How to Build More Than One Way to Work With You
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[00:00:00] One of the most common questions dietitians ask when they start building a private practice is this: What should I offer? Should I do one-on-one sessions or a group program, maybe a digital course or a membership? And I think this is where a lot of people get stuck 'cause they assume that they have to choose one format and build the whole business around it.
But you don't necessarily need one single way for clients to work with you. Over time, your practice can have different levels of support, as you might have seen with our guests over the years, our clients who start with one-on-one and then add on groups and memberships over time and after they get feedback Maybe one client needs highly individualized care and somebody else needs education and structure, but not a private session every week or every other week.
Yet another client might have already made progress and just want ongoing accountability, and those are very different needs. Your business can eventually create different [00:01:00] ways to meet them. In business, this is sometimes called an offer ladder, but the idea is actually very simple. You're creating more than one way for the right person to get the right level of help from you.
So let's say you're a dietician who works with adult pre-diabetes, and one client may need one-on-one counseling because they have complicated lab values and medications and eating habits and health outcomes, health concerns. And another person may mainly need just a clear system for building meals and understanding carbohydrates and creating better routines, right?
That person might do well in a structured group program, the one who just needs the system for building meals, where somebody else might want to learn the basics independently. So a self-based course might be enough for one person and it might not work for another. So a previous client, who has already made progress may simply want ongoing accountability, right?
A previous client of yours, and they could eventually look like a membership or a lower touch support option. and the point is not that every dietician needs all four of these at once. You probably [00:02:00] don't. The point is that different clients have different levels of needs for their help at that exact moment, and your practice can evolve to reflect that with time, especially after you've gotten feedback.
So one-on-one is often the best place to start, and the reason is that you get really good feedback, as I've talked about before on this podcast, from one-on-one clients. So if you-- I wouldn't rush to create multiple offers at the beginning. I would start with just one. One-on-one work can teach you what the other offers should become.
When you work directly with your clients, you start seeing patterns, and you hear the same questions, and you notice the same sticking points with the feedback, and you find yourself giving the same explanations again and again. You might have heard from your peers, "Oh, I just repeat myself, so I want to make a course," and that's usually coming from a dietician who's seen hundreds of clients at the same stage or similar stages, let's say, with pre-diabetes or with disordered eating.
Maybe you explain [00:03:00] balanced meals in almost every session. Maybe your client with pre-diabetes is just confused about carbohydrates. And maybe clients make great progress while working with you, but they struggle once the regular appointments stop. That's also really common, and those patterns to know are useful.
They tell you what people actually need, and that's much better information than sitting on your desk trying to invent a course because somebody online told you that courses are scalable. Now, courses can work, and they do have their place, but I think it's important to not overwhelm yourself, stress yourself out, and create something that people wanna buy now I would not create offers just because they sound scalable.
And this is one of the mistakes that happens a lot, because you get tired of the one-on-one work and you think, "I need a course." So you create one, but then there's no clear reason that a client would join one because of the course instead of counseling. Or maybe you create a membership because the membership sounds like reoccurring revenue, which is popular.
And then you identify that clients actually need ongoing... [00:04:00] But you have no i- identified reason or understanding what clients need ongoing help with, right? Now you have more offers, but the business is not necessarily stronger. So more offers don't automatically create more revenue. Sometimes they just create more things to market, deliver, and manage, and that can be stressful.
Every offer should have a clear job, and ideally, it should exist because you have seen a real need for it, and that takes time and reflection in your practice. I would give each offer a job, and this is the part that matters. And again, if you're just starting out, you just wanna have one simple offer and get feedback.
Now, you might eventually have multiple ways that people work with you, and each way should solve a different level of need from that client. For example, one-on-one counseling might be for people who need individualized assessment and support. A group program might be for people working through a similar problem.
Remember assembling that diabetic friendly plate could benefit from structure, accountability, and community. And the course might be for people who mainly need education and can apply it [00:05:00] independently. A membership might be for people who need continued accountability after completing more extensive support.
Offers-- The offers have to make sense together. They're not just random products. They're different levels of support, The goal is not to create more things to sell. It's to make it easier for somebody who chose a level of support that actually fits what they need.
Your offers should not compete with each other. And this is another place that people get stuck. I've been there before. I've seen our clients there before. If every offer seems to solve the exact same problem for the exact same person, people might not... They just don't know what to choose, and you may not know what to recommend.
And that creates confusion. And if people are confused, they're not gonna buy. A stronger offer ladder usually has clear distinction between the levels of support. Maybe one option is highly individualized and another is more structured and standardized, or maybe one includes direct access to you and the other is just more self-directed.
The difference should be obvious enough that you can answer, what would this person ch-- why would this person choose [00:06:00] this offer instead of the other one? And if you can't answer that very clearly and there's a difference between A and B, then the offer might not be strong enough yet to launch. Now, another reason that this can work well is because clients' needs, they can change over time.
Somebody might begin in one-on-one counseling 'cause they need more support, and then after several months, they don't need private sessions anymore. But they might still want accountability, and instead of simply ending the relationship, there could eventually be another option that fits their next stage.
Or someone might start with a workshop or course and realize that they need more individual- individualized help, and they may move to one-on-one care. And it doesn't mean that every client needs to move through every level and that's not necessarily that cookie cutter. The goal is not to push people up or down.
It's to have the right level of support available for the right time that makes sense for that person Now, I want you to build from evidence, not imagination. This is the biggest sticking point I see with dietitians because it's more of an advanced business strategy. [00:07:00] I want you to take this away, the biggest takeaway from this entire podcast episode.
You don't need to decide today what your future business is going to include in terms of a course or membership group program and private counseling, but start with the evidence that you already have. What are clients repeatedly asking for, and where are they getting stuck? What support do they need that doesn't necessarily require a private session?
and what do they need after the main work with you is complete? What do people ask for before they are ready for higher touch support? Those answers can help you see whether another offer makes sense right now. Your clients will tell you what to build next if you just listen. You have to pay attention and reflect and use those skills to help build your business.
So I wanna give you three actions this week. The first action is list what you currently offer. Write down what way and especially if there's more than one way, that somebody can work with you. Maybe you only have two options. You just have private sessions in a group, or you just have one, and that's okay.
Just start with what exists. And then the second [00:08:00] action, I want you to look for repeated client needs. So think about your recent client sessions. What are you explaining over and over? What problems come up repeatedly? And what do clients still need after you, your main work is finished? And what support might help them without requiring that same level of individualized care?
And those patterns might, point towards another type of offer in the future. The third action is I want you to give every existing offer a job. Okay? So for each way someone can work with you, I want you to finish this sentence. "This is best for someone who needs blank." Then ask, "Why would this person choose this option instead of my other offers?"
And if you cannot answer those questions clearly, then the offer is not strong enough yet. And an offer that's not strong might not sell, and you don't wanna create that complexity in your business. So you don't need five different offers, and you definitely don't need to create a course, group, program, or membership just because other people are doing it.
Start with the work you're already doing. Pay attention to what [00:09:00] clients actually need. Then as patterns become clear, decide whether another level of support would make sense. And that's how I think about an offer ladder, not as a collection of products, but as a thoughtful set of ways people can get the right level of help from your practice.
And if you want help thinking through your offers, positioning, and marketing and how these pieces of your business fit together, you can apply for coaching at dietitianboss.com. Look forward to seeing you next week.
