I’m sitting here looking at the Groupon website. I don’t ever come here but I have heard rumblings that Osteopaths are selling their beautiful souls to this cut price deal site.
I searched for many major cities. There they are. Struggling Osteopaths chasing new patients. Their highly skilled hands and expert knowledge being sold for a pittance. My heart feels heavy indeed.
Honestly, I could weep – this is a travesty!
How desperate must they be to discount their fees to just a few quid? How empty must their diaries be? How tricky must the bill paying be? And how worried must they be?
Discounting to this degree is not a business strategy. People on discount websites only want the buzz of the deal. They can’t bear to pay full price. Indeed the Old Boy is just like this. He gets staff discount of 25% off at John Lewis so if something he wants isn’t sold there and he can’t get it cheap on ebay, he won’t buy it! You should have seen him going mental the other evening when he bagged a new golf driver for two thirds of its retail price. He was literally squealing with excitement!
Groupon is not a solution!
Groupon is a great concept if you’re a savvy little bargain hunter. But Osteopathic treatment for less than twenty quid? The psychology of the Groupon hunter is such that it is unlikely that they will happily pay full price.
And what does that mean?
It means that they are highly unlikely to come back, even if they need to. Their wallet will remain tightly closed. Because generally it’s all about the thrill of the chase and of money SAVED and not about their health and well being. They love ‘mates rates’, bartering, haggling and discounts. Pay full price? You must be joking mate!
Always focus on your Perfect Patient
You know the ones. They adore you. They thank you profusely for how you’ve helped them. They would probably even pay you double. Why? Because they VALUE you and what you do. There are always more of them to be found if you know where to look and how to attract their attention in an ethical and energetically sound manner.
As I always say, if you’re not busy it’s not your fault. You weren’t taught strategic marketing. But it is your fault if you don’t get sound marketing training and continue to fail to serve your community properly. If you are not getting the word out about how effective Osteopathic treatment is, people will remain uninformed and in pain. And, by the way, leaflets and adverts don’t cut it any more!
The world has moved on from ‘spray and pray marketing’. Why? Because both online and offline our worlds are pretty crazy. So much stuff is vying for our attention that our over-stimulated brains have to filter most of it out. We only have enough mental bandwidth to deal with a certain amount of information at any one time.
So if your message is weak or not accurately targeted it will not be noticed. Simple as that.
So how do you avoid the Groupon way?
For anyone in business who just doesn’t have enough custom, there must be a decent strategy in place. Rather than discounting as a way forwards, confident marketing about the BENEFITS of Osteopathic treatment is critical.
I have had many Clients come to me, investing in their future Osteobiz because they know that treating four or five patients a month isn’t sustainable. Some are sitting amongst literally thousands of people doing very physical and stressful work. And yet they have no custom. And it’s only because their message isn’t right.
Thankfully, rather than turning to Groupon they turned to me and saw the value of investing in some focused strategies with fresh and unique ideas. I constantly study marketing, soak up information like inky blotting paper and have invested thousands of pounds with my own business coach. This has ensured that my business model helps those with little spare cash right up to those who want to seriously expand their Practice.
There’s a time and place for promotion but Groupon isn’t it!
There is ALWAYS more to learn and the advancement of technology means that there are constantly new ways to market our businesses. I have even invested in a totally automated system to deliver my online courses so that they are accessible anywhere in the world. That means that I can immediately start helping a struggling Osteopath in Australia the minute they sign up, automatically give them access to the course materials, whilst I remain asleep! How amazing is that?
By staying on top of changes, I ensure that my Clients get best advice and NEW ways of growing their businesses that others are oblivious to. That means that hundreds of global Clients are now bombing along with full diaries and expanding patient lists. It is truly thrilling to watch the transformations.
So should you know of an Osteopath who wants to be busier, guide them away from Groupon and towards my new club Osteobiz Inner Circle as a starting point. For just a tenner per month, they can start to turn things around, fill their diaries and begin their journey to Osteobiz success!
