Business Strategy for CPA's 122 The Pioneer of Value-Based Fees in the Consulting Profession, Alan Weiss, Ph.D.
Today I speak with Alan Weiss, owner of Summit Consulting and author of more than 60 business books, including Value-Based Fees, Million Dollar Consulting, Fearless leadership, and more.
What we cover:
Value-pricing requires a wholesale shift in thinking.
You have to do a 180 - from starting with your costs and building to some form of cost+,
to starting with the client’s objectives, what they are coming to you to help them accomplish, determining what that is worth to them, and pricing back from there.
Once you can do that, then… the really the first sale is always to yourself. You need to be able to say these numbers to yourself in front of a mirror without turning red.
No doubt there will be a big swing in your actual prices. In many cases, my clients are charging 4 - 10 times what they would have had they set their prices based off hourly rates. You will need to get used to this shift, on the inside.
Other shifts in thinking include how you frame what you do. The value to your client isn’t in the doing. The value to your client is what your doing creates.
Cranking out numbers isn’t it. But cranking out numbers that are scenario plans that help a client make a better informed decision that doubles her margins – that has real value.
Reframe all that CPA terminology.
Your clients don’t understand activities you perform, like:
- monitor activity for any fixed asset/ intangible capitalization items
- maintain fixed asset reports
- maintain proper accumulated depreciation records
What does the above DO, for your clients? Keep them out of hot water? Help them save tens of thousands of dollars? Reframe, reframe, reframe.
There are limits to the value of compliance.
Become an expert in the finance and business side of things for your clients. When you look at your client’s prices, the cost of creating products and services, what the market will bear, and ensuring margins are in the right zone, suddenly the value you provide can skyrocket.
Consider: who else in your clients’ network of vendors they work with, can provide this level of expertise?
No one.
You are uniquely positioned to help them grow their business.
Behind every corporate objective is a personal objective.
Clients want to create financial value, but there are often deeper reasons that motivate them.
Those might include:
- Saving time, getting time back, going from a 50-hr work week to a 40-hr work week (get home for dinner, happy marriage!)
- Stop wasting money to free it up to use elsewhere in the budget (look good for the boss, get promotion)
- Stop stressing and fretting about business (my kids tell me I’m always distracted, and I feel like I’m losing them/missing their lives)
Focus on results.
Always think and act in your client’s best interest. Focus on outcomes and results. Consider how you will improve their condition, and how they will be better once you’re gone. When you orient your business around getting results for your clients, everything gets easier.
Connect with Alan:
Website: https://www.alanweisss.com/
Episode mentions:
111 - Better Pricing Methodologies For CPA Firms, with Jonathan Stark
106 - Better Pricing Strategies for Accountants: Stop Billing by the Hour, with Jonathan Stark
081 - Time To Rethink Your Pricing Strategy?
Free 5-day email course - Better Pricing Strategies for CPAs
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