We’re Not Trying to Sell Therapy
Recently, I had a surprising realization: after eight years in business, we don't really know how to sell. We don't have a sales team. We don't have a formal sales process. In fact, we're building one for the first time.
For the past eight years, we haven't been focused on selling therapy. We've been focused on helping people see mental health differently.
We've spent years trying to reduce stigma, normalize therapy and help people understand a simple truth: We all struggle. Not some of us. All of us.
The mission was never to convince someone to book an appointment. The mission was to help people understand that struggling is part of being human, not something to be ashamed of. Mental health support is a lifelong endeavour, on and off, as life challenges continue to impact all of us. No one is immune to struggle.
I've had conversations about mental health everywhere from conference stages to coffee shops, from professional meetings to chance encounters with strangers. I’ve talked about mental health with everyone from my internet repairman to my gynecologist during a pap test. Not because I was trying to gain a client, but because I genuinely believe mental health matters.
That's why the idea of "sales" has always felt uncomfortable to me. Traditional sales is often about winning customers. Our goal has never been to win clients. Our goal has been to help people. Of course, we hope we're the right fit. We believe deeply in the quality of care our team provides. But if someone reaches out to us and ultimately finds support elsewhere, that's a win too.
Because our mission is bigger than our practice. The change we're trying to create doesn't happen because one organization grows. It happens because more people access support. More families have conversations that previous generations never had. More children grow up knowing that emotions and struggle aren't something to hide.
So yes, after eight years, we're finally building a sales process. But perhaps we're not really building a sales process at all. Perhaps we're building a better process for helping people take the first step. Because we're not trying to sell therapy, we're trying to help people understand that none of us are meant to struggle alone.