E675 | An Introvert's Guide To Local Marketing

In this episode of the podcast, Doc Danny, a self-identified introverted physical therapist, shares strategies for introverts to succeed in local marketing and building a cash-based private practice. Doc Danny understands the challenges introverts face when it comes to networking and big events, and he provides valuable insights on how to overcome these obstacles. 

For introverts, Doc Danny suggests focusing on building deep relationships with a small group of 3-6 people who align with your personality and views. These connections can include other health practitioners, coaches, athletes, or gym owners who share similar interests. By focusing on quality rather than quantity, introverts can create meaningful connections that will help grow their practice.

Doc Danny emphasizes the importance of finding that first connection, and he shares how he was able to establish her initial network through warm introductions from an athlete client. These introductions opened doors to many other valuable connections for her practice.

Controlling your environment is another strategy Doc Danny suggests for introverts. By teaching workshops, conducting injury screens, or hosting lunch-and-learns, introverts can create a more comfortable setting where they can engage with smaller groups of people. This allows for more quality face time and a greater impact on the individuals you interact with.

However, building relationships is not enough; introverts must also focus on relationship curation. Doc Danny stresses the importance of following up, catching up monthly over coffee or engaging in activities you both enjoy, and even working out together. By maintaining these relationships, introverts can ensure that they continue to grow and flourish rather than wither away due to lack of follow-up.

In conclusion, introverted physical therapists can succeed in local business by capitalizing on their strengths. By focusing on building deep, quality relationships with a select few aligned individuals and communities, while also curating these relationships over time through meaningful engagement, introverts can create a strong and supportive network that benefits both their business and personal life. Tune in to this episode to learn more about how introverts can thrive in the world of local marketing and private practice.

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Podcast Transcript

Danny: 

 And so you got to find those relationships, the gym owner, that's going to have commonalities with you. Maybe it has nothing to do with how you treat. Maybe you just come from a similar place or you're a similar place in your life or you have similar interests. There's a lot of things that are outside of just the, Hey, I can help you to lower back pain.

And. That's what you got to search out and you got to seek. Hey, are you a physical therapist looking to leverage your skill set in a way that helps you create time and financial freedom for yourself and your family? If so, you're in the right spot. My name is Danny Matei, and over the last 15 years, I've done pretty much everything you can in the profession.

I've been a staff PT, I've been an active duty military officer physical therapist. I've started my own cash practice. I've sold that cash practice and to date my company physical therapy business helped over a thousand clinicians start growing scale their own cash practices So if this sounds like something you want to do listen up because I'm here to help you Hey, what's going on?

Doc Danny here with the PT entrepreneur podcast and today's for you People that are a bit more introverted for those folks that don't really like big groups of people don't like going into environments where they don't know anybody, feeling a bit uncomfortable with local marketing in a lot of cases.

And I want to, number one, let you know, it's totally, it's normal. There's nothing wrong with you. And you can be very successful. And with this type of of a personality bias, if you enjoy maybe a little bit more isolation and you go deeper with fewer people than being a bit more superficial with a lot of folks in regards to maybe being a bit more extroverted And to let you know that you can absolutely have success with a cash based practice if this is more of your default personality type I know from personal experience because this is how I am and people don't necessarily think that whenever, I tell them that, but that's because I have a podcast, and I do a lot of content, but I'm not necessarily I'm not extroverted by any means.

I prefer. To really know fewer people, but know them well. I don't really enjoy. Going out into big groups of people. I like being around my family, and I like a consistent bedtime and waking up at the same time and I'm pretty boring. So for me, when I had to get into local marketing, when we start our practice, the difficult thing to do.

Not necessarily teaching. Teaching is something I felt very comfortable with, mainly because I taught a lot and I was teaching for, at the time mobility wad, but Kelly's Tourette's group, which is now called the ready state and I felt, okay, I'm going to double down on my strengths. I'm going to focus on what I feel like I can do well.

But what I would get terrified with was going into a new going into a gym where I didn't know anybody to try to, connect with trainers or meet an owner. And especially if it was like not very structured, they didn't know I was coming or I didn't have a chance to touch base them beforehand.

Or if you put me a good Lord, you put me at like a BNI event or a local chamber of commerce meetup, I would just. I'll get the hell out of there. It's a, it'd be like a, what do they call the Irish goodbye? Just leave. Don't say anything to anybody. That's it. That's what I would do. I'll sneak right out because I feel so uncomfortable.

I hate environments like that. I do not do well in them. And some people love that stuff. I just can't wait to meet up with all these people and see how they're doing. And whatever, make their rounds. That's not me. So if you are more similar to me, here's my advice for you. Your best bet is to try to find the people that align with you the best and focus on those relationships.

You don't have to have, hundreds of connections of people that know you and know what you're doing. Honestly, you only need a couple. You need three to six people that you can have ongoing relationships with. It's that view things similar to you that are complimentary in terms of, local business stuff.

And it's not necessarily just health and wellness. It definitely biases a bit more there, right? So maybe it's a like a functional medicine practitioner that you have a lot in common with in terms of your view of holistic approach to how people should be managing their health. Maybe it's a personal trainer.

