The Private Practice Success Podcast

67. How to Network Effectively, Even if You're an Introvert

• Gerda Muller • Episode 67

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In Episode 67, Gerda dives into the art of networking for allied health practice owners, so if walking into a room full of strangers feels like your worst nightmare, then this is most certainly is the episode for you. 

As a self-proclaimed introvert, Gerda shares her own experiences and frameworks for connecting with referral sources in a way that feels authentic, outcome-focused, and completely non-salesy.

In this Episode, you will learn (among others):

  • Why networking is about building relationships, not just handing out business cards.
  • The three most common networking mistakes and how to avoid them.
  • How to show up with clarity and confidence, no matter your personality type.
  • How to use The Gaddie Pitch (a step-by-step framework to communicate how you can help, in just 60 to 90 seconds).
  • How to make your networking efforts memorable, ethical, and effective, so that referrers and clients know exactly why to come to you.

Special Bonus Resource:

Download The Gaddie Pitch: 3 Steps to your Perfect Elevator Pitch right HERE.

Who This Episode Is For:

  • Introverted or extroverted practice owners who want to network without feeling salesy.
  • Allied health professionals ready to turn conversations into meaningful referral relationships.
  • Anyone looking to build a visible, respected, and trusted presence in their professional community.

Tune in for a practical, step-by-step guide to networking that leaves your practice top-of-mind, builds trust with referrers, and ultimately benefits the clients you serve 🙂

Want more info on The Ultimate Admin Training Course?

Email Gerda at gerdam@private-practice-success.com and she’ll send you all the details. 

Connect with Private Practice Success & Gerda here:

Well hello there passionate private practice owner. My name is Gerda Muller, and you are listening to the Private Practice Success Podcast, and this is episode number 67. 

The topic of today's episode is How to Network Effectively, Even if you're an Introvert - like I am. Yes, I might have a podcast, but I am 100% an introvert. You just need to be in my social world at a barbecue over the weekend, and you will peg me as an introvert straight off the bat. But yeah, this introvert does have a podcast, because I'm incredibly passionate about sharing with you as an allied health practice owner, what I have learned over the years, so that I can help you build an amazing practice. Let's get stuck into the topic at hand, and the reason for this specific discussion today. 

Now, you may or may not know that I actually have a Facebook group called Private Practice Success for Allied Health Practice Owners. This group is exclusively for practice owners - not clinicians, not practice managers -  you have to be an actual practice owner to join this group, so it's a very niched area of discussion that we have within this group. And I particularly set it up like that because there's already multiple, general allied health Facebook communities, and I really wanted this group to be a place that people can go: This is what I need help with today, so I'm going to go into this community and I'm going to ask a question. And I'm also going to be generous and share with the others what I know and answer other questions of other members whilst I am there as well.  This approach to having this niche Facebook group has really worked well. I think it's probably one of the, if not, the best Facebook communities for private practice owners. The only one better is my actual Private Practice Success Academy members community, but, it's right there on the heels, and at the same standard and quality when it comes to the actual people in the Facebook group, but I digress. So if you're not in that Facebook group, I will pop the link in the show notes. Please come and join us. Please also know that if you do jump in, you have to answer the questions. If you don't answer the questions, we are not going to let you in. It's not a lot, I think it's three easy questions, and it's just about making sure that you are an actual practice owner.

Alright, so when people come in, one of the questions I do ask is: What is your biggest challenge in your practice right now? And I ask that question because it gives me topics to talk about here on the Podcast. It tells me what people need. Yes, I've got my own practice and I am in the trenches, but I want to know, what are people's pain points right now in private practice as an owner? And I can tell you the majority of challenges raised by people over the last. 10 years, or I've had this group probably 10 years already. I should actually go and check, but it feels like 10 years it could be less, okay. But it's either one of three things. It's either marketing, recruitment or cash flow. And it's been interesting because it's like there's these trends and I can tell you the last couple of months, the trend has been marketing related. And a lot of the questions around that, if I say marketing related is like: we need more clients. How do we fill up the diaries? And we've also had a lot of specific questions about how do I do GP meet and greets? How do I get GP meet and greets? What do I do when I get there? How do I show up? And all of the questions related to that. 

