Who do you want in your practice? How do you want your practice to be?
Bargain seekers vs value seekers
I got started off on the wrong foot in my practice.
I didn’t know anything about business. I thought people would just show up. I didn’t have a lot of money when I started, so I projected that feeling on my clients as well.
I had a coach who advocated a high volume very low fee practice. He encouraged you spend under 1 minute with patients adjusting them. “Just adjust” he’d say. I had a very bad time in his program.
What this style attracted was price shoppers and bargain seekers. I’d get people who were coming in for less than 10 bucks a visit.
It was around this time I started learning about business, sales and marketing.
I have a few important things to share with out about price and positioning. Both I got from Dan Kennedy (see resources for links to his books, all of which I highly recommend).
First: Only 10% of people shop on price, and these aren’t the type of people you want in your practice. If you don’t have the lowest price in town, you may as well have the highest price, because people who shop on price only shop on price only, and if you aren’t the cheapest they will go someplace else.
Second: Every low price leader is eventually undercut. All the previous discounters have been run out of business, Woolworths, K-Mart, and eventually Wal-Mart will be put out of business, probably by Amazon, and after Amazon another will emerge.
Third: There is always a demand for luxury goods. Even during tough economic times. Wealthy people are more or less insulated from economic fluctuations, and they aren’t going to change their quality of life at every minor market move.
Fourth: When people pay more for something, they tend to have a more favorable view of the product. Psychologically it’s better to charge more, because your clients and patients will actually feel like they are getting a better product, and therefore they will get better results.
So, what do you want to represent? A low priced leader like Walmart? Or a high class establishment like the Waldorf?
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IF you want to serve at the highest level that chiropractic has to offer, go to Everest Boot Camp. Best decision I ever made in practice.
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