Myo Life

Transcript

Hey, I'm Carmen, and welcome to Myo Life. That's short for my outrageous life, which is exactly the kind of life I get to live since I found the courage to ditch dental hygiene and build a life I'm bonkers about as a myofunctional therapist and entrepreneur. Here you will find all the things Myo business and how to build a life that you, too, are bonkers about. I'm very happy you're here. Shall we dive in?
Hey there, and welcome back to the podcast. I am so excited you're here today because we're diving into a topic that I know can feel overwhelming for many new myofunctional therapists—free assessments.
When you're fresh out of your myofunctional therapy training, knowing how to get started and build momentum can be intimidating. Many therapists feel stuck, not knowing how to confidently dive in and start conversations that will end up with them helping people.
That's why I'm dedicating this episode to free assessments. Stick with me until the end because I have an exciting course for you on this exact topic that I will share with you at the end. So let's dive in.
What is a free assessment? Free, consults, complimentary—you get to decide what you want to call it. Many of my mentors said that "free" devalues it, so they encouraged me to use "consultation" or "complimentary." But let's face it, nothing perks up somebody's interest like the word "free." So throughout this, I will probably just call it a free assessment.
Okay, so why can it be helpful? It can be helpful for several reasons.
Is this person right for you? It will help you screen out somebody who is just a personality mismatch. That is one of the biggest things and one of my biggest regrets as a therapist—when I was a young greenhorn, I worked with people that we were just like oil and water.
Your free assessment is going to help you both determine if you're right for each other.
It gives you a head start on the exam material, which will streamline your exam. This includes my paperwork, all of that stuff. So when I'm doing an assessment with somebody, they're helping me further along in the process.

It’s also a great way to gain practice educating your community. The more people you have a conversation with during a free assessment, the better you’ll get at explaining what you do and who you work with. You'll get better at knowing who your ideal customer avatar is. You will get more polished—all the things. Practicing is really important. So obviously, the more free assessments you do, the better.
We're going to talk about three ways that you can turn leads that are probably cold or maybe lukewarm into loyal clients.
1. Start Conversations
You know I'm a big conversations girl. Screening in your dental hygiene chair is going to allow you to start conversations with people who have likely never heard of myofunctional therapy.
Starting this conversation with them will allow you to get your foot in the door to tell them how you can help. Remember, the biggest, most important words that you can tell somebody are "I can help you."
How do you start these conversations? I call it dangling the carrot. Yes, I know that phrase can have a negative connotation, but I use it as an opportunity to guide the conversation where I want it to go. In the dental hygiene chair, I would kind of dangle that carrot. It also gave me the opportunity to gauge their interest.
What Do You Do If You Have Imposter Syndrome?
First of all, it's totally normal. We all have it. I still sometimes get it.
You have to feel confident in the material that you have learned to be able to start conversations. If you took a course that didn’t prepare you to have these conversations, it happens. I have met tons of students—most of whom end up in the Ditch Hygiene Academy—who took another course, and it just didn’t give them the knowledge to start practicing.
If that's the case, you just have to take another course. And might I shamelessly suggest the Ditch Hygiene Academy?
If you aren't confident, you have to get up to speed. You can't half-ass myofunctional therapy.
Then, practice makes perfect. Whether you do mind mapping, write scripts, or record yourself, you have to get comfortable. Depending on when you're watching this episode, we do have a course called Confident Client Conversations that’s coming out, which will teach you how to master your Myo conversations. It will help you with having those conversations with confidence, mastering the art of client conversations, and building trust with potential clients.
If you're hearing this after it's launched, it might be available for you already. But either way, you have to practice.
I had one student who would record herself and then replay it while she mowed the lawn. However you want to do it—just get that practice in.
2. Offering Your Time
Not everybody is just going to jump on board to pay a couple hundred dollars for an exam. They probably want to learn more about Myo, so offering a free assessment is a great way to start.
The wording I always used was: "I offer everybody 30 minutes of my time."
Even if the odds are they wouldn’t do therapy with me, I still did it.
A great example was parents of children who were too young to do therapy. As you know, a child needs to be old enough to comprehend, comply, and cooperate with therapy. Parents might learn about the dangers of mouth breathing or incorrect craniofacial development when their child is two or three years old.
I would tell them to book that assessment anyway, because a couple of things can happen:
I got to practice. The more warm bodies you talk to, the better you get. This is a numbers game, my friend.
When their child was old enough, they would come back. They probably didn’t want to start over, and I was already familiar to them.
I call it "getting your claws into them." You start building that know, like, and trust factor.
People remember, "She helped me back when she didn’t get any money from me, and I want to go back to her."
And here’s the kicker—they tell other people about you.
3. Build the Know, Like, and Trust Factor
The biggest way to turn free assessments into loyal clients is by building the know, like, and trust factor.
People want to work with someone they trust. They want to feel like you get them.
And yes, sometimes you will meet people and immediately think, "Absolutely not. We are not a good match." That’s okay. The free assessment is also for YOU to assess if this is someone you want to work with.
Wrapping Up
So to recap:
Have the conversations. You can’t play a numbers game if you’re not talking to people.
Offer your time.
Build the know, like, and trust factor.
Now, before we go—I told you I had something exciting to share.
If you're struggling with this concept, I encourage you to dive into my course Free Assessments that Convert.
Thank you for tuning in today! If you have a friend or colleague who would benefit from this podcast, please share it.
And until next time, keep building a business—and a life—you are bonkers about!
I’ll be back soon, my friend. See you then.