Intuit Accounting Pros Share the Benefits of Value Pricing

[INVALID]We made that decision 2012 to move away from time and billing, which is the traditional approach for professional services, to a fixed fee model. Nobody out there wants to get that bill for a 15-minute phone call.

From a client-facing side, they like it because they get cost certainty, and it encourages more interaction with us. The worst problem that we have is that somebody doesn't call us and then you find out in January, February, March that they made this decision without any consultation and you can't help them. I'd much rather be having that conversation in the moment and explaining it to them so that they're making informed decisions. A lot of our clients come in every single month and we go through the financial statements together. It's really rewarding from my side to see that light go off and to see business owners actually proactively managing their business.

We're far more efficient in what we're doing because we standardized our processes. It's just a better business model. It's certainly improved both our top-line gross revenue and our profitability. The 50 clients that we have in it right now, we have a much, much tighter relationship with. They depend on us. They call us.

As we transition the clients, we know that there's going to be a lot of work on our part to help them and guide them through it. The client knows that they're not going to get another bill for it, so it makes that part of it a whole lot easier. It's a bit of a process to figure out where your pricing model has to be. You know clients are going to call you more. You build it into it.

When I started my company, it was in the middle of the recession and I just thought that it would give someone that peace of mind of knowing exactly how much their services would cost. It's just something that has worked really well for me.

I think in the end, as an accountant and as a CPA, they're paying for my expertise. They're paying for my knowledge and my advice, and that's not a time thing.

I think you'll learn a lot more about a client when they engage with you, because they know that they're not going to be billed for every interaction. It's amazing to me the ancillary benefits, so the fixed rate model has been a game changer for us.