Service, Fees, Value, and Time

When deciding on how to set a price on services people often base their service on time. The more time the service takes, the more you charge. The less time, the less you charge. This is a mistake.

When a patient comes to see you for care they are not looking for your time. They’re not even seeking acupuncture. They are looking for an outcome. That is where the value of your service lies. Patients are seeking a valuable outcome and they are exchanging value in the form of their time and money for that outcome.

Here’s a scenario to demonstrate this: You need surgery and you are choosing between two surgeons. The outcome of the surgery will be the same no matter which doctor you choose. Surgeon #1 is new in practice and has performed 5 surgeries so far. Surgeon #2 has 25 years of experience and has hundreds of surgeries under their belt. From this you would probably choose the more experienced surgeon, right? 

Now because Surgeon #2 has more experience, they are able to perform the same surgery with the same outcome in half the time. This does not decrease their value. In fact, it actually raises their value. Time is our most precious resource that we cannot get back once spent. If I can get the same outcome in half the time I will choose that every time. 

Basing your fees and your service value on time can get sticky. If a patient gets results and doesn’t require any more treatment that day, but there’s 30 more minutes left in their appointment slot you feel obligated to fill that time in with chatting, more needles, bodywork, etc. or else they aren’t going to get their money’s worth. You just gave them unnecessary treatment and used up their precious time that they could have spent elsewhere because you told yourself that you needed to fill in the time. 

Thinking and operating in the hourly rate model will also burn you out. We only have so many hours in the day. When you operate this way you are limited to how much you can earn in a day. So you are forced to make the tough decision between time for yourself or money. Because of this you may even be repelling making money because you think it means you will have to work more, see your family less, trade it for quality of life, etc. This couldn’t be further from the truth. With some outside-the-box thinking you can be providing tons of valuable care to your patients that isn’t based off of a time-for-service model. 

You don’t provide “acupuncture”. And you don’t charge by the hour. (You’re not a motel!) You provide value in the form of an outcome, and use acupuncture and other tools to provide that value. Operating from this perspective opens up so many possibilities for some really cool and exciting ideas on how you can help your patients and get the most out of your precious time.

What are some of the things that you offer that minimize or eliminate the time-for-service model?