Discounting
To say I don't like discounting in dental practices would be to put it mildly. Actually I hate it. The reasons are two:
It sends a bad message to patients. It tells them that your fees are too high and that you need to cut them to make them fair.
It removes the incentive to dentists to become more efficient in how they work. In many practices they discount away efficiency differences between dentists and bring them all back to the same hourly rate.
Having seen dozens of practices I can say with certainty that the best performing practices have fair fees and charge them without discounting. The worst performing practices discount constantly. So, my suggestions are two.
Firstly, look closely at your fees. If they are fair then charge them (with no discounting) and if they are not fair then change them.
Secondly, if you learn new skills and become more efficient in how you work then celebrate. Your patients will be grateful to get their work done with less chair time and you take home an increase in pay due to working smarter.
This is the efficiency angle on discounting that most dentists miss — when you discount away the gains from working smarter, you've just given yourself a pay cut for improving. For the full case against discounting, that article is here.
