Approaching Psychiatrists and Counselors in my Building

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Permalink Reply by Bill Kennedy on January 26, 2012 at 6:31pm

Could you have an official grand opening and invite other tenants to the party?

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Permalink Reply by Kathleen Hanover on January 26, 2012 at 6:41pm

Hi James, you may have heard that people like people who are like themselves. I know you won't like to hear this, but if you want to get referrals from medical professionals it might be easier if you looked like one.

I know you have a performing persona and want to keep the long hair, but I would strongly suggest that you (or anyone) who has a long beard trim it down dramatically. Unless it's expected in your religious community and your clients and referral sources have them too, beards are a subliminal psychological barrier to building professional rapport. I've heard this from a number of people over the years, including in sales training.

Your persona is perfect for the Renaissance Festival but if I didn't already know you (and know that you're a really wonderful hypnotist) I would say that you look like a Biker Dude or hypno-hobbyist, not someone who is a medical professional.

This is the marketer in me talking, not the Ren-Fest-Attending Fangirl who thinks you look great as you are.  :)

I know that's too extreme for you, so I would recommend putting your hair in a neat braid and just trimming your beard into a short (1/4") goatee. As an added bonus, it will also make you look younger.

Try to dress like the people you're trying to get referrals from as well. Build rapport in every possible way you can.

As for outreach, perhaps you could start by offering a de-stress group session for the staff in each office. Figure out what each of your potential referrers specializes in, and tailor a pitch to that if you can. ("Is your staff exhausted after a long day of dealing with depressed clients?")

I would approach with a cover letter that you hand them in person after speaking to each "neighbor" in the building.

I hope this helps. Sorry about the whole beard thing, but you know it will grow back.  :)

Kathleen

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Permalink Reply by Richard Nongard - NLPBoard.com on January 26, 2012 at 6:49pm

James has his power in his beard.  I am sure it will not be trimmed.  Fortunalty he lives in Austin, where wierd is the normal.

That being said,   I would do one of these two things:

1.)  Put a flyer under thier door, and invite them for an "open house"   becasue when you meet them for the first time on YOUR territory, it will hold much more power.   When they are in YOUR space, judgement will be secondary.

2.)  I do NOT like meeting my office neighbors.  I don't know why, but I promise I will leave them alone to work if they leave me alone.   You really don't want the one douchebag in the building creating negative waves for you....  Sure the odds are 100 to 1 they will all be cool, after all its Austin!   But Murphys law says you will have some board member in the building who wants to stir the pot...

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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on January 26, 2012 at 7:40pm

Hey James,

Bill's suggestion of inviting your new neighbors to a grand opening thingee is a great way to meet your new supporters - Consider including an invite to one of your shows...

I appreciate Richard's "Let sleeping douche's lie" approach and I would want to meet and greet my neighbors anyway. My thinking is that there is always the risk that a douche will stir up trouble even if you keep a low profile 

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Permalink Reply by Richard Clark MFT on January 26, 2012 at 7:50pm

James,

 

In my opinion, the only professional and high odds way to accomplish this is to refer your clients to them as often as you can. If you have clients that might benifit from talking to a professional counselor or psychiatrist (and you can make a case for anyone) then you can open a dialogue with them. If they see you are mindful of scope of practice and respect their skills they will be more likely to reciprocate.

 

Richard  

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Permalink Reply by James Hazlerig on January 26, 2012 at 8:56pm

I don't yet have a large enough client load to make many referrals, unfortunately.

Perhaps I should ask if I can visit to learn more about them to make it easier for me to refer clients to them. (That's in addition, of course, to a grand opening type event at my office.)

Thanks, everyone, for your input,

James

Richard Clark MFT said:

James,

 

In my opinion, the only professional and high odds way to accomplish this is to refer your clients to them as often as you can. If you have clients that might benifit from talking to a professional counselor or psychiatrist (and you can make a case for anyone) then you can open a dialogue with them. If they see you are mindful of scope of practice and respect their skills they will be more likely to reciprocate.

