A Great Way To Teach Your Clients To Sell For You

I recently had the opportunity to attend a seminar hosted by a local small business owner. I wholeheartedly believe in using seminars and webinars for content marketing so when possible I like to see how others are doing it.

This particular session was hosted by a local chiropractor (yes mine) who I know has been in business for decades. And as far as I can tell has not spent much money on traditional advertising even though his office always has plenty of patients.

I remember I attended this very same seminar (I think he calls them “informational classes”) back when I was in high school and practicing martial arts. I needed a lot more adjustments back then.

Like then, it was a small gathering but still perfect for the presentation he gave. Besides myself there were a few other patients along with a guest or two. It was free of charge and was focused on the common reasons people have back problems and how the spine and your posture are directly connected to those issues.

The fact that he hosted the seminar wasn’t all that spectacular to me; I see many businesses doing the same thing in person or online. But what did stick out to me was  the specific information he shared and how it helps train his greatest selling tool, his patients.

He quite literally prepared me to sell his services for him. Most of the time I see right through these kinds of things since I sell for a living; but the content he shared was so insightful, humorous, and relevant to me and every one else there I was enveloped in his presentation.

Besides the technical aspects of the presentation he did five things that encourage me to tell anyone I know to see him if they have back problems.

1. He Helped Us Understand The Problem He Solves

The first thing he did was explain various reasons why back problems  manifest (bad posture, looking down at our phones all the time, accidents, etc) and how it is a life long issue. And more so the detrimental effects a problem in one area of your spine will have on other parts of your body. However unless there is physical pain, most never realize it. After all, why would you get a back problem if your back doesn’t hurt?

What he first did was help us understand the problem that he as a chiropractor solves. He explained how common it is, how easily it can happen, and what can happen if it is not fixed.

2. He Helped Us Understand The Value Of His Service

He then explained his process for treatment and teaching preventative care. He explained clearly the rationale and science behind his method as well as evidence to support it. One particular thing he did was talk about his early life as a chiropractor; seeing patients, fixing them, and then seeing them again when their problems came back.

One day he had a realization that he wasn’t fixing their problems, he was just fixing the pain. He was doing pain management not necessarily making peoples lives better for the long term. This lead him to his treatment specialty which is focused on both pain management but also life long preventative care for the back.

What he did was distinguished his services from every other chiropractor out there. Instead of quick fix chiropractors he was interested in the longer term health of his patients.

3. He Taught Us To Recognize His Ideal Prospects

While explaining what causes back problems he also provided us with the knowledge to distinguish other people who are probably having back problems. How various bad posture positions influence us and how our body adjusts. Believe me, the next time I see an old man with hunch shoulders I will remember his seminar and probably what is actually going on with that guys back.

Or if I see one of my friends or family with a slight lean to one side or the other I will absolutely picture what he taught us. In fact, for a long while now I know when I am people watching I will be paying close attention to their posture and try to figure out what part of their back probably hurts.

By demonstrating it himself, he literally showed us what his ideal prospect looks like. An old man with hunch over shoulders and buttocks tucked in, a young athlete who looks like his knee hurts, a mother of 3 holding her back with a baby carrier on her front. I can pick them out of a crowd for him!

4. He Asked To Build Relationships

The entire class was about providing information and building relationships. He even coached us on how to help him build those relationships.

One of the examples he gave was of a mother (who’s a patient) who had a blind child that had fallen off his bed while playing, landing back first on a dresser. She called him up and he immediately met up with her to see the child. He poised a great question, if you were in massive pain, scared, and blind. How would you feel about someone (a random doctor for example) touching and messing with you (like a doctor would)? It would freak you out.

Well this patient mother had brought her son in every once in a while and he was familiar with the chiropractor. So he was completely comfortable when he arrive to adjust him and help him as he could.

He suggested this to the class and offered to do simple evaluations on our children, free of charge. Besides building a relationship with the child, if the need ever arises that they need urgent care from him, it also allowed him to have a base line for what this condition is. For example, lets say I were to bring my son in to meet him and get checked out every once in a while and then at some point playing football or messing around which friends he hurts his back. The doctor will have a much better idea of what is correct and what has changed.

He made a great case for establishing and building lasting relationships that will keep his office busy for generations to come.

5. Provided An Incentive To Give Referrals

Like I mentioned he called this seminar an “informational class” and it truly was. The only time he said anything except for purely useful information was at the very end when he asked if there is anyone like he described that we’d be willing to refer to him. He asked us to provide their info and he’d offer them a discounted first session (evaluation, x-rays, consultation, etc).

A Great Referral Machine

I have to be honest, he gave one of the best seminars I have seen in a long while. And I know it works. I’m sure it has changed over the years but he has developed a wonderful way to train his current customers to understand, identify, and refer new customers.

The only thing I would have added to his presentation is an incentive to those who refer others. I may have missed it but I only heard the offer for new patients. Either way he truly has the heart of a teacher and the expertise and experience to back it up.

What are your thoughts on giving seminars and webinars to develop your referral machine. Have you ever been to something similar to this? Do you think it was effective? Let me know in the comments below. 

To Your Success,

~ Johnny Bravo

Image courtesy of suphakit73 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net