Marketing advice for frustrated acupuncturist

[Guest guest]

holmes wrote:

> there are some numbers in this link:

> http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/15/25/13.html

>

> the 20% came out of australia so far as i remember

 

Hi Holmes!

 

From your link:

 

" The acupuncture profession is dedicated and is quickly becoming a major

thorn in the side of chiropractic nationally. As acupuncture becomes

more and more a generally accepted therapy, it is of the utmost

importance we incorporate it into our practice rights. Currently, more

than 60% of the chiropractic state boards in the United States regulate

the practice of acupuncture. "

 

John A. Amaro DC, FIACA, Dipl.Ac.

 

Just what we need, another enemy.

 

Regards,

 

Pete

[Guest guest]

kampo36 wrote:

> I think that it would be a good idea, i kind of wonder why some kind

> of figures aren't required for financial aid or accreditation

> purposes already.

>

> robert

 

>> Maybe we should ask the schools to start to poll graduates and

>> collect the data. I think the schools might have an idea that

>> things are not too rosy and might baulk at the idea. It would be a

>> good idea for our future, what say you?

>>

>> Mike W. Bowser, L Ac

 

Hi Robert, Mike!

 

We need to be careful what we wish for. We need *a*lot* fewer graduates

in TCM for the next few years - at least until we get the Medicare bill

passed, but we don't want to kill the schools altogether.

 

It is a fine line. Maybe tighten up the academic requirements, require 4

year bachelor's degrees to enter TCM school, make TCM a 5 year course

and the like . . .

 

Oh, figures are required for financial aid and accreditation. They are

tempted to just poll their most successful grads and ignore the ones who

have fallen off of the radar screen of success, or even make up nice

numbers for the ones who aren't even practicing. Not that they ever

yield to that temptation, of course.

 

Regards,

 

Pete

[Guest guest]

In November 2000 the British Acupuncture Council sent out a member

survey on a number if topics - there were over 400 respondents. Of

interest to this thread are the following:

 

70% said acupuncture is their main source of income.

47% said they had another job as well.

 

Average annual income for an acupuncturist in the UK: £16,000

 

1/3 of new referrals come via word of mouth.

 

43% of practitioners regarded their main challenge to be maintaining the

business - compared to only 7% who regarded getting patients better as

their main concern.

 

My own experience has been mixed. I set up my current practices less

than a year ago. I started from scratch, knowing very few people in the

area I've chosen to practice, which also happens to be a city with a

very high density of acupuncturists and other complementary

practitioners.

The first few months found me frequently despairing, not really knowing

how to get the turkey off the ground, so to speak. I had no real capital

to invest in a business project, but, in some way, this kind of worked

in my favour, in addition to the fact that I was determined if at all

possible to do acupuncture full time and not get caught in the whole

business of 2nd jobs and so on. As a result I guess I had to just get on

and fumble my way forward, if for no other reason than I had a very

limited amount of time for acupuncture to start being able to pay my

rent.

I complained to my supervisor about how difficult I was finding it, and

how, when I had spoken to other practitioners they seemed to confirm an

atmosphere of doom and gloom in getting their businesses where they

wanted them.

He said " don't let the bastards get you down. There is no reason why you

can't make this work. Be good at what you do, and keep at it! "

 

Out of necessity I had to do that - not, believe me, out of any liking

for business building. I still find this side of it distasteful, but I

guess I am getting used to it and, I'd like to think, a little better at

it. Less than a year in, I see around 30-40 patients a week. It's still

not quite where I want it to be for various reasons, but at least its

paying the rent already, and I'm getting to do plenty of what I do

actually love doing, which is treating patients, and hopefully improving

their quality of life in various ways.

 

Word of mouth, as everybody confirms, must be what works in the end, but

you've still got to see a critical mass of patients in the first place

for word of mouth to start accumulating. I'm finding only recently that

this is how new referrals are finding me. Advertising, although fairly

ineffective, is a must in my opinion, to at least start getting those 1

or 2 patients in through the door who have a great experience and are

willing to tell their friends about it. And once they've heard about

you, it could be another 6 months before they need a treatment.... so I

guess there's also a patience element that needs to be there as well.

That's another bit I struggle with!

