that you could be using to educate and reach more people at once, for example, what are overlooked avenues of speaking online and where to find these opportunities?

What to think about in choosing a topic you might’ve thought about that, how you like educating and teaching people, but you can’t think of what to say. So we’re getting into that. And then finally, what are also some ways to make another stream of income they’re speaking, even in an automated way. So as far as the, just to let you know a little bit about we are learning from, so I, uh, start out as a pharmacist on native American reservations and went, ended up going to different tribes and, and love the culture and getting to know the different reservations. But after a while, I started feeling really jaded and going in the pharmacy, giving people medications, when I didn’t feel like they should be taking them, because I felt like there were better options. And so at the time I didn’t know really what to do, except I felt like I had to get out of there.

So, uh, after a while I decided, okay, why don’t I help other pharmacists get jobs that they enjoy more because many of them were counting down towards retirement. And so fast forward five years I had started and grown a successful recruiting business to seven figures and in less than five years. But I used to think that if I made more money than I would just be really, you know, I can do it when I cared about outside of work, but it didn’t happen that way for me. So, um, after doing a lot of soul searching, I realized that there’s a part of me that still felt like I wanted to see our healthcare system change and, um, and really be more integrated, but it’s not going to be the drug companies, insurance companies, the government changing things is really starts with you as acupuncturists and being able to get the word out about what you do and when people are asking for it, that’s when things will change.

So that’s, since then we’ve helped many acupuncturists, where were their practices? And in a short timeframe, you know, growing up to six figures, multi six and seven speakers, and a third of the time it typically takes. So as it comes to, to speaking, you might wonder, well, what, what does that have to do with you being, you know, me being able to, to help you with some strategies that are actually working right now for this. So, um, this is an area that, you know, many acupuncturists come to us for. And if you’re feeling also, if you’re feeling like you have, because how many do you ever feel like you get nervous when you, when you speak. So even though you liked the idea of it, but you just feel like, Oh, I don’t know if I want to do that because I just freeze up.

And so if, if that’s ever happened to you before, um, you’re not alone. And I, for example, when I was little, my dad would, um, I was around eight years old and I would often think on Sunday mornings, I would think, gosh, I’m, I wish life were like, uh, how it was for other kids. So I felt so, um, I had so much performance anxiety. I dreaded it and I cried a lot because my dad would always could take me. And I vowed to myself. I would never speak in front of any audience ever I could. So, but then why did I end up seeking? And because I love teaching. Um, and so that’s what led me and, you know, the reason I bring that led me to do that. And so the reason I bring this up is that even if you feel dreadful, you know, the idea of, of speaking, even if you feel nervous, you could totally do it because when you have more of a structure of what to say, and also be able to inspire, people know, learn how to inspire people beyond just, just, uh, educating with facts and then you’re going to enjoy it.

And people are going to enjoy what you have to say as well and find it helpful. So as far as, as different possibilities of speaking wise, very available for you right now, virtually. So you could either look at speaking to bring in patients into your practice, or it could actually bring in another stream of income. So as far as, as, um, speaking opportunities, they range from, in terms of getting to potential new patients, what are some possibilities of, of those? So you could either be speaking in front of different organizations and groups. Now you might be thinking, but most people aren’t doing things in person right now. And you’re absolutely right. But the cool thing is that because these organizations, they have, whether they’re business organizations or women’s organizations, entrepreneur, moms, associations, or holistic moms, associates groups, they are still looking for how can they provide value to their members?

And so when, if you can approach them and suggest that that, that, um, you can speak in front of them, then that can be a great opportunity for you to, to do something from the comfort of your own home. You could be getting hopping on and doing a zoom video, or not even be on video at all, if you don’t want to be on video. So that’s, for example, as one opportunity. And, um, Oh, and by the way, I didn’t mention this, but because some of you might think, okay, so, but, um, I liked the idea of seeing, but what’s the possibility of getting new patients from this, right? So, you know, in terms of, we have clients who, who do talks or webinars in front of even small audiences and end up getting a handful of patients from it, whether it’s 20 people, person, audience, and then walking away with like five new patients from our webinars and that pretty cool.

And, um, or if you have larger audiences, if you have a hundred people in your audience, and even if you had, even if you had even 20 or 10 people, let’s just say you had 10 patients come from it. That’s pretty awesome. So, um, so organizations are one possibility. Corporations are another possibility too. And especially because it, especially there are corporations and different health initiatives that have happened in corporations over the years, so recent years. So you can approach them and ask them who is in charge of corporate wellness and, and then get in touch that way to speak for a company. What are some other opportunities you could look at? How can you cause how many of you would love to have more referrals? You’ve noticed that the referrals who come to you, they tend to stay more, or they just tend to actually come in and they tend to actually follow through with care.

