Interviewer: I’m with Dr. Felicia Stoler; a registered dietitian, nutritionist, and exercise physiologist based out of Red bank, New Jersey. Felicia, welcome.
Dr. Felicia Stoler: My pleasure. Thank you.
Interviewer: I wonder if you can explain a little bit about your practice.
Dr. Felicia Stoler: I have a private practice where I see individuals. I guess what makes me different is that I’m a registered dietitian and exercise physiologist, so I would get both ends of the energy spectrum with a certain level of expertise that perhaps some other folks aren’t addressing. I look at somebody as far as the whole package, the whole individual, from their sleep habits to their food intake habits, and trying to help people meet their goals and objectives based on their needs, their lifestyle, and their food preferences and health challenges.
Interviewer: Great. I know everyone wants to know; what are some of the techniques that you’re using to get new clients?
Dr. Felicia Stoler: I network with other physicians and other health care professionals, predominantly physicians. In some cases, physical therapist, personal trainers, gyms, other therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist. I’ve been very blessed that over the last 12+ years, I’ve developed a nice reputation for myself. I have been able to get clients without having to do too much outreach, but I am expanding my practice. I’ve moved and I’m bringing in new dietitians, so I do plan on using what worked in the past to reach out and let people know that my practice is expanding in terms of being able to meet the needs of people in my community.
Interviewer: How do you market your business?
Dr. Felicia Stoler: For the most part, there’s a lot of what I used to do that I don’t have to do anymore. Right now, I’ve got some web presence. What has happened for me is that because I’ve been established for quite some time and I’m pretty vocal in the media, there’s a lot of name recognition. I do get a lot of referrals from other health care professionals. Again, I’m very lucky in that regard that I don’t have too … I don’t pay for advertising any longer. I used to pay for advertising; I don’t need to pay for advertising. That’s not to say other people shouldn’t, but I’ve tried all of those other modalities in the past. For me right now at the point where I am at, I don’t necessarily do that.
Interviewer: That’s a great place to be, for sure. How do you efficiently manage your time throughout the day?
Dr. Felicia Stoler: What I do to efficiently manage my time of day, literally put every single task in my calendar, whether it be a phone call, sending a follow-up email, writing an article, blocking out time to do new clients, setting up materials. The other thing that I really try to do is I try to make sure that I’m not distracted by other things and I don’t necessarily have social media up while I’m trying to do my work, which can be quite challenging. Again, I might be a little bit of a scheduling freak, but I do that on purpose, down to scheduling my own personal exercise time so that I can make sure that I am getting it all in every single day.
Interviewer: That’s fantastic advice. The final question: What’s the one thing that you’d change about your practice if you could?
Dr. Felicia Stoler: If there’s one thing that I can change about my practice if I could, it would probably be a way to handle some of the administrative stuff. I find that so often, people especially with inquiries for new clients, people want to speak to me. They don’t want to speak to somebody that they vaguely knows about my practice. Because it is a personal service, people would like to speak with me. I find that I do invest a lot of time, energy, and effort speaking to potential new clients, which absolutely makes sense. That is the one thing that I wish I could find somebody that could do as good of a job as meat that task, I’d hire them.
Interviewer: That’s fantastic. Here’s hoping you’re able to find that person. Thanks again for speaking with us today. It’s been a pleasure. Best of luck.
Dr. Felicia Stoler: Thank you.