A number of questions were raised which we didn't manage to get to, so I've answered all questions below.
Do look me up on LinkedIn or Facebook if you'd like to ask anything else.
You can also see the slides and a video of the whole webinar.
Do you feel if NLP was regulated the public perception would shift back to the mass market approach?
No. By 'regulated' I presume you mean 'accepted by the mainstream therapuetic professional bodies', as hypnotherapy is, for example. What it would mean is a slower decline because front line doctors would ensure a steady stream of new clients being referred for help with smoking, diet, anxiety etc. which is what happens with CBT today. In that respect it would be different if Bandler hadn't alienated the therapeutic community from the start, but it's too late now, I believe.
Do you feel the decline in the search result over 10 years is the move away from use of the internet as an educational tool to the leisure platform it is today
No. The Internet has grown in all directions. The growth of online and social gaming has not been at the expense of other applications.
The name Neuro Linguistic Programming is something of a handicap.
Is it? Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is widely accepted. As is Person Centred Counselling. I do agree that people wonder what the Programming bit means, and assume mind control.
Finding the correct markets and strategies
You'll only find them by knocking on doors and speaking to people. If we practice what we preach, then the only way to know if something works is to do it and test what happens.
It cannot be accepted in its own right as still not understood - has to be incorporated into training, seminars, coaching
I don't agree that it's not understood, the problem is that a profession has a professional body of knowledge. Even though NLP's Practitioner techniques are essentially plagiarised from other therapeutic practices, we could say that the modelling process is a unique body of knowledge. But while the likes of Bandler and Grinder are perpetuating the argument of what is and isn't NLP, and who did and didn't create it, and who can and can't teach it, a self-governing profession will never be established. Given where the market is, as I said in the webinar, our options are to integrate, which is what the question proposes, or differentiate, which is getting more difficult.
Just wondering Peter. What about some practitioners / trainers who have managed to demonstrate scale and seem to do very well, (Tony Robbins, Grinder, Bandler, Mckenna) is that evidence that NLP is not dead and actually the rest of us are not very good at marketing / sales.
The answer is simply that they had full time sales teams. Tony Robbins uses a very traditional and well established consumer sales model. Jonathan Jay used a timeshare sales model for life coaching. Grinder and Bandler have enough of a reputation to trade off. McKenna got out of NLP! He sold PMT to Bernardo Moya, remember. And before he was a NLP trainer, remember that he was a radio DJ and had a TV show as a stage hypnotist. If any of us had that foundation to build on, or the resource of a full time, paid, targeted sales team, then we wouldn't be having this conversation.
Finding clients who will pay for my services
Yes.
How to deliver NLP so it makes really a transformation in peoples lives not just a short term change.
If you don't know how to do that then you were taught badly at Practitioner. Come to Spain in September!
If you don't know how to do that then you were taught badly at Practitioner. Come to Spain in September!
What's your key marketing strategy? Online, Offline? How are you getting clients knowing what you know?
Great question! A combination of both. I do as much public speaking as I can, both inside and outside the NLP community, and of course I have written a few books which are very important in building credibility. I'm very careful to align my online and offline activities, as I said in the webinar, because both together form the client's perception of you.
From your stats whilst you could see a decrease of 1 marker, we don't know what % decline in interest that was, firstly do you know that decline as a percentage and what's happened to you business sat in the last year knowing what you know?
The search volume is one half of what it was ten years ago.
What's happened in my business is a far greater focus than I've had before. In past years, I had the luxury of being able to do lots of different things that looked interesting, now I don't.
For success in NLP we need to recognise and use its fractal nature.
I'll say yes.
Far too many in the field that think they know NLP yet are unable to extrapolate.
Yes, the result of either poor quality training, or often people go into training for reasons that aren't... well formed, or at least aligned with the practice of NLP. For example, to fix one personal failing, or to use on others.
How do we embrace the various names of coaching and proceed with NLP?
Stop putting them on our business cards.
Finding the appropriate audience. The market seem to be less transparent as many people call themselves e.g. Coaches.
Yes, as coaching is not a profession, any failed sales person, media 'celebrity' or sports player can decide to be a coach because they see the field, and especially corporate clients, as a cash cow. This makes it harder for clients to choose a good coach, so organisations such as the ICF spring up to add 'credibility' through a self-styled and non-peer reviewed certification process which is aimed at letting anyone be a coach, regardless of ability, as long as they follow the defined criteria. So we end up with a badge that helps clients choose, but in reality, it still doesn't guarantee a 'good' coach, only a 'certified' coach.
Looking at the social media, I see tons of people writing "coach". I think this has some impact too.
See previous question.
In addition and along the lines with Peter's great presentation, in Denmark NLP is a commodity.
Denmark is an advanced, Western European market so will be very close to where the UK is, as will be France, Germany, Sweden, Ireland, and so on. Sorry if I missed anyone's country out.
Focus seem to be packing NLP into something else. There seem to be a trend calling it "sales training" etc.
This is the integration strategy that I discussed in the webinar. Really, we don't call NLP sales training, what we do is to integrated aspects of NLP into sales training to make the sales training more effective. For example, belief change around cold calling, or how a sales person perceives the 'gatekeeper'.
How to encourage clients to believe in their own abilities
If you don't know how to do that then you were taught badly at Practitioner. Come to Spain in September!
Where to find my clients
You'll only find them by knocking on doors and speaking to people. If we practice what we preach, then the only way to know if something works is to do it and test what happens.
Yes, this is the integration strategy that I discussed in the webinar.
I don't sell myself as a NLP therapist - I use it, no problem there
Good. An integration strategy.
I have expectations of it being potentially very helpful
Yes, it is a far more versatile tool than many people understand it to be.
At the moment I don't 'promote' my NLP services to clients as I need greater in-depth experience of seamlessly introducing it ..
If you don't know how to do that then you were taught badly at Practitioner. Come to Spain in September!
Definitely, and practice groups are useful in that way, although it's sad to see that there aren't as many of them around any more.
That's all folks!
As I said, do look me up on LinkedIn or Facebook if you'd like to ask anything else.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Anyone can comment, but if you're not logged in and you want a reply you'll need to provide contact details, so being logged in is probably best.