The most common offer we see therapists make to try to convince clients to speak with them about services is to offer a FREE 15 minute consultation…
And today I’m breaking down why that 15-minute consult offer might just be killing your new inquiry flow…
What does consult mean? Do you know what you mean by it?
Generally, most counselors’ intention is for the potential client to just contact them and have a conversation. Maybe a step further and have that person evaluate whether you’d be a good fit to work with as their counselor.
But if that’s your goal, using the word consult is probably hurting rather than helping.
1. Most other counselors also use it as the main call to action in their site – It’s not a unique or specific ask. When the same call to action shows up lots of places, it loses its potency.
2. Potential clients see and feel something different at the word consult than you do. To you, consult, is a nice professional term that sounds clean and like a concise way for a client to contact. Plus it’s free. Why wouldn’t they book?
For the client, consult, is undefined… Who’s doing the consulting and what is being consulted on? What will I get out of this? Is this a phone call? Zoom? In-person? What happens when I click this button? Do I have to enter a ton of info about how I’m feeling? Will they tell me how much this cost and how insurance works on this call? Will I talk to the counselor I am going to work with or someone else?
There is a very long list of ways a client can take this… Depending on how you frame it on the call to action and the words around it. Asking a client to book a consult can leave them more confused and stuck on whether that’s the best next step.
3. Your call to action (CTA) needs to be in language the client understands and asks them to do something they WANT to do.
Ask yourself. What is my client looking for as a next step? Then, however the client would describe taking that next step, is how you should write the call to action. Some examples:
- Free 15 minutes good fit call
- Book your first session
- Chat with our team
- Learn about session options
- Join our waitlist
- Free 30 minute zoom call
- Claim my free 15 minute session
- See why [practice name] is right for you
The list is endless for plain clear client rooted call to actions. If you have a lot of traffic on your website or listing site profiles and not as many are booking that call as you want, it might be time to change the language and make the CTA more potent!
Looking to create a sustainable private practice in 2023 and build a marketing machine that generates new inquiries? Book a free 10 minute call with Therapy Flow!