Perceived Value

When you read the title of this post, what do you think? Immediately images come to mind of what your patient thinks of the value your service / product has brought them.  You'd be correct but it also has another meaning; the value the patient sees before they decide to purchase a product or service from you.

A good everyday example was my visit to the dentist.  I was having a routine cleaning and she mentioned to me that she had recently invested in a whitening device.  The procedure was painless and fast and for the first 60 days she had it, she was offering her loyal patients to try it for free.  I hadn't mentioned to her that I had been considering whitening my teeth but have hesitated with all the research pointing toward sensitivity and discomfort for months post treatment. I was interested in the treatment and decided I would book for the following week.  I called in to book the treatment and was taken back when they told me it wasn't the technician or the doctor who would do the procedure.  In fact, the doctor wouldn't even be there.  It would be the receptionist!  Immediately, I graciously found an excuse to not book.  The next time I visited my dentist she mentioned the whitening and asked why I hadn't booked.  I said I was busy and hadn't had time but I was curious why the receptionist would be doing it.  She said "It's so easy anyone can do it."  It's so easy anyone can do it .... Anything so easy can't be very effective. That was my first thought.  

Sometimes we forget the words we use can unintentionally make a service or product be understood as being ineffective or innocuous. I've overheard aestheticians in the waiting room attempt to dispel a patient's apprehension to a product by saying that "it is impossible to get a reaction from it as there is nothing in it." Statements like these make patients believe there is no value in what you are trying to recommend.  

How do we avoid using the wrong words and make sure the true value of the product or service is conveyed to our patients?  Take 10 minutes every night and think about three interactions you had during the day.  Ask yourself;

1. did I explain the product or service in a way that reflects the outcomes it can deliver?

2. did I use the right words to describe it which give it value?

3. is there anything else I could have said that I will do next time so that #1 and #2 are met?

I recommend not just choosing three encounters that did not result in a patient proceeding with a service or product but also choose one that did.  By looking back on what you did right you will begin to form a regular pattern, even a verbiage repertoire, for all future encounters.  We learn by practicing and we can evolve how we express ourselves through reflection.

As for the whitening and the dentist,  I still have my routine cleaning and check ups with her but chose to go another route for the whitening.  She lost an up-sell opportunity and any referral business I would have brought with me.