Connecting With More Doula Clients

• Transcript

  00:04

  Welcome to doula Tips and Tips. This podcast is a place where we answer one question about doula work, both to support you and to help you support your clients. I'm Kaylee Harrod. I've been supporting families in this perinatal space since my oldest was born, 12, nearly 13 years ago.

  00:23

  I am a birth and postpartum doula childbirth educator, La Leche League leader and a doula coach. I love guiding and supporting doulas as they work out their doula business. It is a tremendous joy to be trusted in this way.

  00:36

  Thank you for joining us on this journey. Welcome back to doula Tips and Tips. Today we are talking about getting more customers. Now this is something I have people ask me about all the time, like how do I get more customers?

  00:51

  Whether that's, you know, how do I get more private clients? Because I'm like working with agencies and I'm getting lots of clients through the agencies, but none through my private business. Whether that's just needing a higher volume of clients all around, whether that's improving your client connections, meaning like your consultations and things like that.

  01:13

  The reality is that this business thrives on customers as many businesses do, right? And so having clients is how we do the work of doulaing. So I want to talk a little bit about intentional connection with clients.

  01:31

  And the starting point for that in my mind is to have a really good sense of who your ideal clients are. Now I want to give you some things to think about. So what I'm not going to do today is tell you who your ideal client is because I don't know that about you until you and I have sat down and talked about it, right?

  01:51

  Because the reality is that we don't all have the same ideal client. And I think it's easy to think like, oh, we're all doulas. And so who are our ideal clients? pregnant people, right? Like anybody who's having a baby, that is my client.

  02:04

  No, that's not true. And so the more we kind of dig into the specifics of your ideal client, the easier it is to connect with that person because you identify them right away. Okay? So if you've ever looked at like business stuff, like small business stuff or online business programs, you have maybe heard about a customer avatar, I would recommend that you Google this and kind of read up about it a little, maybe listen to a couple podcasts about it, listen to what does it mean to have a customer avatar.

  02:42

  The idea behind it is essentially like try to identify who this person is. What is their personality? Like what do they do? Who do they like? What you know, what age are they? Blah, blah, blah. And no idea.

  02:57

  Like I was legitimately like anybody who's pregnant, that's my customer, right? Like literally anyone who's having a baby is my target market. And then I realized as I went along, that's not true, right?

  03:10

  My ideal customer actually is a like sort of stereotype, right? And it's not a stereotype in a negative way, but like a particular demographic of folks, right? And that doesn't mean that's the only demographic I serve.

  03:24

  Like I'm not saying, okay, people between the ages of 35 and 40, those are my clients. So if you're a 32 or you're a 33, no, you're too young, you can't be my client. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is most of my clients that are really good fits are around my same age.

  03:41

  So 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, like in that range is like 98% of my clientele, okay? And also high anxiety, a trauma past, complicated scenarios around delivery or pregnancy. I have fewer kind of low risk, very run of the mill, young pregnant folks as clients.

  04:10

  Then I have people that are my age that are dealing with some kind of history of some kind that makes this birth scenario a bit more complicated. And I don't seek those people out, right? Like I'm not like, oh, do you have any medical conditions?

  04:28

  Cause if you don't, we can't work together, right? Like that's not, that's not what I'm doing. That's not what I'm saying. But I do know that I connect really well with people who deal with anxiety because I also have dealt with anxiety, right?

  04:42

  I know that I deal with people who've had trauma because I've had trauma. I know that I connect well with folks that have unexpected birth scenarios because I had unexpected birth scenarios. Now, that doesn't mean that's the only people I connect with.

  04:58

  with, not at all, not by a long shot, right? And it's not that I know that's how their birth is gonna go when they hire me, obviously. But also, I think if I'm thinking about who I'm speaking to when I'm talking about like my class or my like online offerings, that is who I'm speaking to.

  05:19

  Like a parent who's like 33, finally pregnant, worked hard to get here, really stressed, busy life, super successful otherwise. Like that's kind of like the person I have in mind when I am speaking to my audience.

  05:36

  Now, I think what we sometimes do when we think about this is limit ourselves where we're sort of like, oh gosh, I don't wanna say like I only serve this color of client or this type of client or this demographic of client or this, that is not what I'm asking you to do, right?

  05:53

  What I'm asking you to do is think about Like what does that ideal person need to hear from you? That doesn't mean they're all the same people. It doesn't mean they all need the same exact thing. It means it helps you clarify the messaging around what you do.

  06:11

  And it also helps you see who is not your client. Right? So let me give you a couple other examples. One is there are some doulas who primarily work without a hospital birth team. So they do home births.

  06:25

  They do birth center births. They even are maybe like birth assistants where they work alongside a midwife in a more technical role at births like as part of the birth team, right? Beyond just a doula.

  06:39

  And so what that person could decide is I don't attend births in hospitals. And therefore I like primarily support births that are unmedicated for instance, right? Now it doesn't mean that they, if their client goes to the hospital they're not going to go with them.

  07:01

  It doesn't mean that they're like going to reject their client if they choose an epidural at some point and decide to transfer, right? What it means is their ideal client is a home birth or birth center client.

  07:15

  And so therefore that is who they're primarily trying to attract into their business. So that means that's who they're trying to connect with. That's who they're trying to speak to. So let's say that person, right?