How do you get more of those? One way to do that is by speaking in front of other practitioners, uh, patients and, or just even here’s one, one hot tip I will, I will share with you about that is this is something that, that an acupuncturist client of ours did. And when she did this, she ended up, she had this one medical doctor she knew, and she’s thought he was referring people to this other acupuncturist more. And, and so we, we talked about, okay, how can, how can we, um, have you developed that relationship further? So you start getting more referrals and guess what happens? So she ended up interviewing this medical doctor. So she ended up doing this interview and friend, uh, that, I mean, to, with an MD interviewing this MD, I guess what happened? She got seven new referrals from a new patients, referrals from this medical doctor, because she had the ability to, um, help that medical doctor gets to see how she actually knew something.

And then they got a chance to chat before and after they interview too. So that’s another strategy, a virtual strategy that each one of you can, can actually do to, um, pretty quickly to be bringing in new patients in this climate. As a matter of fact, can we make sure to include a resource for you with the exact script that, um, you can use to interview and a medical doctor or other practitioner to be able to do that? So it’ll be in, in the comments below, or just look below for it. So, um, as far as the other possibilities of where you can be speaking. So aside from organizations, aside from corporations, aside from, you know, different interest group organizations, as an aside from other practitioners in front of other practitioners who could be referring you patients, you could also be speaking on different platforms like podcast.

So podcasts or telesummits are great ways to get the word out and educate people about what you have to offer and about acupuncture and Chinese medicine. So you might be thinking, but aren’t the podcasts or these telesummit kinds of things, aren’t they more like not local, they’re more national. So what I would highly encourage you to do is to, to go national, why not go national? You know, there are people who still can, um, either for one, it helps you get seen more as a go-to acupuncturists. So then even people locally will see you see you in the limelight of an expert when you are more on the national scene or even international scene. And then I, the other possibility too, which we’ll talk about a little bit here too, is that there are other opportunities for you to be, um, you know, helping people, not just by getting new patients from opportunities of speaking.

So for example, have you ever thought about how could I bring in another stream of income in this climate so that it’s not, that’s not so dependent on seeing more patients one-on-one in person because it, I just never know what can happen. And besides you have so much knowledge and expertise to share, what if you could, because those things that you say over and over down to your, your patients, have you ever thought of putting that together in such a way where you can educate people and even make money from it and even passive or automated income from it? So what does that look like? It could look like educating a group of people online in a more of like an online workshop. For example, we have an acupuncturist client of ours who is very good with helping people during, um, post in terms of postpartum.

And so then, and also also leading up to pregnancy to help them have a natural birth without it being so like this dread of, of it being painful. And so there are different kinds of things, including breath work, and other kinds of things. She could be teaching her, um, her just, not even patients, but even beyond her patients as well. So she could charge for a workshop like that. And each one of you can charge for something like that too. And then, um, other possibilities are putting all the knowledge you have in your head into something like an automated course. So this could be either to educate the public about a particular health issue or about a particular health challenge, because have you figured out something clinically that could be beneficial for other practitioners that you get really good results for your patients? And it could be great instead of it just being something limited to way how you know how to treat, but you’re able to educate other practitioners on that.

Or maybe it’s the workflow in your practice you’ve figured out, or maybe some of you are doing tele-health and you have even things like intake forms or, or how you’re doing the intake process. Those things could be taught to other practitioners, maybe some part of aspect that you worked at figured out in your practice or business that’s working well. So those are things that you could start educating other practitioners on through either a live setting by doing it through zoom or, um, online and group way or in automated way. So those are some in terms of an automated course, and you could charge for something like that. So for example, in front of, um, people who are the late public, you could charge anywhere. It just really ranges. It could be anywhere between $97 to four 97 to nine 97 for something that’s like that, or an automated or in group setting.

And then for something that you offer in front of practitioners, it could typically at least be $297 and more, you know, nine 97 or more just think about what, what you pay to go and, and learn different clinical trainings from people. So those are some different possibilities of, of opportunities for you. One of the thoughts that I just had to share with you about, um, developing relationships with, with, for example, medical doctors, cause imagine if you had even three medical doctors sending you one or two referrals a week, what would that do for your practice? So one way of developing those relationships right now further is see, cause the thing is, if they just knew about you, they may not truly understand the scope of how acupuncture Chinese medicine can help their patients. So they either don’t really refer or they might refer a little bit, but it’s not quite to the extent that you would really like it to be.

