Never Discount Your Rates [Ep. #101]

NEVER Discount Your Professional Rates – It’s So BAD For Business.

In this episode we talk about discounting and promotion strategy for health and wellness pros, and why you should NEVER put the discount on your hourly rates. Of course we never want to give up money when you don’t have to, that’s the obvious reason. But let’s dig deeper: We discuss the problems is behind using discounted rates to grow your business and how to use a sales discount strategy without sabotaging the value of your time in the patient’s mind. We talk about that in today’s episode.

How discounted rates sabotage the value you offer

Discounting your rates in order to make a sale is bad business and I cannot abide by that practice. Even as a new grad, I do not recommend discounting a consultation rate or to give away your time for free. Your knowledge is valuable and you deserve to be paid for it.

A common example of this is when I hear about healthpreneurs giving a seminar and promoting $50 off the initial visit, just to entice people to book into their office.  This may give your patient the wrong impression – that your actual visit price is marked up, inflated, and in the end, not as valuable as the full price. I’m pretty sure when most of us set our rates, we set them up with this kind of hot air pricing in mind.

Let’s face it discounts are usually about liquidating excess stock – so, I ask, when will you ever have an excess of time you will need to “get rid of” quickly? Moreover have you ever heard of a lawyer running a discount on their time to get you to bring your matter to them? Heck no. You’d probably think they weren’t a very good lawyer if they are reduced to that kind of promo. And that’s exactly how you undercut your value as a trained health practitioner when you discount your rates.

So you see, providing your time at a loss to yourself helps no-one in the long-term because you’ll be out of business and looking for someone who will pay you properly for your time as an employee. #practicefailure

How to leverage discounts in your practice – the right way

What works is having smart boundaries around sales and promotions. Here are three ideas on doing discounts the right way:

• Flash sales – I will discount my automated programs and supplements that are in excess stock, but that’s only 2-3 times per year and for 2 days only.
• Bonuses for bookings – find ways to add to their patient appointment. Creating free learning resources such as a guide or eBook are perfect for this kind of thing.
• Discounts on introductory lab tests – listen to the podcast to hear how I’m using facebook ads to book patients EVERY WEEK from this regular ongoing promo.

Ready to learn more?? Click to listen:

In This Episode:

• [1:00] Why you should never discount your hourly rates and how to sell strategically instead.
• [5:40] A super easy tip to save your practice thousands of dollars.
• [8:30] How discounting your rates comes from a lack of belief in your own value.
• [10:50] An easy exercise to help you with your pricing.
• [13:30] How charging what you’re worth gets you better quality patients that you enjoy working with and make you more money in the long run.

Now, I’d love to hear from you!

Discounting your rates is bad business for health professionals – do you agree? How will you change your pricing to match? If you’re already on board with honoring your time and rates – what creative ideas do you have for running sales and promotions at your practice? Maybe you disagree with me – if so, tell me why!

Thank you so much for listening in – your time and attention is the best compliment I could ever get. I’m proud to be in this industry alongside you, helping you become more business-savvy so you can help more patients improve their health in the long-term. Honoring your rates is a change in the tune of our industry – for your patient’s sake, I hope you’ll join me in that practice.

P.S. Endless hours at the clinic got you wishing someone would just give you the map and plan to grow your practice to six figures in the next year? Check out my MAXIMize Your Clinic online course where I do just that and see if it’s the right investment for you and your practice.