Badass Therapists Building Practices That Thrive
Welcome to Badass Therapists Building Practices That Thrive, the ultimate resource for mental health professionals ready to step into their power, grow their practices, and create a career they love. I'm Dr. Kate Walker, a Texas LPC/LMFT Supervisor, author, and business strategist who's here to show you the path to success.
Formerly Texas Counselors Creating Badass Businesses, we’ve rebranded because, well, we’re way too big for Texas now! This community of badass therapists is growing nationwide, and we’re here to help you create a career and practice you love, no matter where you are.
Every week, you'll get practical advice, proven strategies, and motivation to help you build a thriving practice—one that gives you the freedom to live your life on your terms. From mastering marketing to designing scalable systems and becoming a clinical supervisor, this podcast is your roadmap to leveling up without burnout.
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Badass Therapists Building Practices That Thrive
129 Understanding the Customer Journey in Therapy
Get your step by step guide to private practice. Because you are too important to lose to not knowing the rules, going broke, burning out, and giving up. #counselorsdontquit.
Hey, I'm Dr Kate Walker. Welcome to your Tuesday group coaching and I'm going to let people in so we can get started. All right, just as a reminder, if you're joining me live today, you don't have to have your, and I'm going to let people in so we can get started. All right, just as a reminder, if you're joining me live today, you don't have to have your camera on, you don't have to do anything, and just remember, if we interact, that it will be on the recording so you can pop stuff in the chat if you feel like it. Today is going to sound super salesy Like. I even recognized that when I was posting the calendar. I think I used customer journey or client journey, but then I was going back and forth like, okay, we're going to have to use the customer word and I'm not going to apologize for that, right, because our clients are our customers. They are spending money for a service that we are hopefully providing, right, and they go away from our services better for that. So when we think about how we market, you know, okay, so let me back up again a second. So how many times have you, as a practice owner, felt like you were just wasting your time marketing. In fact, I have a little term for it. I call it throwing rocks off the Grand Canyon, right, like you're throwing a rock and you're like waiting and waiting and waiting to hear if anything, and it's like nothing, right, silence crickets. And so maybe you've tried social media, maybe you've tried blogging, maybe you've tried a newsletter to your email list, maybe you have tried all of these different things and you don't see the needle moving on your SMART goals. So if you don't know what a SMART goal is, I've talked about it in other trainings and so you can go back and look at that. But just real quick, it's specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, trackable goals, and so long and short. If you can't count it, it's not really a SMART goal. And that's a summary. Please go Google it, find more definitions for that. And that's a summary. Please go Google it, find more definitions for that.
Speaker 1:So when you notice something like my favorite KPI or key performance indicator of whether something is working or not is the phone call, and I know a lot of you use email, a lot of you use texting. So when I say phone call, just insert your communication of choice, your preferred one, and we'll go from there. So when you see that these incoming points of contact right email, phone call, text messages, however a client is supposed to contact you. Or if you work in an agency but it's still a private practice setting. So you've got a receptionist right. How many referrals? How many people are showing up to come to that first session? Now, that's a little bit of a different animal.
Speaker 1:So I am, for the purposes of this conversation, going to focus on marketing as if it were your own private practice. So if that's you and you're in an agency or a big private practice setting, but you're still responsible for your own marketing, you need to come up with a smart goal. That's something you can count. And then a key performance indicator Again, that's also something you can count. Because one of the things, if you got my email this morning, I said test me right, test me in this right. This will be a game changer for your marketing, and the only way you can test me is if you give me a grade. The only way you can give me a grade is if you have numbers right. So think of something that would indicate what you're about to do or about to change is actually moving the needle toward your preferred SMART goal. So that's why I'm landing on more intake phone calls, more calls coming in, and so I do have other trainings on this. Where I talk about a 10-minute consultation, I talk about a script for a 10-minute consultation, and those trainings are in your Step it Up profile.
Speaker 1:So we're going to talk about, though, what comes before that initial contact. How do we see this? We call it a journey right From a potential client to an actual client, and I call it a journey because when you look at business literature and marketing literature, it's actually it's referred to as a journey, or sometimes the hero's journey, and the hero's journey is everything from you know the Odysseus and you know going from. You know the Argonauts, jason, I don't know all that stuff, but you know the Iliad and the Odyssey, right, those epic tales to. You know the story of Bambi and you know Simba in Disney movies, right, and basically you start from a place where everything's good, everything's okay, and then suddenly it's not okay, and then suddenly it's not okay, and then there is some kind of a transformation, usually with the aid or assistance of an outside thing or person, and with that transformation you don't go back to being okay, you actually become something better, not just different, but better. And so when we talk about marketing, we're talking about taking our client from a place where they're not okay and then you're offering them some kind of a transformation so that they become better.
