This weekend, we wrapped our last tournament of the fall baseball season. Happy to report the team really stepped up this week, and took a 3-game win streak into the championship on Sunday, where we were finally defeated.
Between our Saturday games, we had a 2-hour break. Susan took the kids and went with a couple of other parents over to a local restaurant to grab a bite, while I stayed behind to scout and game plan for our next game.
And this is where today’s Story Time Sales Lesson begins…
The tournament was in a small town about 30 minutes south of Fort Worth. After some googling, the crew headed over to a relatively fancy restaurant with a cool outdoor patio and live music. I’ll admit I was a little jealous to miss out once I saw the pics.
When they got back, I asked how it was. Susan said, “you’re not gonna believe this…”
Of course my ears perked up, because I knew a story was coming.
She pulled up a picture of her receipt (below) and said, “Have you ever seen a ‘Venue Fee’ on a ticket before?”
I’ll admit that’s a new one for me. She proceeded to tell me the story.
She got the ticket at the end of the meal, looked it over, and discovered this mysterious “Venue Fee.” So she asked the waitress.
Her response? “That’s for the ambiance.”
Yup, a fee for the ambiance of the restaurant. Um, what?
See for yourself at the bottom:
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If you’ve met Susan (or if you’ve ever seen Beth Dutton on Yellowstone), you can guess how this went. “Yeah, I’m not paying for that.”
To her credit, the waitress said, “Yeah, I’m not a big fan of that. I’ll take it off for you.”
Now the venue fee was only 3%. Literally it was $2.76. We can afford to spend a few extra bucks. So it’s not a big deal right?
Wrong. Because the entire concept of charging this small fee is a great example of nickel-and-diming. A small amount of money that can make a huge difference in someone’s perception of your business and brand.
In this case, what was purported to be a nice restaurant is now seen as cheap, trying to squeeze a few extra dollars out of patrons.
And indeed that was the case even beyond this wild fee. If you look at the receipt again, you’ll see that when Susan asked for extra Tajin on the rim of her beverage, they charged her $1 for it. Essentially charging her for salt.
Want extra sauce for the $17 chicken sandwich? That was another $.50.
Susan thought she was traveling first class on American Airlines, but come to find out it was a (recently bankrupt) Spirit Airlines flight.
And what happened on Sunday when someone recommended they head back to the same restaurant? Susan said no. They went elsewhere.
$4 of extra charges resulted in a loss of $100+ they didn’t make from a return trip by our team.
What can we learn from this? A couple of takeaways today:
1. Don’t nickel-and-dime your patients
You want to be the premium provider. Premium = easy, done for you, a great experience, anticipating your needs, focused on the outcome. A couple of the hidden ways we nickel-and-dime patients:
- Making them pay an extra $20 for a post-op kit / drops / whatever when we could easily include it
- Charging for a pre-op and/or consults and not applying that $$ to the surgery
If you’re doing that, stop.
2. If margins are thin, raise your prices.
This restaurant could have easily increased their prices by $1 (or even less) and not have to do any of these silly extra charges.
I talked to a practice last week that hasn’t increased their LASIK prices in almost 20 years. It’s time to do it.
If you need to increase your prices, make it happen.
“But Troy, volume is down.” I know. Which is why now is the most important time to maximize your profits.
You’re worth it.
Obviously you’re worth it because people are still coming to you and spending money to get the results you provide.
You provide value, just like this restaurant provides value.
Good food, good vibes. If people want to go there, they’re gonna go there. No one says, “Oh, well their chicken sandwich is $18! If it was $17, I’d check them out, but since it’s $18 I’M OUT.”
Same for you. People come to you because of who you are, the brand you have, the reputation you’ve built, and the results you get.
The challenge isn’t your price, it’s your ability to demonstrate the value you provide.
We can’t be afraid of charging an honest price for the amazing outcomes you help your patients achieve.
Because regardless of what you charge, people are still savings THOUSANDS of dollars compared to staying in glasses / contacts. You’re the best deal in town!
“Our team already has trouble converting, and it’ll get worse if we increase our prices.”
We’ve had plenty of practices come through our coaching programs who wanted to increase their prices, and we help them do it while maintaining or even increasing their conversions.
It’s a matter of 1. How you sell it to your team (your most important marketing audience) and 2. Having a high level of belief in the worth of the life-change you create for your patients.
Bottom Line: It takes money to create a great patient experience. You pay for your office space, you pay to retain good team members, you pay to have the best technology, you pay for the decor / coffee bar / wifi. All of it. And it ain’t cheap.
So charge what you’re worth, and build the confidence / belief / skills to convey that value to prospective patients.
You’re a first-class flight. Act like it. 💪🏻
– Troy “No Fees” Cole
PS – If we need to have a hard conversation about this, hit me up.
PPS – BELIEF is the biggest piece of this. We’re preparing to launch the latest version of our E3 Conversion System Bootcamp for 2025, which contains an entire module on building belief in your practice. If you want your team to truly believe you’re the best option in town (like I assume you do)… and if you want to reap all the benefits that come from this rock-solid belief… this is exactly the program you need.