 

 

Jason

 

 

 

 

Chinese Medicine

Chinese Medicine On Behalf Of Pete

Theisen

03 July 2005 07:14

Chinese Medicine

Re: Marketing advice for frustrated acupuncturist

 

kampo36 wrote:

> Chinese Medicine , " mike Bowser "

> <naturaldoc1@h...> wrote:

>

>> Interesting topic and one that could require a study to fully

>> determine the truth. I know of many graduates that never make it

>> financially

<snip>

 

> a study needs to be done in order to give an accurate picture of the

> profession at this time. as an educator i'm acutely aware of

> students' concerns about this topic and i would like to be able to

> give them some realistic numbers to consider.

 

Hi Robert!

 

Most likely your school and all TCM schools would *not* want the study

done if it would impact the desirability of their course to prospective

students.

 

Regards,

 

Pete

 

 

 

http://babel.altavista.com/

 

 

and

adjust accordingly.

 

Messages are the property of the author. Any duplication outside the

group requires prior permission from the author.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Jason,

 

Thank you for sharing your experience. It is an encouraging story for

someone like me who is starting out and wants to believe that being a

therapist can be a viable option as an only job. I am in Aberdeen (Scotland)

and practice Shiatsu. I am not the only Shiatsu therapist in town and there

are quite a few acupuncturists and Chinese herbalists here. So a lot of

choice for finding a TCM therapist.

 

> Advertising, although fairly ineffective, is a must in my opinion, to at

least start getting those 1

> or 2 patients in through the door who have a great experience and are

willing to tell their friends about it. > >

>

Yes, word of mouth, but one needs the mouths first! I am in the Yellow pages

because I feel that I cannot afford not to be there... But it is expensive.

 

> And once they've heard about you, it could be another 6 months before they

need a treatment.... so I

> guess there's also a patience element that needs to be there as well.

>

Do you find that clients tend to not have the patience to keep coming until

their condition has resolved? I have lots of patients who don't seem to be

willing to give it more than a session or two, despite the client reporting

some improvement and me telling them that if they had a condition for a very

long time it might need more time than overnight to go get healed.

 

Artemis

[Guest guest]

Amaro's % seems high, I think it is closer to 50%.

 

 

Mike W. Bowser, L Ac

 

 

 

>Pete Theisen <petet

>Chinese Medicine

>Chinese Medicine

>Re: Marketing advice for frustrated acupuncturist

>Sun, 03 Jul 2005 02:18:14 -0400

>

>holmes wrote:

> > there are some numbers in this link:

> > http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/15/25/13.html

> >

> > the 20% came out of australia so far as i remember

>

>Hi Holmes!

>

> From your link:

>

> " The acupuncture profession is dedicated and is quickly becoming a major

>thorn in the side of chiropractic nationally. As acupuncture becomes

>more and more a generally accepted therapy, it is of the utmost

>importance we incorporate it into our practice rights. Currently, more

>than 60% of the chiropractic state boards in the United States regulate

>the practice of acupuncture. "

>

>John A. Amaro DC, FIACA, Dipl.Ac.

>

>Just what we need, another enemy.

>

>Regards,

>

>Pete

[Guest guest]

How much of success in practice, besides good marketing, is bedside manners

and expertise?

 

Word of mouth can also work the other way, when the mesage carried is

uncongratulatory and unflattering.

 

No amount of marketg will offset illmanners, bad temper, overbearing and

bullying.

 

Can there be practitioners who are all that?

 

One in five schoolgoing kids report being bullied at some stage in their

schooling.

 

A third of known bullies land into trouble with the law.

 

A significant percentage of school bullies end up doing the same as the

bully boss, bully

souse, bully priest, bully politcian, bully teacher.

 

Why not a bully healer?

 

Dr. Holmes Keikobad

CEUS on DVD

1.888.TCM.CEUS

www.acu-free.com

[Guest guest]

Anne and Jason,

 

In checking, Lynn Grodski has a couple of books with a similar titles --- can

you give the exact, total name of the book to which you refer?

 

Thanks.

Kathleen

 

Anne Crowley <blazing.valley wrote:

I believe that was me, Jason. Yes, I have found Lynn Grodski's book to

be the best marketing guide in print that I have seen. I liked the

recent post by Benjamin on publicity marketing and contacting local

MD's. Great ideas.

 

Anne

 

jason davies wrote:

 

> Someone on this group recently posted a reference to a book on marketing

> for the likes of us. I did get the book and I must say I've found it

> very useful especially if you're like me and the very word 'marketing'

> makes your toes curl. I would certainly recommend giving it a look. Its

> called 'Building Your Ideal Private Practice' by Lynn Grodzki.