But today I'm not going to talk about GP meet and greets specifically, because I want this topic of discussion to be relevant to people that don't approach GP’S, like your referral sources might be lawyers, paediatricians, schools, NGOs, psychiatrists. support coordinators, it can be anyone.  So, I really want us to just take a step up to a bigger picture and go, okay, it doesn't matter who we want to network and connect with, what we need to know is how to network effectively, and how to do that even if you are an introverted allied health practice owner like myself. Now that being said, I can tell you for a fact, just because somebody is an extrovert doesn't mean that they know how to market effectively. Maybe they go there, they love speaking to people, it still doesn't mean that they're doing it right. They might think they are networking because they're chatty and talking to people. Chatting doesn't equal effective networking.  So let's talk about this. So although the title says Even if you're an Introvert, I'm going to add: Even if you're an Introvert, and, Even if you're an Extravert. Let's get stuck into it. 

If the word networking makes you want to suddenly remember that you need to wash your hair, then you need to keep listening. If walking into a room full of strangers feels like you are freaking worst nightmare, keep listening. Or if you've gotten yourself and you've dragged your arse to that networking event and you're standing there and you've got your nice shiny name tag, but you are thinking: Please don't talk to me, please don't talk to me. Or you're going: Please talk to me, but just didn't ask me what I do - then this episode is most certainly for you. What I want you to know is that you do not have to be the loudest person in that room to be the most connected, to be respected, and to be the person that can leave at the end of the evening or the lunch networking event, or maybe it's a breakfast networking event, or at the end of the conference and go, ‘Oh, I've been amazing. I spoke to so many people,’ that doesn't mean that you did it the right way. 

Because at the end of the day, the question is: Did you get the results from those efforts? Are there going to be an outcome, a return on what it is that happened there? And you might go, no, I just like talking to people - that's perfectly fine, okay. But if I just want to talk to people, then you know, I'll go and talk to my friends. But if I, as a practice owner, are attending a networking event, I am there in a work capacity. I am there in a professional capacity. Just like when I send my employees to a work event, I want them to work whilst there, which means that they need to be doing something productive that means something, that's going to lead to an outcome, whether that's a tangible or bit more of an intangible outcome. So we need to know why we are going, and then we need to have a plan for what we are going to do when we get there.  And that's what I want to talk to you about today because, yes, I want you to know what you're doing, but I also want you to be able to show up in a way that feels natural to you. In a way that's going to allow you to build real relationships, and in a way that will allow you to position your practice and or yourself if you're a solo practice owner, as the go-to person or business in your niche area of practice. Why is that important, that last bit? Go and listen to episode 66 where I spoke about credibility versus authority, and it'll tell you why that bit is so important. All these things that we do, they're all interconnected. It is these little spider webs that the one thing impacts the other thing. 

Most importantly, I think for us as health professionals, we want to be able to network in a way that doesn't feel like you're pimping yourself out, or you're pimping your clinicians out, or you're pimping your business out. So you don't want it to feel salesy, pushy, because that will just be an incredibly draining and exhausting experience for you, because I know that's what it felt like to me before I knew what I was actually doing. So I want to introduce you to a very specific model for doing networking. But before we get to that, I feel it is important to consider why this matters.

Why Networking Matters  

This is important not just for you as the practice owner, but also for your clinicians, because especially if you've got an employee team, you might be sending them to network working events. You might even send your practice manager to your local primary healthcare networks practice managers meeting. So you need to ensure that your staff and your team know how to network, but first and foremost, why it is important. Because if you just tell them what to do, but they’re not connecting the dots in terms of why these matters, they're not really going to do it wholeheartedly.  So let's talk about why networking matters. And I'm going to be honest here, this might require a mindset shift for yourself and most probably for your team members as well. 

Alright, so in allied health, in our industry, networking is not about self-promotion. And if you think that's what it's about, you need to think again, that's not what you're doing here. And if you're going in with that energy, it's going to feel yuck for you, and it's going to feel yucky to the people that you are doing it to, so please don't. So when we are looking at networking, for us as allied health professionals, this is really about - yes, building referral pathways -  but when we build referral pathways ,and we build ongoing connections with the people within those referral pathways, it becomes part of that continuity of care. It also allows us to uplevel the quality of care that our clients receive. So when you're doing that networking, it's about talking about something specific that you do so that you can become known for it, making it easier for the right clients to find you, and for the right people to refer to you. Now in your mind you might go, yeah, I get that. Yes, it's important. I'm with you, Gerda. 

