Price hike or pricing strategy? Accountants, where are you?

Another year, another conversation around fees. It’s March and the age-old question has raised its ugly head over the last couple of months: “Do we raise our fees and if so, how do we broach this with our clients?”

Let’s not beat around the bush here, what you’re really asking is “Shall we mention the subject, and will they say no?”

Go onto any forum or social media channel at this time of year and you’ll find the full range of questions around fees: How do we do it? What do we say? How do you charge? By time or by project? Annual or monthly fees? Subscription model or not?  Rate of inflation increase or more? And so on and so forth.

These are thorny issues which, I imagine, don’t get easier over time.

The good news is that it seems that you’re not alone. This is clear from the increasing number of coaches and software packages helping you to set and discuss your fees.

Pricing comes but once a year

The idea that the fees conversation happens once a year only adds to the pressure but ask many accountants and they’ll agree that often they’re thinking “new fee, new year” themselves.

It seems logical, almost expected. If there is any good time to do it, then the new year seems to be the time. It’s a common approach although some do it by reference to the calendar year, the tax year or each client’s accounting year.

But what does this really say to your clients? To my mind it may confirm that some clients feel that their accountant services are just a commodity. And that’s not helpful to anyone. 

Price hike approach says commodity?

Whether we like talking about our fees or not, taking the simple price-hike approach leads to commodity conversations with our clients. It’s as simple as that. 

And if you tackle your fees like this, then you’re likely to struggle with the same perceptions. Whatever your approach, wouldn’t it be great if you could start to think about fees more strategically in 2022 and beyond? 

A way forward

There are many more experienced in the accounting industry than me who talk about fees, so let me frame it from a brand perspective, after all that’s where my specialism lies.

If you have a strong and inspiring brand, you’ll be able to charge more. It’s as simple as that. 

We all make decisions, we all buy, and we make these decisions not purely on need but on desire. 

But when talking about accounting you may think there’s nothing tangible to “sell”. I would argue that if you have a brand based on you and your team and you have defined how you deliver your own unique service then you have a brand. After all, we are all unique but it’s conveying that uniqueness in your brand which is the skill.

Having a brand begins a longer-term conversation about adding value to your clients: “What does our brand mean we can do? Can it sustain an additional service to add value?”

If you have a clear brand with a clear and well-defined offer you’ve got a head start.  Brand enables you to shape your service to your client for example your onboarding. How do you deliver the welcome? Is it a welcome pack, a brochure, a video or something else? It can also inform what you say in this welcome and how you say it.  This all adds to the perception of value.

Brand also gives you the confidence to structure and execute a well-defined and broader client journey outside the usual remit such as events and the like to keep the dialogue alive. Greater client experience, greater perceived value.

You can choose

Cut back to February, and the inevitable email arrived for me from my accountant.  The fee rise was expected, was minimal and offered me little more than before.  

I was told that I didn’t need anything else based on last year’s activities but if I wanted to discuss further, I could book a call.

With no conversation over the year and no official lines of communication there was nothing more to do and nothing really to say. 

So, I left it with the same service, slightly higher fee. And no perception of additional value.

But with the right brand thinking this could have been so different. Every business owner has the power to choose: price hike or pricing strategy.