We regularly receive requests from instructors regarding ways to recruit couples to COUPLE COMMUNICATION groups. Following is an overall strategy that can help build your practice or expand your ministry to couples. It does require longer-term planning and a disciplined approach to working the plan.
We have broken the strategy into five steps, yet you will notice the steps overlap with each other.
1. Schedule groups for one year in advance.
Set dates for three to six groups for the year ahead. Publishing an annual schedule and offering groups regularly are critical for gaining referral network confidence. It may take a while for the word to get around that you consistently offer COUPLE COMMUNICATION. Your schedule lets your referral network know that you are serious, reliable, and available when they want to refer a couple to you. It also gives couples alternative dates and advance notice for planning their participation.
2. Promote your schedule widely.
Various ways to let others know about your schedule include:
· Send notices (letter, flyer, or postcard) to your
referral network. Repeat regularly.
· Hang posters on bulletin boards or set on tables (ICP
offers posters that contain a pocket to hold brochures.) Add dates
to your posters.
· Put brochures (alone or in poster pocket) in key places
(waiting room in a counseling center or information area in a
church or synagogue, for example). ICP brochures contain a place
to stamp your name and contact information or add your business
card to them. Include dates for the year.
· List your dates on the CC web site. (This is open to
COUPLE COMMUNICATION Instructors who are already certified in
the program.)
3. Develop contacts and referral base.
Meet (by phone, mail, e-mail, in person, or over lunch, etc.) with people in your community who are in a position to refer couples to you. You may find it helpful to offer them a brochure about the program or suggest that they visit our web site: www.couplecommunication.com, which is also given on the back of the brochure. Provide your specific dates for the year. A partial list of potential contacts includes:
· Clergy
· Employee Assistance Program managers and counselors in
local companies
· Therapists
· Physicians
· Nurse practitioners
· Attorneys (especially those involved with collaborative
law for domestic issues)
· Domestic relations judges
In addition you may wish to contact COUPLE COMMUNICATION graduates. They may tell others (or be interested in a CC II group once you have a number of people who have completed CC I).
4. Use a "contact manager" computer program.
With the use of a contact manager program on your computer,
you can build and stay in contact regularly with your referral
network for COUPLE COMMUNICATION classes (and other aspects of
your practice). The program helps you to market your groups systematically,
efficiently, and cost effectively. For example, you can:
· Organize your contacts as you build and keep your list
up-to-date.
· Keep a history of your contacts as interest, leads, and
referrals develop.
· Be prompted to contact your referral sources and prospects
at certain pre-arranged times, for instance, eight weeks before
a class starts or when a couple, who is unable to
attend your next group, asks to be notified about future classes.
· Put prospects and referral sources in specific groups,
which you can contact anytime according to the special interests
of each group.
· Send personal notes, including updates and thank you
notes to the people who send you referrals.
· Announce your next classes throughout the year. For past
attendees, this can include CC II classes.
If you do not already use a contact manager program, consider ACT! 2005 (for about $230) by Interact Commerce Corporation, web site: www.act.com. Whatever your choice, a contact manager program organizes and eases how you stay in touch.
5. Run your group (after promotion) as scheduled, whether filled or not.
Once you announce a group, go ahead with it even if you receive fewer couples than you desire. Sometimes it takes two or three groups to build a reputation and start to fill them.
At the last session of a CC I class, give couples the schedule of your future CC I classes to pass along to their friends and associates. Word of mouth can work for you. If you teach CC II, give them information about that class, too.
The secret of success in recruiting couples for groups involves five steps for working out a systematic plan. These include scheduling, promoting, developing referral networks, letting technology help, and running your groups regardless of size. As time passes, these efforts will pay off for you.
To help you get started, print out, think about, and complete the Promotional Action Plan below.
Make a Promotional Action Plan
What are your plans for teaching COUPLE COMMUNICATION
in groups?
List potential dates for the next 12 months.
What kind of promotional aids do you need, such as brochures or posters?
Where would you place them?
List people you will contact and when you will do this.
Immediate supporters:
Potentially interested:
People you can think of who are unaware of your work but who may gain interest:
For prices on the brochures or posters or any Couple Communication materials, contact us, or if on the web site www.couplecommunication.com, click on Instructor Training and then click on the section, Instructor Materials.
If you have another strategy for promoting COUPLE COMMUNICATION that you wish to share with other instructors, or if you want to comment on any steps above that have been particularly effective for you, please send us an email.