Economic Value Analysis, Value Propositions and Marketing

Recently I gave a presentation on strategic pricing and senior housing (see Presentations page).  A key theme that I often refer to centers around the “value proposition” or in other words, the concept that pricing is both monetary and non-monetary and as such, the value proposition is about not only the price but also about the functional and psychological value of the service or product.  In shorthand, the utility; how the product/service satisfies both functional and psychological needs at or for the given price.  During the presentation and since, I’ve received a fair number of questions regarding “how” a value proposition is determined and thus, how the same is correlated to price.  Knowing how complicated senior housing and all forms of long-term care (SNF, ALF, Senior Housing, etc.) are today to market, understanding the core concepts of pricing, economic value analysis, and value proposition can make a real difference in establishing an effective sales and marketing program.

Initially, the primary concept to understand is demand and how demand and price work together.  Demand, for purposes of this article and simplicity, is the ability and willingness on the part of an individual to buy something.  In general, demand and price have an inverse relationship such that the demand for a particular good or service (the quantity thereof) tends to increase as price decreases.  Of course, a variety of factors impact demand including the actual nature of the product or service.  Funeral services for example have a fairly steady level of demand and in actuality, the demand only changes by a change in supply of dead people (morbid as this thought is).  If for example, a major pandemic began to sharply increase the number of people dying, the demand for funeral services would increase.  Conversely, if a break-through in genetic research produced a series of cures for diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, the demand for funeral services would gradually decrease.  In the example of funeral services, price is less of an influencer on demand as once an individual has died, few alternatives exist (legally) to disposition of a corpse.  While there may be multiple options for pricing inside the range of possible mortuary services (cremation, caskets, size and style of services such as wakes, etc.), there remains a core price that is basically inelastic; doesn’t really change demand as it rises or falls.

For goods and services such as senior housing and to a lesser extent, other long-term care such as Assisted Living and SNF care, demand is more elastic as price changes.  The simple reason is that alternatives exist to each level of care that are available, supply or provide the same basic utility and range in cost (expressed as price).  In the case of senior living, many options exist at a great many price points.  With SNF care, fewer options exist but still, many providers exist and home care and even in some cases, Assisted Living present alternatives at different prices.  The net result is that demand is influenced by price as well as a host of other factors.

• The service’s core price is a factor such that all products and or services have a “going rate” calculation.  When demand is highly elastic such as with senior housing, the safest presumption is that the core price is equal to living in one’s existing residence as normally, a move to a senior housing facility is equal to or more expensive per month.  If the costs associated with a senior housing option are rising, demand will taper off.
• The price of related or alternative goods will impact demand, especially when substitution products or services are widely available.  For example, using the funeral home example, if prices for a particular line of wood caskets drop substantially below the prices of metal caskets, the demand for caskets stays essentially the same but the demand for wood versus metal rises substantially.  For senior housing, the demand can be widely impacted by the cost associated with alternatives such as market rate apartments, condominiums, or staying at home with certain services.
• The ability of the consumer to buy in terms of economic resources changes demand.  If the consumer’s purchasing power changes as a result of loss of income, lower income or lower overall resource levels, the demand for particular goods and services at current price points declines, perhaps shifting to less expensive substitute products/services.
• An increase or decrease in desire or preference on the part of a consumer can change demand positively or negatively.  The greatest mover here is consumer confidence.  A consumer with a more positive outlook on the economic condition of his/her situation is simply more motivated to consumer.  Consumer expectations about prices also impacts the decision to buy.  A consumer that believes that prices will rise in the near future is more likely to buy immediately and conversely, an expectation of falling prices triggers a delay in consumption.

