get your team on board with value pricing

overhead view of five businesspeople stacking hands in teamwork gesture

five keys to success.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

truly aligning your staff with your new business model may be the most important part of overhauling pricing and building a client-centric firm. this kind of systemic shift needs the full support, compliance and understanding of the entire firm. a change in pricing affects everyone’s job.

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here are the key components your team must understand and be aligned with:

  1. understand fixed and value pricing. your team needs to understand how bundles are created and where services begin and end. they are the ones who will do the knowledge-based work, so they should follow the conversation around value and value identification. they need to understand the intricacies of each deliverable and the scope of standardized packages.

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use kpis to measure success

don’t just think you’re doing great; quantify it.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

you’re well on your way to having a client-centric firm with up-front and value pricing. the next step is to determine your key performance indicators (kpis) and verify if those indicators make sense for your new firm.

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to set your new kpis, you need to think about what’s important to your firm, your employees and your clients. develop them around specific firm values.

as you move through this pricing evolution, you’ll start to see your firm as a for-profit company in the professional services space. your new kpis should look at your team through the eyes of people who work at the firm as well as those who will value your services.
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get your legacy clients on board with value pricing

seven steps to transition your firm.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

until this point, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about the advantages of building a client-centric practice on a foundation of value pricing. now it’s time for the rubber to hit the road. let’s talk about how you can painlessly move from a past filled with billable hours to a bright new future built on value by exploring your current client base.

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let’s start at the beginning: finding the right clients to embrace your new way business model. take a look at your current clients and bucket them into three categories:

  1. those who love you and will follow you to the ends of the earth
  2. those who’ve been with you for years and are reliable
  3. those difficult, tech-challenged clients who are somewhat less than ideal

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how to structure agreements for value pricing

latina woman working on laptop

plus how to automate getting paid.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

a well-structured agreement can make or break an engagement. we see this happen every day.

were you a fan of the television show “two and a half men”? remember when charlie sheen was fired? he ended up suing for what he thought he was owed for the remainder of his contract. and, surprisingly, there was not a comprehensive agreement detailing the terms. no one likely thought sheen would end his run on the show in this manner and didn’t plan for it.

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a similar scenario could happen to you, albeit with fewer global headlines i suppose. that’s why, once your client is ready to start working with you on a value basis, you’ll need to create a contract to finalize the deal.

there are two main agreements used by accountants today – the engagement letter and the service-level agreement. both are legally binding but look a bit different.
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costs matter

illustration of estimating costs

the three stacks you need to consider.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

true story. i once knew the cfo at a local mental health nonprofit agency. she had been manager of the accounting department at a large manufacturer but now considered herself semi-retired. she had recently moved into a new condominium and was overwhelmed by the renovation needs.

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she was competent but had a lot going on. as a result, she wasn’t paying attention as the nonprofit agency began to experience cash flow problems. the management team resolved to start booking more psychiatric services because they could bill medicaid the most for those types of services. sure enough, the organization’s gross sales increased substantially. unfortunately, no one had paid attention to the cost of delivering these services.
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offer three tiers of service

hand drawing a rainbow-colored 3

are there ways to add on other services? of course.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

a tiered service offering should provide your clients with three options. according to experts in mindset and pricing, if you provide three options, people will usually choose the one in the middle. that’s the one you are aiming for them to buy.

more: how to create price packages | seven steps to determining your price | how to scope before you price | seventeen questions to ask when scoping | four steps to scoping for alignment … and the #1 rule to remember | here’s how profit sharing improves your firm | productize services for consistent client value | four ways automation pushes the paradigm shift | how value pricing impacts your employees | why pricing is so disruptive | accounting disruptors are heading your way … with deep pockets | advisory work must be priced by value, not hours
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also, don’t forget that people buy the payment, not the car. there’s an entire mentality around monthly pricing. if you tell a client it’s a $24,000 engagement, they will balk. they would rather pay $2,000 a month than the full amount all at once. of course, some clients will offer to give you the full engagement amount up front if the price is discounted. from a cash flow perspective, you can offer a small discount if a client is willing to pay this way.

creating your service packages is not a one-size-fits-all activity. there should be different tiered service options for each client persona. it is also important for clients to know that they can upgrade or downgrade their service level when needed.
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how to create price packages

hand moving triangle along beam to indicate balance between price and value

three steps to setting your monthly fee.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

packages are the first step toward productizing your services. your packages define your services as discrete offerings with defined parameters around what they include and what’s excluded.