>

> Regards

> Jason

>

>

>

> Chinese Medicine

> Chinese Medicine On Behalf Of

> Daniel Craig

> 01 July 2005 04:38

> Chinese Medicine

> Re: Marketing advice for frustrated acupuncturist

>

> Yuli,

> I also recently decided to open in private practice...in

> Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is a hard market, seems like

> every 7th person here is a DOM (Doctor of Oriental

> Medicine). Some are actually open to discussing

> practice-building and from them all I hear is to " market do

> not advertise " . Word-of-mouth seems to really be the most

> effective mode. I must say I have seen very few patients

> in the last 3 months yet those I have seen have almost all

> been word of mouth. Realistically, I cannot afford to

> advertise anyway.

>

> Another technique that opened some doors for me was to

> contact different businesses and see if they were willing

> to have me offer their employees treatment at a discount as

> their employees, so...in one contractor's office I was able

> to have 57 flyers distributed in each individual's pay

> envelope. That was just a few days ago so no calls yet but

> hope springs eternal. I am learning how to do private

> " business " rather than be someone's employee and it is

> challenging. I hope you create the practice you want. Be

> well.

> Peace,

> Daniel Craig, DOM

>

>

>

>

> http://babel.altavista.com/

>

>

> and

> adjust accordingly.

>

> Messages are the property of the author. Any duplication outside the

> group requires prior permission from the author.

>

> If you are a TCM academic and wish to discuss TCM with other academics,

>

>

[Guest guest]

Kathleen:

 

Jason has mentioned the title of the one I read " Building You Ideal

Private Practice. " LYnn Grodzki,ISBN 0393-70331-2. She wrote one after

this, have not read it, just glanced at it and this first one seemed to

be what I was looking for.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Anne

 

Kathleen Mathews wrote:

 

> Anne and Jason,

>

> In checking, Lynn Grodski has a couple of books with a similar titles

> --- can you give the exact, total name of the book to which you refer?

>

> Thanks.

> Kathleen

>

> Anne Crowley <blazing.valley wrote:

> I believe that was me, Jason. Yes, I have found Lynn Grodski's book to

> be the best marketing guide in print that I have seen. I liked the

> recent post by Benjamin on publicity marketing and contacting local

> MD's. Great ideas.

>

> Anne

>

> jason davies wrote:

>

> > Someone on this group recently posted a reference to a book on marketing

> > for the likes of us. I did get the book and I must say I've found it

> > very useful especially if you're like me and the very word 'marketing'

> > makes your toes curl. I would certainly recommend giving it a look. Its

> > called 'Building Your Ideal Private Practice' by Lynn Grodzki.

> >

> > Regards

> > Jason

> >

> >

> >

> > Chinese Medicine

> > Chinese Medicine On Behalf Of

> > Daniel Craig

> > 01 July 2005 04:38

> > Chinese Medicine

> > Re: Marketing advice for frustrated acupuncturist

> >

> > Yuli,

> > I also recently decided to open in private practice...in

> > Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is a hard market, seems like

> > every 7th person here is a DOM (Doctor of Oriental

> > Medicine). Some are actually open to discussing

> > practice-building and from them all I hear is to " market do

> > not advertise " . Word-of-mouth seems to really be the most

> > effective mode. I must say I have seen very few patients

> > in the last 3 months yet those I have seen have almost all

> > been word of mouth. Realistically, I cannot afford to

> > advertise anyway.

> >

> > Another technique that opened some doors for me was to

> > contact different businesses and see if they were willing

> > to have me offer their employees treatment at a discount as

> > their employees, so...in one contractor's office I was able

> > to have 57 flyers distributed in each individual's pay

> > envelope. That was just a few days ago so no calls yet but

> > hope springs eternal. I am learning how to do private

> > " business " rather than be someone's employee and it is

> > challenging. I hope you create the practice you want. Be

> > well.

> > Peace,

> > Daniel Craig, DOM

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > http://babel.altavista.com/

> >

> >

> > and

> > adjust accordingly.

> >

> > Messages are the property of the author. Any duplication outside the

> > group requires prior permission from the author.

> >

> > If you are a TCM academic and wish to discuss TCM with other academics,

> >

> >