I hope you’re enjoying the sunny afternoons we’ve had lately and your practice is going well as we move into the autumn.
Thank you to everyone who joined me on Checklists for a Thriving Practice, a webinar on the systems and strategies behind a successful practice. If you didn’t manage to join, this webinar is still available to watch on replay.
I’m also excited to be re-recording my homeopathy webinar on Chronic Stress and Adrenal Fatigue on Wednesday 18th October. 🌿
Chronic stress and fatigue are topics that I’m often asked about, and this webinar covers them in more depth, including how to approach it using a structured prescribing method with nosodes, sarcodes and organ support remedies.
Registration is also open for my new webinar Homeopathy and Menopause on Friday 10th November. 🧰
This webinar has been my most-requested ever (!), and I’m excited to be teaching this important topic for the first time.
If you are new here, welcome! I’m Tracy, a homeopath in east London. I’ve been in practice for 16 years and have been writing this newsletter since 2015.
Every month I share some practice reflections, together with tips and links to inspire you.
Autumn dates for your diary 🍁
Available to watch on replay
Skills and Checklists for a Thriving Practice 💡
Wednesday 18th October 2023
Homeopathy for Chronic Stress and Adrenal Fatigue 🌿
Join live or watch on replay
Friday 10th November
Homeopathy for Menopause 🧰
Join live or watch on replay
Thoughts on offering a discount 💦
This time next month many businesses will be starting to promote Black Friday and what is traditionally the busiest quarter of the financial year for sales.
It took me a few years to realise that my practice would always be quiet at the end of November, and more recently I’ve tried to ‘lean into’ it by setting aside time to write new articles for my blog or simply to take a break.
I never offer discounts or promotions on my practice newsletter. (I don’t use social media to promote my practice.)
However, I do have a range of discounts and concessions that I offer on an individual basis, either at the start of treatment or ‘as and when’.
I try to be proactive in this type of conversation as I always want to support my current clients through life changes.
Here are some recent examples.
A change to work health insurance
It’s quite normal for me to have homeopathy clients who are also seeing a talking therapist.
One client who is having weekly psychotherapy told me she was able to claim back her homeopathy treatment from a work health insurance package.
Before we started working together I also offered homeobotanical remedies free of charge. She would purchase her own remedies from Helios.
This worked well for six months but over the summer her work health insurance changed and she could no longer claim for homeopathy.
She discussed this with her HR manager but to no avail.
Sadly, she sent an email to say she had to discontinue her treatment with me.
I decided to offer her a sliding scale, which she was happy to accept.
We've agreed on an affordable monthly payment by standing order to cover a homeopathy session every two months.
Changes to work and income
I spoke with someone else this week who is leaving her salaried job and going to be extending her self-employed work that she already does.
I asked her how she felt about her homeopathy being affordable if she was no longer going to be on a salary.
She said that she thought it would be fine, as she had several large self-employed projects extending into next year.
I asked her to let me know if her situation changed in the future.
Working with friends
I’m lucky to have friends who appreciate and value what I do, and they know I’m always happy to offer homeopathy if needed.
One friend recently reached out for support for her daughter who has been experiencing high anxiety about her exams.
I was happy to offer a chat and just charged a small fee for the remedies.
They are a single-income household and she also has a son with special needs, and I was really happy to help.
Concessions as a strategy
If you want to grow your practice you might want to consider offering more concessions as a strategy to gain more experience and to promote homeopathy.
If you have recently graduated, offer generous concessions and make that obvious and visible on your website and in any other places you are marketing your practice.
Tell all your friends and family that you are offering concessions for students, single parents, or seniors.
Suggestion: Make sure there is a clear difference between your standard and your concessionary fee, and make it affordable. If there isn’t much of a difference between the two, it won’t feel generous to the person seeking the concession.
Tell your concessionary clients that if they are ever thinking about cancelling an appointment because they can’t afford it, to get in touch. I am not advocating you treat people free of charge as a rule, but I have done this at times, and the person has always been very grateful. Sometimes people’s circumstances change, or they refer you to people who can pay your full rate. Sometimes it’s just good karma. Trust your instincts.
When your concessionary clients do well on homeopathy, ask them to write testimonials or leave you a review.
How about you?
Are you having conversations like these with your clients?
Please do share in the comments if you would like.
I promise to reply. 💫
Brain food ✨
On the difficulty of getting rid of books - maybe this is why I don’t want to finish writing mine?
Overweight adults with high blood pressure more likely to die early - the Guardian has really raised its game with health articles like this one
Email guidelines for the world - so so true
How to kid-proof your friendships - many of my friends don’t have kids and I still have so much to learn
Semesters for adults - I am such a fan of dividing work/life into terms
Chronic Stress and Adrenal Fatigue - early bird ends on Monday 🌿
As always, thanks so much for reading.
If you found it useful please feel free to forward to a friend if you think they’d like to see it.
Tracy 👩🏼💻