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Why there are no $100 hot dog stands (more on VALUE)

Quick story from back in my ad agency days…

We had a client that specialized in Age Management. They had a premium Age Management service – concierge medicine-style access to the provider, customized bioidentical hormone + supplement package delivered to your door, twice yearly deep-dive physical and body scans, the works.

But they were running into issues selling their service, which was several thousand dollars for a membership (plus the cost of supplements).

They were stuck on this idea that their target market – high-powered execs and CEOs (men and women) – had “plenty of money” and could “totally afford it.” Which was true. But obviously that didn’t matter, because their offer wasn’t selling well.

We went round and round on this. And I got frustrated, so I finally said, “Guys, your offer’s not selling for the same reason there’s no such thing as a $100 hot dog stand.”

Here’s what I mean:

Can your target demo afford to pay $100 for a hot dog? Yes. Does that necessarily mean they’re gonna do it? Heck no.

And just because a prospective patient can afford a procedure doesn’t mean they’re automatically gonna spend money to do that thing. Which is exactly the problem this age management clinic was running into. Ultimately, their target prospect didn’t understand the value. So even though they had the money, they weren’t buying the service.

You can afford plenty of things that you choose not to purchase. Why? Typically because you simply don’t see the value.

Yes, friend. It always comes back to THE VALUE.

Up to this point, we’ve been talking about a $100 hot dog STAND. The kind you see on the street corner outside a college bar.

Can you build enough value to sell a $100 hot dog in that scenario? Almost certainly no. Which is why you don’t see them.

But are there actual $100 hot dogs? YES.

In fact, here’s a list with Hot Dogs ranging up to $2300. Ridiculous? Maybe to you. But SOME people have apparently seen the value.

If you skim the list, you’ll notice certain elements of VALUE-BUILDING in their descriptions – finer ingredients, scarcity, incredible size, etc.

Even for the expensive hot dogs that have no inherent impressive qualities, their value is tied to some bigger mission or vision. (For example, one hot dog’s proceeds were donated to charity, another used its high price tag to draw attention to the poverty line and hunger around the world).

This message is not about hot dogs. It’s about you, your practice, the patient experience and your prices. Build value beyond your price, and price will not be an issue for you.

Big takeaway: You ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS need to be building value in your practice, your procedures and your results. Once that value is built, embodied and understood by the prospects, selling a $100 hot dog can become a reality.

– Troy “Mustard and Relish” Cole

PS – I’ve heard from several folks that these last few essays on “value” have really hit home for them. Let me know what you think. And be sure to forward these to your team so you’re all on the same page re: BUILDING VALUE.

How NOT to weed out tire kickers

Was talking to a practice that had a significant number of leads ghosting them.

(Meaning leads who initially engaged online, but fell off the face of the earth once the practice started the conversation.)

After we did some digging, turns out their consult schedulers were sending out a long intro text message that included their full price, even for people who weren’t inquiring about price specifically.

So they were getting a lot of ghosting leads, and also a segment of people saying “Wow never mind, I can’t afford that.”

And at first glance, part of that sounds good, right? We want to weed out the tire kickers up front so we don’t waste time with folks who aren’t serious.

But this is actually a critical mistake, and you end up missing valuable new patient opportunities. And here are a few big reasons why:

Context. The full price isn’t as contextually useful to a lot of folks because many people use (or need to use) payment plans.
Current costs. People with bad vision are ALREADY paying money to see clearly (glasses, contacts, etc). A fact that almost all of them forget and need to be reminded of. They are ALREADY in an expensive situation, and you’re actually the more affordable option.
Teach them how to think. Your prospects don’t know how to make elective healthcare decisions, so unfortunately many of them default to price (even though they aren’t necessarily “cheap”). The need to be taught how to think, which takes more than a single text message.
People aren’t inherently cheap, but they are looking for the best VALUE (go back to my last couple emails on this). They have no way of determining the VALUE we provide this early in the game, and thus the price can often seem expensive without the appropriate context.
Your consultation in and of itself weeds out tire kickers. Think about it: if someone gets dressed, takes off work, drives across town and spends time with you in your office for 1-2 hours, you can bet they have a PAIN that needs to be relieved. And they’re willing to spend money to do it.

So be careful with putting measures in place that “weed people out” too early, or that provide information in the wrong sequence. Because you (and potential patients) will miss out on great opportunities.

– T-Cole

PS – In this message, I scratched the surface on a number of fresh perspectives you can use to reframe how your team thinks about price, value and patient education. These are all key topics we hit on a weekly basis in our E3 Coaching Community.

It’s vital to give your team constant exposure to these concepts. The result is a team that has more clarity, more belief and more confidence to handle anything that’s thrown at them from prospective patients. And of course all that means more surgeries booked for you. 💪🏻

WHO “builds the value” in your practice? 🤔

In my last email, we talked about why the iPhone 15 is selling so well (despite the current economic factors) and the importance of building value.

