How Packages Improve Your Outcomes

If you think you’ll capture all the information and context you need to help your clients in your initial assessment, I’ve got news for you… There should be a heavy emphasis on the word “INITIAL” as it’s truly just a starting point. It’s my belief that in the realm we serve in, our most successful winning strategy to get excellent client outcomes is by identifying patterns. One of the qualifying criteria for pattern recognition is enough data points which takes time! So how do pattern recognition and packages equate to superior outcomes? One word… Commitment. We need our clients to be committed to the process, which may include downs before it includes ups. There also might be no change early on, which can trigger impatience and uncertainty in the client’s mind, but if we have a commitment to the process via a package, aka plan of care or action, we can better navigate this portion of the journey. 

I want you to place yourself in the client’s shoes for a second, maybe you’ve already been there in a similar situation: After their initial assessment, they are coming in paying $200/visit in some cases, and let’s say they are on visit 3, that’s $600, but in reality, only 3 data points, which isn't a lot for us to make critical decisions off of. If there’s minimal change to their symptoms, they are making a buying decision EACH time they come in, which means you have more pressure to deliver and, in every case, make a pitch for another sale…. Sounds exhausting. Even if you know you are 1 visit away from cracking the code, which can often be the case. Then, the client ghosts you… and now you have a liability testimonial roaming around about how your process didn’t work… yikes. 

Compare this to the committed client who has already agreed to the ups and downs, understands that this process takes time as we collect and interpret information at each interaction, and, lastly, who has paid in full (or committed to a payment plan) to achieve a certain result. Bingo, this is the play. 

Now that you understand the importance of packages, which are really just commitments rooted back to the desired results, let’s discuss how we would price them.

If you haven’t yet read our post on price anchoring, which will come into play when pricing packages, you can review that here: (https://www.engagemovement.com/blog/price-anchoring-strategy)

Let’s make the math easy and say a single session with you is $225 as a cash-based physio (if you’re a coach, you can adapt the math to $125/session for personal training). You want to have 2 package sizes for varying durations, a 6 and a 10-session package that will each span across the appropriate timeframe for your clients, sometimes, 10 visits can spread over 6 months, which decreases the price perception. 

Package 1 - 6 visits -$215/session, a $60 saving or $1,290 in total. 

Package 2 - 10 visits - $199/session, $260/savings, or $1,990 in total. 

The goal here is to figure out the minimum you want your rate to be and work backward from there, not the maximum for your single session rate. Why? Because we are driving into the commitment and results, not the price! So anchor accordingly and charge what you’re worth!

From here, make your recommendation… “We recommend starting out with a 10-session plan of care that we will spread out over X months. Most clients opt for the payment in full to get you back to “xyz outcome” since we are committing to the process either way!” - this implies the cost would either be $1,990 or $2250 (if they paid per session). 

Now that you understand the power of commitment and how to root your clients into the recommendation for results-based thinking, it’s time to implement this strategy in your operations. Feel like you’d benefit from some guidance and support? Just schedule a call with our team below!