more: seven steps to determining your price | using change orders with scope | when to increase scope and when to let it go | which clients should you scope? | getting aligned on scope helps your team and your clients | five areas to ground new metrics other than time | digitize clients for standardization | are you the key signal caller for your clients? | six steps to start value pricing | the radical pricing model: start with $25k | the convergence of trends makes pricing changes imperative
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the secret sauce to creating a fixed price package with a value add consists of combining several variables:

deliverables + client persona = well-priced packages

client-specific price point + market price point = well-priced packages

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find clients with the right fit

businesswoman smiling at two clients, man and woman

not everyone is ready for a new you.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

a friend who owned a business services firm in the marketing industry once told me he would rather face waterboarding than resign a hard-won client. however, even he cast a big one aside after his key employee returned from a client meeting in tears. some things just can’t be tolerated. your job is to determine where the line should be and to make the decision before a bad client has the chance to negatively affect your company.

more: seven steps to determining your price | using change orders with scope | who needs to understand scope? | how to scope before you price | when to increase scope and when to let it go | determining a price … and when to change it | seventeen questions to ask when scoping | which clients should you scope? | perfecting the client needs assessment | four steps to scoping for alignment … and the #1 rule to remember | getting aligned on scope helps your team and your clients | create more meaningful kpis | here’s how profit sharing improves your firm
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a client’s fit with your firm is every bit as important as their behavior and payment practices. after you adopt a new client-centric, value-based business model, some clients won’t fit in. some will want to stick with the transactional model of the billable hour. they may not be comfortable with your new direction. some clients may not even want to pay for your smallest service bundle despite the enhanced service levels it includes.
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seven steps to determining your price

businesswoman using calculator while reviewing something on laptop screen

plus four things to learn about each prospective client.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

how much would you pay for a bottle of water in the checkout line of a grocery store? maybe $2 or $3, right? you know it costs more per unit than buying a case of water, but at that moment it’s worth it even though it’s the same bottle of water. now, let’s assume you just made the long trek back to your hotel room in las vegas. they have the same bottle of water sitting there for $10. you’re thirsty and don’t want to walk to find a store, so you pay $10 for that bottle conveniently located in your room. the water isn’t different, but the value at that moment in time is subjective.

more: using change orders with scope | who needs to understand scope? | determining a price … and when to change it | perfecting the client needs assessment | create more meaningful kpis | five reasons to ditch timesheets for good | six steps to creating a standardized practice | value pricing requires defining your clients | stop selling time | three critical factors drive the value pricing trend | stop looking for talent that does not exist
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when we think about price, we really need to think about worth. what actually are you bringing to the table? lots of training. many years of experience. vision into similar businesses. it took you years to get here; don’t sell an answer to a question the client asks for the three minutes it took to answer.
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using change orders with scope

how is a change order like taking your car to a mechanic? read on.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

change orders are the result of a well-scoped process. they occur when a client adds a service not included in their original engagement or when a manager or partner requests a service be scoped and priced separately. the client decides whether or not to proceed with the change.

 

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the radical cpa

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the process of a change order is similar to taking your car to the mechanic for an oil change. during a diagnostic, they find you need a tire alignment as well. the alignment is not included in the services you bought, but you’re curious to know how much it would cost. depending on the price, you’ll add it to the original quote, or you won’t.

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who needs to understand scope?

don’t make the mistake of allowing a partner to scope the engagement alone.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

partners, managers and accounting professionals must all understand scope to deliver the right amount of work for the engagement.

more jody padar |the radical cpa

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everyone needs to be aligned. everyone needs to know what the customer ordered, how to deliver it and where the work ends.

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when to walk away from a prospective customer

enabling your team to fire clients supports the ethos that your team is your most valuable asset.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

there are few ways to sink an accounting firm faster than winning bad clients. they will rob your profitability, steal your sanity and cause havoc among your staff and other client relationships.

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the radical cpa

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ask yourself these questions and be prepared to walk away if you don’t get the right answers:

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how to scope before you price

it’s a learning process that benefits both you and the client.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

accurate pricing relies heavily on thorough scoping to measure the engagement, and good scoping defines the deliverables, sets the client’s expectations and calculates the labor it will take to get the job done.

 

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more pricing

the radical cpa

from success to significance: the radical cpa guide

radical pricing

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with that said, here’s how your scoping process helps you determine the ultimate price:

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