Smoking Cessation

[trigger]

Hey All,

I've been doing smoking cessation for a few months now and I've helped a great many people. My goal is to have a success rate nearing 100% - right now, it's about 70% - still more effective than any other therapy.

I offer a money-back guarantee on my non-smoker package, so basically, the higher my success rate, the better I feel and the more money I keep. I don't feel right taking people's money without providing actual value.

I'm curious to know from anyone who'd like to answer:

1. One of my mentors told me - "You don't need more clients, you need better clients" Do you have any prerequisites or requirements for accepting new clients for smoking cessation? I typically require my clients keep track of every cigarette they smoke for 3 days along with state of mind before and after. (Do you require they go through some "ordeal" before you'll accept them?)

2. In your opinion, what is the most important aspect of therapy for smoking cessation. For me, it's always been the alleviation of fear or "discomfort" associated with quitting.

3. Of my clients who relapsed some time during the process, I noticed most of them were unsure if they really wanted to quit in the first place. I've tried to screen for this by incorporating an ordeal before being accepted and charging a healthy fee for my program. To me, it sounds incongruent and I ignore it completely at this stage - I simply maintain complete, absolute certainty that quitting is the most liberating and natural thing they will ever experience. Thoughts?

Of course, feel free to add anything else you'd like that might give me some insight. I always aim to to my best when I work with clients, so I'm always open to new ideas.

Thanks for your input!

[skip]

I once knew a fellow who so carefully picked his clients that they really needed no help.

He had a 100% success rate.

He also had no challenge, and he never learned another thing.

He soon became jaded, very unhappy, and died before his time.

Now what was it that you wanted?

skip ;)

[Terry]

Skip said it nicely, I will not be so nice. Anyone who tells you you don;t need more clients, just better ones is covering up their own inadequacies, or possibly lacking in a command of the English language. Something I consider an absolute nescessity for the therapist...
I don't demand my students be perfect, but I do expect them to honour their own inadequacies by recognising them rather than trying to pass the buck to some other cause, such as a less tnan acceptable client. Yes, screening for desire is nescessary, but only so as not to waste the time and money of a prospect until you can be reasonably sure of success, but that is not an inadequate client, just one who is not yet ready for success, and therefor not one on whom you should waste time. Explain why your turn them down for the present, and I am betting they will come back prepared next time, because curiosity is a wonderful force in all of us when properly used.... I stopped one person smoking just because she was curious as to if hypnosis worked, since she had a serious problem and wanted to test my skills. Silly lady didn't realise how she had helped herself instead of testing me as she thought....
A money back guarantee is fine except that it is also a temptation for the client to fail since it costs them nothing to do so in their mind. You put in time and effort on the client, so a fifty percent money back might be more in line with being an honest broker. This also points out the fact that your time also has value, and you expect complete cooperation from all your clients.....
Another posibility is to offer a guarantee of a partial refund if therapy is not successful, but in return for that, an extra charge of such amount as the client would have spent in one year on cigarettes if you had not intervened.
I have yet to have a client accept such an offer, since they are convinced that I would load the odds in my favour, and if I am making this offer I am certain of success....:cool: Backdoor therapy is wonderfulllllllll

[Poodle]

I've read that hypnosis alone is about 80%. When one uses both hypnosis and NLP the results are much closer to 100%.

I used to offer money back guarantees then thought again as my time and education is worth a heck of a lot. Know anything about Milton Erickson? He would make his patients do an "ordeal" before he would consider working with them. Seemed to usually be a hike up Squaw Peak in 113 plus degrees. I prefer to make money the "ordeal". You can always offer $x back in one or two years if still tobacco "free".

If you happen to read through Terry's posts, he gave me the secret to 100% success. Hoping you will find the same pearl of wisdom I found. ;)

Be well,
Pood

[Connie]

Are you at all trained in NLP? That would be my suggestion if you want greater success.

[trigger]

Thank you all for your feedback.

It seems there's always 2 sides to the "guarantee or no guarantee debate". One side being that it's good for marketing and makes the therapist feel better - yet seems to lighten the pocket book so to speak. The other side being that all professional should be rightly compensated for their services - after all, a doctor charges the same fee whether his treatment works or not.

