Okay – before the angry people come with pitchforks. I’m not suggesting you sell hearing aids for $26,000, at all.

But I want to use this question as a thought experiment.
Because if you understand how you *COULD* sell a set of hearing aids for $20,000+ – imagine how desirable you would be to work with you at your standard prices.
So, let’s look into this a little further.
But before you continue reading, I want you to ponder on this question and come up with an answer.
Here it is:
“What would a $26,000 hearing care treatment plan look like?”
Seriously, ponder on it?
You may be thinking things like concierge service, priority appointments, an extra luxurious waiting room, access to the newest technology as often as they wish, etc. OR, you may be thinking it would be completely impossible.
However, I believe there’s another way to look at this.
I want to share two things with you (both of which were concepts I was originally taught by a great author called Daniel Priestly – all credit to him).
#1 – The Price Elasticity of The Same Product in Different Markets
When you choose to sell a product, there are three markets that you can choose:
- The “normal” people
- The passion-focused people
- The luxury people
Let me break this down.
The normal people – think of the truck driver, the nurse, the dental assistant, the shop worker, etc. This is a big group of people, it’s mass market.
The passion focused people – these are the people that are obsessed about a passion. It could be fitness, it could be pets, it could be their children, etc. They often pay more for a product that fits their passion.
The luxury people – this is the top 1% that care about status, and want to work with the best of the best, paying for the privilege to do so.
In nearly every market, there’s a breakdown of products that are focused on each of these groups, and they always ascend in price.

For example:
- Normal chocolate bar – $1.32
- Passion-focused (gym-users that want a high-protein treat) – $4.50
- Status focused luxury – $490.00
And you can apply this to almost anything.
From obvious things like cars, clothes and watches … through to more obscure things like televisions, computers and even socks!
- There’s a mass market option!
- There’s then a more passion-focused specialist version (costs more),
- And then there’s an obnoxious luxury version (often 100x the price of the mass market option).
Look at this from a pure economics perspective and it’s clear that the luxury market is where the largest margins are … and if you strip emotion out of the equation, it’s the market to build a product to serve.
#2 – The Importance of Supply vs Demand
This is interesting.
Supply vs Demand is one of the most interesting catalysts behind the psychology of pricing.
Let’s look at two very different industries/businesses.
First, the airline/travel industry.
The aviation industry is one of the most automated industries in the world.
- You search for an available flight and it taps into an automated database
- You secure your seat and the booking is automatically managed
- It sends you a boarding pass through an automated system
- The scanners for the boarding pass in the airport are automatic
- You get on a place where 95% of the flight is automated
Aside from operating the systems, the need for manual work in the booking/checking-in/flying process is very low.
Dare I say, it could probably be operated 100% through automation, but humans would be freaked TF out!
Secondly, you have Rolex…
An absolute bonkers company.
They sell an item that is somewhat not required (you can tell the time on your phone) and they sell them for 100x more than most other quality watches that deliver the exact same function (they clearly cater for the ‘luxury’ market).
Yet their model is the exact opposite to automated.
- The watches are hand-made (no robots used whatsoever)
- They’re made in Switzerland by masters of their craft
- They do not produce many of them – it’s a slow production line
- No part of their process is automated
In most instances, you would imagine that the company that has everything automated would make the most margins, and the slow/manual one would be working on reduced margins. However, the aviation industry’s net margins are between 1-3%, while Rolex is between 40-50%?
Why does this happen?
Well, a large part of it is due to demand.
- The airline industry is totally undersubscribed – there are more flights than people looking for them in most instances. It’s rare to look for a flight somewhere and for there not to be an option.
- Rolex is totally oversubscribed – the demand for their product far outweighs the supply, which has people sat in waiting lists and happy to pay more than the already outrageous ticket prices to get their hands on the product.
By having low supply, it creates high demand, which in turn attracts the luxury market who crave exclusivity and status.
The Actual, Actual Lessons
I’ll state this again – I don’t believe anyone should ever sell hearing aids for $26,000 (put those pitchforks down!) … but I do believe this thought experiment has you considering how you can be incredibly attractive to work with.
- Consider how you could position yourself as the industry’s #1 expert
- Consider how you position your availability for appointments
- Consider the story patients are told around your busy schedule
- Consider the lessons that you could take from Rolex around being oversubscribed
Lots to think about, right?
Applying These Lessons to Sell Hearing Aids for $26,000
So, based on the above.
Let me ask you the question again.
“What would you have to do (or be) to sell a set of hearing aids for $26,000?
Is your answer different?
I feel it comes down to two things.
Firstly, you would have to appeal to the luxury market, how would you do this?
- You would have to be the world’s best or be positioned as the world’s best? Think press interviews, a Wikipedia page, a big social media following, high profile patients, etc.
- You would have set out your stall to be ‘Application Only’ and positioned that you’re for the luxury market – your value proposition, your marketing and your website would be tailored towards the niche
Secondly, you would have to be oversubscribed, how would you do this?
- You would have long wait times for appointments, with the delay now becoming attractive rather than a burden. There’s a reason people have to wait, right?
- You would have to have a waiting list of patients and people would be vetted before being able to join the waiting list.
So, to summarize – you would be positioned as the world’s best hearing care professional (whether through the media, through social media or through the press) and you would have extremely high-demand to see you.
Based on this, hypothetically, do you believe you’d be able to charge $26,000 for a set of hearing aids?
I certainly do.
Remember, if you would like me to review your website, share some feedback, and deliver you no-obligation advice around your marketing strategy, then you can schedule a Strategy Session with me by clicking here.
It would be awesome to talk!