Pricing principles in the dental clinic

Pricing in dentistry is a very serious issue that can be solved only by the owner of the business, possibly with the help of the head physician clinic or marketer. The difficulty in pricing consists of a number of factors.

1. It is not possible to provide quality treatment on the low-cost hardware and using cheap materials. Therefore, the prices for dental services must be objectively high.

2. Discounts and other price action in dentistry practically do not work. The patient will not treat the teeth, because today is a discount day.

3. If the patient believes that it is more important for him to save money, then in case of complications he immediately forgets that he chose cheap treatment. He will tell everyone that the treatment in your clinic is poor, and will be a living agitator against the clinic.

4. From the point of patient's view there is no difference in dental services. When comparing prices, patients are guided in the simplest way, call the clinic and ask, "How much costs a filling?" Explain that the cost of treatment depends on many factors, it is very difficult. Clinics owners that are not understand these moments, allow the following basic mistakes: hidden prices and games with prices.

The first mistake is that by the phone dentist does not say price at all, and the clinic does not show a price list. The mistake is that the patient begins to think that doctor hides something and loses confidence to the clinic. The second mistake is saying by phone a minimum price, and after treatment billed quite a different amount. The error is that the patient will feel that his cheating. The only option competent work with the prices is that the receptionist on the phone calls only a minimum price for the installation of the seal, adding that depending on the condition of the tooth price may vary. During a visit to the doctor provides the patient treatment options with an explanation of the advantages and disadvantages of each of them. The patient chooses, for what he pays the money. Only in this way you will look in the eyes of the patient's established and reliable clinic. The apparent complexity of this approach, however, will save you a lot of time and nerves, which you can spend on a showdown with disturbed patients. The initial approach to pricing is pretty simple. First, choose a price segment. Then choose the competitors in this segment. After that get know their prices, according to some average value and add to it 5-10%.

It is not recommended to stay prices less than competitors, as the first impression of the clinic consists of the price. Seeing low rates, patients will think that you have the quality is worse than the other. From this level you start. But further work with the prices should be continuous. Every month you have to change the prices for certain services, and see how the market reacts. The overall goal is that you should not allow idle offices, but can't create too large queue. When you have patients recorded a month in advance, it's not as good as people think. Moreover, the presence of queues from a business perspective is catastrophically bad. Firstly, no one likes to stand in line. This leads to the fact that patients go to other hospitals, and you lose money. Secondly, the long queues indicate that prices in your clinic understated, so you lose money again. So as soon as you see that in your clinic formed a queue, you should investigate the cause.

If prices are too low compared to the competitor, you need to raise money to provide better treatment. In case of queue because of pent-up demand, it is necessary to expand the clinic or to open branches. This is impossible to make it fast. All actions on pricing are made in small steps with analyzing results. Prices should not change for all services, and on the part of no more than 10% of the total range. After that you should collect statistics for the month and two and only then make a decision. Very often churn after the price increase is a temporary phenomenon. As a general rule, if the patient leaves the hospital only because of higher prices, the statistics he returned about a year later, failed with poor service. The very fact of the price increase is desirable to bind to some event. Increasing the price of nowhere does not look very good. Convenient occasions for price increasing are as follows:

• Acquisition of new equipment

• Production of repair in the clinic

• Changing the design

• Staff development

In pricing there are a number of pitfalls, which if not taken into account, can serve as a real obstacle to ensuring profitability. Chief among them - are costs not related to the treatment process. For example, if your clinic is located in the center, the rental price higher. Either it increases the flow rate and is very substantially. But you can't just pick up and prices have risen sharply. After all, being in the center does not improve the quality of your care. Another example. You have dramatically increased rents. You will be forced to raise prices, but no additional value to patients, you have not offered, so they will go away from you. Accident occurred sewer, you retired administrator, you have imposed a heavy fine because of an error in the financial statements, in front of the clinic began repairs of heating. All of these events increase the costs and reduce the number of visitors, but you can't use them to compensate for the high prices. Patients will be able to leave. The best and richest Clinic, which stopped attending patients immediately go bankrupt. To prevent such situations, you have to put into the price of a certain amount of insurance, "safety cushion". In the presence of such insurance you can cope with unpleasant situation with minimum losses. It is important that all of these unpleasant events have no effect on patients. Finally, you put inflation in all your calculations. Material prices are rising gradually, and it should be reflected in the price of your services