Sachin Patel gives practical advice for small-business practitioners on flexible pricing, flexible program structure, and client engagement strategies to increase conversions. He emphasizes offering varied payment options (free consults, low-cost intakes, a la carte services, product sales), keeping early-stage operations flexible for learning, and nurturing clients like friends to maintain momentum and retention.
Hey, friends. I wanted to give you some really simple tips and reframes to help you understand how to position yourself best in the market, to be of service to yourself, to your business, and, of course, to your clients. So first things first. This is your business, which means that you could charge whatever you want, you could structure your programs however you want, and you can bend and twist and flex and accommodate your clients however you want as well. So first and foremost, don't be so rigid. You. You didn't buy a franchise. You don't have rules to follow. You make up the rules as you go, and I'll explain to you the context of that and why that's important, especially when you're just starting out. The structure comes a little bit later. When you have multiple practitioners or you have scale that you're concerned about or you're trying to manage, then you need to create more uniform solutions. But in the beginning, you can be flexible, because in the beginning, it's a learning opportunity for you. It's a learning opportunity for your business, and. And you could be of value and meet people exactly where they are. So first and foremost, all or none is not going to cut it. When I started out, I was doing tons of free consults. If I was doing an intake, it was only $50. I was doing as many. I was having as many conversations as I possibly could with people because that made me a better messenger and it allowed me to do better market research. And you're going to want to do as much of that as you can. Listen, the time is going to pass. So that time could be passing, and you could be helping people, or that time could be passing, and you're not helping people. So all or doesn't have to be the only way that you do business. So you might offer a program, and this is a great strategy for you. You might offer a program. You know, hey, Mrs. Smith, based on our conversation today, this is what you need. And if she says yes, all in, let's go. If she says, well, I can't afford that right now. Well, Mrs. Jones, if we can keep the momentum going for you, what is an investment that you are able to make so that I can create a program that meets your needs? Because the last thing I need you to do is to stop. The last thing I need you to do is do nothing after this conversation. And clearly you're willing to make an investment of your time. What's a suitable budget that meets your needs so that I can help you in that regard? So we can keep this train moving forward for you. And then whenever you're ready, we can do a deeper dive if we need to. But at least you're giving people those options. She might say her budget's $500. Okay, great. Come up with a $500 program and eliminate certain things that, that or services, whatever is necessary to create a $500 program that allows this person to maintain the direction of health that you want them to go in, gives them some buy in. Maybe you give them some supplements or you put them on a light protocol that allows them to feel better, that allows them to make better decisions. When they have more energy, they can make better decisions. And the task that you have at hand doesn't seem so draining and fatiguing. So address those things for them, Right? Start there. Keep in mind that sometimes people are more willing to pay for supplements. They'd rather pay $250 for supplements than $250 for a consult. But both are revenue for your practice. One is a service, one is a product. So keep that in mind as well. Now, other places that you can make some adjustments is you could offer your services a la carte so you can break them up and, and offer them a la carte. Again, this is your business. You could run it however you want to make sure that every single person says yes to you. Every single consultation, every single conversation should result in yes. Yes, I want to keep moving forward. Yes, I have a budget. Here's what I can work with. Yes, I want to work with you and thank you for accommodating me, or yes, I see the value in your program. You've bundled it all together and it's going to save me money. Let's move forward in that direction. Everything results in yes. Nobody gets to this point in their journey to get on a call with you to say no. Okay, so let's give people options. We can offer products that you might be affiliates for, or you could offer supplements. You could offer testing if that's what they need to take them to that next step to help them reduce skepticism. Maybe just start with a test, right? And say, hey, let's run this lab on you and see what comes back. And then we can make a decision on what the right next steps are for you. You know, give people that flexibility, give that flexibility to yourself so that every conversation results in yes. Now another question comes up, Sachin. Should I do paid consultations or should I do free consultations? So here's, here's what I believe. I believe you should do as many free consultations as you possibly can. And a consultation is just that. Right. So it's not a, it's not a diagnosis and an assessment. You're consulting that person and discovering if they're a good fit for you. Right. So you don't pay to go test drive a car. So these are things that lubricate the slide, makes it easier for people to move in the right direction. So we want to decrease as much friction as we possibly can. Now you might get to a point where you can't afford to do that. You can't afford for people to miss their appointments, your schedule is so tight. But until you get to that point, do them for free. Have as many conversations as you possibly can, reduce the friction, and keep in mind that this is an opportunity for you to get better at what you do. The time will pass. Whether you're having a conversation with somebody or wishing you were having a conversation with somebody, the time will pass and that's our most valuable asset. So you could spend that time growing and learning and becoming a better messenger of what you have to offer or not. Right? So let's lubricate the slide so that it's easier for people to go down it. Next is once somebody works, starts working with you or collaborating with you, they're your friend. So what would you do for your friend? Right. When you care about somebody, you're always, you know, nudging them, you're always directing them, you're always inspiring them and informing them and educating them, just like you do with your parents. They may not listen, right? They may not listen right away, but your obligation to them, to serve them, is to continue to nudge them and inspire them and move them in the right direction. And you could do that by having them listen to a podcast, having them read a book, giving them, asking them for permission to reconnect with them in a period of time. Let's say you put them on a supplement protocol. Okay, what's the follow up schedule gonna look like from there? Right. So really, really become their friend. Put it in their calendar. Put it in your calendar and nurture them as best as you can. You're gonna have to do these things in the beginning stages of your business. And I would say I still do these things and, and encourage my team to do these things. So you're gonna probably have to do these things forever because at the end of the day, your success depends on it. And as you grow and develop as a practitioner, you're gonna have so much more comfort, you're gonna have so much more confidence. You're gonna have so much more clarity. But I do feel that you've gotta earn some of these stripes. So go out there, earn these stripes, create unique solutions for your unique patients. And then, you know, as you grow and as you start scaling and as you have multiple team members, then you can create more structure. But in the beginning, it's going to be being flexible, being organic, and really meeting the needs of your environment, right? So think of a tree. A tree, when it starts growing, you can bend it, it's green, it's hard to break it, right? You can almost bend it in half and it doesn't break. But a more mature tree you can't do that with, right? So in the beginning stages, you're going to be green. You want to be flexible. That serves you. It's not something that harms you. So grow into that rigidity, if you will, like the tree does. And that's going to be very helpful for you. Anyways, hope that helps. I'll talk to you soon. Bye for now.
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