Mark Leather describes his lightbulb moment, when he realised that he needed to reconsider his business model and approach to pricing at his eponymous company, Mark Leather Physiotherapy: “It became suddenly clear to me that our strategy – to price ourselves extremely competitively – was not serving our business and might even be devaluing it. I knew there and then that if we wanted the business to grow, we had to charge more,” he says.

The realisation came for managing director Mark whilst attending ‘Pricing with Purpose’, a workshop delivered by Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) through the Lancashire Forum.

It’s one of a range of fully-funded Business Excellence programmes that are part of Boost; Lancashire’s Business Growth Hub, each designed to help the leaders of Lancashire SMEs to tackle issues that often present barriers to business growth.

Mark had joined the programme to help him find a way to sustainably grow his business, which works with associates and partner physiotherapy practices to provide clinics across much of the North of England.

Creating a sustainable business model

Mark and his team have found no shortage of work over recent years. Having built up a specialism in working alongside personal injury intermediaries, solicitor firms and private health insurers to offer assessment and treatment for people injured in accidents, the business was sometimes managing up to 400 referrals a month.

But there was a catch, as former Liverpool Football Club head physio, Mark, explains: “The medical-legal sector is very price-driven. If insurance companies or intermediaries pay out for treatment following an accident and they will push the price they offer to clinics down as low as possible.”

“So, although business was always busy, prices were cut to the bone. The pandemic also revealed that we were too reliant on the sector as a single source of income and needed to diversify.”

A new pricing strategy

Mark continues “As we discussed pricing strategies, I saw clearly that our low price might inadvertently suggest to clients a similarly low quality of service, and could therefore be undermining our reputation.”

"The programme gave me the tools to develop a new pricing strategy and confidently approach clients about increasing our fees.

“What’s been great is that clients haven’t baulked at the cost but have stayed with us which has been a great testament to the quality of the service we offer.”

Gain the tools to thrive despite the growing cost of business

If you are a director or the owner-manager of a Lancashire SME, the Business Excellence programmes could help you move your business forward and weather the ever-growing costs across wages, materials and transport.

Fully-funded places are available on the next 'Pricing with Purpose' programme starting on Thursday 27th April.

The Pricing with Purpose programme is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for Lancashire businesses that employ from two to 250 full-time employees and have a turnover of less than €50m (or equivalent in GBP).

To find out more and apply contact lancashireforum@lancaster.ac.uk or enquire online.



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