Nick Kemp Blog

The new 8 DVD Therapeutic Excellence set and website is now live at http://www.therapeuticexcellence.com

I was amused today to see a number of online requests just like this –

“I have recently set up a private practice as an NLP Practitioner and coach. What are the best ways to get clients?”

This is a bit like asking a brand leader such as Tesco to post (for free) online their marketing strategy so others can take advantage and compete directly against them in the marketplace. Of course such a question also suggests that “the coach” or “practitioner” has not really considered this aspect of their business strategy and it’s only a matter of time before they decide that the fast track to earnings is to advertise for “apprentices” to bolster income!

Hosting other trainers is a real art and requires proper business planning. In the world of Change Work there are many folks who believe that putting up a few web pages and advertising on a newsgroup alone will generate sufficient demand for public events. The reality is of course somewhat different and in the last month alone one training company has again cancelled their “NLP Corporate training” while another in the North has cancelled a very ambitious NLP training having not realized that running an event in the holiday period is a rookie error. Amazingly even though the event is cancelled, it’s still listed on the website!

Hosting international trainers can be very expensive and running such events is almost like a military campaign where every element needs to be carefully priced and of course the current economic climate is a lot tougher than in previous times. Deals can be done with hotels and careful pricing for attendees is also crucial.  In the UK, June, July and August are not good months and Jan and December also tend to be poor months to generate interest. Also running too many months too close together is not smart as people have limited funds. The current climate will IMO shake up the training market and already one major NLP company has lost the endorsement of a “big name” so as Bob Dylan once said

“The Times they are a Changing…”

Each year I host Frank Farrelly from the USA and Doug O Brien from NY in Leeds, details for 2009 slots can be found here

www.nickkemptraining.com

Periodically I browse the net to see which new websites are online and who is doing good work. I have often written about how many people involved in change work have quite dreadful sites. Common mistakes include not using professional photos, not paying attention to use of colour, using too much “flash” in site design and spelling mistakes…

Today’s culprit manages to tick almost all the boxes in terms of rooky mistakes, the best one being advertising an Ericksonian course as “The Spirit of the Pheonix” rather than “Phoenix!” Of course anyone can make a simple spelling mistake, but making such a mistake on a giant flash animation is another matter entirely!

Other new NLP based sites have the most dreadful colours for online viewing and are stacked with grammatical errors, so either nobody took the time to check the copy or they don’t have the linguistic awareness to know how to communicate in this medium, a bit worrying for any would be workshop attendees! 

Such mistakes are common alongside ill considered navigation systems which are not dissimilar to being trapped in Hampton Court Maze! One such site with “a maze of confusing web pages” cancelled a number of NLP trainings and I can’t help but wonder how many people gave up trying to locate the “how to book” section! As the old saying goes

“You never get a second chance to create a first impression”

The world's greatest electric guitarist and bass player together.

Music really doesn't get much better than this!

Check out Jeff's album Live at Ronnie Scotts and Tal's new CD Transformation