The first session begins with the telephone call. All of you are educated enough not to use terms such as "patient" or "cure" or "treatment". We don't have any patients and we don't treat anyone. We are a hypnotism center - I am speaking to those of you who are not licensed in the healing arts. This is a hypnotism center and we give self-hypnosis, group and private hypnosis sessions. We use hypnosis as an educational process to help clients deal with certain goals, problems and motivations.
In the early part of my career, I did almost all of the phone answering. If you are beginning your career and you feel that you are too important to answer your phone and you let the office helper do it, you are losing business. Your office helper does not understand the nature of your work, even if it is someone close to you. You are the only one who fully understands what you do and your methods of operation. You should take as many phone calls as you possibly can. There will come a time when you will be too busy to answer the phone and you may have to let someone else answer for you.
Your main concern is to turn the inquiry into an appointment for the first session.When they ask, "Can hypnosis help me with my problem?" I reply, "The first step is for you to come in for a session and in that time I will test you to determine your level of response. I will discuss your problems and goals and at the end of that time I will tell you if hypnosis is indicated for you, how long it will take and what the cost of the program will be."