This blog is all about Networking in Your Community.
I built my entire practice during the time that the Internet either didn’t exist or was in its infancy. I built my practice by relying on sound business principles and networking with other people in my community. And if I hear one more time from another expert who says that “networking is the other half of business marketing” I might do more than scream (and in case you might be concerned at this point, I’ve made a lot of progress over the years in anger management). They might as well call it the stepchild of business marketing. I mean is networking that out of vogue? Am I really that much of a dinosaur because I think that having honest-to-goodness conversations with people is the best way to grow a business? And if you’re wondering, I am very grudgingly including e-mailing and some of the social networks on the Internet as a form of “people to people” conversations. Because what I learned from the business gurus and other communication experts I studied is that everything you get in life comes through your relationships with other people. You might create the equivalent of the next Internet. Or you might be the greatest practitioner in your field. But it’s still going to take other people to help you get the message out to the public, and to maintain a steady flow of customers or clients or patients to your business. I took that to heart, and was able to create a business that was in the top 1% of all psychotherapy practices.
You see. When I get nervous about the current economy, and particularly media reports and Wall Street’s knee-jerk, “the sky is falling” reactions, and the effect these factors will have on people’s spending and even access to health care benefits, I don’t immediately go to my website to tweak it so that it will squeeze out a few more referrals. No. I just increase the amount of community networking that I already do. Which means, I reach out to people who share my passion or at least my interest in making mental health services available to those in need. And I reach out even more assertively to the individuals and families that actually need the type of help that I and my colleagues can provide.
I have a theory about why most clinicians I’ve come across shy away from community networking but are often enamored with Internet marketing. I think it’s because many of us practitioners are nervous about talking to people outside our therapy offices. We may be great communicators when we are talking to our clients, or even with our trainees and classes that we may teach. But from what I’ve heard and observed, too many of us get really anxious and even tongue-tied when we are “out in public”. And this might even extend to our social lives. So we may avoid networking which is really just talking to people in our community.
Now let’s get a couple more things straight. When I say networking, I’m not referring to making “cold calls” or doing other forms of intrusive marketing that most of us hate to receive. And I was not always outgoing or comfortable socially. In fact, I had a reputation for “listening and analyzing” other people. I’ve since learned that this “style” was not unique to me and can be an unfortunate byproduct of healthcare training we receive. And it is also probably due in part to some selection factor that causes many relatively inhibited people to go into helping professions. But I’m happy to report that networking can be much easier than it appears, that there are many simple ways to do it, and like anything else, you will become better at it and more comfortable doing it with more experience.
Well, that’s enough ranting by me. I’m really interested in knowing what you think about this topic. And is it too much to hope that some of you have actually had some success with community networking? If so, or not, please share your thoughts and stories. Otherwise, I might simply have to go the way of the dinosaurs and I really hope that’s not the case. Thanks for listening.
To Your Growing Success,
Mel Restum
