Business Strategy for CPA's

Most CPAs struggle with pricing. After all, it’s not a topic that’s commonly taught. Even less frequently discussed is pricing mindset - in short, how to think about pricing. If you don’t think about how you think about pricing, you will run on default thinking. And if you run on default thinking about pricing, you're probably going to leave money on the table.  Here today to talk with me about this problem is my guest, The Pricing Lady, Janene Liston.  Janene is a Certified Pricing Professional, and she works with small businesses to improve how they price so they can be most sustainably profitable.    Highlights: — “What most people understand about pricing comes from being a consumer, especially from the retail industry.”  — “Pricing is about how you set, how you get, and how you manage prices. And it's a way of being or behaving in your business. It’s a mindset.” — “There are lots of prices that are right for your business and your customers. Your job is to find the price range that you can work in.”  — “Even if you're offering accounting services that are same (as other accountants), you may be able to charge more if you're better at communicating value.”  — “Believe that you are in fact better than the rest, not just by saying it, but actually being better than the rest.”   ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list Connect with Janene: Website: https://thepricinglady.com/   Download Janene’s Self-assessment Pricing Scorecard: https://thepricinglady.com/goodies/  

What is cost, what is price, what is value? First let us clarify how these terms can be used and what they mean. The seller determines the cost, and it is based on the inputs required to produce the service or product.  The seller determines the price, and it is simply a choice.  The buyer determines the value, which is unique to each person and highly subjective. You can think of designing the “equation” like this:   Cost < Price < Value   So that:  When the cost is less than the price, the seller sells at a profit.  (The seller’s profit is the price at which he sold, minus his cost, of course.) When the price is less than the value, the buyer buys at a profit. The buyer’s profit is less obvious. It’s the value to them, minus the price.  The value to the buyer is what they would have paid.  The buyer’s profit is what they would have paid minus what they paid. When you design your services such that Cost < Price < Value, you are designing your service to create mutually assured profitability.  It’s a sweet spot worth seeking.   ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list

When you set out to pursue your CPA, being an amazing manager of people was probably not in your crosshairs.  Yet, as your firm grows, the need to become an effective manager of people becomes readily apparent.  If you’re not an effective manager of people, one can get bogged down in staff-related headaches, pulling the focus away from working on the business.  Here today to talk with me about better managing your team, is my guest, Kris Plachy.  Kris is THE Thought Leader and Expert for Female Entrepreneurs. She has poured her life’s work into teaching them how to lead a team. In a space where there is a lot of ‘noise’ and advice, Kris has designed the ‘how to’ of team leadership through her How to CEO for Female Entrepreneurs™ program. She knows without a doubt, there is no challenge you are facing as a leader that she can’t help you solve. Highlights: — “You don't evolve and develop leadership and management prowess, if you don't understand the mind of a team member.” — “The world of work has radically changed in the last two years. If you aren't paying attention to that, you're gonna really struggle to find top talent.” — “If you're having repetitive problems with same kind of employee, that's just an indication that you have some things you need to work on to make better decisions on who you hire, and have better practices on how you lead and manage.” — “What's essential in delegation is telling people what success looks like as clearly as you can.” — “If you're the owner of a business and you can't hold people accountable, you are rudderless. You are operating at the whim of other people's brains, and it will make you nuts.” — “We want to have a culture of accountability, which means that when you say you're going to deliver something, you do.” ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list Connect with Kris: Website: https://krisplachy.com/ How to CEO Program:  https://leadershipcoachinc.lpages.co/how2ceo/ Book mention:Dan Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth About Motivation https://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates/dp/1594484805

Sometimes we overcomplicate our offerings and our services for buyers because: 1. we think it's actually complicated or 2. we want it to sound fancy, or 3. we want the buyer to believe that they need our help and they can't do it on their own.  We think if, “I make it simple for them, they won't buy.” Or, “If I make it simple, they’ll just do it themselves.” As if tax returns were just easy-peasy for everyone. But the opposite can be true.  If we simplify how we talk about what the buyer needs to know, and we simplify the process for them, it can be easier for them to buy, because finally, they understand what's required of them, what they're getting, and what the value is to them. ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list  

One place that is all too easy to get stuck as a business owner, is in the land of indecision.  As a business owner, I know you know just how many decisions there are to make.  Sometimes it can feel like every decision has to be the right one, and often you lack all the information you need to make a clear and confident decision.  When you find yourself spinning in Stuck-in-Indecision, there is no more data to be gathered.  The only thing to do, the only thing you can do, is make a decision.    Choose one thing.    That choice will get you moving again, and as you move, you will create more information for yourself that will inform your next decision.  This process on repeat will get you beyond the “right answer” you originally sought, and lead you to the thing you actually want. ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list

