December is a magical month!
I don’t mean the holiday decorations, the cheery music, and the shopping!
I mean the magic of looking both backwards and forwards at the same time.
It’s the month when CEOS, Owners, and Partners are eager to take the deepest look into the business.
Gift yourself and your business with the answers to these 5 questions.
- How did we do this year? Did we use our knowledge to deliver life changing differences to our clients?
- What can we do the same, differently, or not at all next year? Keep in mind what Adam Grant writes: “Changing your mind is not a sign of losing integrity. It’s often a mark of gaining wisdom.”
- What’s our plan to adopt IMPACT Based Pricing with a small number of our best clients to start?
- How will we use our continuous accumulation of new knowledge and expertise to deliver more significant differences to our clients?
- How will we remember that “Opinions are what you think today. Growth comes from staying open to revising your views tomorrow.” Adam Grant
How it works
My clients often ask me to sit with them during this magical moment of gift giving.
They want reassurance that they’re looking carefully and realistically.
No rose colored glasses, nor doom and gloom.
A clear-eyed honest appraisal and plans that will deliver significant differences to their own firm during 2023.
Here’s how Jerry, a CPA and long-time client describes it:
“When we started with Susan, I only wanted to stop the roller coaster of cash flow. We had a huge tax return prep season and not much else.
Now, seven years later, we’re still improving. We do the December magic with Susan every year.
We have clients with bigger businesses and higher net worth. They have bigger goals, and they count on us to advise them on everything. We do tax returns only for them.
Changing my mind from being a “tax return firm” to being an advisor and guide took some soul-searching. Had I been wrong? Or did I just not know there are alternatives?
It turned out that I did not know the alternatives. The more knowledge I gained from Susan, the easier it was to dive deeply into IMPACT Based Pricing.”
Here’s what a data researcher said:
“Clients will buy our data for a pittance, and then apply it in ways that generate millions of dollars.”
She is the epitome of knowledge and integrity, and yet she was lacking the wisdom to know how to ask for and receive appropriate compensation.
We did our December magic last week.
When she answered the question “did we use our knowledge to deliver life changing differences” the answer was “yes.”
But the answer to the question “were we compensated for those life changing differences,” the answer was “no.”
Why? Because she was stuck in the mindset that what she is selling is time. Not life changing differences. Just time.
The 2023 Plan
- Plan to adopt IMPACT Based Pricing in 2023. Start with a small number of your best clients.
- Practice asking them about their issues: are they an annoyance/inconvenience or are they are on the Critical Path?
- Ask them if they’re making progress, or they’re stuck.
- Invite them to estimate the impact of progress on the Continuum of IMPACT, from 1-10.
- Make three offers using the Choice Framework.
Will it change your business overnight?
Overnight? Not likely. But it will change your business steadily, and by the start of Q2 you will see more money coming in and feel that changing your mind was a matter of gaining wisdom, not a loss of integrity.
How about it?
Will you stick to the same pricing model you’ve been using because “we’ve always done it that way”?
Or understand that it’s integrity that underlies changing your mind.
Integrity to your accumulation of knowledge and integrity to your clients.
Giving them meaningful choices with fees proportional to the life changing differences they get is integrity.
Need a hand to help or an ear to listen? Let me know and we’ll set up a call. Email or text LISTEN to 703-801-0345.
