Recently I received this email from my staff:
“Dr XXX called wanting to know if it would be possible to lower their fee for consults to $LOW PRICE for all film interps. They got an offer from RADIOLOGIST Y at TELERADIOLOGY COMPANY Z and he is going to switch if we cannot match that. “
Building your business by being the cheapest in town will only reward you with cheap clients who will dump you (just like they dumped the last guy) when a better deal comes along.
Build your business on service and value not low prices. This will reward you with a set of loyal clients who will not be swayed by coupons or deals and this loyalty will allow you to sleep at night.
In fact, you might even want to consider firing any of your clients you acquired by offering a low price or a deal. The 80/20 rule says that 20% of your clients will give you 80% of your headaches. In most cases, these 20% can be found in the clients who are your bottom feeders.
Epilogue: I told this practice that we would not match the price and they said OK. They didn't really want to leave anyway.