Your Positioning effects Your PRICE

And why these are inextricably linked

Recently I spoke about positioning using the analogy of shops and today I’ll talk about why your positioning is linked to your price.

Using the same stores, Aldi, M and S and Fortnum and Mason I’ll try to demonstrate how price and position are linked.

Starting with Aldi. Basic building. Mostly own label products, very few frills. No prettying up on the shelves. Very few asssistants to assist. And we all know about the famous check out. Fast! They don’t want you to linger. And they’re excellent at what they do.

M and S food. Mostly own label but very high quality. Inviting shop. Assistants to help if needed. Cafe on site. Sells other products. Efficient check out and will assist you if required.

Fortnum and Mason. Very elegant and beautiful shop and displays. Many helpful assistants dressed in Fortnum garb. Beautiful products fabulously displayed including their gorgeous own distinctive brand colours. High end restaurant on site. Encourages the shopper to stay and wander around the displays. Check out done for you.

One of the main differences between the shops is service. And they have deliberately positioned themselves in their own way to provide a specific customer experience. And the higher end the service, the higher price it attracts. As service takes TIME and TRAINING.

By positioning your clinic or business at the higher end, you can price much higher as this will allow you more time to spend with your patients and clients. By pricing low, you’re going to be rushing them through the door thinking about the next appointment, because you need a certain £££ to just pay your bills.

In any business, positioning involves speed, service and cost. You cannot have a premium service that’s fast and charge a small amount for it. It just will not work.

Now, your premium service could be that if someone wants an appointment NOW, that you keep a few slots free for that and charge a premium rate. If they’re prepared to wait, then it’s your normal fee.

That’s just one example of how a premium service could work in your clinic or business.

I’ll use us as another example. We never rush people off a call as we know it’s important that callers have the full information they need and they will have questions too. And the answers take specialist knowledge, training and time. And that attracts a higher price than somewhere that’s scripted and the team only have a basic knowledge of their client base and of customer service. For our business model, that’s based on TIME and EXPERTISE.

I love this subject. I admit, I’ve often got this wrong in the past and have looked at what competitors charge. Forgetting that their service is not ours.