The alpine meadow alternative to a “sales funnel” model
Somapreneurs are feeling tension in the marketplace between science, compassion, ethics, and a tanking economy.
I hope I can take a little of that pressure off today by sharing my alternative to the “sales funnel” method of marketing, the “Alpine Meadow” model. I co-created this during sales strategy meetings with the members of my Mastermind group.
If you would like to receive a more detailed worksheet of the Alpine Meadow Model after reading this article, email me to HERE to receive a copy.
The need for ethics in our marketing strategies came up for me in a visceral way this week while watching videos by super famous somapreneurs. I held my own mentees in mind, thinking about how they may feel when measuring themselves against more seemingly successful practitioners who don’t seem concerned with ethics.
We help people who have been hurt, are suffering, and want to feel better.
That makes ethics much more important, in my view, than marketing and in some cases even science. Without the ability to tune in to another person in a humane way, all the evidence based science in the world can be harmful.
Also, science is slow and constantly under revision, for example the whole debunking of PVT. While we need to be informed and do our research, people still need our help despite there being no simple answers.
We are the ones willing to step in to the space between practice and science.
Meanwhile, the public healthcare system is collapsing all around us, leaving even more people vulnerable. While that system has not always been friendly to us, this is not the time for ungrounded hype and sales funnels.
Staying true to your scope of practice will make you stand out in the marketplace
For example, I do not directly treat trauma as an Alexander teacher. My work is educational and indirect. It may ease physical pain, support emotional healing, boost performance, creativity, and communication. The list goes on.
However, I’m always clear about my scope of practice. I do not promise specific results in terms of any medical or psychological diagnosis. I am an educator, period.
My understanding is that a person cannot learn if:
1) The process of learning itself is traumatizing.
2) They don’t feel safe in the learning environment.
3) Faking safety is necessary to get what they need.
I am highly trained and have learned, over the 26 years I’ve been teaching, many practical, somatically grounded ways to create an atmosphere of safety. This encourages experimentation, play, and learning – which are the spring from which education emerges.
Therefore, I promise learning and the integration of what is learned.
On some level, this makes me trauma informed. I’ve never met anyone who couldn’t feel a bit safer, find more ease in their body, and make some constructive changes in how they move through life.
Do I treat trauma? NO. That is not within my scope of practice.
However, I do stand out in the marketplace in a way folks who make false promises of healing and transformation don’t. People who have suffered, and were taken advantage of, can more easily recognize practitioners who will not retraumatize them.
That matters to me, and to every somapreneur I know.
Serving with honesty, especially for the vulnerable
In my work with therapists, who support very vulnerable people, I’m reminded to use words like “trauma” with care. I’m also reminded not to overstate the potential my method just to attract attention. At the same time, I do have to offer hope for change!
I call what I see the “trauma industrial complex.” There is overlap between three things:
- The anti-institutional billionaire class is trying to kill public health care.
- The responsibility for healing trauma is pushed onto the person who suffers.
- Some practitioners use marketing machines to sell that idea.
The reality still remains: it is the individual who will needs to do the healing work. It’s my job, as a somapeneur, to make it affordable yet earn a living so I can keep doing the work.
How can we reach folks with our services without blaming them for their problems?
My way of marketing: The Alpine Meadow
Marketing can feel at odds with our values for many pracitioners. I approach it by inviting people up into a metaphorical alpine meadow—a relaxed, pressure-free place where you can discover who I am and what I do. I offer affordable, open group classes and periodic retreats.
Are these things massively profitable? Sometimes, but not always. What’s important is for people to have a safe space to learn what Cranial Nerve Sequencing is all about. The investment in time to create this kind of offer has turned into real financial stability for me over the long run.
My hope is that you feel safe to explore, and get a real sense of whether I’m the right person for you to work with. You have a right to know why you should make the investment of time and money.
I don’t promise that you will reach the mountain top – because neither you nor I know until we try. But I do know that my Alpine Meadow is a good place to make sure it’s the right mountain in the first place.
Up there, we can find out if we want to make that journey together.
✨ Reflection
Where can you bring more candor, humility, and warmth into your own outreach efforts? Do you have an alpine meadow that you love to play in that you haven’t shared yet? It could be a powerful source of business growth and profit.
How can you ensure your marketing truly aligns with your sense of ethics and scope of practice? Your potential clients truly want to know. They will see your courage and respond.