But if you are an introvert and you are struggling with marketing (maybe not so much the concept, maybe just the doing of it), I find a lot of practice owners who are introverts have labelled themselves as, I'm bad at networking. I'm not really good at it. You've judged yourself and labelled yourself as such. But I'm going to challenge you, and I'm going to say that I don't think that that's actually true. I am bad at playing the piano. You know why? Because I've not played since I was like 10, 11 years old. I did have some lessons back then, but if I had regular lessons and I built my skills, I would be able to play piano. Right now, if I decided today that I want to go back and learn to play the piano, I would be taking some lessons and I would practice, right? And before I know it, I will be able to play. And it's the same with networking, you just haven't been taught how to do it, and you've not been taught the right framework for doing your networking. Because I can tell you one thing, networking is not working the room. Networking is not meeting every person and shaking as many hands as possible. And it most certainly isn't about handing out as many business cards as possible. 

When I say that, I have this recollection of a memory, this is like we are talking a long time ago when I started my group practice. In those early years, because I was relatively new to Australia. I was in Australia for more or less two years when I started my solo practice. I came in 2005 and started a practice in 2007, and it was 2008 that I started the group practice, so yeah, two, three years in the country, very new to private practice in Australia.  What I did is I undertook for the first 18 months to attend as many networking events as possible. That was the thing that I knew I had to do. Because I wanted to learn the industry. I wanted to learn the lay of the land, how everything worked, and I wanted to get as much information as possible. So I did a shit ton of networking. I clearly remember our local primary healthcare network, which was called something totally different back then, can't even remember what the name was. They would have monthly dinners and it was always, I think, the last Thursday of the month, and I would go attend those dinners. It's like it was free. You got like a three-course meal, sign me up just for the food. I love my food!. Anyway, I would go and attend those, and it was very rare that there would be other allied health professionals in the room. What I started to notice as well is that an allied health professional, like another psychologist will attend and they would attend once. Rookie mistake, okay? That is not how you build referral relationships with GP’s going once and never again. But I'll touch on that in a bit. 

But anyway, the one evening that I'm thinking of right now is that I was sitting at a table, talking to the people at my table. And I'm an introvert, as I said earlier, and what I would do is I would go and sit at a table and I would only talk to people at that table. Because I would rather really get to know the people at this table this evening. Next month I might be sitting next to somebody else, but I'm not going to be that person that's like a little bee going from table to table to table. It's like. We can all see straight through you what you're doing. I clearly remember was talking to one of the GPS at the table and this bloke walked up to the table, psychologist, and he was just going, Hey, I'm so and so. I am a psychologist. He said, what suburb? And he handed everybody at the table his business card, and off he went to the next table. The GPS at the table just smiled at the person and kept talking. I think the majority of them just left his business cards on the table when they left, because everybody can see straight through what that was. Give me patients. Give me your patients. Give me your patients. Refer to me. Refer to me. Refer to me. Yeah. That's not networking in allied health. 

Honestly, if that is how I had to market as an introvert, I would find it incredibly exhausting, incredibly inauthentic, and I think it will just be incredibly infrequent and ineffective.  So effective marketing in private practice looks very different for us as allied health professionals. But let's talk about three of the most common networking mistakes that I see people make.

Common Networking Mistakes

The first is trying to talk to everybody in the room. Please remember, the goal here is not volume, the goal is depth. You want to speak to a few people, really get to know them, and here's the kicker, the part that everybody misses. Why? Because they go back to practice, they get busy - you have to follow up. I would actually recommend that instead of handing out business cards, you are the one collecting business cards. So you have their name, their surname, where they work, and their freaking email address. And what I would do when you get home or maybe in the car, go, just write a little note about this specific person like - this is what we spoke about, so that you can have that connection. So you can show them that, Hey, I remember who you are. You weren't one of 50 people I spoke to. I spoke to you and I can remember the topic of conversation or that one thing that we connected on. And I'm taking the time, no, I'm making the time to follow up. To stay connected, to build a relationship rather than just expecting you to all of a sudden start referring to me.