And part of the issue is because they, they might be concerned about safety or efficacy and or how it could truly benefit their patients. So if you’ve educated them on it, then they’re more likely to refer, but how do you do that right now, if the medical doctors are busy and you don’t really want to want to go and, and, um, to their practice and see them there or anything like that, you could do a short video and educate the medical doctors. I have clients who are doing that right now or reaching out to them by LinkedIn and the meeting on zoom. So there’s just some, some virtual strategies that I just shared with you. So let’s also talk about, cause I promise you as far as what, um, Oh, by the way, let me just make sure that to let you know the, um, I decided to give you a template of, uh, you know, what to say, if you did want to interview other practitioners, as well as the top 10 best places to speak and get patients quick-start guide and especially helpful in this climate.

So you can get it at the Lincoln in, um, down below. So make sure you click on it and download it so you can use it right away to help you with, with getting more and more patients referrals in the door. So I promised to talk about the, um, what is a right? Like what are, how do you decide what to talk about? Do you ever feel like I know so much I don’t, or maybe sometimes I feel like I don’t, I feel like a fraud. I don’t really not too much. So either way, what do you say that would actually help and help? And that would actually engage your audience because you don’t want your audience to get bored. Cause then they’ll click off right. In terms of, so if it, especially if it’s something virtual, so, uh, one common mistake, a lot of acupuncturists make when deciding what to speak about is really getting caught up in, in the modality itself, as far as acupuncture and how it can help an acupuncture.

One-on-one, you know, that kind of a mindset when, when thinking about what to talk about, but the challenge is that most people are not going about their day thinking, Oh, I want, I’m curious how acupuncture could be amazing for me, especially those people who have never really tried it or hurt her even cross their mind. So it’s more helpful though, because most people are going about their day thinking, Oh, I want this issue to go away. So if you can center your topic around a particular health issue or challenge people are having, then it’ll be more likely to be attended and oppressing kind of a challenge, not just a general pain kind of challenge that, but be able to describe it in such a way that, that, um, how it’s a, an urgent pressing kind of, uh, of a health issue to, to look into the other hot tip related to that is, um, also be thinking about how can you tie that topic into why now is a, an important time to be thinking about that particular topic, for example, based on different seasons, there could be a need to pay attention to certain aspects of, of, um, you know, balancing your health, especially as you look at the Chinese medicine perspective.

And so, or, but then, you know, practicality speaking. So how can you bring up the different seasons and why now, because of this season, it’s important to pay attention to this particular thing, or if it’s the holidays, why is it important to pay attention to this, this particular thing? When you can think in that way, then, then, uh, angle your topic that way it’ll be more relevant to people in that moment in time. So they’re more likely to actually listen to what you have to say. So remember, you could do either webinars, you could do interviews, you could do, um, podcasts as some of those ways. And, and then all different kinds of venues as I had had shared with you earlier. And, and then, um, feel free to download that top 10 best places to speak and get patients Quickstart guide, as well as the exact script you can use to interview other practitioners, such as MDs, who could be giving you referrals and, um, when you’re featuring them and they could, you know, they could feature your, you could be in, or you might actually, some of you might think, well, I don’t really have much of a, of a patient base.

I don’t really have much of a community or an email list. How’s that going to work? So don’t worry. You could feature that medical doctor or, or, um, practitioner on something like a Facebook live or YouTube video. And, and then you could also suggest that that provider share that video with, with their patient base too, which is why, what we’ve had, we’ve seen our claims have experienced when they’ve done that. Also sometimes they’ve gotten referrals from, I mean, they’ve gotten actual patients, who’ve, who’ve contacted them directly because, um, whoever was seeing that video decide to reach out directly to them. So download the, the, uh, template there, um, below. And I look forward to in the website, it’s www dot get booked, speaking.com forward slash AAC. And then I look forward to hearing how this goes for you. And if you would like to, uh, if you’re at a, at a dip in your practice and you would like to, um, it to be busier, and you see this as an Avenue of getting the word out, but you’re not really sure how to get started with it. Or you would just like another Avenue to grow your practice in a way that feels comfortable for you. Then feel free to book a free six figure speaking breakthrough strategy session with us, which is also in that link too. So look forward to hearing how it goes, then download the, your free templates. And I get started with this right away. So you can be out there and waking up the planet because people need you and go out there and wake up the planet.

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