It's a, more movement based the way that maybe you like to treat people. Maybe it's a coach, maybe it's a coach that specifically works with the niche that they are working with. Maybe it's an influential athlete that is within that group like that.

That was one of the people that I first met was somebody that was was actually just an athlete, not even a super competitive athlete at a gym, but just more competitive athlete would do CrossFit games, team staff not even like the hardest category, but he just was somebody that was a connector, knew people, knew a lot of people.

And as I got to know this person as a, Patient, but also as somebody that I was working with as an athlete, it just, it snowballed for me because they were able to connect me with so many other people that I had a common ground with. And so you got to find those relationships, the gym owner, that's going to, have commonalities with you.

Maybe it has nothing to do with how you treat. Maybe you just come from a similar place or you're a similar place in your life, or you have similar interests. There's a lot of things that are outside of just the, Hey, I can help you to lower back pain. And that's what you got to. Search out and you got to seek.

And those were for me, what happened was the best Avenue for me to get those relationships was warm connections from people that I had established relationships with. So the first one's the hardest, right? You got to knock that first domino down. You got to get that one person that is just like, ah, this person's special.

I got to connect you to this other person because you can really help them with X, Y, and Z. And that's a great place to start. The other thing is if you're like me, And you don't necessarily like, bigger groups. You're maybe you're not as extroverted. You being able to control the environment can help a lot with that.

That's why education was so much better for me. So me teaching was very helpful in regards to me feeling comfortable and being able to really play to my strengths a little bit more and. I think it's a great strategy for anybody that enjoys education and is maybe, fits the sort of mold that I was that I fall into in terms of wanting to educate, but also be able to do so in a manner where I was.

Also marketing, right? Workshops, injury screens, education events, lunch and learns, things like that. We built our business off of that, like legitimately, no other marketing whatsoever, just that alone brought us up to where we are at probably half a million dollars a year, without adding anything else in on top of that.

You can build a solid practice just from that alone. And I really like the avenue of educating coaches if you really like to teach, because what happens with that is you get a chance to educate coaches on, whatever it is, advanced musculoskeletal stuff that you're interested in. They love it.

You get a chance to have more face time with them. And then now all of a sudden, there's a lot of reciprocity with you having taught them You're going to be top of mind for them whenever they have somebody That's that they want to get some additional help with and you'll typically have a smaller group of people because You're not gonna have as many coaches as you would just general people that would come to a workshop, right?

So coming going to go into things like that focusing on controlling the environment focusing more on, having education based events and and then just focusing on fewer people, but going deeper with them and following up with them. And that's a key thing too, is curation of relationships is not something that I've ever really like.

We learned growing up, maybe some of you are like me where you moved a lot. Having any sort of relationship for more than a couple of years was a foreign thing to me outside of my own family. Can you tell you the name of somebody that was a friend of mine before eighth grade, I have no idea. Because we just moved so much and we had friends and then we did, they were gone, right?

It was very normal. Everybody around us was in a military kid as well. So it wasn't like we were checking in on somebody or trying to maintain a relationship, It just was that relationship's gone. I'm on i'm moving on as well. So What I didn't realize and what I had to understand and really get better at was curation of relationships is just as important as development of them.

So when you find people that you do, have commonalities within and are good fit to have a synergistic business working relationship with, you've also got to follow up with them and make time for them because if you don't, then the relationship doesn't. Continue to grow. And in some cases it can lead to some animosity.

It's Oh, don't even ever text me anymore. They don't ever want to get together and catch up or whatever. And it's, and you may not be thinking that because you just. It's not part of your DNA but it is something that you have to maintain. You have to do, it's just like a plant, right?

You have to feed it and you have to you can't just leave it alone or it'll die, right? So same thing. Once you establish these relationships, then you can focus on fewer people, but you can focus on curating those relationships ongoing. Maybe it's getting a workout in together, like a training partner that you work out with.

Maybe it's catching up and grabbing coffee once a month or something like that. Maybe it's just, like going for a hike, doing something outside. It doesn't really matter as long as you're doing something that is aligns with what the two of you really enjoy. And that's the key.

So find the people that align with you focus on leaning into your strengths. And then from there, curate those relationships, maintain those relationships. These are people that are important to you and you should want to know about. Them and their life and their businesses and how they're going and how you can help them more and the more you can help them, the more you, they feel like you really value them which you can't fake it.

You have to, the more they're going to give back to you as well. It's a, that's how it works. It's not just a take take. You got to be willing to give to other people too. So if you fall into that camp, don't worry about it. You're going to be just fine. You're gonna have to work through maybe a bit more anxiety than some people when it comes to finding the first few folks that you want to, develop relationships with.

In a local service business. We cannot avoid this. We have to lean into local relationships. It helps everything. It helps everything. And frankly, it's probably one of the best parts of actually having a local based business is the people that you get a chance to interact with and work with. So don't avoid it.

It's huge for your business, but it's also great for you in general to build the community that is supportive around you and that you're a part of. And there's something really special about that. So if you're a bit more introverted, don't worry about it. Stick to what I just said and you'll be just fine.

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