This article is written by Physio Paul Gough – founder of the Paul Gough Physio Rooms, a successful 4-clinic Private Physio Practice in the North East of England. Paul is a former professional football physio, a published author, host of a top rated Business Podcast on iTunes, winner of the “Small Business Icon” award – and he now helps Physiotherapy Business Owners in America and across the world to grow their clinics profits using internet and direct marketing strategies.
If you are a UK or Ireland based Private Physiotherapy Clinic Owner – chances are that you’re not making the profits you deserve.
Why?
Simply because so many private physio’s are charging way LESS than they should be…
And it’s hard to make a profit if you’re only charging £35-£40 per visit.
Every successful Physiotherapy Clinic has one thing in common – they are able to command DRASTICALLY higher prices than their competition.
They are not only able to charge higher prices than most – they’re able to do it without the fear of loosing any patients.
At my own clinic – the Paul Gough Physio Rooms – we are charging “£65” for a 30 minute visit – and “£99” for a 60 minute visit.
And that’s in a small, economically challenged town in the North East of England – “Hartlepool”.
For context – most of the private physio clinic owners in my area are charing “£40” (at best)…
So how can we charge 50%-120% more than them for providing the “same” service – and without fear of losing all our patients?
Well, here’s how:
The REAL problem that most physio clinic owners have is that there is an abundance of choice when it comes to a patient choosing a private physio (not to mention the free NHS option)…
If I search in your small town for a physio on Google – I won’t have to scroll to far to find a few numbers of who I could call.
And that’s what a lot of patients are doing….
Now lets say that the person looking, decided to call each one of those physio’s and asks the question:
“How much is a each session?”.
Now what happens next is what is vital for you to understand…
Given that every physio in that town is all looking at what each other is charging, they’re all going to be round about the same.
Lets say for argument’s sake your competition is charging £35.
You might go “brave” and charge £40 per session just because you believe that you provide a superior service.
Fine.
But the problem with that is, you are still within sight of the clinic round the corner in terms of the perceived value that you offer.
And PERCEIVED VALUE is ALL that matters in the beginning.
Lets face it, is anyone really going to miss that extra £5?..
Especially when it comes to their health?..
Of course not.
But because “£35” and “£40” occupy the same space in the brain when it comes to the decision to buy something – the person thinking about buying comes to the conclusions that because the price is “similar” – almost exactly the same – there’s not going to be that much difference in the quality of provider.
How can it be? Their fees are so similar…
And in the absence of any other reason to buy, people will always come down on the side of the cheaper provider (for everything).
The key word there are: “In the absence of any other reason” – which most businesses never provide to a consumer thinking of making a purchase.
Now lets look at what happens when someone calls my clinic:
If they ring my competition, they are comparing a provider who says their skills are worth “£35” – with someone (me) who says their skills are worth “£99”.
If you are the patient, your first instinct is to think “what the hell are these guys going to do differently if they are charging £99?”.
We are so far above the competition – that we are in a league of our own.
They are not making a decision on price anymore.
They are now making a decision that is about RISK…
DO you RISK the “cheaper” health care provider.
Or go with the more expensive one?
Very few people can not sit comfortably with choosing the REALLY cheap option.
And if they do – you don’t want them in your clinic.
We create such a gap between us an our competition that we attract people to us who WANT to pay that higher fee because they’re buying into the certainty that comes with choosing a company that feels confident enough to command a much higher fee.
Sure, you’ll lose one or two patients – but in our experience, they are not the type of clients that we would want to work with any ways…
…and most people who do object to our prices – when you ask them, they would never have paid £30 – never mind £40 or £45.
So you really have got nothing to loose.
At best, you’ll see less patients – and make more profit.
Isn’t that the reason you are in business in the first place??
I put it to you that this type of Price Strategy is happening to YOU everywhere you shop – and in every decision that you make as a consumer…
…why not make it happen for you as a business owner??
If you believe that your service is more superior than your competition – and that the value you add to your patients life goes way beyond the “average” £35 per session that most physios accept, then why not do something about it, starting today?
All that stands in the way is a little “mind-set” shift on how you see what you – and what you stand for.
To help you, here are 5 simple strategies that make raising your fees much easier:
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1. Give people an option and let them decide what they want to pay – have a higher priced session and a lower priced session (less time) that lets them go lower and start there if they want to.
2. Offer Packages – people like to buy packages and it’s much less “painful” to pay once, upfront, than it is to keep paying at the end of every session
3. Communicate what makes you different – this is called your “USP” (Unique Serving Proposition). It’s how you describe to people why and how you are different to all of the other options that they have got (including the NHS where it’s free)
4. Spend more time talking to the patient on the phone – The more time you talking about THEM and their problems on the first phone call (we aim for 20 min first calls), the more that you are able to custom tailor a solution that is perfect for them – one that they will be happy to pay more for.
5. Create “Deal Flow” – this is where you have so many people wanting to hire you that you can pretty much charge what you want because people need you more than you need them. Most physio businesses never ever experience this situation in their lives because they do not invest in their Marketing – at all.
Instead, they rely upon “word of mouth” referrals or those coming from third party like Medical Agencies or Insurance companies and are there never in a position of authority to set the fees they want.
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So there you have it…
Start with understanding how people do actually make their purchase decisions – not how you “think” or “feel”…
People do not make decisions to always buy the “cheapest” – if they did, they would all be driving rusty second hand cars, wearing the cheapest clothes, eating in the worst restaurants and no-one would ever be going to anywhere nice for their holiday.
How people make purchase decisions is very simple and very predictable and the more that you invest the time to learn about these types of things – the more successful your physiotherapy clinic will be.
That’s it for now, if you want more information like this from me, be sure to go here to listen to the Podcast that I created on this topic:
www.paulgough.com/audio-experience-02
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