Marketing & Sales Plans

Marketing & Sales Plans

The marketing and sales plan is a statement of opportunity. It includes objectives involving existing clients and potential clients. This process will help you discover what prospects you want to target and how to target and qualify them. Answering the questions below will help you identifying how you will convey your service and present benefits and uniqueness.
Service
What service do I offer?
How will your specific service benefit the client?
What tangible benefits will your service offer (Example: Online means less travel for client)?
What sets your service apart from others?
Pricing
If a therapist comes to Forrest and says they're not sure what to charge, he would first say it is primarily up to two things:
1. What you are trying to accomplish, and
2. Where you live.
Another thing to keep in mind would be to keep rates simple, so that clients can understand them and not get confused.

Some questions to ask yourself would be:
What is the average rate in the state you are practicing?
Are you trying to start a new practice or grow your practice, thereby maybe having your rates lower to gain new clients?
Are you in an established practice where you are just looking for a few new clients or transition clients from face-to-face to online? If this is the case, your rates may be higher.
What is the cost of providing your service?
How does your pricing compare to the general market?
Do you plan to be lower, higher or even with other therapists?
What is your ROI ("Return On Investment" -- Pricing minus expenses)?
Delivery of Service
How do you plan to deliver your services (individual sessions, group sessions, face-to-face, online)?
How will you schedule clients (you schedule, allow them to schedule themselves)?
Advertising and Promotion

If a new therapist looking to build a case load from scratch comes to Forrest, asking where to get started with advertising and promotions, he would say:

There can be a three phased approach depending upon your needs and the amount of time and effort you can put into your marketing efforts.

Phase I Do relatively simple things that can generate some potential client	Send emails to past clients/referral sources and letting them know you are now doing online counseling.
	Business Cards – Vistaprint.
	Brochures (possibly) – Vistaprint.
	Facebook – Let your Facebook friends know you are excited about this new chapter in your life.
	"Cold Calling" – Contact and visit some local doctor's offices, etc.
Phase II Prepare more intensive efforts	Create a "business" Facebook page with information on your practice. (You must be prepared to update frequently for relevancy and effectiveness.)
	Create a website for your practice.
	Do some of your own marketing through Facebook ads, SEO, etc.
Phase III Hire professionals to assist you in your marketing efforts	Obtain training on how to market yourself.
	Hire someone to do the marketing for you.

From there, it gets harder -- but there are resources to help!

Some questions to ask yourself would be:

Do I need business cards?
Do I need a brochure?
Do I want/need my own website?
Where will I invest my advertising budget (internet, directories, traditional)?
How will I utilize social media in my advertising (Practice Facebook Page)?
How will I obtain referral sources (colleagues, friends, past clients, etc.)?
Do I want to do "cold calling" on referral sources? If so, where (doctor's offices, organizations, etc.)?
Is my approach the most effective way to reach my target client?
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Marketing & Sales Plans

Marketing & Sales Plans

Service

Pricing

Delivery of Service

Advertising and Promotion

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