Every once in awhile, someone asks me about how to ask for a referral in a certain situation. Or how to educate patients. Or how to word something they’re thinking about putting in a letter. This happens even with acupuncturists who own a copy of Never Market Again. They see the opportunity to make a connection, but aren’t quite sure how to take advantage of it.

A useful way to think about marketing acupuncture is to think of it as making people aware they have a choice.

If they know someone that you might help, they can choose to help both of you by making the introduction.

If they ever have a health problem you can help them with, they can choose to see you for it, or not.

You’re not pushing them. You aren’t making them uncomfortable. You’re giving them an option that they can choose to take … or not. If they don’t know about their options, they’ll probably go to a doctor for drug-based treatment, or simply not be healed at all.

If you have this underlying attitude that you’re informing them about something they might not know about, or might not have considered, then you’re not pushy. It’s when they don’t have a real choice that it’s pushy.

I’m going to take my own advice here. If you know other acupuncturists that might benefit from better marketing, I hope you’ll let them know about me. You’ll be doing both of us a favor. And indirectly you’ll be helping yourself, because the more widely accepted AOM is, the more people will choose acupuncture over the alternatives.

If you do send an email, they may be interested in one of these links:

• Take a free online acupuncture marketing quiz to find out what’s missing from your marketing.
• Two free chapters on getting more patients.
• The main site: Acupuncture Clinic Marketing.