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Speaking as a client….
Firstly if someone recommends I use XYZ company, I will look at the web site to get the phone number etc, but still tell the accountant that they were recommended. However without a website I may not have gone with the company. Therefore it is impossible to track the effect a website has on a company.
Without clear details of the fees, I am unlikely to go with an accountant. After past experience of being charged on a time bases for the accountant to answer the phone when I phoned up to check progress, I expect fees to be well defined and not based on a time sheet.
Remember with “the menu approach” that you can state a different fee for a client after you have done the first years work for them. This can be higher or lower than your “public” fee.
There days if I wanted an accountant, I would be looking for one that specialised in what I was doing and ideally have operated the some sort of business than I do themselves. So claiming to be able to do everything on your website may stop me being a client.
Depends what you're aiming for
"To me, adopting the stance of not quoting fees on your website is akin to the expensive clothes shops that displays garments in the window, but without price tags attached. If you go into the shop you know it’s going to be expensive. Do you want to give a similar impression about your accountancy practice?"
Absolutely, yes.
Good points well made
"To me, adopting the stance of not quoting fees on your website is akin to the expensive clothes shops that displays garments in the window, but without price tags attached. If you go into the shop you know it’s going to be expensive. Do you want to give a similar impression about your accountancy practice?"
Absolutely, yes.
Good point
Well
I would never publish my rates on my website.
If they are published and are "too low" I will potentially be inundated with the wrong type of client.
If they are "too high" I won't get any business at all.
So I have a 1 in 3 chance of publishing the "right" charge and of course not all clients are the same. What's expensive to one may be perceived as too cheap by another.
I much prefer meeting clients and then quoting them.
As a wise man once told me......If I meet a client and don't like them my fee is irrelevant because I won't be taking the job on.
Non-Standard clients
I'm happy to say most of my clients don't fit neatly into commodity boxes, and value my services accordingly.
There's a clear trend emerging, with two types of offering: one is a standardised approach akin to a processing centre, where all fees are published and you really are just a number to the practice that takes you on (although they might tell you otherwise), and the bespoke approach for clients who want a more personalised service (and will pay for it).
As more and more accountants publish rates online, how does a potential client choose? The temptation is to go with the lowest quote, which might turn out to be the worst fit for the business. If you are competing based on price, then publish your rates and try and draw in as many clients as you can - never mind the service level might be terrible, you might keep the client for 1-3 years and turnover of clients will be high, but the bottom line is all that drives you, so this model works for those of that mindset.
I'm somewhat lucky in that I don't advertise and my web site is not designed to haul in the masses by offering the lowest price service. I don't compete on price. I don't advertise.
I have used a timesheet exactly once in the last ten or so years- and that was only because we had a meeting lasting 7.5 hours (!!!) and I wanted to remember to bill it.
I meet and deal with all my clients personally, so when I say 'I'll do that and it will cost x' they know it's me doing the work not some barely trained junior. I will quote a ballpark fee if someone asks but will only firm that up once we have met (or discussed matters at length by phone/email) and I understand what they require, what they expect, and what I see is the real problem areas (not always the same as the client may think they are..).
For me my system works- I lost two clients last year. One died. The other is a partnership retiring and selling a property to a developer and they have moved to the developer's agents as they are all of the same nationality, having been with me for 20 years, as the developer's agents are specialists in maximising ER claims.
I guess I'm one of the lucky ones that doesn't need to advertise my prices- I am that establishment where prices aren't displayed and you get top quality that you pay for. If you want bargain bucket advice there are plenty of cheaper places- but don't expect Michelin star quality from them.
Non Standard Clients
Brilliantly put.
I treat my clients as the individuals they are, each one is unique and therefore my prices reflect that, and I believe my clients appreciate that too. They are not standard businesses to be able to quote a standard fee.
not exactly true
speaking as someone who does put prices on the website, whilst every client is unique to us, what we do for most clients can easily be put into one of three brackets and therefore can be priced accordingly.
Some you win on, some you lose on but overall it works for us. But then we have always worked this way for over 15 years.
as a business person myself one of the first questions I would ask is how much? why should it be any different with accounts?
Cheaper prices does not always mean "bargain bucket advice", it could just mean that the cheaper option is with a practice that is more efficient and has lower overheads. I have seen plenty of clients paying 4 times more than we charge who have been given terrible advice.
I am against publishing fees but ...
I am against publishing fees in principle but ... a lot of Accountants do, I suppose if you want your website to work for you, it may be to offer something different. Could it lead to a race to the bottom and also are these fees quoted set in stone or just guidelines, are additional services are invoiced separately. Lets be honest there are always additional services performed, I probably dont invoice enough.