  07:28

  If that person is like, gosh, I really want to attend more birth center births but I don't get those clients very often. An ideal connection for them would be people who are in a birth center or adjacent to a birth center.

  07:41

  Meaning like birth center midwives or chiropractors that work without a hospital midwives or teams that do like acupuncture and induction massage. and things like that that tend to be used a little bit more commonly in an out -of -hospital birth setting, right?

  08:03

  So in a scenario where a doula really wants clients that are at like a birth center, it doesn't make sense for them to then spend a lot of time and effort connecting with an OB team that only does high -risk deliveries in a hospital, right?

  08:19

  But if a doula primarily works in the hospital and wants to be in that hospital more, it makes total sense for them to connect with that OB team, right? And not in a way that's manipulative, but in a way that gets to know them, in a way that shows them how they're gonna show up for their clients.

  08:38

  And the reality is that a provider or a friend giving personal examples of your work as a doula is always going to go a very long way for selling you to a customer, okay? Now, I want you to take some time to kind of think about, okay, who's my ideal person and where can I connect with them?

  09:01

  Like, whether it's them directly or their providers or the community that they're in, what does that look like? How do I meet those people and how do I then show up authentically with them? And that's like, there's layers to this conversation, right?

  09:19

  So we're going to dive into this in future episodes as well. It's not just like, this is your one connecting with clients episode. I'm like, hopefully it gives you enough forever. That's not what this is because this is a very nuanced conversation.

  09:33

  However, I think finding and connecting with clients is a vital piece of your business actually being a business, right? Like that is what makes a business thrive is having customers to actually serve.

  09:49

  And so this piece is so incredibly important. So as we're getting ready for 2024, I am putting a lot of energy into the planning and the dreaming and the intentionality of the movement of my own business in 2024.

  10:10

  I want you to do the same thing. As you know, I regularly offer free classes for doulas because I love teaching and I love teaching doulas and I love the doula profession moving forward. So January 10th, 2024, I am going to have a new brand new free webinar that I've never done before that's called doula money mindset.

  10:36

  How to feel good about charging more money. Now, this is going to dive into some of the like logistics of charging more money and some of the hangups of charging more money and the nuance there because more money, what does that mean?

  10:52

  Right? Like where are we to start with? and where are we going in terms of more. So this class is gonna be one hour long, January 10th at 1 p .m. Eastern. It will be recorded. So if you're at a birth, you can watch it later.

  11:06

  However, I always turn the recording off before we do live Q and A because I want people to have a chance to actually unmute and ask questions and know that random people aren't going to be watching it later.

  11:17

  And so you do have that benefit of showing up live of getting those questions answered. If you have not attended a webinar with me before, it is very similar to my podcast in terms of relatability and ease of understanding.

  11:32

  Like I do not make it overly complicated. I'm not just bringing you there to sell you something. Like it is a value -packed hour of time where we're gonna talk about your money mindset issues in your doula business and how to move past those for the sake of the sustainability and the success of your business in 2024.

  11:50

  So I would love to have you join me for that class. The registration link is in the show notes. If you for some reason can't find it there, it's not working, please come over to Instagram and connect with me there at Herodoula.

  12:03

  And then I will just personally give you the registration link so that you can be a part of that group and learn about how to charge more money and have a more sustainable business in 2024. I can't wait to see you there and I will see you in the next episode.

  12:23

  Thanks for joining us for this episode of the doula Tips and Tits podcast. If you learned something today or had an aha moment, we'd love for you to share that on Instagram and tag us at Herodoula so we can celebrate alongside you.

  12:36

  If you found this podcast helpful, we would so appreciate you taking a second to leave a rating and a review on your favorite podcast app. That helps other doulas find us as we do this work together. This podcast is intended as educational and entertainment.

  12:52

  It is not medical advice or business advice. Please consult your own medical or legal team for your own needs around your health and your business. We'll see you again soon.

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Have you ever thought about who your client? I know you probably think just all pregnant people but today we are diving deeper into really thinking about the client you want. It’s important to think about the age, the kind of birth, and other considerations when having a consultation with a client. 

Quote from the show:

“Because the reality is that we don't all have the same ideal client. And I think it's easy to think like, oh, we're all doulas. And so who are our ideal clients? pregnant people, right? Like anybody who's having a baby, that is my client. No, that's not true. And so the more we kind of dig into the specifics of your ideal client, the easier it is to connect with that person because you identify them right away. Okay? So if you've ever looked at like business stuff, like small business stuff or online business programs, you have maybe heard about a customer avatar, I would recommend that you Google this and kind of read up about it a little, maybe listen to a couple podcasts about it, listen to what does it mean to have a customer avatar. The idea behind it is essentially like try to identify who this person is.”

Are you looking to GROW your doula business? We have our next doula business webinar on January 10th at 1pm EST. Sign up below:

https://www.harroddoulaservices.com/doula-money-mindset 

CONNECT with Kaely on TikTok or  Instagram

https://www.tiktok.com/@doulacoach

https://www.instagram.com/Harroddoula/

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @harroddoula

Kaely Daily is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services

It is sponsored by The Birth Prep Blueprint Childbirth Class

Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay