Your Pricing (FEES) Should Be Part of Your Marketing Strategy

You're listening to Podiatry Marketing, conversations on building a successful podiatry practice with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDannald. Welcome back to Podiatry Marketing. I'm your host, Jim McDannald, joined as always by my trusty cohost, Tyson Franklin. Tyson, what's going on today in Cairns?

I what's happening to well, firstly, hello, big Jim. How are doing? Well, it's warming up. It's now December. It's getting close to Christmas, which means Cairns is hot because we only have two there's only two temperatures we have in Cairns, warm and hot.

There is no cold weather in Cairns. So and if it does get cold, it ends up on the front page of well, it's best to say newspapers, but I wouldn't know if it's on the front page of a newspaper anymore. But I love this time of year because and it's one of those things that I should do a podcast episode on running through not to the end of the year. Okay. Well, because a lot of people, they do.

They You're trying so you're running to the end of the year.

Yeah. Well, a lot of people, they look at December and they sort of go, oh, can't wait till, you know, the twenty second December when we close our clinic and we'll be closed for ten days. I'm not sure what they do in America, but in Australia, there's like a ten day two week break that everybody takes. And they sort of they rush right up to that point, and they stop, and then they do nothing for two weeks, and then they try and kick off momentum again in January. And it's sort of almost like they just they just creep over the finish line, and then fall in a screaming heap.

Instead of just busting your ass and just running straight through the finish line. So it's like when you're watching someone do the hundred meters, you don't see them run, and then as they're getting closer, just sort of slow down and coast unless you're Usain Bolt running against me. Usually, I mean, they are sprinting right through to the finish line, and they don't start slowing down till they've passed it. So anyway, so that could be a different topic. That's not what we're talking about today.

Yeah. Well, I like that idea, but what are we gonna jump into today?

Today, we're talking about your pricing or your fees should be part of your marketing strategy. And I don't think many podiatrists actually look at fee increases and how they do it and when they do it and why they do it. Is actually part of your of your your overall strategy of what you're doing. It's not just something you just, oh, we're gonna increase our fees and just do it for the hell of it. That's the worst way of actually increasing your fees.

And the reason people should be increasing the fees because if they don't increase their fees, inflation is slowly putting them behind the April. They're not they're not even aware that this is actually happening that every year, if they have a look at what inflation is running at, if your fees are not in line with it and above it, then you're actually falling behind every single year.

Now that's a great, very relevant, you know, time sensitive topic. Think in 2023 around the world, we felt the crunch of inflation and raising prices for basically everything in life. So I am excited to jump into this today.

Well, it's got it is crazy. I'm not sure what it's like in Canada, but when I was in America in October, things that used to be relatively cheap were not cheap anymore. Things had actually gone up. Even just to go and buy a hamburger, I used to go, I've eaten hamburgers in America. They are so cheap.

They weren't as cheap as they used to be. In Australia, everything has gone up. Doesn't matter what you're buying. Occasionally, yeah, of course, there'll be things that are cheaper on special. But across the board, whether it's fuel, just life in general is so much more expensive, and inflation has gone through the roof.

So if your fees have not gone up accordingly compared to last year, pre COVID, if they haven't they've only gone up, like, $2 here and $2 there, you are actually worse off now than what you were a couple of years ago.

That's a good point. I think, you know, I probably see it most often in our grocery bills. Right? Because I'm always I've got two small kids that are eating basically everything in the house. So I see that most consistently, but I think across the board, you know, the the the rise in prices inflation is something that, like you said, if you're not being diligent about, you know, raising your prices in the right way, or if you're if you think, oh yeah, it's gonna jack up prices without some type of explanation or giving some reasoning behind why they're you know, I think everyone knows things are getting more expensive, but I think it's helpful to maintain, know, positive relationships with patients and kind of give them explanations and kind of give them the reasoning why you're deciding to raise your prices.

But I'm excited to hear what you have to say about that.

Well, one thing a lot of people too, they're not sure we have. When they do put the prices up, they sometimes say, well, how do I tell my patients that I've actually done it? So if you have a monthly newsletter, you could mention it in your monthly newsletter that your fees are increasing to a particular amount. If you don't have a monthly newsletter, you need to have a monthly newsletter. That's just I think we've spoken about monthly newsletters a few times on this podcast.

But the good part with that, if you could increase your fees, and it could be even your orthotic fees may go up a certain amount. And I remember one particular year when we increased their orthotic fee by $50. Not one person complained. Not one. Now what was interesting, the following year with the $50 increase, we did over a thousand pairs of orthotics that year.

Straight away, I got a pay rise foot not doing anything different to what I'd done the previous year. But what's interesting, how you can actually use it as a marketing ploy, you might say, oh, our our orthotic prices are going up. But in January, February, March, yeah, in the first quarter of twenty twenty four, we will give you $20.23 prices if you come in in the first three months. So you can actually increase your fees, your your fees, but also give people the option if they come in earlier for particular services that you will honor 2023 prices. So that's just one strategy that you can let them know what the fees are, but at the same time, use it as a as a marketing strategy or a tactic.

Yeah. I like that. I think that makes sense to, you know, kind of incentivize them to not only know that the price you know, giving them the heads up that the price increase is coming, but then kind of giving them a break for a quarter and kind of incentivize them to make appointments and get orthotics during that first quarter of the year. And then, you know, after that first quarter, then you have the increase in fees and, you know, it benefits your practice in a couple different ways.

Yeah. Well, there might be a number of patients throughout the whole of 2023 that you've written treatment plans for. It could be for shockwave therapy, low level laser. It could be some other treatment plan you've put together. It may include orthotics.

It may not. But you could quite easily look at that, recontact all those patients at the beginning of the first quarter of twenty twenty four and say, hey. Our fees have gone up. This is what we quoted you last time. But if you come in in this first three months, we will honor the prices for 2023.

But after that, it's basically gone. So I I just think you would have had patients that you've offered treatment plans to one form or another who is funny, some say no. Or hang on. I just need to check with my cat.

Right. They they put it off. Right? They they, like, put it off until never.

Yeah. And I think some people it's legitimate. I I spoke about this when I did the live reboot in November. And I mentioned there's some people and they say, oh, I'm just gonna check my roster or I've gotta check with my wife. It's a legitimate thing they need to check.

But then they get home, and when they get home, all of a sudden, their son or daughters hurt themselves at school, and they've, yeah, had to rush and go and pick them up. Then they get home, and there's some other problems going on. And all of a sudden, the priority of their feet sort of goes down a notch. All these other things happen. Oh, yeah.

I'm meaning to do that. I'm meaning to do that. And I think we've all been in that position where we're meant to do something like join a gym, go for a walk, do more exercise, eat, drink less, eat better. I'll start that next week. I'll do that next week.

And we put it off. So I think patients sometimes that they're legitimate excuses, so getting in touch with them is a great idea.

Yeah. Kind of reaching back out to them, I think we talked about recalling patients in the past, but having the opportunity to kind of remind them that their feet are a priority and to kind of giving them that incentive, you know, those two things coupled together with the newsletter and that, know, kind of staggered price increase, I would say, is a good incentive to get back into the practice and kind of refocus on taking care of themselves and their feet. So yeah, I like that idea of marrying the newsletter and the price change together.

Yeah. And so the next thing I wanna talk about is don't or just avoid just a mindless price increase. Yeah. You've heard, you know, you're listening to this podcast, you go, oh, okay. I'm gonna put my my fees up.

Don't just do it for the hell of doing it. It's actually think before you increase. Think about how are you being perceived by the people that you wanna actually attract in your business. And and I think that's that's really important because it's one of the things I've said to people. When you think premium, you think a certain a certain thought goes in yet.

When you say to people, oh, what's finish off this saying, cheap and and what's the answer, Jim?

I don't know. Cheap and low quality? I don't

know. Come on. Cheap and nasty. Cheap and nasty.

Yeah. I've never heard of that before.

Oh, you've never heard that before. Okay. So Oh, no. Okay. So usually, when you say in Australia, if you say premium, means one thing.

But if you say to someone cheap and everybody will say the same thing, nasty.

Really? Yeah. I've never heard that.

Oh, okay. That's interesting. So it's one of those things. If you think about the people that you really want to attract in your business, is think about if you increase your fees, well, how how do you want to be perceived by them? Do you wanna be perceived that you're really cheap, and therefore, you're gonna attract a certain clientele, a certain type of patient?

Or do you wanna be seen that you're a premium? So you can put your fees up to a certain amount that people will realize, well, if you're charging that and everybody else is charging this, you must be doing something different. And therefore, you gotta you then gotta back it up. So think about the people you wanna attract in the business. What sort of problem have they got, first of all?

What is it? Do you have a solution for that problem? And then will they pay for it? Will they pay for your knowledge to fix that problem? And I know right now, when I've had back problems or I've had a shoulder problem or neck, I will pay anything to get rid of the pain if somebody actually has a solution.

That premium kind of, like you talked about kind of signals to people, right? The price sometimes, a higher price if it's backed up by quality care is a huge signal to people that you are kind of the best in the area. So we're not saying you have to be the most expensive, you know, orthotic provider in your local area. But at the same time, you need to make sure that if you are gonna charge that premium premium price that comes with a premium level of care and a premium level of service that's beyond what others are providing.

Yeah. And don't be concerned what somebody who has a discount, yeah, the the cheapest mentality because they they are not your ideal avatar. If you're if you're running your business at the moment and your plan or your goal or your strategy is, I wanna attract all the people that got the tightest wallets, that don't like partying with money, that are just chasing discounts. That's the I want a clinic full of them, then just keep doing what you're doing. But I don't think anybody listening to this podcast is sitting there at the moment thinking, yeah, no one's more tight asses who complain about my fees all the time.

So when you're when you're going to set your fees, don't think about them. Think about your good patients and then go, okay, what will my good patients pay? And then keep testing. Keep testing the ceiling. It's one of those things that you don't have to just put your fees up once per year.

You can do it multiple times per year if you wanted to. But you test it out. You might test it with certain group of people. Okay? For the next group of new patients for this period, we're gonna charge this.

Let's just see what happens. And if no one complains, then you know that is the new that's the new benchmark. The people that bitch and complain, send them to the guys down the road.

No. You like you talked to yeah. Like you talked about, you need to have that kind of ideal patient avatar. Right? Like who are you going after?

Who is your ideal patient once you can kind of make sure that you're pricing at that level and getting those type of patients in the door, then you know you're kind of in that right price range when it comes to that.

Yeah. And it takes a little bit of planning and preparation. Like I said, don't just mindlessly go, I'm gonna put my fees up $5. And if you said to them, why have you put your fees up $5? And they go, because I put it up $5 3 years ago.

So and nobody seemed to complain, so I'll just put up $5. So to me, before you put your fees up, like I said, think about who your ideal patient is and and how they perceive your business. And what do you think what sort of problems do they have, and what are they willing to pay for it to actually have it solved. So that's that's one of the things. But the other part is evaluate what your competitors charging.

Find out what what everybody else is charging. But not just in your town, it's finding what they're charging in other towns. Because you might have you might have a group of people in your town, and you might have three or four other podiatrists in your area, and they all have a a discount mentality of themselves. So therefore, if you only just try to be just a little bit more above them, you might find, hang on, a town that's two hours away, they charge you 50% more than what we're charging, and it's and demographic wise, it's no different. So you know that people are prepared to pay this higher fee.

So first, I I think check out what your competitors are doing, you know, what others are charging. And then the next thing, it's really important to evaluate your future expenses. So you really gotta sit there and think about what current expenses you have that could potentially go up in the next twelve or eighteen months? What future maintenance could happen? So you look at your clinic.

What what needs to be replaced? Or if you own own own your building, for example, does the roof need to get fixed at some stage? Does it need to get repainted? Are your floor coverings terrible? Think about all these future costs that are coming up.

What future purchases do you need? So we're all looking at what the profession's doing. You you'll If you read any of the podiatry magazines or you're online doing a bit of research, you'll see all this new equipment coming through. So if that's something you think your ideal patients are probably gonna need, do you have the money to buy it? And if you don't have it now and you think, but that's something you wanna purchase in twelve months, then you've gotta be charging the right amount of money.

So it's really think about future expenses and outgoings and use that as part of your planning and preparation of your fees.

Yeah. I think you when you're when you're kinda planning, it's it's it is kind of what are the services you wanna provide. There's some different cost saving mechanisms maybe as well. Know, sometimes people got, you know, the big switch these days is kind of going from that kind of plaster molded orthotics into more like this laser scanning technology to make orthotics. So, or maybe in three d printing in the future.

So there may be some efficiencies along with the cost savings or the, you know, saving some some money for these other purchases that, you know, are there ways to be more efficient in your practice that maybe you're kind of lining up some of the ways you provide the care on a cost basis, maybe it's actually a little bit less. So maybe it will kind of change the way you do raise prices in the future, right? So if you're saving on 10% or 15% on the cost of making these orthotics made through three d printing or something, maybe that's a year where you pause, you know, a price increase and let the patients know about that too, right? Like you're becoming more you're doing things that are efficient for them. So you can there's different ways to market either holding a price or like you said, if you're increasing it, but maybe not quite as much as you would if you're making some different savings on the back end.

Yeah. It's I really think future thinking of what the patients are gonna need though is something that a lot of podiatrists don't think about. They they they make okay money, but then all of a sudden, they want to purchase this next piece of equipment. They don't have the money there really to do it. Some new guy comes into town, charges the right fees, makes really good money, and all of a sudden, they're buying all the toys that you can't afford.

And then you wonder why their business keeps keeps growing in leaps and bounds. And always remember, no one remembers who came second.

Right.

You think of the Olympic Games, the three times that Usain Bolt won. Who came second in those three races? No one remembers. So it's one of those things. There's a new when when we got our Shockwave machine, the first one, 02/2010, '2 thousand '11, we had it for four or five years before anybody else even had one.

By then, we were known for the Shockwave. We had lasers for funganas way before, I mean, years before anybody else in Cairns even thought about it. And therefore, people knew that's where you came to get it done. Everyone that had it afterwards, every time they did the marketing, we got busier. No difference when I talk about you think about I can ask you this question too.

Let's see if you get the answer right this time, Jim.

Alright.

When you think of fast food establishments and you wanna go and get something for breakfast, what's the first place that comes to

mind? Tim Hortons.

See, here we go. Canadian again. He's Canadian, isn't he?

Or McDonald's. Okay. He's from McDonald's.

McDonald's was in one of

those two places.

This helps when I speak both languages.

American and Canadian. What's the breakfast spot fast food breakfast place in Australia?

Oh, now McDonald's. McDonald's would be yeah. Your sausage and Mcmuffin for breakfast has been around, I think, since 1971 or something. That's been a long time. So that they just the thing is they just they own that market.

And the other day, Hungry Jack's Burger King, as you would call it, like I said, both languages, and they were advertising their breakfast rolls or whatever it was. And as soon as we saw that, I'm sure my wife turned to me and said, oh, I might have lost you in egg McMuffin. Haven't had one for ages. McDonald's is the first thing that pops into her head. And people don't really Sure.

Whoever gets in first owns owns the market. And then anybody else that advertises, once you own the market, that will get some business from it, but you will really rake it in. It's that it's

that first mover advantage. Right?

It is. It's just getting in first and getting known for something. So and the last part I wanna talk about about the fees and what the key ingredient for all this is. It doesn't matter all these things that we talk about, and this is like a small part of a lot bigger sort of subject when it comes to increasing your fees. But if increasing your fees makes you uncomfortable, you've gotta ask yourself why.