But who is responsible for building value with your prospective patients?

This is where we get a lot of questions in our coaching process. Because it’s common to think this job falls to the surgery schedulers.

And to be fair, they’re a huge piece of it. Through our coaching community, we’ve helped surgery schedulers increase their close rates 10-30% (conversions to surgery and/or upgrades on cataract technology).

Clients come in and find 100+ lessons, templates and workflows in our ever-growing coaching community. Along with multiple weekly coaching calls, and unlimited 1-on-1 support.

And many of these resources are geared toward helping surgery schedulers build the rock-solid mindset and tactical approach they need to convert surgery cases.

BUTTTT they aren’t the ONLY ones.

Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time. But he would have never won a game had he not had an offensive line to protect him, receivers to pass to, and a defense to keep the other team from running up the score.

And so it goes for your practice. No SINGLE person can be the ONE who is responsible for conversions. Because it’s truly a patient journey, and every touchpoint is key to… say it with me…

“BUILD THE VALUE.”

Remember, Price is Only an Issue in the Absence of Value. Tattoo that backwards on your forehead and read it in the mirror every morning. (Or just put it on a post-it note, that works too).

EVERYONE builds value. Who is “everyone”?

Consult schedulers – often the first human touchpoint in the patient journey. If you don’t get this step right, prospective patients won’t even make it in the door.

Front Desk – Making the first in-person impression a pleasant and welcoming one.

Technicians – Typically spending MORE time with the patient than anyone else, so their role is HUGE (and beyond simply taking proper measurements and scans).

Provider – Your OD or MD who meets with the patient is almost the crescendo of the encounter. They need to make a strong recommendation and make sure the patient feels comfortable with it and has the answers they need.

THEN you get to the Surgery Schedulers. YES, a massively important role. And if everyone BEFORE them has done their job, the Surgery Scheduler is set up for success too.

We have an analogy we use often – the patient journey is a relay race. (What can I say? We like sports). No ONE person can run an entire relay. You have to pass the baton.

But you don’t pass the baton standing still. Both runners are MOVING at every hand-off, so you preserve the MOMENTUM you need to keep the patient moving forward.

Building momentum helps build the value. (Now we’re getting into energy, movement and creating an experience, which is a topic for an entirely different message…)

All that to say, the person building value with your prospective patient is… EVERYONE.

So who do we train in our coaching community? Everyone! In addition to surgery schedulers, we have a huge focus on the phone team – the ones booking the consults. We do private coaching with providers who want to hone their treatment presentation skills.

And we’re continuing to grow our “tech support” (pun intended) so technicians feel seen and empowered to build rapport with each patient they see (while still efficiently getting through their workups).

Sound like a lot? It is! Which is why we’ve brought on more amazing coaches. We also launched our “Guest Jam” sessions where we bring in experts from other fields to share their expertise with our clients.

Why do we do all this? It ALL comes back to giving you everything you need to BUILD VALUE.

Build the value, and watch the magic happen.

– T-Cole

PS – This morning, I dropped a humorous GIF on my Instagram page on this very topic. If you’re not following me on IG, you’re missing out. Give me a follow and message me with your #1 conversion “pain point” and we’ll see if we can help you out.

How is the new iPhone selling? (Why it matters)

The amazing Jean Moody at CareCredit invited me to speak to their Vision Thought Leadership Group of practice admins yesterday.

We had an insightful group discussion, then I gave a presentation titled “Out with the S-Word: How to book more high-ticket procedures without ever feeling like you’re ‘selling’ something”

As I was researching for my presentation, I came across a surprising data point – apparently the new iPhone 15 is selling better in the U.S. than the iPhone 14 was when they came out a year ago.

I just figured with “the economy the way it is” sales would be lower. I was wrong.

DESPITE the fact that consumer debt has hit record highs…

And EVEN THOUGH 2 out of 3 people cite food costs as a top inflation concern…

The new iPhone is selling like hotcakes.

It was a good reminder that prospects spend money on the items and experiences they deem valuable.

“Price is only an issue in the absence of value.”

👆 Write that down. Preach it to your team.

If you can build value in your services, and that value exceeds the price you charge – and you can fit it in their budget – people will happily pay.

(The budget part is where the financing options and multiple forms of payment come in)

You don’t have to compete on price. You SHOULD NOT compete on price.

IF you feel like you have to compete on price, something is wrong, and we should talk asap.

It’s not about the price. It’s about the value you provide relative to the price.

Now listen:

“Value-building” is one of those terms almost EVERYONE uses, but almost NO ONE explains.

Ah, build value. Fabulous tip. But how? When? Who? Out of what? In what sequence?

So your boy Troy would like to pull back the curtain and share a few gold nuggies around value-building over the next few emails. Cool? Cool.

