How to Provide and Convey Exceptional Value to Your Patients

Overview

In this blog, we're going to talk about value, how to create value within your unique practice, and how to demonstrate that value to potential customers. 

In the world of physician entrepreneurship, the value we provide is our unique ability to solve problems in different ways. In an effort to make sure I’m providing the best value I can, I am constantly re-evaluating my practice and fixing any issues I run into. I also try to always continue learning, in an effort to avoid being too set in my ways. Over the course of educating myself, I came across the book  $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi. A main through-line of the book is a specific value equation that I found very useful, and I’d like to share it with you.

Value = (Dream Outcome x Perceived Likelihood of Achievement) ÷ (Time Delay x Effort and Sacrifice)

Now we’ll go through each part of the equation, and then give an example of how you can use it for your own practice. 

Dream Outcome

First, let’s talk about the dream outcome. When working as a physician, it’s easy to get caught up in the weeds of looking for specific improvements in lab results and treating that like it’s the end goal, but it’s not really. Those improvements are important to be sure, but they’re really just a means to get to the actual goal of feeling better and being able to live life to the fullest. When communicating your value to a patient, you should make sure to not just show them how they’ll improve on paper, you should try to emphasize all the different things they’ll be able to do when they’re healthier. Some people’s dream outcome may be running a marathon, while others’ goal might just be to have enough energy to play with their kids, so it’s important to tailor your expectations based on the patient. 

Perceived Likelihood of Achievement

This part is fairly self-explanatory. It’s basically how probable success is. Any time that treatment requires a patient to make changes in their lifestyle, success relies on them actually putting in the work and having the motivation to change. At a certain point, there isn’t much you can do as a physician if the patient isn’t following your instructions. This doesn’t let you off the hook completely though, since there is a lot you can do to motivate them and help them overcome barriers that may be in their way.  What I encourage you to do is to frequently think about what issues your typical client may face on the road to success, and to think of possible solutions. A lot of patients I work with have issues with busy lives leaving them with no time to focus on their health, a fear that their lifestyle changes may be incompatible with the people around them, and many other such issues. Once you’ve determined what the potential issues are, you should start thinking of solutions. For people without a lot of free time, I provide a template of healthy meals that can be made in under 20 minutes. I also have resources that make it easier for them to remember to re-order supplements when they’re running low and to actually take them when they have them. In the end, increasing the likelihood of success is a shared burden between both you and the patient, and it’s important to treat it like a team effort.

Time Delay, Effort, and Sacrifice

I’m lumping these all together since they largely cover the same bases. The main point is that we want to remove barriers that may cause someone to give up. For example, if it’s taking too long for results to show up, or getting results requires too much effort, then it’s less likely for people to achieve these results. So what you want to do is to remove these barriers to entry as much as possible. When presented the option, people will generally take the path of least resistance, so it’s important for showing the value of your service that you try to decrease what’s required of the patient as much as possible. 

Putting it into Practice

So, what does this view of value look like in practice? For example, let’s say that I’m meeting with a patient to explain what they need to do to fix their issue. I’m laying out an extremely clear plan for what’s going to need to happen to see improvement. During this, you should be reminding them of their dream outcome so they aren’t overwhelmed by what’s required of them. While talking about what’s required of them, you should also be emphasizing that it’s very possible for them to achieve, and explain the steps you’ve taken to minimize the time commitment and how much effort they’ll have to put in to reach their goal. This equation provides a very useful way of viewing value, and it has definitely helped me increase the value I provide my clients.

At the end of the day, providing value for your clients is most important. I hope this was helpful. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at Origins Incubator.

Here is a link to $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi. (Note that we receive no benefit and are not a paid affiliate. It's just a helpful book with some great concepts to improve your business.)