Knowing what to say on your website so that prospects quickly understand that you are (or are not) the right accountant for them can be difficult.  Here is a simple structure for writing the content, that goes alongside selling your accounting and tax services.    Your buyer needs to know three things: One. That you understand their challenges Two. That you know what they want, instead of what they have Three. That you have a process to get them from where they are now, to where they want to be.    Think of it as the Pain, the Dream, and the Fix.    When you have these three items clear in your own mind and on your website, it makes sales conversations so much easier.  It’s the gatekeeper to your clients working with you. CPA Rebootcamp: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/cpa-rebootcamp   ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/sub

I want to round out this 3-part series on TIME with one more episode on unproductive actions we sometimes take that cost us time. When you can recognize familiar patterns it becomes easier to create a new pattern that’s more productive.  I talk about procrastinating, doing “small tasks” and self-distracting — some of the actions that we do - or don’t do - that are counterproductive and keep us working against ourselves. When you begin to understand how your thoughts drive your feelings which lead to your actions, which in aggregate create your results over time, THEN we can see if the wiring you have pieced together is actually the wiring you want, and if not, you can update your wiring.  ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list Episode mentions: How CPAs Can Create More Time During Busy Season https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/180 How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed and Pressured by Time https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/184  

I want to talk with you today about TIME, because it’s tax season, and if ever there was a time of the year that felt crunched, now is likely it.  When you become aware of how you feel about time, it can help you reduce overwhelm, pressure, and stress. It can also help you become more productive, by reducing the time that gets wasted when in a negative state of mind.  While the feelings a person might experience are real – the sense of overwhelm, pressure, stress, anxiety – the feelings themselves are real – but the thoughts driving the feeling might not be true. Thoughts can be tricky to uncover, so your feelings are useful because they can help reveal to you what you’re thinking.And when you can see what you are thinking, you can choose to keep thinking the same thought, or think a new thought that serves you better. Your only step to get started is to simply get curious about your feelings and how your feelings and the thoughts that drive them might be contributing to an experience or reality that you would just as soon not create.  ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list Episode mentions: 180 How CPAs Can Create More Time During Busy Season https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/180

Shifting off hourly billing can seem like a daunting task, but if done well, it doesn’t need to be that hard. It does require going against the grain.  Right next door, much of the legal profession still uses hourly billing, but not today’s guest.  Digby Leigh is the founder of Digby Leigh and Co, a legal firm dedicated to helping good people do great business.  He is here today to talk with me about how he helped his firm shift away from hourly billing into pricing ahead of time.    Highlights: — “The fear of changing (from an hourly model) often comes from “Well, we're going to lose money.”  — “We don't have any conversation with the clients about receivables any longer, because they know exactly what it's going to be. So our collections have become a lot easier.” — “Pricing is a craft.” — “I'm trying to create a dynamic where a client is actually comparing options, as opposed to comparing me to somebody else.  And I've given them the chance to participate in the pricing discussion.”  — “One of the biggest hurdles for people moving away from hourly models is getting past the thought of “I might work for free on this.” ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list Connect with DIGBY: Law firm: https://leighco.ca/ AltFee: http://altfeeco.com/

Many service providers, including CPAs, start out as generalists who take on every client who needs their services. With a broad focus and no perceived expertise, it’s hard for them to provide enormous value that would justify high fees.  My guest today, Paul Klein, shares how he grew his consulting business by niching down to help an underserved market.  Paul is a business consultant and entrepreneur. From his days as 1980s hair band guitarist and lifelong entrepreneur to starting and scaling a successful SaaS company to consulting for some of the biggest brands including Target, Neiman Marcus, Starbucks, Holiday Inn, and other global brands, Paul helps consultants, freelancers, and solopreneurs price their services, stop undercharging in order to build 7 figure businesses. He is the co-founder of Bizable TV and is also the host of the Pricing Is Positioning podcast and the Rock Your Pricing online course and community.   Highlights: — “Instead of being a generalist, be a specialist. That's where I really thrived and became much more successful than I ever was in a day job.”  — “With residual or passive income, you create something once and it pays you over and over.” — “Niching down took us out of the commodity space to that expert space.”  — “Having three pillars of revenue in our business allowed us to ride out those highs and lows of the consulting business.”  — “The true definition of wealth is discretionary time.” ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list Connect with PAUL: Websites: https://www.paulklein.net/ http://Bizabletv.com Podcast: https://www.paulklein.net/podcast.html Email:   paul@paulklein.net Books mentioned: Pricing Creativity by Blair Enns Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns https://www.winwithoutpitching.com/books/