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Twice yesterday (two different clients and far apart):
"We are thinking of dropping the price of a simple new patient check up from £90 to £60 to match the cheapest on offer in our post code and get people in through the door.
We feel confident that, once we get them in, we can "sell" them our experience and engage them as patients for higher value treatment."
Which has me quoting "the worst thing about a Price War is to win, because then your business is dead" - there are plenty of references to that philosophy if you Google the phrase.
However, we cannot escape the fact that Labour's honeymoon is over and a cloud is hanging over retail sales as we approach the frenzy of Christmas. The media are feeding us with an expected drop in consumer confidence and the desperate deluge of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and pre-Christmas offers is drowning our in boxes and social media channels.
So is it time to drop your new patient prices (especially when Eddie Crouch is getting valuable airtime for the BDA and all of us)?
Well - I'm going to suggest a compromise.
A mailer to all of your existing patients:
"Dear patient
We are horrified to read the recent media report that 96% of NHS patients are unable to get a dental appointment.
We would like to offer help to any of your family, friends or colleagues that may need a dental appointment at this special time of year.
Between now and the end of the year, we are going to reduce the price of our new patient consult from £x to £y, in order to offer some help in this era of "dental deserts".
Please ask anyone you recommend to quote the reference "Dental24" and we will do our level best to assist."
You might even want to include some kind of voucher that can be passed on - three per patient?
My hope is that this will get some extra people in to your practice - but that they will be word of mouth recommendations and not complete strangers.
p.s. If we all did that - think of the media coverage
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