[DFH Social Team Spotlight] An Interview with Dani Williamson, FNP: Increase Your Sales with a Simple 3-Step Strategy

Designs for Health (DFH) is proud to share our ongoing social media initiative, Community Connect, with a quarterly series that recognizes and celebrates various health care professionals in our community who exemplify contributions to the practice of medicine.

This month, we had the great pleasure of talking with Dani Williamson, a Functional Nurse Practitioner and graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, who incorporates the art of medicine by balancing traditional and integrative therapies.

Success doesn’t come without struggle.

Williamson saw over ten specialists spanning the 24 years it took to get to the root of her health issues. She was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome decades ago, and eventually lupus and prescribed psych medications to deal with her emotions.

It wasn't until her first job after grad school, eleven years ago, that she was first introduced to integrative medicine. One simple question marked the turning point of her health and her career: "Dani, what are you eating?" And she replied, “anything I want!” That's when she learned that diet controls your disease.

Four years later, she opened her own practice, Integrative Family Medicine, in Franklin, Tennessee, specializing in gut health and endocrine conditions, particularly Hashimoto's disease. She helps her patients find "the sweet spot" where supplements, diet, and lifestyles converge.

Over the years, she listened and learned from her patients, believing that you have to heal the childhood trauma because you'll never get the gut and brain working together if you don't.

“Here's the thing, it takes a lot to run a practice, and failure was not an option.”

As a single mother, surviving and thriving were imperative, there was no safety net, and she needed to take things to another level. So that's what she did.

"When failure is not an option, hope is not a strategy—you gotta have a strategy."

This year, Williamson's supplement sales more than doubled, her books are solid with appointments, and she has the analytics that demonstrates how she did it with a simple three-pronged approach.

Increase your sales with three simple steps.

#1: “You’ve got to have an online supplement business.”

You can only see so many patients in a day, but with an online store, "that's money you can be making all day long." Creating multiple revenue streams has allowed her to grow her business, but it doesn't mean enough people will come because you build it.

#2: “Your presence on social media is an undeniable dimension of increasing revenue.”

Since people are on their phones for hours every day, you have to meet them to maximize engagement. By promoting her supplement store on social media, most of her sales come through these platforms, and she can track the analytics.

"Build that following one person at a time by being present and answering the questions they want answered." Growing your online presence takes some work, but ultimately is simple. Over time, you build engagement that becomes a community and tribe for your practice.

Williamson's Social Strategy

• She has a weekly health show on her Dani Williamson Wellness Facebook page and posts daily on her Dani Williamson Wellness Instagram page on various health issues and topics.
• Her private Facebook Community, Inside Out Healing From Within, has over 10,000 members searching for a better way to manage their health.
• She has a YouTube channel with hundreds of health videos.
• Plus, her first book, Wild & Well Dani’s Six Commonsense Steps to Radical Healing, came out in November 2021 and is already a best seller on Amazon.

#3: Consistency, Transparency, & Vulnerability

"Consistency leads to growth, and it's not super fast." Being a dependable presence at her practice, she's in the office every day, not moving appointments around, seeing patients, and having daily touchpoints with staff has strengthened communication and increased efficiency.

“When you share a little bit about yourself, it resonates with people.” Growing your online presence takes some work, but connecting with consistency, transparency, and vulnerability will get you results.

“Be real and true.” Not just for your patients, but across all avenues of engagement—and in Williamson's case, this is primarily through Facebook and Instagram by posting "Weekly stories" and sharing snippets of new research or taking polls.

“No one's going to promote yourself the way you do.” For any providers in Nashville, Williamson invites you to come by and say hi. She would be thrilled and honored to share what she knows and help you promote yourself.

As fellow practitioners, you can support your practice and patient outcomes, by sharing success stories, just like this one where you and your peers become a source of education and support for each other.

To nominate yourself or a peer to be featured in our DFH Community Connect feature, please email us at communityconnect@designsforhealth.com.