What is an offer? What does that have to do with private practice?
So you may think, “Dr. TJ, is that like when I bought my house?” You wrote an offer and then you exchange. “Is that something that you’re talking about?” No!
In the business world, the offer is critical especially if you want to develop concierge practice. In the insurance-based model, you don’t need an offer. You just provide service, send the bill to the insurance company, and then they determine what is allowed. And then hopefully you get paid. That’s the insurance model.
But we’re talking completely different; we’re talking patient-pay model. Before we go there, the first condition is you are a doctor so don’t forget that. We are physicians. We are healers. Patients come to you to fix their problems and then you are morally and ethically obligated to provide a benefit, not harm.
Having said that, the offer is like a packaged service. It is irresistibly attractive and all the values are stacked in that package so that your presentation of the offer will be an experience for your patients.
People buy out of emotion more than logic.
To bring emotion out of patients, you need to craft your offer and your services as a package. For example, I’m a podiatrist. So let’s say a patient needs bunion surgery. You’d say you need bunion surgery and then pretty much that’s it. You may tell them some post-operative instructions like take medications but that’s it. That’s not an offer. That’s a very unattractive offer.
Now imagine if you package this bunion surgery, let’s call it Cinderella bunion procedure. (I just named it that but you can name your offer.)
You include all the benefits that can be complementing your main offer. So patients come for consultation every day. With my visit and x-ray let’s say they pay $225 to actually diagnose or evaluate their condition. If they go through bunion surgery – I’m talking about out-of-pocket patients – it costs, let’s say $3,000 for the procedure. With my offer, I give that $225 back if they decide to get the surgery done. So that represents their pre-op. All the detail of the pre-op is included in the offer. And all the post-op visits are included up to 3 months and cover:
- CAM walking boots
- splint dressing material
- premium quality shower cover
- post-operative laser treatment for healing
So you provide them a package. That is what an offer is all about
So what does this do for you? It makes you different. It makes you a niche service provider. It makes you care for patients. Patients will have different experiences; they’ll have different emotions when they hear about this offer.
Good luck crafting your offers! Comment below if you have any questions.
Dr. TJ