That brings us to common mistake number two, trying to have sex on the first date. I don't know about you, but I'm not into that type of thing. So do not go, I'm a psychologist, here's my business card, here's my flyer, please refer to me - and then expect them to do that. That's not a relationship, that is a transaction. And you are expecting to receive in that transaction, and you've not even given anything back to them. It's like, hmm, I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like a good exchange. Even if it were to be a transaction. That's not a good exchange. Instead, what you want is you want to build trust. You want to build familiarity. You want to show shared values. You want to build a relationship that's going to last over time. I mean, there's nothing wrong with a one-night stand, but you need to remember that that is what it is, don't expect more from it, if that's what it is. You can't expect that to turn into a long-term relationship. So you get to decide how you show up, and how you show up will determine the consequences and the outcomes that you will get from those interactions.

Then number three - being too generic. Like, I'm a psychologist and I work with everyone. I'm a psychologist, and you know what? Doesn't matter what issue your patients have, refer them to me. That people makes you invisible, and that's the last thing you want. Networking, marketing, promotion, it's about visibility. You want to be visible. You want to be front of mind, when the patient walks in and sits in front of the GP in the chair and tells them about what they're struggling with. You want the doctor to go, ‘Oh, yeah, this is the person I need to refer you to.’ So you need to be visible and you need to be able to stand out. But if you're too generic, it won't work. It just doesn't.

And then a final common mistake that I see people make, is talking about their qualifications, their registrations, their professional memberships - instead of outcomes. Nobody's going to refer to you because of your registration number. Nobody's going to refer to you because of your membership to a particular professional body. They're going to refer to you because they know who you help, how you help, and that it will be a transformation, a change for the better for their client or for the patient that they are referring to you. 

So ask yourself, have you been making any of these networking mistakes? If so, make a note of it and go, no more, that's not happening. Next time I actually give up my time and my energy, possibly even some dollars to go and attend a marketing event, that's not a good investment.

The Moment That Matters Most

Let’s talk about that moment. That moment that matters most. Because every networking conversation starts with the same question, which is: So what do you do? And this is where a lot of us just completely miss the opportunity to network effectively. Because once you have been asked that question, you have around about 62-90 seconds to clearly communicate an answer to that question. And if you do it well, that is what allows you to have a foot in the door for a potential long-term referral relationship. And this is where I want to introduce you to the Gaddie Pitch.

The Gaddie Pitch 

I love the Gaddie Pitch. I have been teaching this for many years. There was a time that I actually ran an in person How to Start Your Private Practice Workshops. As part of that workshop, I taught everybody the Gaddie Pitch, because it is such a powerful way of networking effectively in a way that feels easy and in integrity as an introvert. And yes, it's a framework, which means it's going to give you structure, and therefore, it's going to give you confidence, therefore it's going to give you clarity, and therefore, because it has those three things, what it does, it makes you memorable. So it really stops you from doing the default of, ‘Hey, I'm Gerda. I'm a clinical psychologist, I've got a master's degree, and I help people with anxiety.’ Okay… and so does every other psychologist in private practice, Gerda, so that doesn't make you special. Why should I refer to you? Now people don't say that to me, but unconsciously, that doesn't make me memorable. Not at all. Yes, they talk to me, they smiling, and I'm visible in that moment. But as soon as they're speaking to somebody else, they're going to forget about me. Okay. I'm not memorable in that conversation. 

And this might be hard to hear, but that's just how it is. Unless, of course the referrer has a photographic or very special brain and they can remember stuff like that. But I'm going to go as a general rule, a normal person, are they going to remember you, yes or no? And not if you introduce yourself in that manner. I'm sorry to say. So you want to have that framework that's going to help you to introduce and communicate who you are, what problem you solve, and what the outcome is when people work with you - but in a way that that person, when they hear it, they're going to go, ‘Oh, tell me more, that sounds really interesting.’ Because you want that feedback. If you think about it , put yourself in the shoes of the potential referrer. That person is probably thinking to themselves, who do I send this client to? Who do I send this patient to? That's a question they're asking themselves when they are dealing with their client or their patient. And the Gaddie Pitch gives them this mental filing system for you. So when the right client or patient walks in, they think of you, their brain immediately goes to that file that says, ‘Ah, this is the person that is best suited to help this client or patient of mine.’  Imagine being able to create that in the mind of your referrers. You can do that by using the Gaddie Pitch.

