The Deal Designer
Do discounts ever work in the business of dentistry?
I have long been a supporter of the “no discounts” camp.
The problem is that a special offer (whether a discount or the infamous 0% finance) should be Plan Z, used as a last resort to get a motivated patient across the line to buy your treatment.
Having said that, if the patient isn’t emotionally motivated without the special offer, are they really motivated at all?
Too many inexperienced TCO’s and clinicians use discounting, special offers and no-cost finance as their Plan A for business – a big mistake.
There have been some notable examples of dental businesses that discounted themselves into oblivion in recent years and months.
There can have been no greater example of this than the fatal combination of Groupon and Short-term Cosmetic Ortho. I’ve been called in as part of a rescue team (on more than one occasion) for Principals struggling to escape from the trap of short-term deep discounting and long-term treatment delivery – otherwise known as working for nothing.
No wonder that some of the other Principals facing that dilemma have chosen to vanish, leaving staff, clinicians and patients in the lurch. What a dreadful advertisement for us all, playing right into the hands of the hack journalist and obsessed regulator.
So is the landscape for discounts completely bleak?
Not if you think it through carefully – and prepare to take a longer term view.
That’s where this week’s spreadsheet is useful.
The 7connections Deal Designer looks at the short and long term effects of discounting for:
- Whitening
- Short-Term Ortho
- Dental Implants and
- Smile Design
…..and allows you to look at the financial impact of a campaign – on the assumption that you are able to retain the patient for preventative maintenance.
The numbers prove the point – that discounting is only truly effective if you create both a compelling reason and the small print to encourage the new patient to stay with the practice for the longer term.
You can input your own figures and I counsel you to invest that time before you embark upon any discount driven marketing.
7connections Deal Designer
