Your Pinnacle Practice October 2004 Welcome to YOUR PINNACLE PRACTICE! A monthly practice- building newsletter for "go-getters" and pioneering private practice professionals. Each month we bring you the best information and resources we can find to help you build your ideal practice and achieve the pinnacle of success in your field. Click here if you are recieving this from a colleague and wish to subscribe Click here if you would like to share this newsletter with a colleague CONTENTS Announcements October 6th Free Seminar- Getting The Appointment Register Now for October 90-Day Practice Building Intensive How to Get Clients Full Practice Training starts November 3rd NEW! Listen to our Seminar of the Month FREE for 30 days Free audio program- Using Affliate Programs to Develop Passive Income. Feature Article: How to Set Unlimited Appointments Congrats! Cool Resource of the Month Invitations ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. October 6th Free Seminar- Getting The Appointment with special guest Master Sales Trainer Eric Lofholm Getting clients usually depends upon getting your prospects to make an appointment with you for an initial consultation. Eric will provide proven strategies for private practice professionals to get that initial appointment so you can convert more of your prospects into paying clients. Eric Lofholm is a Master Sales Trainer who has trained tens of thousands of sales professionals nationwide. He is President and CEO of Eric Lofholm International, Inc., an organization he founded to serve the needs of sales professionals worldwide. Many of Americas top companies hire Eric regularly to train, motivate, and inspire their sales teams. His clients have added millions of dollars in sales to their record after attending Eric's energetic and groundbreaking seminars. Be sure to check out Eric's article below on How to Set Unlimited Appointments Eric is also offering us a FREE CD. For more info see the Cool Resource of the Month below For more information about this and future Free Practice-Building Seminars click here To subscribe to this newsletter and receive free seminar announcements click here. 2. Register Now for October 90-Day Practice Building Intensive! Ready to build your ideal practice? Want to work less and make more? Would you like to learn how you can actually have fun building and marketing your business? If so, then join our Practice Building Intensive! We will meet for 12 weeks on every Thursday at 12 noon EST beginning October 7th, and you will learn everything you need to have a successful private practice. This step-by-step program includes: E-book version of How To Build Your Ideal Practice In 90 Days Weekly assignments with all the step-by-step instructions needed to complete them Weekly consultation teleclass, Thursdays 9am pacific/Noon eastern, recorded for your listening convenience (web audio recordings also available) E-mail discussion list for your questions, ideas, feedback, and support Access to our exclusive Practice Development Resource Bank, Knowledge Bank, and Audio Catalogue for the best "how to" information and free/low cost practice-building resources Facilitated by David Steele, Mentor Coach and Author of How To Build Your Ideal Practice In 90 Daysand the How to Get Clients Toolkit and assisted by a team of 3 "apprentices." And the REALLY great news is that this 90-day program is very affordable (as low as $29.00 per month!). Now is the time to jump in and get the information and support you need to build your ideal practice. For more information click here 3. How to Get Clients Full Practice Training Launches Nov. 3rd If you do not yet have a full practice, this program is for you! You must survive before you can thrive. To survive in private practice you must master the skills and strategies for getting clients. This 8-week program includes: Weekly teleclasses, Wednesdays 3pm pacific/6pm eastern Step-by-step e-mailed assignments E-mail discussion list for support and feedback Supplemental audio recordings for missed classes, more info E-version of the “How to Get Clients Toolkit.” The pilot version of this program went exceptionally well, receiving comments from participants such as- “I really like the way the content is organized. It seems obvious, simple and easy while being rich and deep.” “Thorough delivery and materials. It's like having a consultant to guide you through to a successful practice. I wish I had this sooner!” “This program is dynamite!” Please join us! Wednesdays, November 3rd – December 22nd 3:00pm pacific / 6:00pm eastern For more information click here 4. NEW! Listen to our Seminar of the Month FREE for 30 Days Due to popular demand, after each seminar of our Monthly Practice Building Seminar Series, you will be able to access the audio recording FREE for 30 days before it goes into our members-only Audio Catalogue. Also, our best practice-building audio recordings are now available for purchase! For only $4.95 you can access the internet audio recording and/or download the MP3 file to save to your computer, burn to a CD, or add to your MP3 player. To access our Free Seminar of the Month and view our catalogue of practice-building audio programs available for purchase click here 5. Free audio program- Using Affliate Programs to Develop Passive Income Chances are, you already refer your clients and colleagues to certain products and services that you know to be useful. Affiliate programs allow you to generate income through these referrals and create a Win-Win-Win: Win #1: Your referral wins because they discover a good resource they might not otherwise have found Win #2: The people offering a useful service or product gets business that might otherwise have gone elsewhere Win #3: You earn income for helping someone you care about find a good resource for their needs T his seminar covers: Why affiliate programs are important to your business How affiliate programs work How to identify compatible affiliate programs How to sign up Negotiating favorable terms How to use your website and e-zine to generate affiliate sales Boosting results with co-marketing ventures Besides wanting to help you build a successful business, I want create a win-win by helping YOU to help ME promote my products and services as an affiliate. Please listen and learn all the strategies I know about this easy and profitable way to earn passive income. And while you're at it, join my affiliate program! To listen click here Table of Contents FEATURE ARTICLE How to Set Unlimited Appointments By Eric Lolfholm One of the skills necessary to build your ideal practice is appointment setting. For some, appointment setting is the missing ingredient to having the practice of your dreams. In this article I will share some of my most powerful appointment setting techniques. My company, Eric Lofholm International, sets between 20-30 appointments every week. This article will cover: Appointment Setting Psychology Peak Performance Appointment Setting Ideas Appointment Setting Tactics 1. Appointment Setting Psychology Our mindset about the appointment setting process is critical. Many helping professionals have negative beliefs about their ability to set appointments. Here are some common beliefs that can hinder your ability to set appointments: Appointment setting is hard There are not enough people for me to meet with I don’t like sales. I don’t like the phone. Each of these beliefs will