Value-based pricing. What's then then? Well, the clue is in the name. Your client pays you what they think you're worth. Or more correctly, they pay you the amount they think the work you do for them is worth.
Sounds scary, right?
Except it doesn't have to be. If you have clients, then presumably you are billing them (monthly I hope - helps with cash flow, I hear). Now again, I'm presuming that you agreed at the outset of the matter a fixed cost, a guideline cost, or a costs ceiling.
This estimate is generally based upon a calculation of the time it will take you to complete the transaction and make a profit. Now there is no reason that value based pricing cannot work along the same lines. I.e.you calculate the minimum fee you can accept to make a profit, and then ask the client what they would be willing to pay. If it's above this figure, you win - sometimes you win significantly. If it's below the figure, you lose - or you simply don't do the work. Are you willing to take on a client that doesn't value your work enough for you to make a profit?
If what the client is willing to pay is too low for you to make a profit, it's worth considering why. Is it because others are charging less for the same work? If so, how can they afford to charge less, and you can't? Is it because they have separated the elements of the work that need to be done by a highly qualified, specialist solicitor, and those that can be carried out off-shore, north-shore or internally by junior solicitors, paralegals and/or administrative assistants? If so, do you need to re-think your internal structure?
So, value-based pricing. What do you think?
Value-Based Pricing has to be the future. Charging for your time is really no more than asking to be paid to show up or to sit there with the folder open.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge, and it's an exciting challenge, is to help the prospective client understand for themselves the full value they will derive from the work you could do - And this in no way involves 'telling' them!
If cost of delivery and perceived value are far enough apart, both professional and client can gain significant RoI. If not, the first question should be "Can cost and perceived value be pushed further apart?"