Speaker 1:Now we have to be really careful here, because with medical marketing and even though, you know, I don't consider myself a medical model this is still the ethics that we follow, right, with this kind of marketing, we have to understand these are a very vulnerable population and I know you know that. So we can't say, hey, counseling with me is guaranteed to make you better and you know what, if you do counseling and buy my book, you're going to be absolutely better than better, right, that's not what we're talking about here. So I made some notes and I'm going to put on my glasses so I can follow my notes, and so when we talk about a space, that's okay, I'm going to go ahead and talk about, you know, simba, the Lion King. Right, it starts off. Simba is okay, he's a little lion and you know he's frolicking and doing whatever little lions do, right. And then something happens, right, the stampede. His father dies. I don't remember the entire story, but I just know that he ends off out in the wilderness with the warthog and the meerkat, right. And then you know, that's where he grows up and he learns all these things. And then an outside influence comes along right, that's the baboon Rafiki, right, and the transformation happens so that when he is at the end of the tail, he is better, right, he is fit to be king, or however. That is so with your client.
Speaker 1:I divided it into two areas and I'm going to refer to these as pain points, so get used to that term pain points. So when we talk about a client one minute being okay and the next minute being not okay, these different pain points or these two different categories have a different sense of urgency, and that's going to be important here in a second. So when we think about I'm okay, and then my pet dies, I'm okay. And then I discover an affair when I look at my partner's phone, I'm okay. And then when I'm cleaning my kiddo's room, I find drug paraphernalia Right. So that's urgent. That's sudden. I was okay, then not okay, all right.
Speaker 1:The next type of pain point is not quite that sense of urgency, but it's a problem still, right. So you think something happens. I'm not okay. Well, maybe it's that I noticed you know what. I'm just not focusing, I'm losing track of time, I'm sleeping all the time, I'm eating too much, I'm not eating enough, I'm having anhedonia, right. The things I used to enjoy I don't enjoy anymore. So that's less urgency.
Speaker 1:So before I go on, and if you're listening to me on a replay, first of all go you. You're doing something great for yourself today. Hit pause and I want you to think about what area you address. Do you address an urgent pain point with your specialty and what you enjoy and the type of client you enjoy, or do you address something that's a little bit less urgent, right, and maybe something that it's something that you may even require more sessions? So I put a pin in that. So that could be important, all right.
Speaker 1:So while you guys are thinking of that, I'll speak to my own specialty working with couples surviving infidelity. So I started my practice one way, and so there I go, I'm kind of cooking along and it's okay, and then I noticed that I'm working more and more with clients who are surviving infidelity. So I thought, ooh, I need to get more training in this. So I got more training in this, and then I, of course, take business courses and I'm learning more and more about the business and I learn and I find and I notice this is an urgent situation. So think of an urgent situation in your own life.
Speaker 1:My favorite example is toothache. Right, with a toothache, you don't care if your dentist has their degree from, you know, downtown university or Brown Ivy League university. You just want to what you want to get in quickly. It's all about schedule. You're not going to read the about me page, you're not going to dig into all the things. You're going to click the schedule button and you're going to pray that someone can get you in today. Okay, with the less urgent pain point, right.
Speaker 1:So if that's you, perhaps you work with individuals recovering from grief Now, not the sudden my pet just died, but maybe something that's revisiting you later in life. And you notice, gosh, I'm thinking about my mom a lot. You know that last holiday was really rough because all I could do when I was cooking was think about my mom. You know I really should get in to see somebody. You know I've been doing okay, maybe.
Speaker 1:So you've got people who are kind of on the fence, but your specialty speaks to that. You're a trauma-informed therapist, you're an EMDR specialist. You focus and you specialize in people who are noticing, kind of it's evolving, that they're not okay, All right. So you got that in your head. Those of you who hit I hope you've unpaused if you hit pause before so you've thought about what you like to specialize in your ideal client, where you are, and if that isn't you, if you're like. But, kate, I kind of like both. I don't know which one I like yet. You're going to see why it's important in a minute, but you don't have to make that decision today. So good news, right? So next comes the transformation.
