Know your Selling Value Amidst Price War in Medical Tourism

• Pramod Goel
• Dec 08, 2023

Know your Selling Value Amidst Price War in Medical Tourism

“How much does it cost?”

This is one question most commonly used by medical tourism consumers that automatically leads into a low price war among medical provider in this highly competitive marketplace.

Cost consideration is often at the top of the list when it comes to consumers seeking the best value for any service or product, combined with a desire for quality. Medical consumers are especially conscious of quality, results and effectiveness of medical treatments and procedures both domestically and abroad.

Still, the question on cost tends to be one of the first thing that goes through a patient's mind when she finds out she needs surgery, or even simply wanting a nose job.

Determining Patient Needs

The art of selling your medical services for a higher value means understanding a key element about the medical tourism process. Selling is all about doing the right homework up-front and attempting to get it right the first time.

Healthcare service providers need to delay that one question until other, more important issues can be discussed, which will provide a perspective patient with the information, options, and resources that result in a successful sale of products or services. They need to realize that cost is not the only consideration that determines whether or not a consumer makes a decision regarding a facility, treatment or procedure. In spite of this, few patients realize how much medical services cost, from laboratory tests, to equipment and technology used in a procedure, to hospitalization or follow-up care costs.

Determining Patient Need

When discussing services, products or prices with prospective patients, it's important to understand what they're looking for and what they hope to accomplish with the procedure or service. Some of the most basic questions to ask may include:

• Why do you want or need this treatment?
• What aspect of your medical care is most important?
• When do you need this procedure?
• What will happen if you don't have the procedure at this time?
• What information will you need to make a final decision?

Healthcare providers should avoid falling into the "how much does it cost" scenario at the beginning of any conversation or communication with a prospective patient. First, providers need to determine the needs of the patient and match them with the products or services that you or your facility offer them.

To work around the "how much does it cost" scenario at the beginning of your engagement, healthcare providers can take a few proactive steps to help guide communication into learning more about the patient and his or her needs. Questions such as:

• What are your present options?
• What are your desired treatment outcomes?
• How important is quality and experience in your decision?
• Are you looking for best quality at reasonable or affordable prices, or are you only concerned with experience?
• Are you concerned regarding follow-up care, guarantees, or warranties on procedures or outcomes?

Such questions may help guide the potential patient toward understanding that cost is only a small portion of the overall care scenario. However, medical providers should also keep in mind that the longer a person takes to make up his mind about a service, the less chance you have of making a sale.

For example, studies have determined that at the advent of any selling process, providers have a 100% chance of closing the deal after first communication with the customer. If the customer calls back a second time, the chances of closing that deal decreases to about 70%. At the third or fourth communication, you may have a 50/50 chance of acquiring that patient.

Closing the Deal

In order to boost your chances of acquiring the patient as quickly as possible, you need to provide clear and transparent information regarding a patient's questions and concerns. Don't overlook their concerns regarding procedures, facilities, certifications or experience.

Avoid the "how much does it cost" question at the beginning of a conversation by gently guiding the potential client into discussing his or her needs, expected outcomes and desires. Give them options. Keep the conversation going and require specific answers, which will help you determine the emotional buying needs of every client, and then deal with cost issues and options once you have made them feel that you are someone they could work with to guide them on their decision for their healthcare needs.

If you want to know more, you can always contact us and ask for more information