 

Richard  

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Permalink Reply by Roger Moore on January 26, 2012 at 9:34pm

Hi James - I have been in the Medical Dental Building in Seattle since 1997 with 17 floors of healthcare professionals. The most effective marketing that I have found with the dentists, MDs, chiros and mental health professionals has been in the elevators, hall ways and men's room. I've tried a ton of other stuff, but its been the rubbing of elbows that has worked the best. In this building I wear a dress shirt and tie as is the custom of the building.

Roger

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Permalink Reply by James Hazlerig on January 27, 2012 at 6:29am

Thanks, Roger. 

This actually came up because I met one of the counselors in the hallway, and she commented on my Anne King hypno medallion. :-) I don't think I'll run into anyone from that office in the men's room, though; they're all women. 

To date, I haven't seen anyone wear a tie in the building. There's a quite a mix of occupations--insurance folks, entrepreneurs, videographers, real estate agents, computer programmers, massage therapists, all in addition to the counselors. So business casual is typical for the building.

Roger Moore said:

Hi James - I have been in the Medical Dental Building in Seattle since 1997 with 17 floors of healthcare professionals. The most effective marketing that I have found with the dentists, MDs, chiros and mental health professionals has been in the elevators, hall ways and men's room. I've tried a ton of other stuff, but its been the rubbing of elbows that has worked the best. In this building I wear a dress shirt and tie as is the custom of the building.

Roger

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Permalink Reply by Roger Moore on January 27, 2012 at 6:41am

Stay out of the ladies room! I wouldn't be caught dead in a tie in my Bainbridge office - here is it more Northwest lumberjack dress.

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Woods on January 27, 2012 at 7:10am

Hey James,

Part of the fun of being in new digs is checking out the territory. When I moved into my new hypnocave, I spent an afternoon exploring. I wanted to not only let my neighbors know who the new neighbor is, but I wanted to find out who and what else were influencing my space.

Besides letting them know about myself and what I do, I used the premise of needing to know about them in case anyone stumbled into my office looking for XYZ Company. It paid off: I am friends with a Home Health Care agency owner who has already referred a client, another tenant is attending for weight control sessions, I've referred a client to a mental health practitioner and I got put on the toilet paper restock role (I buy the nice kind)! I met the manager of the Papa Murphy's across the parking lot (funny how ALL of my clients know where that business is located) and the young guys there not only give me the hypno-googly eyes but turn down their car stereos when they park behind the building.

So, people are people, as you well know. When we take the time to talk and listen to their stories, they stop being strangers. Have fun! Kelley

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Permalink Reply by Kathleen Hanover on January 27, 2012 at 9:11am

Your hypno-medallion is indeed mesmerizing.  :)

James Hazlerig said:

Thanks, Roger. 

This actually came up because I met one of the counselors in the hallway, and she commented on my Anne King hypno medallion. :-) I don't think I'll run into anyone from that office in the men's room, though; they're all women. 

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Permalink Reply by James Hazlerig on February 8, 2012 at 7:39am

UPDATE:

So yesterday, I paid visits to two counseling centers, one in my office building and one up the road.

The first visit was scheduled--I'd been given the name of one of the directors from a friend who is a drug and alcohol counselor out in my neck of the woods. Two of the directors met with me, gave me a tour, and told me all about their outpatient drug rehab services, then asked in depth about my services, especially smoking cessation. They were wonderfully warm and welcoming, immediately setting me at ease. They even gave me some networking tips for Austin. The executive director (an Ericksonian hypnotist, among other things) has long hair and a beard, so I had a few rapport points to start off with! :-)

I went back to my office and ran into my massage therapist friend who has the office next door. When I told her about the meeting, she mentioned that she'd been wanting to talk to the counseling center folks in our building, so we decided to go together on the spur of the moment.

Once again, we got a warm welcome from the center's director, who answered our questions about their programs. She even mentioned that she wants to expand the holistic options and would like to learn more about what I and my friend can do for her clients. 

I have to say that in preparing mentally for these meetings, the Skype session I had with Katie Sandlin was a huge help. She did a beautiful job of preparing me. Thank you, Katie!

So--lesson learned. No one growled at me or called me a quack. It was a lot of fun to meet folks who, like me, are in the business of helping others. There are at least three more psychologists in my building, so I'm looking forward to meeting them!

James

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