Speaker 1:Now, when I was writing my notes for this, the only thing I could think of were those pharmaceutical commercials. You know where everybody's like dancing and it's like woohoo. You know where everybody's like dancing and it's like woohoo. You know, I took this thing and now I'm dancing and I'm like, oh, I want to dance, I need to take that pill. And I'm like, whoa, calm it down, kate, you don't. You don't even know what they're treating there, right? So I want the transformation before I even know what they're selling Like. That's how good marketing is these days, right? In fact, that's kind of what visual marketing is all about, like, when they buy those $6 million ads on the Super Bowl and you kind of play my kids and I play a game. What are they marketing? Right, because I see the transformation. I see the guy kneeling next to the client's tail with his puppy and I'm like, oh, I love that, I want that. Oh, but I don't drink Budweiser. Okay.
Speaker 1:So with your description of how you can help the client on their journey to transformation, you're going to have to be a little bit different, right? Because, as I mentioned earlier, you're not going to say, well, take my therapy and you're going to be cured. Buy my book and you're going to be cured. So I wrote down some things that you can do, though, remember, if your specialty is something that has some urgency to it I just found out my partner had an affair. I just discovered paraphernalia in my kid's room, I just discovered whatever right? Well then, you want to.
Speaker 1:Your transformation is going to focus on urgency. It's going to focus on scheduling. If you have a big practice, it's going to be focused on that. They can talk to a person quickly, right? It's going to be training your staff how to do those 10-minute consultations that I've taught you guys, so that they can get plugged in quickly.
Speaker 1:Now, that doesn't mean you neglect your about me page and your credentials and all the other things that you do, but this is your client's journey, not yours, right? So you are showing them on your website Like, hey, urgent issues are my people. I see you, I can help you on your journey to transformation. Okay, so if it's not an urgent situation, right, you're part of the pain point for the folks who are just kind of noticing this pain evolving. Well, then you want to take them on a little bit of a longer transformation. Remember, in the story of Simba, at first he's like I don't want to go with you, rafiki, I'm not going to go back and be king. I like hanging out with the warthog and the meerkat, right.
Speaker 1:So when we work with our potential clients, right, because they're not our clients yet, remember, we haven't earned the right to take away their coping tools, right, that's not our job. They get to come to the decision to lay those coping tools down and pick up new ones. That's what we help them with, right? So think of all of the things you can show them from videos on your website, right, videos of you talking about how you help, pdfs, downloads, that they can get Three ways to get through the holidays. When you're grieving the loss of a parent. Gosh, they can get on your newsletter. They can enter their email and get a newsletter once a month from you.
Speaker 1:Now this isn't throwing rocks off the Grand Canyon anymore, because you are talking to this person whose pain is evolving. So remember earlier when I said you don't have to make the decision today. Well, you will probably have to make the decision eventually because if you are giving kind of these long journey resources to someone who needs urgent attention but you have no schedule now button, you're going to miss out to the next therapist down the road who has a schedule now button right, so it can. If you are addressing the wrong journey, right, so it's. Remember. Our first thing is to recognize everything was okay until it wasn't and you can help them transform with. And we've got the acute, urgent folks. You got a schedule button the folks that are evolving. You've got resources.
Speaker 1:Now I get asked all the time but if I have free resources, they're not going to pick me Wrong Y'all. Just because you get coupons at the store for a free bag of M&Ms, does that mean you never go back to the grocery store to get M&Ms. Come on, think about it right. When someone you trust, like HEB, down the road, offers you free M&Ms, I'm going back to HEB. I'm going to tell my friends about HEB because they gave me what I needed when I needed it. Right, that's the urgent thing. How I needed it. So that's the resources.
Speaker 1:That's a PDF, that's a video and the format I needed it at the time that I needed it. So you are showing your potential client that you are Rafiki. I'm going to lose people who don't know the story of Simba, aren't I? Well, hopefully they'll Google it. Right, you are patient. You understand that if your people need time to evolve, well, you're going to have to walk with them a little bit, but you're not going to hold back. You're not going to hold back, you right. So if it's a podcast, they get to hear your. So, if it's a podcast, they get to hear your voice. If it's a video, they get to see your face and hear your voice. If it's like you, kate, I don't want to do any of that, all right. Well, it's going to be a fabulous photo and you're going to put some really good content that shows them how you help.
