Written by Ross Bryant
Today I wanted to share a story that I heard about a few weeks ago. It's all about how a Chiropractor gets anywhere from 20-50 additional folks walking through his front doors and spending money on services (and how he does it every single month).
The Funny Part is how what he's doing is so simple but yet so effective.
"Now wait a minute," you say ... "I'm a Phyical Therapist, or I own a Gym." Just stay with me, I promise this works in all kinds of businesses, even yours!
I met Dr. Ben Adkins a few years back and he just recently told me the story of how he accidentally stumbled onto something he calls his "1 Email per Month Model" that worked so well for him (and has ended up working extremely well for everyone he's taught it to). Today, I'm going to walk you through his exact model so you can use it in your business. Trust me when I say that this is worth implementing in your business, even if you're not a Chiropractor.
The Story behind How Dr. Ben discovered the "1 email per month" model.
Dr. Ben tells me that he first stumbled onto his email method when he was first starting out in practice and was actually sending out Physical Letters in the mail.
I'll Let him Tell You About it in His Own Words:
"It was funny. The first few years as a Chiropractor I would write a short letter and send it out to all my patients via physical mail. We did this once a month and, as we grew, it got really expensive. Between the paper, envelopes, and stamps, it got to be something that would cost us quite a bit of money."
"We kept doing it with old fashioned mail because, even though it was expensive, it always worked and it accounted for a lot of patient visits and new business each month.
That said, I am always looking for ways to cut costs. And then, it just hit me like a bolt of lightning one day. I needed to kill the physical mailers and just start emailing my monthly newsletters to my patients."
"I didn't know if it would translate to email but I thought we would give it a shot. We sent out our first email and within a few minutes of hitting the send button, the phone rang. It was a patient of ours that hadn't been in for a while but had gotten our newsletter and decided it was time to come back in for an adjustment."
"During the next few days we kept getting calls like this. The person would say that they had "just been thinking they needed to come back in" and then our email reminded them that they needed to call and book an appointment."
Dr. Ben told me that this ended up accounting for an additional 34 patient visits that month and it averages between 20-50 patient visits every month that they send the newsletter out. He went on to tell me that it was so effective in his practice that he had to hire someone to help him write everything because he had gotten so busy from all the new patient visits.
The Psychology of Why The Model Works.
The super weird thing about the email newsletters that Dr. Ben sends out is that they never offer discounts or promotions and they rarely talk about Chiropractic stuff that you'll see most offices talk about all the time.
Dr. Ben went on to say that the secret to his emails was that the people he sent them out to were actually interested in the content. He always wrote about things that were relevant to the Season or month of the year and made sure that each topic positioned him as the expert in his field, without positioning him as boring and not worth reading.
The reason the email newsletters draw people reach out to you is because they serve as a sneaky excuse to remind folks that you still exist and that they love your service.
The list of people that you send these emails out to know you and they are already fans of the service you provide in your business. All you need to do is send them a subtle and entertaining reminder that you're still there and that you are ready to help them.
I don't care how cool your business is, people don't spend much time thinking about you as they battle their daily battles. The email newsletter is a neat little way to remind folks that you're around and that they should give you a call (without coming right out and telling them to come back in or offering a discount for your product or services.)
How to Write and Send out the same kind of 300-500 Word Newsletter that Dr. Adkins uses to Drive Business Each Month.
The trick to writing great email newsletters that your customers/leads will open and take action on is to make sure that what you're putting inside of the email is something that your audience actually wants to read.
There are 2 big mistakes that people make when sending out email newsletters to their customers and both of them can drastically affect your results.
- Email Newsletter Mistake #1 - Only Sending out Promotions.
One of the quickest ways to mess up your email newsletters is to only send out an email when you have a promotion. It may sound counterintuitive because people love getting great deals (especially from businesses that are local to them), but this happens a lot. When the only thing you email out is promotion, people actually get bored with that.
Unless your email always contains deals that "give away the farm" you'll end up having less and less opens over time. This is also a terrible tactic because you'll create a culture of "deal seekers" in your customer base. Folks will only come in with a coupon or will wait to come in when you offer a deal.
Promotional or Deal emails can be a great "every so often" tactic but it can hurt your business a lot if this is the kind of email you send out month after month.
- Email Newsletter Mistake #2 - Writing Boring Content.
This should be a no-brainer but we've found that a lot of business owners mess this up because they just get too busy and the process of writing great content for their monthly newsletter just becomes a task to complete because they know they should. This usually results in the content of the newsletter being bad and the folks reading it to not want to ever open up an email from that business again.
The secret to creating an email newsletter that actually bring people through the front door is to create something that is topic and that teaches (all while branding you as the expert.
An Example of the Kind of Email Newsletter that Works for Physical Therapists:
SUBJECT LINE: Is Your Little Quarterback Getting Sacked?
BODY: Happy October!
It's officially fall and with that comes all my favorite things, like bonfires, hoodies and of course football! I just love those Friday night lights!
With football season in full swing, you may have a kiddo playing on the field, which unfortunately means there is a chance of them getting hurt. Since no parent wants to see their favorite athlete get hurt and we can't exactly wrap them with foam for protection, we wanted to share some ways to help keep your kiddo safer on the field and reduce the risk of any injuries.
Here are 3 easy tips for keeping your favorite athlete safer on the field.
