A big mistake that a lot of new hypnosis practitioner make is marketing the hypnosis. So, their business card is all about the hypnosis, their website is all about the hypnosis, and when they speak to people, in person, it’s all about the hypnosis.
The reason it’s a mistake is that most people don’t care about the hypnosis. Most people are not looking for a hypnotist because they don’t see how hypnosis might be relevant for them. But everybody has a problem that they’re struggling with. You might just be the solution they’ve been looking for. They just don’t know it, yet. That’s what you need to market.
The fundamental purpose of marketing is grab the attention of the right kinds of people and then get them to call you. That’s it. It’s not to try to sell them a hypnosis session. It’s not to try to sell anything. It’s to get a conversation with the right person.
The purpose of the initial conversation is to talk about them and the problem they’re dealing with. The conversation needs to be about the pain of the problem that they’re struggling with. That’s what they care about.
The reason a person picks up the phone to call you in the first place is not the hypnosis. So, there’s simply no point in talking about the hypnosis until you’re satisfied that you’re a good fit for this person.
Can help them to get rid of that problem?
That’s what they’re looking for - a solution to a problem. So, the conversation really needs to be about your prospective client. Not the hypnosis.
The problem with marketing the hypnosis is that you might never interest a person enough to pick up the phone to call you. If you don’t get the initial conversation, you won't get a new client.
Prospective Clients Come in Three Sizes
There are three kinds of people who could become your hypnosis client.
- People who don’t know anything about hypnosis.
- People who think they know what hypnosis is all about.
- People who know what hypnosis is – and it isn’t good!
The first type of person knows nothing about hypnosis. They’ve never thought about hypnosis. They’ve never considered it as an option. And they don’t see how it might be relevant for them. But this is a person who might be open to learning about what you do if you can find a way to make it all about them.
If you make it all about the hypnosis, you may never get a chance to show them how what you do is relevant for them. It needs to be relevant before they’ll be interested in hearing about what you do and how you can help.
The second type of person is more common. This is the person who thinks they know what hypnosis is. The problem is that, most of the time, what they know is based on stage hypnotism or Hollywood. You know what that means.
It means that you can control them and make them bark like a chicken. So, it’s unlikely that they are going to take you seriously enough to pick up the phone and call you. If you’re speaking to them in person, they may not even want to look you in the eye. This makes it very difficult to have a conversation with a person, right?
The third type of person is someone who knows what hypnosis is. And it’s because they had a bad experience in the past. This is a person you want to pick up the phone and call you because, if you can get them to trust you enough to tell you about their bad experience with hypnosis, you’ll have the opportunity to change their mind and transform their life.
I’ve had clients tell me that they would never do hypnosis because they had been dumped into a traumatic event from the past by an unskilled hypnotist or a psychologist. And it didn’t end well. I just made it my mission to change their mind because they were still struggling with the problem.
I knew that I could help. And I did. More importantly, I learned something very valuable from these clients. I learned that just because a person has had a bad experience with hypnosis does not mean that hypnosis is out of the equation. If you take the time to listen and show that you care, these people can become your clients, and you can transform their lives for the better.
The most important thing is to ask permission.
Ask if it’s okay for you to have a conversation with them. Ask if they would be willing to tell you about that experience and tell you what happened. This will give you the opportunity to find out what went wrong. Then, you can educate them about what to expect from a qualified hypnotherapist.
Remember, most people either don’t know anything about hypnosis, or they think they know and it’s all based on misinformation, or they know and it’s based in one bad experience. But people are naturally curious. So, even if they don’t know a thing about hypnosis, or even if they think they know, with sufficient rapport, they’ll still be open to learning from you.
Don't make it about the hypnosis. Make it about them and how just might be the answer they’ve been looking for. Whether you’re marketing in person, through your website, or some other means, you want to make a person feel comfortable with you.
This is the first step in a healing relationship. It begins with establishing rapport. You want a prospective client to feel comfortable with you. You want them to feel comfortable enough to be curious and interested in learning more about what you do. That’s when they'll will pick up the phone and call you.
Learn more in Ditch the Script: Get Everything You Need from the Client for Successful Hypnotherapy and Set Up to Wrap Up with Results