And your mindset is the key ingredient. So if I set somebody asset, and I do this all the time with my coaching clients, first thing I do is I sit down and we evaluate the current fee schedule. And I've never been I've never had anyone that I've looked at the fee schedule the first time and go, oh, jeez, you charge a lot. You charge too much. Never happened to never happened once.

And every one of them, I'll usually say, my goal is to get you to change this one, this one, and this one. And by doing that, what you pay me per month has already been covered within the first month, and therefore, I'm now free. And the look on their face when I tell them to change certain things, they go, oh, I don't know if I can do that. Okay. Just do it and amuse me.

And you know what? If it does work, I'll I'll give you the money that you think you lost. Single person at the end of the month goes, my god. Not one person has complained on those three areas that you told us to put our fees up. There you go.

If that and that's just happened time after time after time again. Just happens constantly. Yeah. You really get ashes up. If putting your fees up makes you really uncomfortable, ask yourself, why do you feel that way?

And and you've got to get over that. You've got to overcome that feeling of you're not worth what it is that you should be charging.

So you think it's usually more of a confidence thing than anything else when it comes to the physicians? It's or just they don't have the knowledge as far as they haven't done the homework as far as what the local competitors are charging. What what's the where's the disconnect there from from your perspective?

I think sometimes to some people it's their own self worth. If I say to a podiatrist, oh, do you realize that you could make more money than the local GP? Or you're making more money than the physio or the optometrist? And a lot of podiatrists don't see that they could make more money than them. And I know it's not and people like I said, there's there's people that listen to this podcast are all in with us.

They know you and I by now. If they've got to we're, you know, way past the hundred episode now, they they understand us. And it's not just about the money. You gotta provide a good service, good treatment. That's the bottom line.

But if you are and you're solving problems, then charge accordingly. That is my Christmas gift for people.

Thank you, sanitizing.

AKA the big cheese. Did I oh, I was gonna show you this too. So what a friend got me for my next brain book.

There you go. They got

me a yellow brain book with a big cheese embossed on it.

So you have big Jim and big chi big big Jim and big cheese.

Yeah. The big cheese. So that was just a it was a nickname that I gave someone once I called them little goose. So they called me big cheese, and it sort of just stuck. So now they're they're the names we give each other.

There you go.

So I've never really had any no. I've started my big cheese. It's pretty good.

Yeah. I like it.

So like I said, this topic, I could talk on for another hour easily because there's so many other aspects of it. But I think this is enough just to get people's juices flowing and realize that if right now, thinking of increasing the fee a certain amount makes them slightly uncomfortable, is ask yourself why. Why do you feel that way? Yeah. It could be that you anything could make you feel that way.

Well, if they're feeling that way and they're not really sure how to overcome it, I I know a fantastic way that they can. There's a guy on the podcast here who provides podiatry business coaching. Think his name is Tyson E Franklin.

Big

cheese. And Exactly, the big cheese. So feel free to you know, send Tyson an email, go to podiatry.marketing, look at our website and we have a contact form there. So we're happy to help you gain that confidence and charge what you're worth and the great care you're providing. So yeah, I think this is a great topic today.

Tyson, thanks a lot for enlightening us about raising fees and ways to do it in a transparent and helpful way to podiatrists out there.

Yeah. And it is. It's a really important topic, and I will admit with everybody else when I was first putting my fees up, I went through the same discomfort. Oh, I'm not sure. But once you do it and you realize nobody complains, and I've seen this time and time again, they always say the person has the biggest problem with the fees is the podiatrist, not the patient.

So Well put.

Okay. I look forward to our subject for next week, which we're getting so close to Christmas. Ho ho ho. I'll talk to you next week, Jim.

Sounds good. Sounds good, Tyson. Okay. Bye. Bye.

Thanks for listening to Podiatry Marketing with Tyson Franklin and Jim McDaniel. Subscribe and learn more at Podiatry Marketing. That's the website address, podiatry.marketing.