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Articles & Ideas

General

Marketing EFT as a business--Cultivating important Centers of Influence (COI)

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated. Please use my newest advancement, Optimal EFT. It is more efficient, more powerful and clearly explained in my free e-book, The Unseen Therapist™.  Best wishes, Gary

Hi Everyone,

Here's a good idea from AnaMaria Herrera that may generate many good referrals for EFT Practitioners.

Hugs, Gary


By AnaMaria Herrera

One of the best ways to build a business, no matter what service or product you are offering, is to build relationships with COI.  COI? You might be asking.  You mean those multi-coloured Japanese fish in ponds?  No, not that type of COI, although those fish are so pretty  I am talking about COI for your business, which stands for Center of Influence.

I define a Center of Influence for your business as someone who shares your target market.  A target market is your ideal clientele that you want to serve with your products or services and your COI has a complementary, rather than a competing service or product as yours.  You then contact them, share about your services and ideas of how you can refer to each other and build each other’s businesses.  Because we can use EFT in so many areas the possibilities for these business ventures are endless!  Here is a plan, step by step.

First, determine your specialty or specialties in your EFT practice.  You need to do this so you know exactly the target market you’re aiming for and the ideal COI to contact for that target market.

What is a specialty?  In my opinion, this is an aspect of your field that you particularly enjoy working with and have helped others with continued success.  Another tip to find out your specialty is ask yourself, “What brought me to EFT?”  Perhaps you came to EFT for chronic migraines, or EFT cured your 30-year phobia of flying.  A specialty can also be referred to in business as a niche.  You can have more than one.  Some examples of specialties or niches are:

  • Weight loss or food issues
  • Addictions
  • Learning disabilities (children)
  • Child behavior issues
  • Athletic performance related issues
  • Phobias
  • Migraines
  • Post traumatic stress disorder

Second, describe your target market in detail.  I always encourage my clients to write it down.  Another handy tip is to recall an ideal client from the past.  For me it is one of my first clients from my first private practice, “Peg.”  If you don’t have an ideal client yet, who would you want to work with?  Here are some characteristics of my ideal client/target market.

  • Highly conscious and respectful
  • Always on time and keeps all appointments
  • Can afford my fees
  • Refers other great clients
  • Business owners, professionals, trainers, performers, achievers
  • Good sense of humour
  • Has done some personal development work
  • Spiritually inclined

Third, brainstorm who would be already serving this target market of yours with a complementary service.  Where to find them?  Ask yourself, so what others services are your target market partaking in?  Here are some samples:

  • If your Specialty or Niche is children’s learning disabilities, other service your target market uses could be after school math or reading centers.  Possible COI: owners and operators of after school math or reading centers.
  • If your Specialty or Niche is Women health issues, other services your target market uses could be health clubs or yoga or pilates studios.  Possible COI: yoga, pilates or exercise coaches or trainers.
  • If your Specialty or Niche is working with weight issues, other services your target market uses could be dieticians, nutrition coaching, menu planners.  Possible COI: Registered dieticians or nutritionists.

Brainstorm and let your ideas flow.  Or get on the phone with another EFT practitioner or two and brainstorm.  Remember, as we do sessions on the phone, your COI can be in another state!  Now comes the contacting part.  I personally choose to email them or call them directly.  If I call them I say something like this:

“Hi ________, I found your information about your (business/service) on (how do you know them?  A friend, a website, driving by) and wondered if I can help grow your business and assist your clients.  Do you have a few minutes?”

I then share why I am calling and what I am offering and ask them what issues their clients have and see if they are open to refer to each other, or create a mutual business relationship.

It is very important that you are not pitching your services but rather come from a place and tone of, “How can I help?  And tell me about what you do?”  Do some background on them and their business, so they feel you are not just randomly calling and they will know you are thoughtful in approaching them.

Let me give an example from my business.  My target market is business owners, coaches, trainers who want to reach their business or performance goals with more ease.  Some COI for me are:

  • Publishers who help people become authors.  They would be sharing the technical aspects of publishing a book, while I can help them with writer’s block, fears of becoming too well-known, etc.
  • PR coaches that help business owners get media attention.  Their clients come to them for assistance to learn how to be on television and get speaking gigs and I help them with any performance fears.
  • Yoga and pilates trainers.  These folks are teaching and learning their sport and I help with fears and resistance around learning and performing it.

If you are feeling a knot in your throat about approaching COI, please do EFT for any resistance or fears.  I sure did at the beginning!  Now I have more confidence from practicing and doing it and really enjoy connecting with other people.

A few weeks ago I was on a tele-seminar that a business coach was giving about gaining more visibility in your business.  At the end of the call, the line was opened up for Q and A.  The host asked what problems or issues people had about becoming more ‘visible’ or well known in their business.  Some participants expressed their concerns of becoming too busy, afraid to stand out, being too different from others in their field and even being stopped in the street if they became too famous!  Guess what went off in my head?  EFT of course!

I went to her website and learned more about her and her business.  Then, I later dropped an email to the host saying I enjoyed the call and believed I could help her clients.  I described what I did and said I would love to speak to her if she was interested.  The next day I received a delightful email from her and we made an appointment to talk.  We are now planning on doing a tele-seminar together: I would interview her about her specialty (gaining visibility and media attention for business owners) and on another call, she would interview me for EFT for business owners’ issues and we would invite people on those free calls.

It is a win-win situation for both of us as business owners; as well as those that will attend the call as they will learn so much about both of our expertise: EFT and becoming more visible in their business.

So put out your fishing pole to catch some COI (sorry couldn’t resist the pun!) and you will see that it can be a fun, inexpensive and probably one of the most effective and elegant ways to build your EFT business and make lasting connections.

AnaMaria Herrera

FOR MORE EFT HELP ...

Explore our newest advancement, Optimal EFT™, by reading my free e-book, The Unseen Therapist™. More efficient. More powerful.