Advanced Pricing Strategies for Accountants with Mark Stiving (Uncut)
On today's bonus UNCUT episode, "Advanced Pricing Strategies for Accountants" with Mark Stiving.
Mark has studied, led and coached businesses through the lens of pricing for 25 years. His company Impact Pricing is dedicated to educating B2B companies about pricing and value. He has driven company-wide pricing initiatives worth hundreds of millions of dollars in incremental profit. He started and sold three companies, improving his championship pricing skills in each one. His book, Impact Pricing: Your Blueprint for Driving Profits, is a highly readable and practical manual (4.9 stars on Amazon).
Key takeaways from the full uncut interview include:
➩ The makings of a world-renowned pricing and value expert - how Mark became an international pricing educator
➩ Why pricing matters in business and why accountants especially should care about pricing
➩ The different kinds of pricing, starting with the billable hour and ending with subscription pricing
➩ The problems accountants (and others in professional services) have that doesn't always apply to other sectors
➩ What exactly value is and how it figures into different pricing models
➩ Why accountants have problems with value-based pricing and fail to understand the nuances of pricing
➩ The two decisions buyers make in assessing a purchase and deciding value for money
➩ How the rigid structure of the billable hour and timesheets has stopped accountants from embracing more effective and profitable methods of pricing their services
➩ Why the 'value conversation' is so important for accountants when talking to their clients, and how to use it to price services better
➩ Shout out to Ron Baker, the 'godfather of pricing', and where Mark Stiving takes issue with his stance on timesheets
➩ The importance for accountants of involving the client in the determination of value, ROI and pricing metrics
➩ Whether it's possible to value price for anything, such as accounting audits or basic commodities
➩ Why there is no such thing as a commodity and how sellers can charge differently for what seems to be a basic, standardised product
➩ What an accountant can do when they don't know how long a job, project or particular outcome will take
➩ The biggest risk accountants face in moving from hourly to value based pricing
➩ The single best pricing technique that accountants can use to put together compelling packages, products and services for clients
➩ How lifetime value factors into value pricing, particularly with longer term projects
➩ When it's okay for an accountant to discount their prices or even offer services or advice for free
➩ When a lower price might overcome a buyer's inertia to make a purchase
➩ How accountants can get started with value pricing, both in negotiation and mindset terms
➩ Tips to drive a better pricing culture and a more positive attitude to pricing in your accounting firm.
Contact Mark here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving
NOTE TO LISTENERS:
This is a full-length interview (usually 20-30 mins long) from which the highlights show earlier in the week was taken. You can listen to this on a previous episode.
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