Based on an article by pricing specialist Steve Major.
Not long ago, accounting firms said nothing about price on their websites. Now it can seem as though every second firm lists packages and prices.
There are good and bad reasons to do it. Too often, published packages are a veneer: the website changes but the firm doesn’t, and the result is more pressure on fees. Here are the wrong reasons, and a better approach.
Wrong reason 1: copying software companies
Many firms mimic software subscription companies, where customers pick a plan, enter their card details and sign up online. It looks like an ideal business model.
But a professional firm is not a software company. Software firms use packages to sort large numbers of customers into groups and price each group. That makes sense at scale. When an accounting firm publishes package prices, it gives up something far more valuable: the ability to price each client individually, based on the value of the work to them, before you’ve even spoken to them.
Wrong reason 2: “it helps us scale”
Another argument is that fixed packages are the only way to grow. Yet some of the world’s largest consulting firms price every client individually. Growth is entirely possible without fixed packages.
The scaling argument also tends to put efficiency above everything else. Clients care more about effective solutions. Efficiency has a natural limit; effectiveness doesn’t.
Wrong reason 3: affordability
A firm that publishes prices is often competing on price, whether it means to or not. Price sends a signal. If your packages look much like the firm down the road, the conversation turns into a comparison, and the more expensive firm comes under pressure.
The risk: undervaluing your expertise
Your skills go well beyond compliance. You can help clients transform their businesses. That insight shouldn’t be squeezed into a generic package, where it ends up undervalued and underpriced.
A better approach: price the client
As a professional, you can have a conversation about value with each client and shape the options to suit them. You can still offer a few packages for efficiency, but agree them with each client rather than publishing them for everyone. Value is subjective and every price depends on context. Pricing the client is how you capture that value.
So what should your website say about price?
Steering clear of exact prices doesn’t mean saying nothing. A page that sets expectations can do two useful jobs:
- Position your firm. Price is a signal, and you can use it to support the position you want, including premium service.
- Qualify prospects. Explaining how you price, and the typical range of investment, filters out people who aren’t a fit, so the people who get in touch already have realistic expectations.
Another view
Not everyone agrees. For firms that have committed to fixed pricing, we’ve also written about why exact prices beat “from” prices. Whichever approach you take, make it a deliberate choice, not a copy of what other firms do.