How to grow your educational therapy clientele through personal outreach

Templates for reaching out to school psychologists, school personnel and other individuals

Before I was able to build up my Google Reviews and social media presence to generate new clients on a consistent basis, I secured my first 50 clients through direct outreach. This is also know as "outbound" marketing, where you are initiating the contact with potential leads or referral sources. Here are my top tips for successful outbound marketing:

1. Create a template for outreach that focuses on your value add:

When reaching out, I also focus on how I can add value to the life of the person I am communicating with. For example, many psychologists work with students who struggle with executive function challenges. Therefore, I speak directly to that need in my outreach. Here is an easy to follow recipe for communicating your value add:

My practice... (name of your practice)

Helps... (age range of students, what type of disability you focus on serving, if any)

Overcome…(specific challenges they have)

By teaching them…(skills they will develop with you)

So they can…(what outcomes and overall transformation do they experience after working with you?)

How this would look coming from me would be something along these lines:

My business, Executive Function Specialists, helps middle, high school and college students with ADHD overcome procrastination, disorganization and anxiety by teaching them time management, prioritization and self advocacy skills so they can raise their grades to "A"s and "B"s and enjoy school more within one semester, while also improving parent-child dynamics.

2. Establish a personal connection with the person you are reaching out to

Before you share your value add, make sure to show the person you are reaching out to that they are not just part of a mass email. I recommend looking at their personal and organization website and identifying a unique characteristic of their work you can relate to. For example, you might want to comment on a training that you both have done or something in their biography that relates to your practice. Here is how that could look:

Hi Dr. (insert name here), I hope you're doing well. I learned about your work from a client who had a neuropsychological evaluation done by you and I wanted to introduce myself. I noticed you received specialized training in brief therapy and assessment for college-age youth with ADHD and I'd love to learn more about other resources that could help me serve that population more effectively.

3. You call to action should be brief and within a short time period

Once you've established a personal connection and shared your value add, the final step is a call to action. I suggest a brief statement that requests a short meeting to connect and learn more about how you might support their work. Here is an example of how that could look:

Do you have 15 minutes in the next two weeks to connect via Zoom or a phone call to discuss how I might support the work you are doing? Best,

(your name)

4. Take things a step further with an Loom video

If you really want to impress someone, record a short loom video speaking directly to the person you are reaching out to. A video is usually far more impactful than text alone and quickly established the "know, like, trust" factor which is essential when seeking to become a trusted referral partner.

5. Create a template for your outreach emails in Gmail

To save lots of time and energy, save your completed outreach email as a template in Gmail so you can quickly edit it and send it to potential referral partners each time you identify a new one. For a step by step guide on how to set that up, check out the video below:

If you'd like a copy of my ever expanding outreach templates library, click on the link below to download a copy:

Download outreach templates

pssssttt...did you know I have a whole course on how to attract more tutoring clients? Check it out here.

About the author:

Sean McCormick is a parent, husband and international executive function coach. He is the founder of Executive Function Specialists, an online coaching business which guides middle, high school, and college students in overcoming procrastination, disorganization and anxiety by teaching time management, prioritization and communication skills so they feel motivated, prepared, and empowered.

He has also spoken about executive function at prominent venues including the Association of Educational Therapists' National Conference, at the Athenian School and on the Qualified Tutors Podcast.

And last but not least, Sean has hosted over 50 episodes the Earn More Tutoring Podcast with a mission to eradicate educator poverty. The show recently surpassed 8,000 downloads.

Sean is regularly featured across media channels for his expertise on executive function, ADHD and special education.