Who are the price buyers?

In my previous article, I wrote that when people purchase everyday products and services, price although very important is very rarely the issue, an issue yes, but not the issue. There are always other more important factors when people are buying. I also wrote that throughout my 23 years career of training and working in the Dental Industry, I have very rarely found a Dentist who has not found the discussing of fees uncomfortable at some time in their lives. So if this is an area which you find challenging, you are not alone.

However, to contradict myself here, there are some people and patients who will base their buying decisions based around price.

So who buys solely on price?

In my experience there are four types of people who base their decision making solely on price.

Professional buyers

They are trained to buy on price only. They could typically work for large department stores, where their job is to buy the best quality possible at the lowest price and on the best terms for their business. They are professionally trained, they will go on buying and Negotiation Courses.

People on limited income

They will buy on price because they simply have no choice. In my first year as a business coach, as I began to grow my client base, I had first-hand experience of basing all my decisions on cost alone. I quickly discovered that you always got more for your money when shopping for food at the end of the day, as some stores reduced the prices of certain items as it was getting closer to their sell by date.

Those who are foolish!

This may seem a little harsh, but there are some people I’ve met who are pound rich but penny poor and in my opinion do not value their time.
I know of an orthodontist who openly admitted on one of my courses that he went to 13 different shops, spread over two weekends, before he finally purchased a rucksack for £75 for a walking holiday.

Here was a highly skilled professional, with the potential to earn hundreds, maybe thousands of pounds every day, squandering more than ten hours of his valuable time to make such a small purchase.

And he’s not alone – a dentist on my course once admitted that he had travelled over 50 miles, on long country lanes, to save just £30 on seed for his garden. A saving which was surely negated by the extra petrol used and the extra hours wasted in getting there!
Only last week, a Dentist admitted that he spent three hours surfing the internet to save £5.00p on a lead for his computer. Not a really good use of his time.

People who have not been given a good enough reason to invest.

This is a group who are undecided and who do not yet feel they’ve received sufficient information to make a commitment. They might be comparing one practice’s price with another or perhaps weighing up a private option against one available through the NHS? In each case the patient will need a fuller explanation before choosing your particular procedure. In short, you have not convinced them to pay your fees and they have doubt.

Invariably this has arisen due to a lack of sales and communication skills. An inability to fully explain the many benefits you have to offer or maybe what is included in the treatment plan that you are charging. Because of this, it has left the patient unwilling to proceed. The patient has doubt. This results in the patient even giving you a price objection, where you might hear a statement that goes like ‘That’s expensive’ or, why does it cost so much? or in most cases, they will not proceed any further with your treatment plan.

Although I have not got any statistics to back up what the percentage figure is that make up the above four groups, my gut feeling tells me that it is very low. The most important factor is always going to be the relationship and the trust the patient has with the Dentist and the team. After all, have you ever tried to buy something of somebody you did not like or trust?

To conclude

1. There are normally only four types of patients who buy on price.

2. If you receive a price objection from your patient, it is normally down to the fact that we have not communicated the full benefits of what we are offering to the patient

3. The relationship and trust is more important than price of your services.