You’ve built your practice to offer all sorts of valuable services to clients: tax, accounting, assurance, advisory, consulting, and likely many more. The problem is, when your team talks to clients, they primarily discuss one or two services rather than offering a package of services that would benefit the client and generate more revenue for the firm.
Not only does this leave money on the table and do a disservice to your clients, but it prevents your team from living up to their full potential. After all, you invested a lot of money into building teams, but if one department can’t coordinate with another to serve clients across service lines, both clients and the firms miss out.
The challenge of packaging and pricing services
When we talk to firm leaders about packaging and pricing services, they understandably feel overwhelmed. It does seem like a lot to figure out.
However, at a recent Business Transformation Circle meeting, we presented a challenge to our members: spend 30 minutes putting together three packages or services levels: name them, put services in each, and come up with a price.
Hearing the challenge, people get nervous, but at the end of the 30-minute window, they’ve made serious progress and realize it’s not as complicated as it seems.
For example, a firm might have the following packages:
The package names, specific services and pricing vary from firm to firm. The details aren’t as important as taking that first step to start thinking about how you can package and price your services in a way that will benefit your clients.
Spending just 30 minutes on this exercise often shows people that it’s easier to execute than you might think.
Taking the next step
Once you’ve created your packages, commit to putting them in front of the next three clients you speak to about your services — whether they’re new clients or your firm’s existing clients who currently only engage your firm for one service.
After you have these conversations, report back to the rest of the firm on the kinds of conversations you had with clients and the feedback you got on the packages and pricing.
Our Circle members who’ve done this report that they’re having much more holistic, valuable conversations with clients than they likely would have had otherwise. They also experience higher rates of converting prospects into clients because they remove the binary (yes/no) decision.
When you present a prospect with one option (for example, we can prepare your tax return for $2,500), they either think your services are or aren’t worth that much. On the other hand, you give the prospect multiple avenues for working with you when you provide options. Investing $1,000 per month might feel unaffordable at that point, but they can start at $500 per month and hopefully move up from there as the business grows.
Accelerate results with subscription pricing
We used subscription pricing in the sample packages above, but you can easily create packages using your existing billing model. For example:
However, subscription pricing can accelerate results. This is because subscription pricing gives your clients peace of mind. You’re essentially telling your client that for $X per month, you can handle all their needs. They don’t have to worry about how much it will cost if they receive an IRS notice, get audited, decide to buy or sell a piece of real estate, or have any other issues or questions; they’re covered. Most clients will gladly pay a premium to know they can access their advisor and get whatever they need when they need it.
Packaging and pricing your services may seem like a complicated endeavor, but it’s easy once you break the process down into simple, straightforward steps. The initial bundle of services and pricing you develop may not be the right fit for your firm or your clients, but don’t be afraid to make mistakes. With each mistake, you get closer to the perfect range of packages and prices. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Could you benefit from a peer network of other advisory service leaders?
The Boomer Business Transformation Circle is a peer group of advisory service leaders from top accounting firms who benefit from sharing knowledge, best practices and lessons learned. Apply now to get plugged into the Circle and start transforming your firm.
Jon Hubbard, Shareholder, Consultant, at Boomer Consulting helps accounting firm leaders find success in the areas of leadership, talent and growth. Jon is a facilitator for the Boomer P3 Leadership Academy, Boomer Talent Circle and Boomer Marketing & BD Circle. He also guides firms to grow and be more effective in the areas of client service, marketing and business development.
Jon speaks at various industry conferences, user conferences, state societies, and associations. He is a Storybrand Certified Guide and Certified Kolbe Consultant.
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