Are my Accounting Prices Too high?

The GoProposal Audio Experience

So, you've just increased your prices, you've now had a few client meetings, and perhaps they've not gone as well as you'd hoped. The client's not jumping for joy, they're saying you're too expensive, or you're charging more than my previous accountant or they didn't expect to be paying that much and perhaps you've not had them signing your proposals instantly or even at all. And so when that starts to happen what the logical thing to do is, to think well, I've increased my prices, now people aren't accepting the price, therefore I've got my price wrong, so let's bring the price back down. The problem is that perhaps your price is now where it needs to be, but it's other aspects of the equation that's causing that client not to sign up. So, it's unfair just to consider price, when you need to consider the full equation at work here. So, what I'm going to do is take you through each aspect of the equation. I'm going to give you some questions to challenge each of those aspects to make sure that they're as robust as they should be. And I'm also going to give you some pointers to improve it, so we can start to take price out as the key culprit. Key Aspects of the Equation #1 Source So the first factor we need to consider is source. Where are you getting these leads from? How good are these leads that you're actually getting? Are they coming from a Google search? Are they being referred to you by other people? Are they being referred to you by existing clients (who are also paying low fees)? How good is your overall marketing? ACTION POINT: Check out the Profitable Firm. They've got loads of fantastic resources you can go and get from their website that'll really help you to see how good your marketing is and how it can be quickly improved. #2 Priming The next thing is something that we call the priming phase. You need to prime your clients to your way of thinking, you need to educate them and invest in that client relationship first. Have they downloaded an ebook from your website? Have they read your articles Have they watched your videos? Have they attended your events? #3 Discovery Call The next step is the discovery call. A discovery call is a 15 minute phone call, where we get to understand a little bit more about that client and to make sure that we're a good fit for them. Do you have a Discovery Call? Have you got a minimum monthly fee? Have you read "Selling to Serve"? ACTION POINT: If you're interesting in knowing more about the priming phase or the discovery call phase, go and check out my book, "Selling to Serve" and map out our entire priming and discovery call phase including scripts in that book, go and grab that and I'll be able to help you with those. You can also check out The Gap's "8 Questions for Effective New Client Screening" for the questions to ask that establish your expectations prior to sealing the deal. #4 Experience The next part is the experience. Where are you meeting your prospects? Are you in control of the experience they have? Is that experience world class? Are you sending them confirmation of the meeting via text, via email? Are you sending them a little video of where they're going to be coming to and how to find your office? Is there a car parking space ready for them with their name on the parking space? Is there a sign when they come into the offices with their name on, their company name greeting them either on a screen or on a board or something like that? Is the meeting room professionally laid out? Do every member of your team know everyone's name who's turning up, so we can say hello to them by their name and make them feel significant and special when they arrive? Are there no distractions? Have you sent out an agenda before that meeting so they know exactly what they're going through? Are you controlling that meeting in its entirety in terms of time and the agenda when they get there?