Your “build value” nugget for today:

The value-building process is external and internal to the patient. Think of them like parallel paths. You build value in your processes / tech / surgeons at the practice (external to the patient) and you also build value in your relationship, rapport, trust and care (which the patient experiences internally).

It’s not ONLY your laser. It’s not ONLY how many cases you’ve done. YES, those external pieces are important.

There are feelings and emotions that go into the process as well. You gotta build value there too.

When your team knows how to build the value on both levels, your price/money will no longer be the big roadblock it seems to be with your patients.

Build Value. Get Money. Change Lives. 💪🏻

– T-Cole

[SCREENSHOT] lesson from my fave supplement co

I started seeing ads for ARMRA colostrum products over a year ago. Finally decided to give them a try for the product’s reported positive affects on immunity, metabolic health, energy and more.

I liked the initial benefits and started subscribing to their main flagship supplement. I receive a new box of it every month.

And like any good business, just because ARMRA has me as a customer, doesn’t mean they stop marketing to me.

They market NEW products to me, and they continue to market the benefits of my current subscription product to me.

Yesterday they sent me this SMS that I wanted you to see:

(Here’s a link to the full-size image in case it didn’t show up or it’s too small to read – https://d.pr/i/h2XGJk )

Clumpy supplement powder – good or bad? Normally I would say bad. It’s gross. Inconvenient. Frustrating.

That’s likely the default answer for most folks.

But ARMRA tells me not only is not NOT bad, it’s actually… good?

Let’s dive into this…

This is the perfect example of the concepts we discuss with our coaching clients all the time – the power of positioning and the importance of frame control.

(BTW this applies in your ads AND particularly on the phone and in consults with prospective patients).

(Almost) nothing is inherently good or bad. It’s all in how it’s positioned with the proper context around it.

Having to reschedule a patient. Your premium prices that are higher than the other places. A delay during the patients’ appointment. Insurance not covering advanced technology lenses.

If you toss these topics out into the public discourse, most people would react negatively to them.

Part of our job is to build a frame around these topics, create context, position them properly, so not only are they NOT bad, they’re actually GOOD.

Let’s look at what ARMRA is doing so ingeniously in this message:

They acknowledge the clumps – They didn’t try to ignore a potential issue. They read their own reviews, they see the feedback. Their stuff is clumpy. So they decided to talk about it. GOOD.
They start by saying “it’s NOT bad” essentially – See the graphic. They’re saying “This is NOT a bad thing.”
The graphic then flips to say “it’s a GOOD thing.” (The SMS image they sent me was actually a GIF that rotated between the previous image and one that says “It’s Actual Perfection”)
The text explains that we’re talking about the clumping, then goes on to say it’s a “feature of marvel”. OK that sounds kinda dramatic at first, but here’s why it works…
Because they go on to say the clumping signals minimal processing. Which I guess is hard to do? (at least they make it sound that way) Hence the whole “marvel” part.

Alright, I’m not going deep on each of these concepts, but hopefully you get the idea.

These elements are all POWERFULLY intertwined and work toward the main message being communicated:

“Hey, you know that whole clump thing you might have thought was bad? And look, it definitely might be bad FOR OTHER BRANDS? But for us, it’s actually a good thing and REINFORCES why you trust us and our product.”

You can do this with almost any conceivable “downside” aspect of your practice.

Think about these types of objections…

“Wow you guys are more expensive than X place…”
“Why can’t you give me an exact price over the phone?”
“I can’t believe you want me to pay for these fancy lenses when I have really good insurance.”
“I’ve been waiting for 20 minutes, where’s the doctor?”
“Why do you only do those appointments on X day?”
“I wanted LASIK, so why are you telling me about this OTHER procedure?”

Imagine with me for a second…

When these common objections come up, it’s typical for team members to be anxious about them. They don’t want to deal with them. So they work their way through an explain-apology, which doesn’t do much for the patient, but hopefully bandaids the situation and buys you a little grace.

Imagine instead if… when these objections come up… your team actually gets excited. Because they see it as an opportunity to educate the patient, explain why these are actually FEATURES of our practice, and win them over.

What a SHIFT that would be. And it is, we see it all the time with our coaching clients. And that’s also why framing/positioning is in all of our coaching modules, AND it’s included in some form or fashion on our weekly coaching calls.

Yes, we have weekly video meetups (we call them Jam Sessions) that any of our coaching clients can attend and get support, role play, get answers to questions, or receive just plain old encouragement. And framing/positioning is one of the topics we’re always hitting on.

This type of positioning is a superpower your team needs. So if you’re not already in our Bootcamp or Green Room programs, reply with the word “Reframe!” and I’ll tell you about 2 new coaching elements we’re introducing in November that are taking our coaching and accountability to a whole new level…

– Troy “Positioning Power” Cole