This is something that I'll be thinking about for some time - the real question is...what's better for the client?

I know a hypnotist who offers a guarantee such that the client can come back for an unlimited sessions if their desired outcome is not met in the predetermined amount of sessions. His rational was that it forces him to "put up or shut up". I do agree with this as it's a definite motivator to improve every part of his practice.

As for both Skip and Terry - I agree with you both. Thanks for the reality check - It's easier to take only the most ready clients, but at what cost? Calm seas never made skilled sailors.

[Terry]

"What is better for the client" you ask, well I like that attitude, but you will find that both Skip and I, and indeed all the skilled persons who post here feel the same way, so the replies we gave did indeed take into consideration the best intersts of the client. Your comment re calm seas never making a good sailor indicates to me that you think of hypnosis as a battle between client and practitioner. Such an attitude is not conducive to a high rate of success for either you or your clients. Consider,hypnosis as a cooperative effort by both client and practitioner, both must be prepared to succeed.
It is your duty to your client to ensure they are properly prepared because both success and failure are two way streets, you can only succeed when the client does and vise versa.... I sent you a private email, but if you happen to be in Calgary in the near future, I can be of better help face to face.

[Poodle]

This is a personal story I have written about here before. A number of years ago I had a client with an allergy. The Docs could not figure it out so I got him. They called it the 21st Century Syndrome for lack of knowledge. He claimed it to be hives but it did not look like hives. In those days I did guarantee my allergy work which is a combination of NLP and hypnosis. The allergy would stay away for about a week and then return. That client was allowed to return once a week for weeks and weeks and weeks FREE. I had even done a regression to cause but it still came back. I wrote out a check for the price of ONE session although I had done 10 or 15 and from that day on I have NEVER guaranteed anything. Period. Full Stop. I cannot and will not guarantee human behaviour. That client begged me to continue to work for FREE as I was the only thing that did work even if only for a week at a time. The only people I have seen that "gurantee" are the sleazy motel hypnotists and just try to find them after they leave town.

What are you going to do with the clients that really don't want to stop tobacco and believe hypnosis is just a magic wand and it's all over. They will walk right out of your door onto the sidewalk, street, or whatever and light up just to find out what happens.

One lovely lady I had didn't want to quit, she just wanted 4 cigarettes/day. I will not force my beliefs on to someone that doesn't want them.

Maybe this will give you some insight into the business side of hypnotherapy.

Pood

[Jack]

Trigger, sometimes a client enjoys therapy so much and paying so little that they will seek out those who guarantee their work. If you want a non-paying client for life give a guarantee.

In the early days I would - in my arrogance - guarantee everything, until I came across one client who refused to leave for over 8 months and only paid one fee. There is a fine line between a confident hypnotherapist and a stupid one.

Jack

[Don]

1. One of my mentors told me - "You don't need more clients, you need better clients" Do you have any prerequisites or requirements for accepting new clients for smoking cessation? I typically require my clients keep track of every cigarette they smoke for 3 days along with state of mind before and after. (Do you require they go through some "ordeal" before you'll accept them?)

The biggest cause of failure in smoking cessation is...not charging enough. This is usually due to insecurity and lack of self-confidence among new practitioners.

I would respectfully partially disagree with my fellow hypnotists and agree with the concept of needing better clients, not more of them. In context, that concept is actually "you don't need more clients who are ready to fail. Rather, you need clients are are ready to succeed." There is no need to waste time with people who want to fail. The key is determining if a person really want to succeed. Pre-screening. Getting more clients who are ready to succeed is the ideal, not merely having more clients seeking an excuse to fail.

2. In your opinion, what is the most important aspect of therapy for smoking cessation. For me, it's always been the alleviation of fear or "discomfort" associated with quitting.

Charging enough to insure a person wants to succeed.

3. Of my clients who relapsed some time during the process, I noticed most of them were unsure if they really wanted to quit in the first place. I've tried to screen for this by incorporating an ordeal before being accepted and charging a healthy fee for my program. To me, it sounds incongruent and I ignore it completely at this stage - I simply maintain complete, absolute certainty that quitting is the most liberating and natural thing they will ever experience. Thoughts?