act as imaginary hurdles and prevent you from building the practice of your dreams. Appointment setting is a learned skill. Once you have learned the skill nothing could be simpler than setting an appointment. Appointment setting is fun and easy. There are more people who need your help than you can possibly help. There is no scarcity of clients to meet with. Do what you can to help as many people as you are able to. Many professionals resist sales. There is a very good reason for this. They associate sales with a used car sales person mentality. You don’t want to come across to your clients as the arm twisting, high pressure car sales person that you despise. So you resist sales. If you want to build the practice of your dreams it is important that you change the way you think about sales. I sell from honesty, integrity, and compassion. To me, selling equals service. I have a coaching practice that has been filled for years. In fact, I have stopped promoting the practice because I end up having too many people request my coaching service. I don’t resist selling, I embrace it. Selling is about leadership. It is about moving people to action. It doesn’t have to be about high pressure. The telephone is probably the fastest way to build your practice. Even if you are generating leads on the internet, through articles, or giving speeches you are still going to need to do follow up over the phone. The phone is your friend. Learn to love making phone calls. Your psychology about making setting appointments is critical to your success. Use your coaching and business skills to create a healthy, abundant mindset about setting appointments. 2. Peak Performance Appointment Setting Ideas There are many personal development ideas that can be used to enhance your appointment setting skills. Here are a few that work well for me: Have a goal for the number of appointments you want to set for the month, the week, and the day Use a script Have an abundance of leads Set appointments using e-mail Send out a confirmation via fax or email Focus on setting the appointment not getting a new client 3. Appointment Setting Tactics 1. When setting appointments I suggest you have a script. The structure of our script is as follows: This is who I am This is why I am calling This is what I would like to do Would you like to do it? 2. The most important thing when you are setting an appointment is that you ask the prospect to set an appointment with you. That sounds simple enough but many people don’t do this. After you ask for the appointment be silent. Don’t say anything until the prospect has spoken. 3. If you have an abundance of leads it will help put you in an abundant mindset. The "no’s" don’t hurt so bad when you have a long list of other prospects you can call. 4. Use e-mail. I use two approaches. One approach is to send an email to my entire database of customers. I let them know the type of appointments I am offering and then I have a call to action. I have set as many as 15 appointments in a 24 hour period using this tactic. I also will attempt to book appointments by sending an email to the person I am trying to book an appointment with. When I send the email out I make sure to put in the subject line something that makes it clear my message is not a spam email. 5. Once you have booked the appointment send out a confirmation fax or email. This decreased the likelihood that they will cancel. 6. The last tactic is perhaps the most important in this article: -- The purpose of setting an appointment is to set an appointment Do not try to get a new client when you are setting the appointment. People buy benefits. Focus your appointment-setting presentation on the benefits the prospect will get by meeting with you. I call this strategy "stage selling." Stage selling is where you move the prospect towards a buying decision one step at a time: The first step is to get a lead The second step is to book an appointment The third step is to get a new client. Eric Lofholm is the president of Eric Lofholm International, a sales training firm located in San Diego, California. To receive a copy of his special report, 21 Ways to Close More Sales Now, visit his website here. Be sure to join us on Wednesday October 6th for Eric's free seminar Getting the Appointment. Watch your e-mail inbox for the invitation and bridge number for our subscribers. If you are reading this on our website or received it from a friend, and are not yet a subscriber click here. It's free! Table of Contents CONGRATS! Our PBI Participants Share Their Wins CONGRATS TO: PBIer Sue Bates (Seattle, WA) who writes: “Here are some WINS from the July PBI: Got my Website set up to market the singles program Set up a database with shopping cart solutions Sent out follow-up e-mail to do a free consult Got 3 new clients as a result of all this! Created bookmarks (10 principles of conscious dating) to hand out at events, they have been received very well Lots of confidence and support to put myself out there and get this thing going Invited to do an article in a local magazine in the Northwest Invited to speak at a singles event So, looking back over the past 3 months, I have done a lot to launch my new singles program. Thanks David and Diana for all the helpful info and encouragement and all the people on the calls, I really looked forward to them each week.” Sue Congratulations Sue! COOL RESOURCE OF THE MONTH Free CD From Eric Lofholm! In this CD you will learn some of Eric's best sales strategies, including: Sales and marketing concepts that can help grow any business. A technique to raise your belief in yourself A strategy to increase your self motivation To order your FREE CD click here INVITATIONS We invite you to share this newsletter with a colleague. There is a tremendous need for our services, and we need to work together. Practice development is always in need and we want to be the leaders in our field. Please contact us with ideas and resources you have found useful so we can pass them on! We invite you to get the support you need to be successful in your practice. We are available for information, training, ideas, mentor coaching, etc. We invite you to become an affiliate of BuildingYourIdealPractice.com and begin to earn extra income just by sharing our programs and products with your friends and colleagues. For more info click here. If you are a private practice professional who received this from a colleague, we invite you to visit our web site and contact us for information on joining us. How do you like our newsletter? Your feedback is welcome! Until next time… David Steele, MA, LMFT Founder and CEO of BuildingYourIdealPractice.com The purpose of this newsletter is to connect, support each other, inform, and build a strong community of helping professionals who want to have thriving businesses and fulfilling lives. Your submissions and feedback are welcome! Click here if you would like to share this newsletter with a colleague. Our Mission: To provide the tools, information and support to help private practice professionals have their ideal practices in the most effective and efficient ways possible. Copyright notice: This newsletter is copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Feel free to share with others as long as our contact information and authorship is included. U.S. Library of Congress ISSN#:1530-3055 Table of Contents

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