Marketing homework

[turtlegrrl]

I would love some input, opinions, what ever you got. I am working on putting together a business plan. I am currently working on marketing and all that fun self starter stuff. I know not all of you are interested in receiving acupuncture, but pretend you are. If you were looking for a practitioner, what would you look for? How far would you travel? How much would you be willing to pay? Say, I charged $70 an hour for acupuncture (first office call is 2 hours so $140) and $65 and hour for massage.

I need to come up with strategies about getting patients while still making money. I am trying to find my niche and things I can do to bring in clients. I am trying to look at options instead of being just another practitioner. Sadly, I know what I want, but money will always play a role. One of these days I will get exactly how I want things.

So far I have:
services of acupuncture and massage
evening hours
kid friendly (will have some toys if kids need to come)

Depending on how things go, I might have one day of a cheaper rate of services for lower income people. I might also offer a discount for referrals. After one year of practice, I will work on taking insurance.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Comments

[transcendence1.livejournal.com]

I'll add a few thoughts. Some are based around what I see at my chiro's office (Who actually has acupuncture and massage as well):

Possible weekend scheduling could be nice. Maybe not necessarily every weekend. But maybe once or twice a month (Let's face it. We all love having the weekends off).

As far as payment, you should really look into how other businesses do the "sliding scale". I'm not too sure how the insurance thing goes, but I would say definitely look into that. People are more likely to come to you if you take insurance. Especially accident claims.

As far as placement, that's more of a geographic and marketing thing. I'd say your best bet there would be to check out other stores and see where they tend to be located and other distinct patterns. Follow their trends and I think you will be ok wherever you decide to place it.

One of the biggest things I've heard over and over is marketing. If no one knows who, what or where you are, they won't come. There are some pretty cheap priced ways to market your business. I would definitely say look into figuring out how to get your business seen as well. Just from the marketing alone, you will probably get patients.

Just some of my thoughts. I hope they are helpful.

[turtlegrrl13.livejournal.com]

They are, thank you.

Sliding scale is tricky as it was also discussed in class. You have to ask for documentation to cover your ass and it just seems messy. I like the weekend idea. That could work.

I need to look at places and stuff. North Seattle/Shoreline is less saturated with acupuncture than most of Seattle. Plus, it's closer to me and hopefully cheaper rent.

Thanks!