Transitioning to fixed-fee pricing can help eliminate surprises at your accounting firm. From collecting payments on time to being able to successfully market your services, the switch can definitely be worth it. Fixing your fees is a great step to scaling your practice and improving overall client satisfaction. So what’s holding some accountants back?
Making any sort of pricing change at your firm comes with unique challenges. Money is hard to talk about, after all. It can be difficult to know how you approach the topic with clients or even where to start with marketing your new service offerings! The important thing is that YOU understand what you are changing first and how this will affect your practice.
Here is a step-by-step way to market this new model to your accounting clients and officially make the switch.
Calculate average costs
It’s much easier to introduce a new pricing model with new clients. Switching things up with long-time clients, however, is a bit trickier. At the end of the day, your client’s main concern is going to be how the change to fixed pricing will affect their bottom line. When setting your new fees, look back at your client’s payment history. Figure out the average cost and use this to inform your pricing strategy.
Write things down
In order to reach an agreement with your clients, you’ll need to have all the important details written down. You can’t sell a product if you aren’t sure what it is. Make a clear list of all the services you will provide at your suggested rate. That way, there’s no mystery as to what your client is signing up for. With the change in pricing models, they’ll want to be reassured that they’re still getting the same bang for their buck.
Meet with clients
The next step to moving your clients to a fixed-fee pricing model at your accounting firm is to meet with them. Conversations about pricing are always challenging, especially if you plan to increase rates simultaneously. When planning a meeting with a client, try to make the atmosphere friendly and relaxing. Make it clear that they have options. Also, be sure to emphasize that your new pricing model will make calculating their expenses easier too.
Automate payment
When your client knows how much they will be spending on accounting services each month, that payment can become an expected expenditure rather than one that fluctuates. This leaves the door open for automation. Find an application that works for you so that your clients can sign up to have the money automatically transferred each month. Ideally, this should help to eliminate collection problems at your accounting firm.
We tend to get stuck in our old ways – if the old pricing model has worked fine for this long, why change it? Change is necessary, however, in order to scale your practice and see continued growth over time. A fixed fee pricing model is just one possible way to encourage this growth. While it can be hard to try something new, thorough preparation and an awareness of the process you need to follow will help make the switch seamless.
