The PANY Bulletin

Psychoanalytic Association of New York
Volume 39, Number 1 Spring 2001

Marketing PANY: "My Journal of Negative Results" Dr. Steven K. Firestein

At our recent Business Meeting we were informed that the message had been carried to various departments of the NYU Medical Center that our members are available to all for consultation and possible treatment of psychological problems and illness. And now we are waiting for the telephones to start ringing. This way of proceeding is based on the model of the trained family physician who moves into a new neighborhood, hangs out a shingle, and waits for something to happen. It is a model for marketing services that is long out of date.

In this connection I wish to share a number of chapters from my Journal of Negative Results that importantly bear upon our project of marketing. Way way back in the 1980's I spent years as administrator of our Clinic. Alan Jong and I undertook the task of recruiting a greater flow of applications to the Clinic so as to eliminate all delay for candidates waiting to begin a control case. We considered that the N.Y.U. community of some 30,000 souls was a quite sufficient universe for us to address.

We contacted every Dean of Students in every department of the University and explained over the telephone what we have to offer, for adults, adolescents, and children. Just think of it-free consultation service! On the telephone I felt my listener was mostly waiting for me to end the call so that he could go on to something else. So we followed up our calls with written material conveying the same message. Yield: zero.

We assembled an advertising notice of our Clinic service and placed it in the Newsletter, where it continues to be regularly included. But who reads the Newsletter? The already converted. Yield: zero.
Next, we decided to advertise in the NYU campus newspaper. We had been told that ads are given more attention in the "Personals" column, so we crafted one and ran it weekly for 5 weeks. Yield: zero-not even one telephone inquiry. Then I decided upon a lecture presentation at the Bobst Library (Washington Square), accompanied by doughnuts and coffee, during the noon hour. Some 20 people showed up. The collation was great! But it turned out that the audience was mostly people already in treatment somewhere. Yield: zero.

I made the acquaintance of the head of the Student Counseling Service down at the Square, and gained an opportunity to make an hour-long presentation about our service to their Staff Conference. They listened attentively. Yield: zero. A number of weeks passed and I phoned for followup information. I was informed that the staff had reflected the sentiment that we certainly were offering a wonderful opportunity. Yield during an entire year following my presentation: zero. (When we had a candidate/resident rotating through the Counseling Service, we sometimes got a referral. When I offered to provide one of our Institute members for a regular consultation session down at the Square, my offer was politely declined. When I sought to have one of our Institute members participate in their clinical conferences, that offer also was declined.)

We joined the Metropolitan College Mental Health Association, an organization of all the college mental health counselors of the area. I proposed to their leadership that we make a presentation to their Association meeting. The proposal was rejected on the grounds that if the opportunity were offered to us, everyone would wish for the same, and they couldn't deal with that. Not long afterward the Metropolitan Association went out of business. Alice Maher attended their farewell meeting and made some observations that were sufficiently interesting that I recall them still: they were very cordial to her until she identified herself as a psychoanalyst. Then the atmosphere shifted. They conveyed the impression that they didn't have a need for a psychoanalyst because there was no student problem that was not amenable to their brand of counseling, whatever that might be! Moreover, to suggest, let alone recommend, a treatment requiring 4 or 5 visits weekly would mean to their patient that the counselor considered the counselee to be crazy; and the counselor making such a recommendation must be crazy to do so. Yield: zero.

What was the "bottom line" for me? First, we do not yet have name recognition even in the NYU community, let alone the wider world of New York City. We have to have that, and as part of that, we have to frame a well-articulated mission statement. We have to stand for something definite to which the community can relate, and for which they can seek us out. Theyhave to understand what we actually do, the kinds of problems for which we offer help, and that our help can deliver fruitful results. Second, the considerations of the above paragraph apply to the Medical Center as well. Who knows, among the residents or staff of the Department of Psychiatry, when, whether, or how to make a referral to an analyst? Who knows when to refer him or herself to a psychoanalyst?

There is an enormous task of education quietly awaiting our attention, if we are to succeed in marketing our services. And no matter that it's a difficult task-it'll wait for us until we determine to start to grapple with it. My Journal of Negative Results has thoroughly convinced me that until we muster the energies to pursue the educational activity outlined above, we can expect little positive result from our marketing efforts.