You know about the 80/20 rule, right? It’s the guideline that 80% of your return comes from 20% of your investment. For example, 80% of your referrals come from 20% of the people in your network. 80% of your new business comes from 20% of your prospects. 80% of your new contacts come from 20% of the networking activities you engage in. And so on.

Like all such guidelines, this one is inexact, but helpful. If used correctly, it makes you stop and think. Where are most of your returns coming from? And where is most of your effort going?

Imagine how much less time and money you could spend on marketing if you could simply identify the 20% of your current efforts that are really the only ones that matter. You could let go of 80% of what you’re doing…

Continues here.

Productive networking consists of meaningful, relevant, focused conversations and online exchanges. Here are a few examples of what this sounds like.

Questions to ask others:

• Tell me about your work/current goals/challenges you’re facing.
• Who/what would be a good client/helpful resource for you?
• What is exciting you in your business/career/life right now?
• What can I do to help you?

Topics to discuss about your own work:

• This is how I help my clients.
• Here’s an example of someone I was able to assist.
• This is who would be a good client for me.
• Here’s how you will know when someone needs my help.

Topics to post about online:

• Here’s a useful resource for you.
• This is something I’m doing you might find valuable.
• Here’s a success one of my clients had.

I need some assistance — can anyone help?

“What’s wrong with my marketing?” That’s a question I often hear from clients, students, and readers. It’s a useful query, as there frequently are areas where you could do better at marketing and sales. But while the question “what’s wrong” can uncover your marketing problems, it doesn’t always suggest answers. You may need to ask what you’re doing right.

1. Where did your last few clients come from?

2. How have you gotten your best clients?

3. Where do you get the strongest response from your marketing messages?

4. What marketing activities feel most comfortable and natural to you?

Full article with details here.

What comes up?  Is it you and your web site?  Because this is exactly how people find therapists these days.

Don’t despair if you don’t show up on the first page of results yet.  You can.  Help is available!

I will help build your web presence, whether it’s starting from scratch or strengthening what you’ve already got going.  I’ve done this for others with amazing results–practices developed from near-zero to full–fast–just months.

You next…?

Build a site, build your business–with the help of a fellow therapist.  Write to get started:  wheretheclientis@gmail.com.  (No one in Los Angeles, please.)

Given our uncertain economy, those who own and operate a private practice have some important choices to make about their future.

I wrote about this in an earlier newsletter published in September 2010. (You can read the article:  “Forks in the Road” by clicking here.  In this article, I likened your situation to walking down a path, coming to a fork in the road, and having to choose one direction.

To stay viable, effective, and profitable, I believe that therapists in private practice will operate their practices within one of these three business models.

Deciding which one is best for you depends on may things, including your philosophy of service, your training, and your values. All three models seem to work well today and in the future, but to stay successful, each requires a different approach or “positioning” for the therapist and the practice.

No matter whether you are in a solo private practice or a group practice, chances are you are already headed down a path towards one of these models, but you may not be conscious of it yet.

It’s time to wake up and plan…

A brief outline of social media marketing goes like this:

Your Blog Post

->post to Twitter/Facebook

-> Followers click to learn more

->They like your ideas and think you’re helpful

-> They sign up for a free report to get more information

-> You send a newsletter with more useful stuff

-> Followers like you even more

->You offer a program/product

-> Followers buy because they now know, like and trust you.

I try to be a trend-spotter. I spend a lot of time trying to see where we are going as a profession. I believe that, given the recession and other changes in the health care front, the future of psychotherapy and private practice is getting clear.

Therapists are going to choose one of 3 very different paths to walk. No matter whether you are in a solo private practice or a group practice, chances are you are already headed down one of these…:

1) Insurance driven

2) Consumer driven

3) Belief driven

Explanation in the article.

[I]nstead of looking for a magic formula to avoid the work of marketing altogether, find ways to make it easier on yourself. Here are four suggestions that will help.

1. Choose a target market you enjoy spending time with, and whose issues and goals you care about.
2. Get help with crafting marketing messages if messaging isn’t your strong point.
3. Use role models, recommended advisors, or a trusted system to identify only the best marketing approaches, then do what they advise.
4. Use the support of a buddy, coach, or success team to help you follow through on your plans, market consistently, and break through fear and procrastination.

First, C.J. Hayden asks “Not Enough Clients?  What’s in Your Way?”

Instead of trying to fix your marketing by just seeking out more ways to meet people or collect names, email addresses and phone numbers, stop for a moment. What is the problem you’re trying to solve? In other words, what’s really getting in the way of your marketing success?

And Lynn Grodzki looks at “Essential Connections“:

[T]the resource of connection — with community — is free. Having a strong professional community can build your practice, but sometimes attending a professional group feels like a waste of precious time.  So I wondered: What is the best strategy to finding or creating a community that really supports your life and your work?