Susan's Blog
3 Landmines that Hurt Client Relationships
A bewildered accountant called me last week. He told me that a client got really angry when his firm sent a notice of a price
Build Your Knowledge Firm to Scale
Scale and growth are not synonyms. Does it really matter? Only if you want to increase the value of your business. Company valuation is closely
Losing business You Thought was Locked In?
Owners and CEOs feel anxiety about many losses: “I’ll never have the revenue I thought I would have.” “This (the speed of changes)terrifies me.” “I
3 Pricing Don’ts to Avoid
AVOID: Cost Plus (costs plus profit=price) Time based prices or fees Fixed prices for “Good, better, best” Why am I adamant about these pricing don’ts?
Healthy Ecosystems Create Profits
Running in the background of every professional services firm is an ecosystem. At the center of this ecosystem is a seed. If the seed is
Negative Cash Flow will Bring You Down
An “albatross” metaphorically means to be a heavy burden or something that prevents you from achieving your goals. Negative cash flow is exactly that. It distorts
Discomfort will help you increase fees
Is discomfort required to grow? One client kept putting off a serious conversation with me about her pricing model. She put it off saying: “I’m
What does negative cash flow cost you?
You know the parable of the frog? If dropped into boiling water it will immediately jump out. But if dropped into comfortable water it will
Cash flow forecasts don’t fix cash flow problems
“The cash flow expert we hired did a 13 week cash flow forecast. He set up our software to produce it every Monday. But Susan,
AI is Coming for Your Billable Hours
An outsourcing company published their rates for 2025. They were excited to offer a wide range of outsourced services all for very “competitive” hourly rates.
Is your worst customer running your business?
“They ask about the fee and how many hours and then complain about how much per hour. That’s why I have not made any changes
We’re Stuck on a Plateau!
“I’m ecstatic and perplexed,” the CEO of a leadership training and development firm told me. On the ecstatic side was that the company had tremendous