Price Right, Every Time to Avoid Sticker Shock

The total cost of chiropractic care can get expensive for some patients, so it’s not all that surprising that a lot of them experience sticker shock.

We’ve all been there. You tell your client that their treatment plan will cost $2,500, and you can see their jaws drop. And of course, predictable words fall out of their mouths like Holy cow! That much?! I had no idea! Does my insurance cover any of that?!

Sticker shock can end your relationship with a patient. But you do have some control over the situation and how they respond.

I’m going to break down a few points you can use to help patients feel comfortable paying for the care they need.

Make Patients “Problem Aware”

Here’s a big issue: a lot of patients aren’t even aware of what problems they need you to solve for them.

Of course they’re going to be shocked when you tell them how much treatment will cost. They don’t even know what they’re buying! This is why you need to learn how to ask skilled questions.

Skilled questions are open-ended, so they encourage the patient to tell you a lot about their problem. Along the way, a lot of patients realize that they’ve been experiencing pain or other issues for a very long time.

Here’s an example.

Someone comes to your practice complaining about neck pain.

A skilled question like, “Can you tell me about the very first time you noticed any neck pain?” prompts the patient to go into detail about their experience.

A less skilled version of that question is, “How long has your neck hurt?”

That question will usually get an answer like, “Oh, it’s hurt for about a week now.” The skilled question, though, gets them to think further back. They might even realize they’ve suffered off and on for years.

Once that gets said, the patient understands that this is a long-term problem that they need to solve now. With that context, the price doesn’t seem outrageous. They’ll be happy to pay.

Get Your Patients to Understand the Solution to Their Problem

Here’s a related issue. If your patients don’t understand the solution to their problem, they’re much more likely to experience sticker shock.

More often than not, this problem comes from how chiropractic CEOs and practitioners talk about treatment plans.

You’ve done all of your chiropractic training, so you know a lot of technical terms that will fly right over your patient’s head.

Let’s get real: they don’t need to know the nitty-gritty details behind how you solve their problem.

Present treatment plans in ways people can understand. It will help them trust and respect you, which means they’ll feel more comfortable paying for your services.

Presenting the Total Cost of Care as a Matter of Fact

Imagine you walk into a Starbucks and order a mocha cookie crumble frappuccino with added syrup and some strawberries. You have no idea what this costs. You just have a craving you want to fulfill.

The barista taps in your order and looks at you sheepishly, “That’ll be $11.25.”

You see this look of uncertainty on their face. This person seems like they’re embarrassed to charge you for what you ordered.

In that situation, you might wonder whether that’s the real price. Why is the barista acting so weird? Is that the price or not? Are they trying to pocket a few bucks on the side?

Now, imagine the same situation. But this time, the barista looks you in the eye and says, “That’ll be $11.25.”

They just entered the order, so they know the price. They’re just communicating information to you. This Starbucks employee doesn’t have any negative feelings about the price. The price is whatever the price is.

In this situation, I bet you just pay without thinking much about it. At worst, you think, “Damn, maybe I won’t order that in the future. Kind of pricey.” But you don’t really care because, again, this is simply the price of what you ordered.

Similar scenarios play out in chiropractic offices all the time. Some doctors look ashamed to charge for their services. People see that and… well, it weirds them out. They wonder if this person is trying to rip them off.

Chiros with good sales training, though, will present the cost of care as a matter of fact. You might say, “The total cost of care will be $2,500. Choose the payment option that works best for you.” You might as well be telling them that it’s raining outside. These are just facts. There’s nothing to get shy about.

Did I Just Mention Sales Training? Yes, I Did

Chiropractic training teaches you how to treat patients. It doesn’t teach you how to close sales. And knowing how to close is critical to your business’s success.

That’s why we offer a MasterClass with all the sales training you need to build your business so you can serve more clients.

Go ahead and sign up. We’re here because we know we can make you a more successful chiropractic CEO. We’ve already helped more than 4,000 chiros. There’s no reason you shouldn’t benefit, too.