Ooo! Ooo! Ooo! Shower Thought!

Matt and I spent a long weekend with the Heir Apparent in Victoria, B.C. We were lucky to be able to go during Victoria’s “Be A Tourist in Your Own Hometown” weekend. This is when the city sells coupon books for $10 each. These coupons get you into tourist attractions for deep discounts or for free. The point is to encourage Victoria’s residents to go see local attractions for little, if any, money.

I LOVE THIS!

I was never really interested in Victoria’s Nautical Museum or Bug Zoo and admission to them seemed a little pricey, so why would I pay to go? I’d been to Crystal Gardens and Butchart Gardens a lot as a kid, but … I didn’t know if I wanted to pay to see it again. But, hey, when I have a booklet of 2-for-1 coupons, Victoria is the mollusk of my discretion!

As with anything I love, I try to see how it could be applied to a healing arts practice. Here’s my Shower Thought:

You can use the “Be A Tourist in Your Own Hometown” idea to introduce clients to other healing arts. If you do it well and with the right people, you can build your practice, lend credibility to other practitioners you trust and you’ll gain credibility from the other practitioners you choose to work with.

Here are some first thoughts:

Passport to Health. Gather together 3-5 practitioners who practice different, but complementary, healing arts. Create a passport/punch card that’s good for a year. Maybe each of you would offer one session at a significant discount for one year to holders of that card (punch card plan). Maybe if your client visits all the other practitioners within the year (passport plan), you will give your client a free session or extra time.

The Three Bears Service. Gather practitioners who each focus on a specific member of the family: Mama Bear, Papa Bear, and Baby Bear. One of you wants to increase infant/children clientele, one wants to focus on male clients, one for women and maybe even one for seniors. Actually, this could be a really sweet marketing campaign.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes Package. I have yet to meet a healing arts practitioner who doesn’t have a knack for relieving a specific malady. (I actually have several MTs I keep on reserve for when I have a specific ache or pain. They are all skilled at basic massage, but “Susan” is unparalleled when it comes to releasing that weird twinge I get behind my right shoulder blade.) Get together and showcase your pet talents. Why not? It may be a great way for all of you to get more of the clients you want to work with. And, of course, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate your concern for the overall health of your clients.

Obviously every therapist would have to be on board with this or it won’t work. As you gather your “team”, remember; the point is to make an offer too good to pass up. The point is to attract people who would never have tried your services before.

What do you think? Drop me an email of leave a comment and let me know. Also, if this grabs your antennae, check out an earlier entry on side-by-side marketing.

All my best,
Eileen

P.S.: The Bug Zoo has become a firm family favorite. We visit every time we’re in Victoria and we pay full price. We never would have gone in the first place if we hadn’t had a coupon.