The recent economic downturn has massively curtailed the ability of any average, reasonable individual to spend. This decrease in the spending power of consumers has made it nearly impossible for them to purchase goods and services which are not deemed as essential.
Some of these inessential services include elective dental procedure like cosmetic dental procedures. And while the American Dental Association has stressed time and time again that patients should see their dentist once every six months for routine cleaning, the majority of individuals are still bypassing these regular visits unless something has started to really hurt or if some sort of bleeding has begun.
All of these reasons, no matter how practical and seemingly sound they may be for prospects, are hurting the dental industry as a whole. So how can dentists work around these conditions and still keep their business afloat?
These tricks of the trade just might work.
Discounts?
The majority of dentists go for the most obvious solution to their sluggish productivity problems – reducing rates of services in the form of discounts. But while this definitely makes sense in that people want to get services for the lowest price, marketing experts also have a couple of problems with this tactic. For one, discounts are inorganic methods of getting more consumers and the problem with these artificial solutions is that the increase in productivity stops once you pull the plug on this gimmick. And for how long can you continue to give discounts without being in the red?
Value Added Services
Another problem with discounts is that they seemingly cheapen the service which you are peddling. The reason for why cosmetic and oral surgery procedures are normally priced higher is because patients might get the impression that they are going to an unsafe and inferior procedure. In order to escape that sort of impression yet still lure patients in, dentists go for the concept of value added services. Basically, dentists charge their patients the same rate but they get to avail of another service on top of the one that they are paying for, free of charge.
Offer Financing Options
Sometimes, a patient can afford a certain procedure, but that patient just cannot pay for everything at one go. How many patients do you know have enough cash to pay for orthodontic braces right on the spot? Not a whole lot, I bet. So instead of turning away patients, try offering financing options or offer treatments in phases to make your services more affordable to interested prospects.
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