TIP #1: KNOW THE SPORT This may seem like a no brainer, but the chances of your athlete getting seriously injured are greater while they are still learning all the rules of the game. Youth under the age of 10 are more at risk in tackle football because they have open growth plates that make them more susceptible to serious injury. Making sure these young athletes are learning (and practicing) proper blocking and tackling techniques are the first most effective step to preventing head and spinal related injuries.
TIP #2: PLAYER MATCHING For young athletes (especially football players), it’s extremely important that they be paired or matched on the field with other athletes of the same size and skill, rather than age and grade level, due to kids developing at different rates. This gets tough when teams are small, but a good coach will always put the players safety first.
TIP #3: PROPER SELF-CARE I don’t want to sound all preachy, but you just can’t skip self-care, when trying to prevent sports injuries. If your athlete is tired, or dehydrated they are more likely to get injured while playing.
There are 3 ways make sure your athlete is ready to play the season:
- Get lots of sleep. Kids have a lot on their plate, especially if they play sports. Making sure they get as much rest as possible will help their body heal faster as well as aid their reasoning and decision making on the field.
- Stay Hydrated. Heat exhaustion and heatstroke are real threats for all athletes, not just kids. To help prevent both of those, make sure your kiddos are getting an average of at least 15 ounces of fluid before and after playing their game. They should also get about 15 ounces every 10 or 15 minutes, during the game. Doing this will help cut back on muscle cramps and headaches as well as increase their overall performance.
- Proper Warm Up. It’s really common for kids who are normally inactive, to ask to participate in a sport. While it’s GREAT that those kids are wanting to get active, it’s best if their body isn’t thrown into shock overnight with intense activity. Keeping your kids active year round is ideal, but at least make sure your kid is up and moving for at least 6-8 weeks prior to the ball season will help lessen the negative impact the sport will have on their mind and their body. Athletes should also warm up properly before each practice and game to help keep their bodies conditioned.
Give your favorite athlete every advantage they can have. If your little takes a hard hit, watch for the following signs of concussion:
- Blurred vision
- Stumbling
- Increased Confusion
- Unconsciousness
- Dilated Pupils
- Weakness in one arm/leg
- Worsening Headache
- Vomiting
If they experience any of these symptoms, make sure to seek medical attention as soon as possible.
Does your young athlete need a physical for their team? We can help!
Give our office a call at 423-555-1234 and Brandy will get your scheduled as soon as possible!
An Example of the Kind of Email Newsletter that Works for Gym Owners:
SUBJECT LINE: Pumpkin Spice Up Your Latte (Without the Calories)
BODY: Happy October!!!
You know what that means? It’s finally acceptable to add pumpkin spice to everything! Ok, maybe not everything, but certainly to your morning cup of Joe.
I won’t lie; I am in love with the grande Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL) at Starbucks. You know what I’m NOT in love with? The 380 calories and 50 grams of sugar. YUCK.
I guarantee if you drink that (with all of its artificial flavors) before your workout you will feel like complete crap afterwards. No one has time for that because this amazing fall weather just SCREAMS neighborhood jog! So how can you still partake in a season favorite without the guilt and the dreaded sugar crash? Easy: make a low fat version at home! I found the perfect recipe to stifle my craving for my Starbucks favorite. This recipe is equivalent to a tall size and contains 185 calories with 22 grams of natural sugar. MUCH better than the other. The best part is you can make enough for the week in a crock pot!
Healthy Do-It-Yourself Pumpkin Spice Latte Crockpot Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups of strong coffee
- 6 cups of almond milk
- 1 ½ cups organic pumpkin puree
- ½ cup of real maple syrup
- 5 drops of stevia (or you can add another 1/2 TB of maple syrup)
- 1 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
- (Pinch of coconut sugar for topping)
Add all of your ingredients into your crockpot in the order listed above. Stir well. Turn on HIGH for 2 hours. That’s literally all there is to it. Pour into a container and store for the week. Top your cup with the coconut sugar, before you drink it. It’s seriously easy.
If you don’t have time to make it yourself but want a lighter version of the Starbucks PSL, simply order it as ‘non-fat, no whip’. This way you still get that energy burst before your workout, without the crash after. Want to trim your belly before holiday photos? We can help! Call 555-555-1212 to schedule your FREE consultation with one of our personal trainers.
The above email newsletter works because:
- It's something that is topical (this was sent out right around the beginning of October, as Football was getting into Full Swing.)
- It has actionable information.
- It's about helping the Reader... not about educating them about the business.
- The "Call to Action" at the end is topical without being pushy.
When you build out content like this, people will open it and immediately have a "good feeling" about the person who sent it (who they already like because they know you and have used your service or will sometime in the future). This leads to them wanting to come back in and do business with you.
How to get the Same Kind of Results without having to wrestle with the tech or write any of the Content for your Email Newsletters.
Let Us Do It For You!
You might be like a lot of my clients that I write monthly newsletters for. You're a Physical Therapist or Gym Owner that realizes how profitable it is to send out a monthly newsletter every single month, but you don't have the time and/or desire to do it yourself.
If you'd like to have us do everything for you, just fill out the form below or call us at 423-564-5960 to get started.
We can do everything for you for starting at $99.95 a month and help you get the same kind of benefits that sending out a monthly newsletter has gotten our other clients.
Our founder, Ross Bryant, is a veteran of the software and internet technologies market with over 20 years experience in the healthcare and healthcare IT space and has been writing and publishing content for many years. Working with many different companies, in physician, hospital, and pharmacy offices, has given him the insight to understand your needs and the experience to develop the product sets that can help you market your practice.
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