Following last week's discussion on the business blog about the sophistication of pricing and systems related to increasing the pricing, I popped off to see the podiatrist (yuck) on Monday of this week.
For one reason or another, I see the podiatrist every month. Probably the details are not for this blog here to avoid vomiting, but I popped off to see him again, and he's brilliant, and he looks after me, and it's 30 minutes once a month. He knows me well, we chat away, and I feel cared for.
The service is great, his wife at reception knows me, and I can change my appointments if I need to.
Generally, the service, the product, and everything else are what I'm looking for.
I've noticed, though, that the prices are creeping up a little bit, as I pay attention to these things. So, when I got back to the desk to pay for this week's podiatry appointment, it was £50 (for half an hour).
The previous appointment a month ago was £48, and when I started this journey with them, it was £40, and so in a month, the price has gone up 4% and in the time that I started (which is some time ), it's gone up 25%.
The way that you raise prices is a significant and important choice; it's possible to do it incrementally (as in the podiatrist). When you do it incrementally, you don't really tell people that you do it; you just assume that everyone understands that prices will rise, and so the price rises incrementally, perhaps every 3 months or 6 months, or even yearly.
The problem with yearly prices is that it doesn't feel like an incremental price rise, and so if you have patients returning for routine treatment, which is £40 for half an hour, and the next time they turn up is £50, then they're likely to have a problem or an issue with that.
Understanding how to increase your pricing, why to increase your pricing, and how to communicate with (or not) the people with whom you serve is a fascinating process.
If you take, for example, the dental implant company that I've worked with for 27 years, Straumann. Historically, they sent a letter once a year informing of the price rises, and laboratories did the same.
More and more people are becoming more sophisticated with how they can control their pricing, and more and more, that means that incremental price rises are a much cleverer way to move than to go big bang once every year.
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