The Performance Doctor: Pricing Your Visits

Recently I came across a Reddit post where a user asked a simple, yet powerful question.

And it’s probably one that you have struggled with in the past, or are currently struggling with.

There’s a lot to unpack here - but we are going to focus on the discount.

Now to preface, at this point in time the redditor had not moved forward with the heavily discounted promotion. There were also a lot of comments against this idea.

First, let’s talk about the elephant in the room.

A $399.00 initial visit.

You are probably thinking, “That’s wild! $399 is a lot of money for a new patient”

That may very well be the case in 80% of cities across the US. I certainly thought so too. Specially not knowing a couple of things:

1. Where is this person’s based out of?

2. What is the cost of living of the area?

3. What are some key demographics of the area (median income, average electric bill, rent, etc.)?

4. What is the average cost of similar services?

5. What is the cost of a follow up visit?

6. Are they specializing in a very unique protocol/pathology/treatment/techinque?

7. How many visits to follow up?

8. How much are follow up visits?

Without some of this information it’s hard to say whether or not they live in a very affluent area where $399 might not be priced too high.

For example in New York a new patient visit might be $250-$300 — so there’s that.

Now you are thinking, “but they are thinking about discounting their services almost 90%.”

You are also not wrong. This is what concerned me the most.

Not the discounting part (although dependent on your state it might be illegal to discount ANY kind of services).

The amount of the discount — 85% discount in any scenario is a HUGE RED FLAG 🚩

But you see it done everywhere!

Everybody and their influencer mother is doing it.

From a full marketing stack of $10,000 only for $17 today… or a full business course that goes from $8,497.00 for only $37.00.

These are marketing tactics that work really well for these products.

But do they translate to healthcare services?

IMO - They shouldn’t, but nobody is arguing them.

Just think about every other practice selling their initial visit for $29.99 with a full exam and X-rays. They are getting people in the door, assessing them, and converting them into paying patients.

I know what you are thinking… I should just go do that.

I won’t stop you — if you need patients in your office and you are a great at converting them into paying clients, go for it.

The question is not, should I offer a discount.

The question is, does the benefits of my offer exceed the price of the offer?

In the eyes of your consumer, your benefits should be valued HIGHER than your price.

It’s okay to be thought of as “expensive.”

But you want that to be followed with “worth it.”

Could the Redditor charge $399 for their initial consultation? Sure. Does their offer exceed the perceived value of this? We don’t know.

If they are simply doing a focused exam and adjustment in $30 minutes, then that’s probably the reason they may not be having a lot of success bringing in new patients.

If they are skilled at conveying the benefits, how they relate to their niched patient and how it’s going to solve X problem then $399 might not be too expensive.

You have to see the ROI, not from your perspective, but from your patients perspective.

…back to the discount.

In many states providing a discount on services could be considered enticing the patient and therefore you may be crossing into the shady gray areas of illegal activity.

Make sure you understand the marketing laws that you abide by as a health professional. Many marketing agencies see you just as another business, and forget that there may be certain practice you can’t use. This often happens with young/new marketing agencies.

There’s a reason why “discovery visits/calls” or “free consultations” are very popular amongst specialty practitioners (yes, you fall under that category).

Is an 85% discount that bad? Uhhh, yes. Specially when it’s presented by a marketing company. That means your lead and prospects are price shopping and will most likely not even show up to a second appointment. Even if that appointment is $50 bucks.

If a marketing company has to discount your price… then that marketing company has no idea how to market your services and is simply counting on the idea that people are looking for a cheap deal.

If you want to grow your practice with high quality patients, here’s how I grew my practice the first time and how I am growing it now that we moved.

Yes… some of these are time consuming. But you need a community presence if you are going to grow in your community.

Growing a practice IS time consuming.

For all the amazing reach social media can offer you with organic or paid reach, 70%+ of your patients will come from in-person interactions. Either from you, or from your current patients.

If you are just getting started, I highly encourage you to do a couple of the options above. If you want to run a new practice special, or a new patient special—just don’t cut yourself short.

Until our next issue!

In health and strength,

P.S.

1. Join over 250 Certified Dry Needling Practitioners and enroll in an upcoming Dry Needling Course

2. Enroll in our upcoming Extremity Rehabilitation Masterclass. Master diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation protocols for Upper and Lower Extremity injuries and dysfunctions.