….Just be sure you learn from them
We all make mistakes, both in our business and our personal lives. In fact, we skiers in Colorado often ask each other how much we fell. Because “if you didn’t fall you’re not trying hard enough” when skiing.
I think the same holds true in marketing your massage therapy practice.
Take chances – it’s ok to make a mistake. Oftentimes it’s the best way to learn.
I am currently reading The Million Dollar Consultant by Alan Weiss. Here is what he has to say about learning from setbacks:
“You win some and you lose some. The best baseball hitters are successful about one-third of the time. The best golfers win perhaps one of every 15 tournaments they enter. Abraham Lincoln lost more elections than he won. The finest salespeople probably close about two sales of every 10 legitimate meetings.”
I find it’s easy to see the mistakes you make and dwell on them. I see some people kicking themselves or their employees and spending weeks worrying about the consequences. Dwelling on the “what if’s”. You have to let go of them and move on. So what if no one came to a talk you gave? Don’t do it again. Pick a different location or topic next time.
Weiss tells us “the key, of course, is not to make the same mistake twice. Whether you swing at a wild pitch, hit the tee shot into the water, lose the election through poor debating, or lose the sale through lack of preparation about the competition, the idea is to lessen the chances that the same cause will produce the same result the next time.”
The lesson here is to take chances when marketing your massage therapy practice. If you get an idea try it. You never know unless you try.
What this does NOT mean is that you should purchase advertising space or give talks and not measure and track your results. If it’s not working stop doing it. Like many things in life, such as starting a massage therapy practice, there are no guarantees.
Especially in marketing, it’s important to try new things and pursue new ventures. If it doesn’t work – stop doing it and try something else. If something is working – tweak it and see if you can get it to work better!
If you don’t try, you fail no matter what, especially when it comes to growing your massage therapy practice and healing patients.
About the author
Founder of A Marketing Connection and The Copywriting Institute, Kelly Robbins, MA, is an award winning author, copywriter and healthcare marketing coach/consultant. Kelly is a blogger for both ChiroEco and MassageMagazine and is the author of Marketing 101: Why Successful Alternative Healthcare Practitioners Specialize as well as co-author of The Practice Evolution Success Kit. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection, a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, “5 Critical Mistakes Healthcare Marketers Make that Lose Sales and Plummet Profits” at www.AMarketingConnection.com or 303-460-0285.
