When I initially sat down with Michelle Golden River, Growth & Profitability Strategist and Founder of Fore, LLC, we planned to discuss advanced pricing and where the profession stands today. We began by talking about how CPA firms can switch from a time based billing model to pricing work in advance.
However, the discussion evolved into a conversation about relationships. Advanced pricing comes down to value - what value are you delivering to clients and what is that worth? To know that, you need to know your clients. To know your clients, you have to talk to them and build relationships.
Joey Havens, Managing Partner of Strategic Growth at Horne, dug deep into this concept with his blog post "What if I Really Am a Trusted Advisor?". In this post, Joey asks is that really what we should be aiming for? He ran his team through an exercise of what their current client experience was like vs. what the team wanted it to be, "We needed a litmus test to help understand our present reality around client relationships, experience, and level of service," Joey explains, and this is the test they began implementing:
Joey goes on to explain that through this exercise, his team realized they were not unlike most in our profession, excellent first responders. However, as a firm, they were not delivering on the "trusted advisor's" promise. It should be a collaborative relationship, providing significant value beyond fees, and being part of a client's "inner circle".
Before you can start talking about adding value and how to price that value, you need to learn more about clients. CPAs need to build relationships, which means having intimate conversations with clients, asking them questions, and really listening to their answers to find out how you can help. Michelle Golden River thinks about this at a deeper level and talks through the definition of "value" with me in this week's episode.
Resources:
212 AI: Artificial or Augmented Intelligence? With Kacee Johnson
211. Talent's impact on internal controls, with Dr. Rebecca Hann
210. Where will the pipeline dust settle? with Lexy Kessler
209. Is A.I. the answer? with Will Hill
208. The science behind purpose, with Britt Andreatta
207. A.I.'s keys: Curiosity, Usefulness, with Jason Staats
206. Not another leadership book, with Emmanuel Gobillot
205. A.I. strategy: Fire, ready, aim, with Pascal Finette
204. Out-of-the-gate A.I. strategies, with Don Tomoff
203. Investor-friendly audits? with Jack Ciesielski
202. Are you a reality-based leader? with Alex Dorr
201. Leading through change, with Okorie Ramsey
200. Talking tax ahead of busy season, with Steven Lyon
199. CAS opportunities in spend management, with Jayson Brannon and Dan Luthi
198. Hybrid work's sweet spot, with Alex Kirillov and Jim Brady
197. Inspiring next-gen CPAs, with Christine Aspell
196. Leading with significance, with Joey Havens
195. Tax and CAS: It works, with Jasen Stine
194. Packing the pipeline, with Liz Barentzen
193. The weak link in strengths-based work, with Marcus Buckingham
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The emPOWERed Half Hour
NABOR® TALKS
U.S Property Podcast
Aligned Money Show
The Ramsey Show
Planet Money