Presenting Fees on Paper vs on the Computer

The process that practices follow for getting to ‘yes’ with new patients tends to be an office-culture product that develops largely on its own over time within each practice. For this reason I see a considerable amount of variation in the way in which TCs manage these steps from one practice to another. Today’s article focuses on variations in the step of presenting fees.

There are three basic variations that I have observed regarding fee presentations. These are:

Option One: Not presenting a document at all, but rather verbally ‘floating’ an offer to the visitor;

Option Two: Presenting payment options from a computer screen;

Option Three: Presenting payment options on a printed document.

I should mention here that these are also in order from worst to best; we will take a look at each and I will explain.

Option one – the verbal offer: As a former corporate sales trainer, the primary problem that I have with this approach is that I have never seen costs for services presented in this way at any time, under any circumstances, in any other buying situation, anywhere. There is a good reason for that.

People strongly prefer to see your financial terms in writing, not just said – because that’s how large-ticket purchases are always presented to them elsewhere in the marketplace. Put another way, buyers are not used to having the expenditure of a large amount of money verbally ‘pitched’ to them. While it may be possible to get to yes in this way, you are also making the conversation a series of yes-or-no offers when the question should not be yes or no, but only ‘which’.  Furthermore, if you offer different ways to pay for treatment (and you should offer at least three), who is going to be able to keep all of that in their head?

This is an odd, organic approach to presenting fees that is found only in your profession, invites haggling, offers no benefit to your TC or to the patient, and belongs in the discard bin.

Option two – presenting from the computer screen: A number of TCs do this, and it is an effective way to go through payment options. However, it is interesting to me that the question that patients almost always ask at the end of the computer-screen presentation is this: “can I get a copy of that”?

They shouldn’t have to ask for it. That brings me to Option Three.

Option three – presenting a paper document with your fees – is easily the best way to walk your visitor through your payment options and get to ‘yes’. Presenting a document gives your fees and payment options an air of legitimacy, finality and take-home value; seeing them in this way makes it easy to make a decision.

Keep your computer screen version handy; if the numbers need adjusting, you can go to the online document, make your changes, and quickly print a revised copy. Want to start more cases? Do what everybody else who presents services does. Put it in writing.