The question is, where are these extra dollars hiding?
The good news is I’ll simplify this game of Hide & Seek for you, and in this article, I’ll share the two key places where you can start collecting extra dollars in exchange for not bringing a bunch of new patients through your door.
Let’s get straight to it.
#1 – Finding the Extra Hundred Dollar Bills in Your Existing Pricing
Most clinics are leaving money on the table through their existing pricing structure.
I’ll share two examples with you.
I was speaking to one of our Inner Circle members yesterday who had redeveloped their pricing earlier this year, and we were discussing the impact it had made. They shared that their ASP is up by $1,000.
Have they changed the way that they sell? Nope.
Have they changed the technology they’re fitting? Nope.
Have they changed their patients? Nope.
Instead, they have turned their existing technology-focused pricing plans into “treatment plan” focused pricing plans, positioned the line items to be more attractive to the patient by articulating what they actually deliver in each plan, and they have amended their pricing to collect the extra hundreds of dollars that have previously been left on the table.
For example, their premium plan used to be priced at $6,900. It’s now $7,190.
Consider the difference in that buying decision for a patient?
They see $6,900 as a $7,000 decision.
They also see $7,190 as a $7,000 decision.
Both prices have the same weight of decision for the patient – yet one of them adds an extra $290.00 to the pocket of the clinic in pure profit. These extra hundreds of dollars, compounded over 30 units per month, start to add up. Run the numbers, just an extra $290 over 30 fittings per month is $8,700 ($104,000 per year).
A second example is removing needless discounts/incentives.
I recently reviewed a clinic’s pricing, and they had a small asterisk at the bottom of their pricing sheets that stated that the patient would receive a $200 discount if they paid for their devices upfront. They had been doing this for the past five years, and it has always been seen as “normal.” Yet, it’s totally illogical.
- First of all, giving a discount to somebody for paying upfront gives the impression that most people don’t pay upfront and that doing so is weird; it causes needless friction.
- Second of all, can you think of another industry that rewards people for paying upfront? If your dentist gave you a savings for paying upfront, you’d consider it weird. So, why do we do it?
Worst of all, in this example, this asterisk was tiny, so patients had already seen the price, made a decision to commit, and then they were told about the $200 savings.
When we broke it down and delved into this further, we calculated that it had meant that this clinic has been losing out on $200 per transaction for the past five years – some quick math later – and it added up to over $500,000 of lost revenue (and essentially, pure profit).
It’s now been removed, and it’s made no difference to the close rate, yet it has increased their average transaction fee by $200.
Nearly every clinic has opportunities in their pricing to collect extra revenue in exchange for bringing no additional patients through the door.
It’s one of the simplest levers that you can pull that has the most dramatic difference to your revenue and bottom line.
#2 – Maximizing Your Database Through Micro-Campaigns
There is almost definitely an extra $100,000 sat in your existing database … and the way to collect this money is not to run a big wide generic upgrade push to your entire database that persuades a few people to act but bruises the rest of the database.
The smart approach is to use something called micro-campaigns.
This is where you focus on running a highly specific campaign to a highly-specific segment of your database with a highly specific message/ask.
For example …
This could be patients that last purchased premium technology over four years ago that have not been in for an appointment in over 12 months.
The list may be 50 people, or it may be 200 people.
You would then run a campaign with the core objective of getting them back through the door, as these patients are in a danger phase of upgrading their devices elsewhere and not through you.
The campaign could be focused entirely on inviting them for a complimentary clean & check, focused on the importance of regular cleanings, and referencing that their devices have not had the love and attention they required for over 12 months.
This message would feel relevant, it would feel targeted, and it would result in more people responding/engaging.
Best of all, by going with this tailored approach, you can follow up effectively and ensure that each patient receives a phone call to check if they received the letter and invite them for an appointment.
Many of our Inner Circle members run a different micro-campaign each month, focused on entirely different segments of their database, ensuring no patient receives more than one of these communications each year but all highly specific.
Your Actions
Neither of the above is groundbreaking, right?
But rather than looking for the silver bullet, the focus should always be on ensuring the foundations are as solid as possible.
Revisiting your pricing and maximizing your database are two actions that will have one of the biggest instantaneous impacts on your revenue and bottom line.
Want my help to find these in your business? Then you may benefit from applying for a complimentary strategy session with me by clicking here.
We could discuss your pricing, I could share some smart examples, and you may be able to step off the call with some actions to start collecting extra revenue as soon as the next day!
