Business Mastery Supplement Reviews

Introducing Yourself to Medical and Wellness Practices: A Review of Business Mastery Supplemental Software

Beth King is a massage therapist in rural-ish Missouri. She is also an entertaining massage marketing question-asker. Here's part of an email she sent recently:

.... howdaheck do I phrase a letter... "HiYa Doc, lemme tell you how wonderful I am!"—just doesn't sound like it would get the results I want. Though laughter is good for you, they say!

People struggle with phrasing letters. It's dicey. You want to show your personality yet be clearly professional.

When you write an introductory letter to a member of the medical profession, you are often asking for a favor - for their time, for their support, for their faith in you. Each letter must be written to fit each specific doctor (or what-have-you) and each specific situation. You need to know what kind of patients the doctor deals with and their approach to healing.

Remember that you are writing a letter from your practice, not from you. Get a trusted friend to read over your letters. Then get another.

My two primary suggestions are to write a fact-based letter and to invoke a third party.

In your letters, doctors want to know you are legitimate and deeply trained. They want to know exactly how your work will benefit their patient (facts! figures!) and that your work will not interfere with their work.

Invoking a third party gives you a better chance of being granted a hearing. The third party would be one of your clients. Rather than choosing a doctor from the Yellow Pages, work on contacting doctors who are already working with your clients. Your shared patient/client will give you common ground. This is even better if you believe your client has the respect of her/his doctor. If your client comments on his/her doctor shrugging or scoffing at the idea of bodywork, nevermind.

A Resource That Will Help with Your Letters (and other marketing)

Our store primarily carries a bunch of resources for marketing your practice. I flipped through all of them. By far the best resource for letter writing was Cherie Sohnen-Moe's Business Mastery: Supplemental Software.

Why I Like It

I can absolutely see my self—the way I would like to sound—in these sample letters. For me, they carry just the right balance of personality and professionalism.

There are sample letters for twelve general situations, including introductions, follow ups, and contacting primary care office. Then each general topic has sample letters for specific situations like letters to folks in the medical professions, letters to the media, announcements, non-payment issues, and cover letters for resumes.

To be honest, I would barely change the text in most of the letters. But if you have something particular to say or to address you're in luck. After immersing yourself in Cherie's solid examples, you will have a clear view of how you can write your correspondence.

What Surprised Me

The text was written in 1995. That was the first thing I noticed when I opened the CD[ROM]. This did not bode well for me. Things have changed in the last 14 years, right? Well, yes, but the way we respect our clients, contemporaries and our livelihood has not changed. The fact that the text is as applicable today as it was 14 years ago speaks volumes.

What Else

Other items on the supplemental disc include a business plan and sample, exercises to help focus on your marketing and section titled "Forms" which has 12 useful odds-and-ends type sample letters/forms thingies.

Bonus!

The single CD can be used in either Mac's or PC's. So even if you have one kind of computer at home and another at work, you will only need one cd.

Up Front-ness

Yes, we do sell Business Mastery Supplemental Software (Cherie does, too, along with a couple other places) and yes, we'd love it if you bought it from us. But, really, it's simply an excellent resource no matter where you buy it.

Invitation

Anyone out there know of any other good introduction to medical professional letter examples? I'm honestly surprised by the lack. Maybe I'm just not using the correct search terms ? ?

Finally, a program for the massage and Shiatsu therapist that makes business life a little easier. Thanks to Sohnen-Moe Associates, this new computer software can help the holistic practitioner communicate on a different level.

Sohnen-Moe Associates have devised a software program that goes well with the book, Business Mastery by Cherie Sohnen-Moe. The program is user-friendly and can be used with a PC or Macintosh computer. The files are text-based only and are not formatted for any particular word processing application. They need to be accessed directly through a word processing program and then adapted for your own use. You must use a full-featured word processing program such as Work, Word Perfect, Write, AmiPro or DeScribe. Do not attempt to use the basic utility editor that comes installed on your computer (e.g., Notepad, Simple Text or Teach text) as this will limit the sub-program and you won't be able to use it properly. Simply follow the steps that come with this program and in minutes you are on your way.

I would suggest you be somewhat computer-literate before you use this software, as it is a support program. It contains a work book with easy-to-reproduce exercises, professionally-written examples of letters, forms, announcements and press releases that can be changed to accommodate your needs; a business plan outline; and a complete mock-up of a massage therapy business plan that gives solid ideas on goal-setting and attendant time lines, as well as the imperative cash flow statements and analysis. These documents are already typed and you just have to change them to fit your needs and use this as a template.

Business Mastery software is marketed as a Holistic Practitioners Program; however, I feel it is best suited for the Massage Therapist setting up a business. You could definitely use the letters and change them to fit your needs however, and get some great ideas from them. The price is reasonable $24.95 and I feel the program is a great new idea in our search for simplifying our work.

To answer more of your questions or to order this program contact: Sohnen-Moe Associates.

The disk is text-based. For example, if you use a Macintosh you will need to open files using a word processing program such as WordPerfect of Microsoft Word. The installation procedures are very easy to follow, even for the computer novice.

More than 150 professionally-written sample letters, forms, checklists and announcements commonly needed by practitioners are included on the disk. These templates, which are geared toward healing arts practitioners, can be modified easily to accommodate your own business needs. Business Mastery's goal is to save people the time and resources it takes to create an endless paper trail; use these forms and you'll have more time to spend on what you love to do.

The folder includes files such as: forms; announcements; cooperative marketing (same service/different market; different service/same market; same service/same market); finances; general correspondence; press releases; miscellaneous client correspondence; miscellaneous marketing; and primary care correspondence.

There are even letters for "difficult" subjects, such as debt collection, missed appointments and insufficient funds.

The disk also includes a business plan outline, as well as a completed business plan for a fictitious massage therapy company. Practitioners will find the finished plan very helpful, as it includes solid ideas on goal setting and timelines, as well as the imperative cash flow statements and analysis. Innovative marketing ideas will prove helpful for new and existing businesses.

Business owners will find their imaginations stirred by all of the possibilities for networking with clients and other practitioners. Some of the suggestions include client referrals, co-producing a newsletter, sponsoring events such as fun runs, hosting seminars and classes, promoting special days for mothers, and much much more.

Don't be put off by the notion that this software is just for businesses. Even if you are in a solo practice, you will benefit from the forms and letters and other information stored on the disk. In addition, letters address the needs of job hunters, practitioners who have moved to another city and need to establish a new client base, and students interested in networking and other client possibilities.

I recommend this software to all health care professionals.

Kimberly Mangun is managing editor at Midwifery Today.