Is the Price THE Issue or AN Issue?

The factors that are important when people make buying decisions.. and they are not all what you think they are

Over the last 20 years, I have personally trained and coached over 8,000 dentists on my Two Day Ethical Sales & Communication Programme. I have visited hundreds of practices, spent hours socializing with dentists and presented to thousands of them and their teams, all over the world.

I have had hundreds of hours of conversation, all has led me to the undeniable conclusion – the area in which they require most help is discussing fees and dealing with price objections. These are two absolutely fundamental issues which have ultimately led to regular undercharging of their patients. Almost without exception, dentists I’ve met have all admitted, that sometime during their Practice lives, that they have found this whole matter extremely uncomfortable.

In truth, it is quite understandable that you should feel uncomfortable when it comes to dealing with money. At university you were taught how to deliver your specialist technical skills in a caring and empathetic manner. Quite rightly you have been trained to be a healthcare professional and not a business person. I understand that discussing fees is totally outside your comfort zone.

Perhaps you have also been affected by the bad press which the dental profession seems to receive? The media will sometimes highlight dentists who have opted to leave the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, to concentrate on private practice. This decision is cruelly portrayed by thoughtless journalists as being greedy, leaving your profession unjustifiably tarnished. From the evidence I have gathered, I have actually concluded that the total opposite is true and in reality it is undercharging which is much more prevalent in dentistry!

Dentists on my courses have been painting a very different picture to that of the media. They often describe practices which are struggling to keep pace with rising overheads and of staff requiring increased salaries to meet their own spiralling domestic bills. In some extreme cases I’ve even heard of dentists piling debt onto their credit cards, in order to meet financial demands.

Yet despite this increasingly bleak picture, the same dentists are still finding it almost impossible to quote their prices accurately. They find themselves regularly reducing charges, on the assumption that otherwise their patients won’t be able to afford them. They believe that by offering discount, they will hear the word “yes” more often. Reductions of this nature are, in my opinion, totally unnecessary.

So one of the things we need to look into is what is important when people buy everyday products and services.

So is price the issue or an issue when you buy products and services? Here is a simple exercise to determine how important the price tag is when you make your own purchases?

Firstly, get a piece of paper and write down five acquisitions that you have recently made. Maybe an item of clothing, a meal out or even a present?

When you made these purchases, was the price the most important factor? When completing the exercise, think carefully about your thought process. Only put a tick next to the item, if you made your purchase solely based on price.

How many ticks do you have?

When we do this exercise on my programmes, we very rarely get anybody who has bought anything based on price alone. We could have 25 delegates, equating to more than 100 purchases and I would say on average per class, we get only a handful, where cost has been the most significant issue. There are always other more important factors such as brand, colour, and design. There are always, therefore, other equally important considerations in addition to the cost.

Let’s say you’re buying a television. You might do some research on the internet and visit several stores, in order to determine which brand you like and which model would look best in your living room. Technology may be an issue too, as you decide whether to acquire a plasma screen, or one with HD or even 3D capability. Only once you have collated all that information, will you then begin to look into its potential price bracket.

The example above is from my own personal experience but I usually find that the same principles also apply to B2B purchases. Here’s a simple experiment that can be conducted in your practice. Think about the furniture and everyday materials you currently use in your surgery. When you bought them, was cost the number one factor, or were there other more important considerations?

Now look at the day to day invoices you settle. Are they always the cheapest products? Are there other factors such as service or the relationship you have with your supplier? How important was quality? When this is discussed on my courses, though price is certainly an issue, it is never THE issue.

Apply this same process to a vendor you now no longer use. Did you leave them because of price or were there other more important factors such as poor service, unreliability or perhaps an irreconcilable breakdown in the relationship with the company or their representative?

My courses are attended by a variety of different professionals with an ever greater array of salaries. Most practices bring their entire team onto my programmes. So we could have the Dentists, the Hygienist, nurses, Reception and Practice Manager, regardless of their budgets, it is rarely the price alone which has been the decisive factor in determining their everyday purchases. Whether they are cautious or spontaneous, in my experience, it is never the price tag alone which has ultimately influenced the purchases they make.

Why not try this exercise with your staff? You will quickly learn how many different factors they will consider before they buy.

Imagine a world where price was the most important factor. Everyone would be driving the most basic cars, eating only cheaply made food and wearing bargain basement clothing. There would be no need for luxury cars or Michelin star restaurants, while designer label stores would all be boarded up.

To conclude

1. Please don’t feel embarrassed if you find the talking of fees uncomfortable. Firstly, you are not alone. I have very rarely met a dentist who at one stage in their career have they found this area challenging
2. When people buy everyday products and services, price is very rarely the issue. Yes it is an issue, but very rarely the issue.
3. On the basis that price is very rarely the issue when people buy products and services; try not to reduce the price of your treatments. Chances are the vast majority of your patients will pay full price.