Every client is different. They all want different things, they value different things, and they are willing to pay you different prices.

You need to make sure you always give your clients choices - customers love choices.

You can watch the video I did on this here.

I recently bought a new car...

...it’s a Jaguar XF. I find the whole car buying process fascinating. It’s a big, important purchase. When I went onto the website to do my research I notice they gave me lots of choices.

They had three different model of the Jaguar XF. There was the Prestige which is the cheapest option. Then the R-Sport was designed for people who were more interested in the sporty extras. And finally, the Portfolio was the luxury model, it was the premium version. This one was aimed at people who wanted the highest quality and luxury.

That’s the first choice they give you. The three packages. I call this Menu Pricing. Creating a bronze, silver and gold option.

They gave me so many...

Do you sometimes feel like you aren’t making any progress? Perhaps you’ve set yourself some goals and you never hit them? Or you aren’t making as much money as you want. Your practice isn’t growing like you want it to.

Are you feeling those frustrations?

Let me share with you my thoughts…

Do you have goals set in the first place?

Have you got a clear picture of what you are aiming for?

The reason many of us fail to progress the way we want to is because we are doing too much stuff. We don’t have a clear direction and we are constantly busy with the wrong things.

Here’s a process to help you get clarity in your mind, clarity that will help you achieve the things you want in your business or in your life.

You can watch the video here.

Think about your business and consider:

What will my business look like when it is finally done?

Think about that end point. What is your vision? How big do you want it to be? What profits do you want it to...

I’m guessing, if you are a CPA, accountant or Enrolled Agent, you probably prepare hundreds of tax returns a year.

If you could increase the price of these by just £100, or $100, that would multiply across and make a huge difference to your profits.

I’m going to share with you three ideas that you should be doing to get those higher prices.

You can watch the video here.

#1 - Charge different people different prices

Everyone is different. We value things differently. So give people choices.

One way fo doing that is Menu Pricing.

That means creating a Bronze, Silver and Gold package of services. Think of what the Bronze, Silver and Gold version of a tax return is. You can get creative here.

You have to start by understanding what is important to different types of clients. Some clients may just want the bare minimum compliance work doing. Some may be more interested in saving tax so would prefer a premium service.

You need to have an option available to those people...

I am going to share with you the three S’s of niche building.

It’s critical that you start developing niches, develop a real focus and find your specialism. The specialist always makes more money than the generalist.

If you want to get better prices, win more work and earn more money and better quality clients - you need to focus and build a niche.

Let’s look at the three S’s of niche building…

You can watch the video here.

Sector

Is there a particular industry that you are particularly fascinated by?

It could be the dental industry for example. Or perhaps doctors. Maybe you are interested in the construction industry, or the restaurant industry.

There are a lot of sectors to choose from, but you should pick one that interests you.

Stage

Think about the life-cycle of of a business.

They start, and at some point the business owner may sell their business. Think about the different types of businesses, the circumstances they could be in.

It may be you...

I caught up with Reza Hooda, an incredible accountant who is doing some crazy things with his clients’ lives.

 He shared with me some of the key ways he helps clients to get the maximum value from his services. 

I strongly recommend you watch the whole 30 minute interview to learn all about Reza’s success and how you can achieve the same thing. 

You can watch the video here.

We have to start doing more for our clients 

We have to make sure that whatever changes may happen as the industry evolves, we are always providing the utmost value to our clients.

It feels like accountants have become lazy over the past 20-30 years because we have had a steady stream of clients, recurring revenue, churning out accounts every year and not having to do much else.

Now the industry is changing.

We actually have to step up and do what we were trained to do. We have these skills, professional training and experience in dealing with businesses on a daily basis. 

...

How do you feel about selling? I’m guessing a little bit uncomfortable. It’s common in our profession.

Here’s the good news...

You can stop selling!

Instead change your mindset. You aren’t selling to clients, you are allowing them to buy.

You are an expert in what you do. Experts don’t need to sell - people will come to you.

You don’t need to be using sales techniques. You just need to allow people to buy.

You can watch the video on how to do that here.

Some people aren't a good fit

When you meet potential clients, the goal is to establish if they are a good fit for your business. Do you feel you could work with them? Do you think they would be a good client? Do they have the right characteristics, personality and business? They will be doing the same thing with you.

You will find some people are not a good fit - it’s totally fine to walk away from those people. Make it your mindset that you can walk away from clients that aren’t...

You can’t right price the wrong clients.

Let me explain what that means…

A huge problem in our profession is accountants and bookkeepers working crazy long hours and not making enough money.

One of the main reasons this is happening is accounting professionals have the wrong mindset. We want to win every single client out there. We want to grow our firms and keep taking on clients.

But not every client is a good client.

Watch the video I did on this here.

There will always be some clients out there that no matter how much you build value, communicate value, give them choices, options, use menu pricing - all of the best value pricing techniques - they will still not value what you do.

You will never get the right price with those people because they have unrealistic expectations. They are probably just looking for the cheapest provider and that’s not what you are.

They may be the sort of person that has cashflow issues, or they may be a brand-new business start-up...

As you make your journey to value pricing, one of the very best places to start is Menu Pricing.

We know that different customers value different things, they all want to pay different prices - so let them. Give them three choices - Bronze, Silver and Gold.

Menu Pricing works.

That’s why you see successful businesses like Apple, Starbucks and Intuit using it.

I have so many stories of people increasing their prices by 20% or more. Some people say that menu pricing doesn’t work - those people clearly aren’t doing it right.

I’m going to share a 7-step framework that will help you to build really effective packages.

You can watch the video here.

#1 - Number

You need to decide how many bundles you are going to offer.

I recommend three. This is because of the psychology of the magic of three. It’s proven to be the best number with some exceptions. Unless you can prove another number works better, start with three.

#2 - Customer segmentation

This step is...

If you want to grow your firm, and if you want to narrow down your niche by specialising, then one of the best ways to attract new clients is content marketing.

You need to be creating content and putting it out there for clients to see to build up your positioning, build a reputation as the expert and win new customers.

I put out one YouTube video and one blog post every single week.

In fact you can check out the video here.

You may be wondering how I do that. Perhaps you feel you are too busy to write a blog post every week. The truth is - so am I.

I haven’t got the time to film a video every week.

I batch it.

I will typically, once or twice a year, do everything in one go. I will make 12 months worth of content in a couple of days.

I start by spending a day of preparation. I brainstorm and come up with 26 topics. I think of all the things I can teach, in my case I consider what it is that accountants and bookkeepers can teach to their ideal markets.

I come up with 26...

If you want to get the best prices, you must involve your client in the pricing process.

Every client is different.

We all value things differently. You need to price the customer, not the service.

You can watch the video here.

There is a big mistake that I see people making in the profession, it’s a mistake that I myself made when I first started my own accounting practice in the 90s.

I didn’t understand value pricing...

I would meet with clients every single week, and I would talk about all the amazing things we could do for them. At the end of the meeting they would ask me the price question and I would say:

‘That’s a great question. Let me go away and think about it. I will write you a proposal.’

Please don’t EVER do this.

Think about the last time you received a proposal or quote...

Perhaps you were having your house decorated, or your garden landscaped. When you get a quote or proposal sent to you what is the first thing you look for?...