So how does it work?  The Gaddie Pitch basically has three steps to what we are going to call the perfect elevator pitch. Alright, so three steps. What I will do is I will write these steps down for you in a download, and I will give you two examples. Because I know you might be listening to this whilst driving the car, maybe out on a walk, you might not be able to write this down immediately. So go to the show notes. I'll leave a link in there for you. 

Alright, so let's have a look at the big picture general structure.  So step one starts with the following: You know how? Step two starts with: What I do. Step three, this is the last step, starts with: In fact. What you can see is it has sentence starters. You know how. What I do.  And in fact. So step one, you know how, and then you follow it with your target client, and the problems they face. Step two that says what I do, and then you follow that by benefits and the feelings enjoyed by the people who use your service. And then step three, we said, in fact, and then you tell a story or a case study about how you did really well in helping someone. Now of course, this has to be a very general story or case study, and I'll give you an example of it, because confidentiality, privacy, nobody should be able to identify this person that you're talking about.

So let's look at an example: Imagine I am meeting you for the first time at a networking event, and you are asking me, ‘Okay, so what do you do? What do you do Gerda?’ This is my answer: ‘You know how some people are so anxious that they just can't even leave the house? What I do is I teach them practical strategies to manage their anxiety and take back control of their lives. In fact, I recently had a client that was able to return to work for the first time in five years.’ And then you pause. The general response to that is, ‘Wow, that's amazing,’ because people have connected with the: In fact -  the story part of it. They've connected with that outcome that that person had. And then they will generally ask follow up questions, and this is a beautiful introduction to having a really great conversation about the work that you do, and for that person to then also start sharing how they may work with this type of client. 

Let's look at another example: Again, imagine you're meeting me for the first time and you're saying, ‘Hey, Gerda, so tell me what do you do?’ And this is my answer: ‘You know how some people go through events that leave them emotionally traumatized, what I do is really help them understand what and why it happened, which then allows them to close that chapter of their life and start focusing on their future. In fact, I recently helped a veteran reconnect with his family after years of separation, allowing him to meet his grandkids for the very first time.’ And again, the response would be, ‘Wow, that's so cool. Tell me more about the veterans. Do you work a lot with them?’ Can you see how it starts a conversation? And that is what you want it to be like.

I've not, in one of those examples, said I'm a psychologist, did I? But guess what? It's going to come out in conversation. And as a result, it doesn't feel salesy. It doesn't feel like I'm promoting myself, it's just I'm talking about the people I help - my purpose work. That's what I'm talking about. I'm leading with my heart and with my purpose. And then because I do that, the other stuff, the logical part of, ‘Oh, what type of job do you do? Are you in private practice? Where are you located?’ All of that will come out. But the people know that that's not why I'm here. I'm not here to just market a business. I'm here to make sure that they know who I can help and who's the right people to send my way. Because when both of us have that clarity, both of us win. But most importantly, the client wins, because they get to see the right provider that's going to be the right person to help and support them.

So ask yourself this: When you go to networking events, and you leave the people that you spoke to, do they know exactly who to refer to you? Was your message specific and outcome focused? Do you have a structured answer to, ‘What do you do? If not, I recommend you go to the show notes. You get the prompts, and you work out your Gaddie Pitch. And go and try it at the next event. Initially it might sound a bit scripty and you're going to tweak and review, tweak and review it. But really work through it, because I can tell you, knowing what that is going to take a lot of pressure off doing the networking, and it is such a brilliant communication starter. And if you are an introvert and you are always thinking like three, four questions ahead so that you can really keep the conversation going. With this introduction, there's no need for that. Because it will just gradually bloom into a really great conversation about the work that you do and that you love doing, and it's going to be easy to talk about it. I'm going to leave it there for today. Thank you so very much for tuning in. If you truly found today's episode of value, do me a favour, and share it with just one other allied health practice owner who can also find value in joining this conversation. 

Thank you, and as always, remember that I am here to help you build a practice you can't stop smiling about. 😊

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Gerda Muller

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