Taking the above into account regarding demand, economic value analysis and the determination of a value proposition is fundamentally about determining the monetary value of the product or service as well as the functional and psychological value.  The monetary value is not the product/service price but the value, expressed in dollars, of the total cost of a product or service’s ownership.  In this regard, the monetary costs also produce monetary benefits.  For example, using senior housing, calculating the monetary costs requires an analysis of the following (minimally);

• Rent or mortgage payment
• Monthly amortized cost of any entry fee including interest cost and negative amortization costs (loss of refund as applicable)
• Utilities
• Taxes
• Insurance
• Other fees such as parking, etc.
• Other cost intangibles such as free health care, reduced cost health care, delivery of medications, meals as part of rent, rent increase guarantees (limits), etc.

Calculating the monetary value thus becomes an exercise in quantifying the above elements over a reasonable period of time such as five years, etc.  Once this is complete, the result is used as a comparison against like or alternative options.  Below is an example for a non-profit, senior housing provider with a fully refundable entry fee compared to a person remaining in their home in the community, with no mortgage payment (a fairly typical situation).  The costs I’ve illustrated are over a five-year period (rent for example is monthly times 60 months).

In this example, the monetary value of the senior housing option is greater (negative) than the monetary value of remaining at home or simply, it costs more to receive the same basic utility to move to the senior housing community.  The value essentially becomes negative with the inclusion of the entry fee interest loss or cost.  On the surface, this appears to be a negative value proposition for the senior housing community.  The key to achieving a balance or a higher proposition value for the senior housing option is to monetize the functional and psychological costs between the two options.  Ideally, the spread between the two is worth at least $14,674 or the present negative difference between the senior housing option and remaining at home.

In monetizing the functional and psychological costs and benefits between the two options, the trick or key is to have a clear understanding of the profiled consumer.  This means having a true handle on current customers and seniors living in the community.  For example, a psychological benefit to senior housing versus remaining at home is security.  It is possible to measure the value of security by talking to your current customers and imputing a value for a security service to the remain at home option.  A functional value is transportation and convenience.  If for example, the senior housing option provides shopping trips to local grocery stores or has an in-facility delicatessen and convenience store, the cost between the two options in terms of convenience and transportation is measurable.  Other examples such as activity, access (even at a cost) to prescription drug delivery, on-site medical care, check-in services, laundry, housekeeping, etc. are all items with a potential functional and psychological benefit.  Perhaps the most under-valued is the access to on-site, future health care such as an incorporated Assisted Living or Skilled Nursing Facility, even if such access is nothing more than guaranteed accommodation without a price reduction.  The important point here is that each functional and psychological benefit that is discernible and tangible to current customers has a value that is quantifiable and comparable across each option or living alternative.

The value proposition is the accumulation of the monetized values for the core product or service plus the functional and psychological factors.  Consumption activity incorporates all three elements and effective marketing strategy is grounded in communicating the value proposition of a product/service as compared to all other alternatives. Of course the largest difficulty arises in communicating values ascribed to psychological factors.  The key in doing so is the heavy use and reliance upon, current satisfied customers.  They are the source of input as well as the ground for determining monetary values associated with the related psychological factors.

As senior housing demand is highly elastic, creating and communicating a value proposition is critical in terms of developing potential customers.  I would argue that the same approach is as critical for SNFs that are looking to attract certain types of patients with certain payer sources.  In using the above approach, an SNF would complete its economic analysis against its competitors, again monetizing the core service, the functional and psychological factors.  In many regards, completing the analysis against existing competitors is an easier exercise as quantifiable data is far more plentiful.

Pricing strategy comes into play when the value proposition is imbalanced.  Pricing strategy re-weights variables and allows the value proposition to change favorably against key alternatives or competitors.  For example, in the senior housing analysis above, pricing change involving the entry fee instantly changes (positively or negatively) the initial calculated proposition.  For an SNF, adding amenities within service offerings or adding clinical competence improves the value proposition, even under a fixed-payment scenario such as Medicare.  The objective from a marketing strategy approach is to maximize all elements of the value proposition as compared to the competition or to the alternatives.  Taking this approach and then developing an effective sales and communication strategy dramatically improves the opportunities for successful new customer conversions – sales.