How Do You Get to (the Advocate's Version of) Carnegie Hall? | Practice Up! for Advocates and Care Managers

As the punchline goes….

Practice, practice, practice!

It should not surprise you when I tell you that convincing a potential client to sign a contract to work with you requires the same thing: practice, practice, practice.

I hear from so many new, wannabe advocates that they just can’t get a client to sign a contract, or they just hate asking for money and oh – yes! I do understand that! Making those requests can be quite uncomfortable when doing so hasn’t been something you’ve ever had to do before. That’s for sure.

But there is a way you can get past that hurdle, become more comfortable with it, and move on to grow your successful advocacy or care management business.

Practice! OK, admittedly, easier said than done.

But, I’m here to make it easier for you with a 4-word piece of advice to do that.

Write Yourself a Script

In your lifetime, you’ve written letters, papers for coursework, notes on your paperwork, and perhaps even more extensive pieces like theses or books (!) – so writing a script for yourself shouldn’t be difficult.

Our last three TIPS have dealt with three ba-a-ad habits – or more appropriately – have given you the advice you need to say all the RIGHT things to a potential new client. So the way to put together a script that can be useful to you is to take that good advice, and just write it out, as if you were having that conversation.

You’ll begin by anticipating the questions that will be asked by most of those potential client callers, like “how much do you charge?” Or you can anticipate the crux of many stories in the form of questions, like “I don’t like the doctor and I don’t believe there aren’t other options, so what should I do?”

Now take your list of questions potential clients might ask, and write a little mini-script with each answer for yourself.

Here are examples:

In response to the question about how much you charge, you might write in your script,

“It’s impossible to tell you a total because we don’t know yet exactly what needs to be done. But here is how I work… (and then describe your assessment process and what you will charge for that. Learn more about this here.)

In response to the question about what you would do about a doctor your caller doesn’t trust, your script might read,

“I’ve helped other patients who have had trouble with just this challenge, and would be happy to help you get past your fears, too. Let me tell you how I work… (and you would describe your contract and payment process – written out so you can read it and you won’t fumble!)”

… and of course, at the end of each mini-script, you would include your CTA (Call to Action.)

Scripts are very powerful and effective tools for helping you overcome the jitters and the mistakes we all make so easily as we get started. Over time, as you discover new questions repeatedly asked, or adjustments to your script, it’s as easy as a quick edit to make it work properly for you.

Get started with your scripts! The Carnegie Hall of Advocacy is waiting for you!