Question

Topic: Other

Sales Pitch For "happiness Counselor"

Posted by lorenz on 1/16/2013 at 10:24 AM ET 250 Points
A friend of mine is a therapist who specializes in curing people from false beliefs in order to make them happier people. She has chosen as her niche women who struggle with guilt.

She gets plenty of interest but nobody calls her back.

My analysis of the situation leads me to draw the following conclusions:
1) pitching that you can help women overcome their feelings of guilt probably creates a negative reaction - on the one hand the pitch makes them view themselves in a negative light, on the other many women feel that the guilt is precisely the feeling that helps them to strive to be better, without it they might feel they are irresponsible.
2) my friend needs to be the proactive one and collect contact details rather than just handing out business cards and waiting for a call.

Would you agree with this analysis?

I am inclined to advise her to frame her therapy offer in a more positive light: she is a happiness therapist who helps women gain greater insights, self awareness, self acceptance and this then leads to increased happiness. Her methodology is to disarm limiting beliefs and help them to create a more positive philosophy on life.

Do you think I am on the right track?

If no, please advise.

If yes, how would you pitch this in a concise manner?

Thank you so much for your help and insights.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 1/16/2013 at 10:36 AM Accepted
    I'd say you're on the right track. I'd also advise your friend to stop pitching—to stop selling.

    Happiness isn't a commodity that can be pitched: it's a state of mind. States of mind need to be alluded to, they need to be full color, all singing, all dancing, vivid 3D illustrations that are presented on the wide screen and in the glorious surround sound of the prospect's imagination.

    You do this through thought substitution, through suggestion, metaphor, stories, and alternative "life as it will be when ..." scenarios, all of which are more powerful than the prospect's current mental images.
  • Posted by Moriarty on 1/16/2013 at 10:45 AM Accepted
    Firstly in psychology, you can only help people who want to be helped - and want to work with you to achieve this.

    Usually this clears 95% of your potential customers. Sure, people don't like living with guilt - but then they don't want to have to examine the reasons they feel guilty. Which is the real problem here.

    What you need is to work out who your client's customers are. The ones she has success with. She will be able to tell you a lot about those she can help. Since she is a psychologist, she will have insights of the kind that will lead her to be able to write a page of their diaries to the point that they say "goodness, how did you know that??" [bear in mind, this is the sort of thing that I can do, and it is the sort of responses I get].

    This is the key to getting the kinds of clients that (a) want help and more importantly (b) can use her help effectively to heal themselves of their guilt.

    Does this make any sense?

    Moriarty xx
  • Posted by mgoodman on 1/16/2013 at 4:14 PM Accepted
    Your approach SOUNDS right, but what you think -- or what we think, for that matter -- is not nearly as relevant as what the target audience thinks.

    When current patients talk about what the therapist has done for them what do they say? What words do they use? Do they focus on how the therapist helped them overcome their guilt? Or do they talk about how much happier they are now? How do THEY describe their transformation?

    There are several fields in which the benefit is solving a problem. Sometime it's appropriate to focus on the problem and how it gets resolved. Other times it's better to focus on how the solution will impact the patient's life (for the better).

    It's impossible to predict a priori which approach will be most effective. Right now there are several "happiness" books and speakers. It's a hot topic in many circles. Not sure yet if that's a long-term trend or a fad. (Need an example? Try https://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work.html )

    As for how to pitch the therapy, I'd use success stories/case studies so that people can insert themselves into the story and imagine that they become the hero. Use good storytelling practices, of course. See: https://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks....
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 1/16/2013 at 6:31 PM Accepted
    "Happier" may be the wrong word entirely, since it's often confused with being light-hearted. If your friend hasn't read Martin Seligman's latest book (Flourish), I suggest they do so (https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx).

    As far as her approach - the best way is to offer seminars/talks to attract more people who might be interested in more "happiness" in their life. Instead of selling her services, sell the vision of what life can be like, and a few tips for helping them reframe things. That will get the word out, and attract the people who are looking for something deeper than "feeling better".
  • Posted by NovaHammer on 1/19/2013 at 2:19 PM Member
    Invest in Your Mental Wealth

    Your Happiness-Tax Free Rewards for the Whole Family
  • Posted by lorenz on 1/21/2013 at 10:41 AM Author
    Thank you all for your helpful comments and apologies for not being here for so long. I changed my account info and couldn't log in - somebody from marketingprofs actually called me to get me online. Unfortunately, couldn't access the forum from my phone (on holiday by then) due to a "server error". Rest of the site worked fine.

    Thank you for some great feedback. I agree that ultimately the "sales strategy" needs to be driven by client feedback, but that is exactly the issue, a lack of clients in a a startup process. As a result, I submitted my hypothesis, which will be tested once the practice starts turning over clients on a regular basis.

    Telling a story and painting a picture of what a truly happy and content life would feel like also appears attractive, but challenging. Without being philosophical - can we be truly happy, or just deal with the challenges of life in much more effective ways, therefore increasing wellbeing when compared to others? I guess one could paint the picture of a more effective, stable, well adjusted being that finds happiness more often as a result. You could do this through anonymous case studies of people who were in a similar position and then came out happier on the other side. A story where they can identify with the heroin and feel hope that they too can overcome their complex/shadow/animus.

    Jay, your suggestion about speaking at seminars is an excellent idea! This is where Gary's idea to tell stories could really take hold.
  • Posted by telemoxie on 1/21/2013 at 12:41 PM Member
    sorry to rain on your parade, but it is possible that your therapist friend is also an unhappy sufferer resulting from a false belief. Specifically, you are unhappy friend seems to believe that guilty women have money lying around for this sort of thing. I personally doubt it very seriously. In fact, I have heard the happy cows give more milk, or maybe I saw it on a TV commercial or something. I would be willing to bet that you could make more money selling services to dairy farmers which increase milk production then you can networking with unhappy guilt ridden women.

    If I were advising your friend, I would be looking for somebody who has a relevant need and also has a budget. For example, salespeople also suffer from false beliefs. The difference is: corporations have money budgeted to train salespeople.

    I'm also curious... what credentials does your friend have? Is there any reason to believe that your friend has specific valuable insights which are not available from for example watching daytime television?
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