Speaker 1:Now that brings me to verbiage. If you have heard me talk or been in any of my courses at all, I talk about this a lot, and this isn't just us, right? But we counselors use the word I a lot, right? Here's what I've done. Here's what I do. Here's what we offer, right, no, no, no. Here's what I do. Here's what we offer, right, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:Right, when I'm on a journey and I'm carrying a burden and things used to be OK and not there, now they're not OK, I want to know what I'm going to get. Let me know what I'm going to get from you, right, and if it's not a cure, this better be good, right? Well, pot, potential client, you're going to get some free resources. Well, potential client, I take your insurance. Here's a list of insurances. You'll get an opportunity to use your insurance. You'll get an opportunity to experience EMDR. You'll get an opportunity to experience the transformative effects of I'm going to say EMDR again, because here's a link and you can Google how effective it can be with trauma, right? So here's what you'll get. Here's what you'll get. You'll be so talking from the client on, or the potential client on, the journey, what they're going to get from you Now, super, super basic, if you're like okay, kate, I have no idea what they can get for me, because counseling is hard to describe.
Speaker 1:True, but can they get an initial consultation from you? Is it free? How long is it? Can they get an initial assessment? That's paid? That's where they show up, that's session one that's thorough and you'll listen to them. Can they get resources after that first session from you? At the second session, can you go over that homework and help them course correct and find even more resources by the third session? Can they learn that working with you is going to be a good fit and have some coping tools, right? So even though you're not like an ozempic sorry, I said the name, I'm not going to say the name Even though you're not like a pharmaceutical commercial and you can say hey, if you take this, we're not going to tell you you'll be dancing, but we're going to show you lots of people dancing, so you'll make that connection.
Speaker 1:You're going to say look, here's what you'll get. You'll get resources, you'll get a connection. You'll always have the choice if you want to continue with me or not, and and and right. And so the idea is we are showing them that they will not be the same when they finish that third or fourth session with you as they were when they came into that very first session. Right, we're not promising them a cure, but we're saying, hey, you need to talk to somebody today. You can have that. Right, it may just be a 10-minute consultation, but you can let them know exactly what to do. Then, of course, the call to action, the CTA. Right, if this is on your website, it's going to be click here, schedule now download this, get this here. Arrow, arrow, click, whatever.
Speaker 1:If you are speaking to a group, right, if you're at the Kiwanis Club or the Elks Lodge and you're giving a presentation on grief following the death of a pet, you're going to make sure that you let them know. After you've let them know what they'll get, here's how you can contact me. Here's how you can get all of those amazing things. I mean, when I used to give talks, I used to have people hold up their phone, google me like find me, and then find the schedule, a consultation button, like I've made them show me. And what I was teaching my audience was how to be a resource for their friends and family, and that's another topic altogether.
Speaker 1:But imagine if that's what you put out there, right, like, even if you're not the person who's on this journey, you know someone who is. Can you think of someone on this journey? They were okay, now they're not okay and now they need something from you. So this is your client slash customer journey and you will waste lots and lots of time, throw lots of rocks off the Grand Canyon and hear nothing if you don't take a little bit of time and identify number one what does your okay client look like? Right, if you work with high performance athletes, okay is well, they're performing, they're making their goals and scoring their touchdowns. Not, okay is they had an injury. Is they had an injury? What do you offer? What can they get? What does the transformation look like? Right, but you got to do the homework and start off with. What does the okay client look like?
Speaker 1:And again, I want to emphasize to you folks just starting out, if you have not seen a single client and maybe you're in grad school and just kind of dreaming of private practice, it's a lot of pressure to think I have to come up with my ideal client and I can never switch. No, that's not it at all. Right, but start somewhere. Start with something that you know. I mean usually, I think you know, sometimes in counselor ed circles we talk about when you're first starting out.
Speaker 1:Your ideal client is you 10 years ago. I mean, it's just kind of like that's the pain you know best. Right, it's when you sought out a therapist. Now we probably won't stay there, but it at least gives you some place to start. What did you 10 years ago need, right? Where were you? When were you okay and when were you not okay? What would have been wonderful if you could have gotten it from an outside party? And what was your transformation? Well, I think you're looking in the mirror at it, right? Who are you now? Why are you on this journey as a mental health professional now? All right, I'm going to hit pause, and we've got a lot of folks here live today, so I'm going to hit pause and take questions.