It's About the Value, Stupid

    From a magazine in the opthalmology office, a publication intended for professionals, but found strewn on the waiting room table amid copies of "People" and other such light  reading: the article is entitled "It's About Value" and addresses the issue of how much to charge,
   A doctor has emailed his concern that what he charges for a pair of eyeglasses shocks even him.  The doctor is advised that as long as he keeps his pricing complaints to less than 20% of his patients, he is okay.  Pricing complaints can not be regarded as being in a vacuum.
   The author, a doctor, relates a time-honored equation:
      "Value=Quality / Price, or Value =Perceived benefits / Price."
When the price is constant, you need to increase quality and perceived benefits.  Remember there are 2 prices in every transaction---the anticipated perceived price and the actual price.  THAT IS WHY A MERCEDES DOESN'T COST $14, the advising doctor states.  The brand radiates a perception of high quality with the associated expectation of high price.
    So, if you, the questioning and somewhat appalled doctor, are profit driven, and what doctor isn't, you want to attract patients who perceive your pricing as on the higher end of the scale, and equate high value with high price.  When they actually see the higher prices, their expectations are met.
     Two scenarios are set:
         #1---Eyeglasses sold by a disinterested salesperson, which are sloppily presented on a tray with no case.
        #2--Eyeglasses presented by a highly educated (trained) salesperson who offers a soft drink and a story about how the frames are made, supplies a nice eyeglass case, and then follows up with thank-you emails.
    The author triumphantly posits that the eyeglasses are exactly the same in both examples.  But which frame has the higher value--- Aha!  The obvious answer is that exemplary service helps to support higher product fees.  The "value" is increased, and thereby soothes the doctor shocked by the price of his own product.
   So even if a Mercedes were  a bucket of bolts, its reputation would justify its high price, and that, dear eyeglass buyer, is why you pay an exorbitant price for the eyeglass frames sold at your friendly eye-doctor's establishment.
   *The author of the above-cited article is the president of an organization which "specializes in making optometrists more profitable."

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