Dear Dr. M.

Here is my marketing plans:

My plan in contacting my community includes sending out letters to 
my target market and most of the time offering lectures or health 
screenings I let them know that I will call them the following week. 
Then I call and ask if they received the package.  I've found most of 
the time they say no.  Depending on how busy they sound, I will 
either tell them what's in the letter, or they request another packet 
be sent. If they ask for another packet to be sent I tell them I'll 
contact them in a week. What has happened is that most people tell 
me that they are not interested, or an appointment is set up to meet. 
At the appointment I bring a folder of supporting materials and we 
go over the programs of interest including setting up times and 
dates. I then send a thank you and summary letter to confirm 
everything. I try to get a year's commitment. So far only one 
company has been interested in a brown bag lecture. We are 
scheduled for 2 workshops a month. The first one was this past 
Friday and according to the survey, the employees enjoyed it. Along 
with the survey of our workshop, another sheet of paper where 
prospects can fill out contact information to receive our monthly 
newsletter or to schedule an appointment. Only one person asked to 
receive a newsletter.

In terms of press releases for our in house workshop. Most of the 
time, the releases are edited quite a bit.; I've enclosed what I send 
to the newspapers, but it never is printed that way. I send these 
calendar listings to every publication that services my area (some 
are very specific for my area, others cover several cities. The 
workshops I use are modified "Power Workshops" from Dave Parker 
and we make our own slide presentations and handouts.
I did not realize that there were "referral" departments for medical 
offices. Are there "referral" departments for lawyers as well? 
As far as Sam's Club I was going aiming for a screening with all 
proceeds to benefit the Sam's charities, but if you think doing safety 
workshops first is better. That could be done. All of my community 
outreach programs have been at no cost including workshops, do you 
think that is the best way to promote? I have noticed that our in-
house workshops do not seem to be valued by those who sign up. 
(they reserve their seats, but don't show up). What do you advise?
Well I know that you're very busy and I appreciate your time. 


A:

Thanks for the reply.

I appreciate your hard work and continued marketing. It is never easy. But .. with every 
effort one must take a back seat and review what has been done and what seems to have 
and have not worked .. I guess that is why you e-mailed me. So .. this will be a general 
answer for you

So with this in mind .. let me offer some advice .. just my opinion.

The usual reason why people sign up for workshops for free evaluations and do not follow 
through is lack of value. Not that your program wasnžt full of useful information or your 
presentation wasnžt great .. just that the reason for them to follow through was either weak 
or missing. For instance .. you may mention that chiropractic care helps this or that 
condition and that postural stress is dangerous for your health and the solution is an 
evaluation and possible chiropractic care .. great .. but how strong was the close of your 
talk or screening .. how necessary did you make those you spoke to feel they needed to be 
to get the help or understanding they required .. how committed were you when you met 
the manager of the company to discuss future workshops or stress screenings .. in other 
words .. how valuable did you make it .. how concerned were you .. how impressed were 
you with the need for care to be proactive within your community that it wore off on 
others.

Consider any of our guru consultants .. if any of them went with you to a workshop or a 
presentation and spoke instead of you while you listened .. same words .. do you think 
they would be more successful and why .. they were dynamic and on purpose .. not just 
educating but attempting to be part of the solution not more of the problem. Corporate 
health and community wellness is lacking .. there are plenty of MDžs and drug stores 
around but little conservative wellness and preventive care .. this is our role and this 
attitude must be taken into a presentation. There is no need to exaggerate or strong arm an 
audience .. but during the talk and during your presentation to a manager .. you must be 
able to open up your concerns and share with them the reason why you take your time to 
value it is to their employees to be proactive in prevention to eliminate the excessive 
downtime and walking wounded that pervades the corporate world.  Do they have pro-
active safety programs .. wellness action steps .. ergonomic classes? If not why not .. this 
is the trend. Your time and your ability to provide the program for your community .. yes 
.. you will be available to assist those employees with problems that can be assisted with 
chiropractic care or offer to refer them to another DC closer to home or work or a medical 
specialist if needed .. but the first step is to meet them .. discuss the problems ..offer 
conservative solutions and be available for future programs and assist those that need it.

Therefore .. has your discussion and workshops been valuable enough for them to leave 
feeling as if they really should take advantage of any offer you provide. Was your offer for 
a complimentary evaluation or a small fee for a charity .. been offered in a caring but firm 
way .. did you make it available and easy to follow through .. is their wish for an 
evaluation and their personal e-mail address on every survey .. did you follow through 
with a letter of thank you for attending your classes with an open invitation within the next 
two weeks to have that evaluation and also open for those they know  .. did you make it 
real enough that they felt they needed to talk to you after the class or be sure they took 
advantage of your free evaluation? What would those consultants say and how would they 
say it to generate better interest?

As far as