The Real Reason Why Seeing A PT Is So “Painful”

by · 23rd August 2016

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Story time:

So there I was at the weekend talking with a friend of mine who runs a coffee shop…

…we got to talking about something I call “the pain of doing business”.

What A Patient -Price Objection- Really Means (5)

What is it?…

“It’s when customers have to PAY!”

In a coffee shop, they’re paying to be recognized (by the barista and other customers), for social activity and escapism…

..and of course, the caffeine hit!

So they are often happy to do so…

In our world…

…they’re buying a GRUDGE purchase.

No bags of “stuff” (like walking out of Walmart)…

…and therefore no “instant pleasure” associated with the credit card transaction after their session.

Sure, a bit of “relief” and “hope”…

…but lets face it, along the way, it can be physically painful and then we’re asking them to cough up and pay loooooong in advance of the outcome they seek.

And, it’s when they come to pay – at the card machine – that the consumer starts to question the value of what you do!

They may not always verbalise it, but that’s the time when they’re analyzing the value you bring to them…

Don’t think it’s so important to factor into the running of your business?

Well, analyse this:

A few decades ago there was a shift from paying in cash for everything, to writing a Cheque…

(Not as painful when you write on a piece of paper as handing over crisp, dollar bills that you’ve worked hard for all week).

Then came the “credit card”…

Because the problem with writing cheques was that you could now look at the amount…

…stare at that amount – and KNOW that this amount, in the end, will be leaving your bank.

So for a while, the credit card has provided the quickest, easiest and fastest possible way for money to leave one bank account – and enter another.

Enter “contactless”.

It’s the next step in the process of making consumer spending “painless”…

…these days you don’t even have to press the four digits of your pin or hear the beeps associated with each push…

…because it’s that “beeping” noise that we’ve now come to associate with the pain of getting what we want!

With “contactless” you can literally just slap your card over the top of a machine without looking and forget that you actually did so…

Does it get any easier to ask people to do the one thing no one wants to do (and pay)?

The point of todays lesson?

The easier and less painful transactions with any business are – the more they spend…

It’s that simple…

The question is, what are you doing to make doing business with you LESS PAINFUL?

One of the easiest ways to do that is offer some *certainty* in the decision that your patient has made to do business with you…

How do you do that?

Educate.

Educate.

Educate (…via your marketing).

Preferably, in advance of the cash, cheque or credit card coming, or insurance number out.

If they know what you do, and why you do… before you do what you do… they have no problem paying for it after you do what you do!

NOT doing this is why so many doctor referred patients arrive at a PT clinic and “resist” as the co-pay or deductible cost hits home…

Picture this:

As the doc’ writes the script, do you think he’s doing ANY educating about the value a PT can really bring to that patients life?..

Of course not.

Heck, my doctor couldn’t even spot the difference between ‘piriformis syndrome’ and ‘sciatica’, let alone describe what a PT would do to fix either!

Just a thought…

..but as co-pay and deductibles INCREASE, which they surely will, so to the pain of doing business with you.

Have you got your version of “contactless” ready??

Anyhow, lesson over for today…

Sincerely,

Paul Gough

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About Paul Gough

PAUL GOUGH is one of the top Marketing and Business Coaches in the physical therapy industry and his Systems are helping clinic owners all across America run more profitable clinics. He is a published Author, Newspaper Columnist and before his stunning success in business was hired by top professional soccer teams. HIS SUCCESS STORY is one that inspires many pt's around the world - at the age of 26 Paul QUIT a high profile job in professional soccer to begin his own clinic. He had NO money, NO business or marketing skills and NO experience - and yet now owns and runs 4 pt clinics and has a proven track record of growing a physical therapy business from 0 - $2m in record time.
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