Once you’ve set your goal to achieve zero Accounts Receivable (AR) in 2026, you have to predetermine the fees for your work. That means no more time based billing or selling deliverables which are TBD.
Here are my three preferred pricing models. I’ve listed them from the most powerful in terms of revenue and profit to a middle ground to one that is a good start. I know that adopting a new pricing model can be stressful and it helps to ease into it over a couple of months. I do this often with new clients.
Predetermined fee types in order of power and profit:
High Power and profit:
- IMPACT Based Pricing with customized options and fees proportional to the impacts you create. The more significant the impacts, the higher the fee. And customization always creates better impacts than off the shelf.
What do I mean by power? I mean that this model supports using your deepest and most impactful expertise to create customized outcomes (IMPACTs) for clients. The fees are proportional to the significance of the impacts, You can create options that will radically change clients’ lives and know you will be compensated for that significance. You will not ever feel that you’ve left money on the table. Clients will feel that they’ve gotten the very best from you.
Medium Power and Profit:
- Tiered pricing. You design tiers (good, better, best using your own labels) and assign a fee to each tier. The client chooses a tier and gets the list of activities, tasks, and outcomes that you have included in that tier. It is off the shelf because you offer the same tiers to all clients.
Tiered pricing will force you to identify the full range of work you do and how each piece of the work helps clients. You sort them into groups of tasks/processes/deliverables that help a lot (best), a middle amount (better), and a little (good). This sorting process is extremely valuable for the firm. You see “on paper” your strengths, how you make a difference to clients, and which of these differences is highly valuable.
Once you start offering the tiers to clients, their choices will tell you even more about how clients perceive your work. If you pay close attention to the reasons clients give you for their choices, you will get better at creating offers clients really want and will pay for. You will also hear what clients do not care about, and what they wish you offered but aren’t currently offering.
Low Power and Profit:
- One-size-fits-all offer for a fixed These are often called “products.” They don’t allow any customization, they’re pretty easy for your firm to do, and they have a clear benefit to the buyer. The time frame should be brief, like a week or two. No add-ons or subtractions.
I call these products ‘low power’ because they do not allow you to demonstrate any expertise beyond the basics that can be reasonably included in a product. Since your goal is to sell at volume, the product has to appeal to a wide range of buyers. This is the opposite of customization.
One size fits all products help you in 2 ways: First, they are a first step away from fees after the fact. That is worth its weight in gold. You’ve assessed what would be attractive to a certain group of buyers and you’ve packaged that into an easy to buy offer with a fixed fee. Instead of selling time, you are selling a tangible product. This is a huge mindset shift that will pay off well over time.
Second, it provides you with a marketing advantage for basic or entry level work. When other providers are billing by the hour and the final cost is unknown, your product with its fixed fee tells the client the cost.
The downside to products is that they don’t lend themselves to more complex applications of your expertise, thus limiting significance and keeping fees low.
Why I am so passionate about achieving zero AR
In case you missed why I am so passionate about achieving zero AR in 2026, here’s a quick recap:
AR costs you money. You are offering credit to your buyers without getting paid for that loan. If your company is not a lender making money from lending, then you must not lend.
The costs of AR shrink your firm’s profit. It’s that direct. Every dollar you offer in uncompensated credit is a dollar off your bottom line. This can never be recouped.
Some portion of AR never gets collected. That means you’ve worked for free. I don’t believe any company wants to do that. You avoid it by requiring payment in full at time of purchase.
What you can do next
Schedule a meeting with me to discuss and discover what your best options are for adopting pricing models with predetermined fees.