Clients are individuals. Merely being sure that "quitting" is "liberating and natural" isn't going to be sufficient, for example, if smoking was modeling a relative who has died and remains an attempt to keep that relative's influence in their life.

In short, stop doing procedures and start focusing on individuals. Remember secondary benefits. Yes, it's great that you believe "quitting is the most liberating and natural thing they will ever experience." Indeed, I think such an attitude is important and will influence a client. But that's only part of it.

Finally, if you focus on "quitting" and helping people become "ex-smokers" you are likely to have a high percentage of failure. Instead, help people return to the state of being a non-smoker. After all, how can a non-smoker fall back into smoking, something they would never do? :D

[Terry]

Every coin has two sides, so it is nice to see Don showing the other side of that comment so that readers can choose which was the intent. Yes, better clients can mean, and often does mean better prepared, but leaving out that one word can and does lead to misunderstandings....
I always hesitate to blame the client, since to do so requires no thought or change on my part, while questioning my own attitudes might result in a better practitioner. My guess is that you have called it correctly, and should perhaps be more forthcoming with a client regardless of if they choose not to use your services because of it. Successful clients send you more, those who fail never do. Most new practitioners are too anxious to get clients, any client so that they can get experience. Such is the road to failures..
By the way, I would be interested in knowing what you term a "healthy fee". Here in Calgary that is very high I assure you, and I am willing to bet you don;t charge what Society members do.... I actually quote local charges in some of my emails so check them out, they are genuine and normal for Alberta.....

[trigger]

Thanks for the feedback Don - I've often thought that I could do away with the ordeal by charging a bit more...then the cost becomes the ordeal and proves commitment/willingness to change.

[Don]

Assume they smoke 3 packs a week at $4/pack. That's $12/week X 52=$624 just on purchasing ciggies per year. Over 20 years that's over $12,000!
Plus costs of cleaning clothes.
Plus costs of cleaning furniture, drapes, and trying to get smoke residue off of other interior items
Plus intangible costs of being an outcast, having to go outside to smoke, nasty looking teeth, etc.
Plus future potential costs including hospitalization and treatment for heart disease, lung cancer, emphysema, and many more, not to mention shortening of life.

So charging $1,000.00 to end this problem forever is an amazing savings. Anything under that is in incredible bargain.

Remember, you're not really charging them for the service. They're making an investment that will make them thousands of dollars over the next several years, give them a longer life and keep them healthier.

If they're not willing to make a small investment in their future, they're not one of those "better" clients your mentor discussed.

Perhaps what wasn't discussed, however, was how to turn such a person into a better client.

[Poodle]

Smoking one pack of cigs/day = ONE MILLION DOLLARS WASTED OVER 20 YEARS. This is just money and does not take into account health costs, and all the etc's.

Pood :)

[Terry]

"How to turn such a person into a better client". I had to smile when I saw that comment ending Don's post, because it leads to so many other nuggests of information passed from this board from time to time, and stored in memory by those new to our art....
I have had some bad clients, but rarely a failure, because as is so often said here, the therapy begins from the time you answer the phone, or the client enters your office, ie the first meeting or voice contact. In the first intervew, or over the phone, the client is set up to succeed, and if that is not done, you have not earned the higher fee...I learned that early thankfully, so no "bad" client enters into a session with me...
Any competent practitioner can help a client who is motivated, quality shows wnen the client is actually resistant, and the therapy succeeds.
Like the lady who came to me ostensibly to quit smoking, but factually because she had an embarrasing problem she was unable to share with a stranger. After three sessions, she was a non smoker, and two or three months later, still a non smoker, she called me and told me the real facts. No she did not want to quit smoking, but it was more important to her to prove I could help with her real problem, so she was motivated to cooperate with me and go beyond her intentions to prove my value....
It was at this time also that I realised I was mind reading my clients, and this has proved of enormous value from that time on....
How to succeed with smokers? Find their hot buttion and use it. Remember, it isn't just skill you share, it is your beliefs and personality that guide a client to success....

[Don]

"...therapy begins from the time you answer the phone, or the client enters your office, ie the first meeting or voice contact."

If more practitioners realized this the overall percentage of success for hypnotherapists would be much higher.