As above without advertising leading potential clients to my website, I would get no work through it, which leads on to the recent question are Web sites any good now everyone has one, are we all on an even keel.
all interesting stuff but
All interesting stuff, but I don't compete on price. I compete on what we do. I am unlikely to ever be the cheapest in absolute terms, but I believe that we provide excellent value for money when the quality, range and level of service is considered.
But how can the client understand or appreciate quality, range and level of service unless there is some process to do that? Very importantly, how do we evaluate the client and decide if the 'fit' is right and we want to work with them. Equally importantly, how do you start the process of evaluating the risk that comes with each client or potential. Currently this is why we meet potential clients and discuss their circumstances and needs.
I am never going to be the Aldi or Lidl of the accounting world and I don't want clients who are looking only on price...and good luck to those accountants who do work in that market. I think that if this means I get a few less clients because I'm not advertising prices then I'm not worried.
At the same time I appreciate that potential clients want lots of information and finding a good balance and making it easy for potential clients is important.
Type of client
Firstly, if you don't have a website then more fool you. If you have an out of date website, I will assume you have shut down or are so ancient you will demand I come to your house and provide you with paper copies of all of my expenses.
Secondly, deciding if to list fees really depends on the client you are targeting. If the service you are providing is a commodity, such as contracting services or landlords, then you should really list the price otherwise your clients will look at the site and move on to a competitor. They don't have time to give every accountant a call for a quote and 50 questions. If you are targeting businesses then you could give some indication if you prefer but probably best not just putting a random amount on there.
Time is a precious commodity these days. It needn't necessarily be but it is for so many people. We display our prices on our website as a menu type system as a monthly subscription for the most common, smaller clients.
Rightly or wrongly we sign up many new start ups. Most are happy to sign up after a quick meeting or even a phone call as they know what they are getting and what it costs. So many new start-ups don't have a clue what it would cost and can find out in 5 minutes on our website rather than an hour meeting someone else.
I've been there and done the 'hide my prices until I'm ready to reveal them' and client sign up was less. Not significantly but since then I've increased my prices and display them. The key bit I have now achieved is I don't waste time on those who can't afford the fees. So many times before I would spend an hour in a meeting for them to say I was thinking more like x. I want Y. We go our seperate ways.
Our policy is now simple. Prices are there to see and enquire further if you can afford them or they are good value to you. Our website tries its best to get over the character of our firm and how we are a friendly, nice bunch of accountants to have on your side.
Any negotiating on price is based on the services the client does or does not want not a negotiation.
I may not be among the 'norm' of accountants and many may never want to work the way we do.
For me though it works. We get plenty of new enquiries and I don't waste my time with those who aren't prepared for the actual cost. 10 new enquiries this month (not unusual 8 Dec, 14 Nov) and I would expect 80% of those at least to be new clients by mid Feb.
@Mark great article and picks up well where accountancy might be going and the changes some firms may be forced to adopt.
Size / complexity/ specialism
There is no one size fits all to this.
I would draw three axis on my graph
"specialist to generalist"
"small to big"
"simple to complex"
Those in the small/specialist/simple quadrant are easy to menu price and most likely to appear on websites
Those in the big/generalist are hard to menu price, and unlikely to appear as each job will be largely bespoke. There would also be more commercial motive for pricing a £5k job formally vs for a £150 tax return.Take you longer to price than do!
You may be able to menu price "speciliast" and "medium complex" and some other combinations, but the further you go out on the graph, the harder it would be.
Another axis "quality" may also exist but I can only draw in 3D.
I have prices on my website that state “from”.
I want to give prospects a rough idea of my fees.
If some people are put off by my fees, at least I haven’t wasted my time and their time by dragging them into a pointless meeting.
Didn't use to, now do...
About 2 years ago, as part of a website revamp and a push on SEO, I 'packaged up' our services into 3 main offerings and put them, along with a menu-type pricing system, for everyone to see. (Just by way of a point of reference, our average fee is about £2k, up to £10k or so for larger clients).
I used to be very anti-pricing, but having seen it work for some people, I thought I'd give it a go. After all, it's not a life commitment - you can always take it down again if you want to. I also thought about my approach to things as a buyer/consumer: if I can't see some indication of price from a website, then I'm unlikely to take my queries any further along those lines.
My main thoughts would be:
(a) we get more people contacting us through our website than we used to, and they have a clearer idea of what they want when they come to see us;
(b) we get less time wasters who come along with no idea of what they need or want, and who are after bargain-basement pricing (actually got some feedback through my sister-in law whose friend received some marketing from us. Her friends words were 'I need an accountant but they're a bit expensive'. Excellent. She's not wasted her or our time talking to us.)
So, overall, it was a good move for us, but I can understand how it would be less relevant the more specialised you are.
WS