General Consultant Discussion

Another result from the Value Pricing session. I presented the proposal to the client this afternoon and sat and discussed it with them for about 30 minutes. I dropped the top level from $20k to $18,500 because the number of entities went down. They went with Option A which was the highest. So now I feel like @ThereseLogeais and am wondering what amount did I leave on the table!

Tomorrow is another day.... So you may have left money on the table today. Charge that amount to training expense. No need to spend time tracking your time. Priceless!! Pump your fist a couple more times then have that cold beer. Looks like your pay back on the Baker/Kless class was about a week! Others are wondering what they will be leaving on the table for the entire year because they didn't attend the two day session!

The hardest part was what to take out for options B and C!

@JeffSchwenk - I pumped about this. When I told our consultant about the project and I didn't want him to turn time against it he was shocked. How will we know if we made any more on the project he asked? If your still employed after one year, we did OK! 1 week payback. I love it

@JerryNorman makes this stuff look easy. It does require a LOT of thinking up front!! And you have to pull a LOT of data out of the client/prospect before even thinking about the options. But if you do the homework, you take the money home with you. Every one of my jobs where I have value priced, clients have taken the highest level support plan ""anything you want"". They like the security and the ability to call without encountering a big invoice that they have to justify to the check signer. AND they keep signing up for the next year.....

Suggestion on terms - when exactly will the customer consider it delivered? You have provided for a year of follow-up. You probably can get 50% to start and 50% in 30 days. Somehow these engagements never end and you don't want to be left waiting to get paid. I like this.

Nice job @LloydSmith . We need to start a special group for the Vaule pricers. As we all get more creative with our options.... We can share!! Make it easier for all of us.

I think for a new client the ""ending"" of the work would have been greatly identified. With this client, I know that when I say here are all of the financial reports and we completed the deliverable's, they would be OK. I wouldn't include any knowledge transfer with a new client whom I didn't know as well. Good point @WayneSchulz . @JimWoodhead I agree we should have a special group for sharing all of this. I'm glad that MOST of our work you guys don't do! Sage 300

@JerryNorman and I talked about this at lunch one day and Kless kept covering his ears when we talked about it in class. We were thinking of a webinar session on a weekly/periodic basis where the basic outline could be submitted and then the webinar class would proffer ideas/challenges/suggestions for the presenter. Just like last week!

I like the idea but we have to remember that $'s are documented anywhere otherwise Ed's ""collusion"" theory could show up.... but I highly doubt that since we are in different markets.

We are in entirely different markets. Not quite sure how we would be colluding. We certainly don't control the market NOR are we setting an across the board price. Every situation is completely different. We won't even know the name of the prospect. Our product is a highly individualized unique service.

Then we should do it

Congrats, Lloyd! For most customers, I am careful to specify an acceptance cycle on changes; some are mature enough to concentrate appropriately. Otherwise, it looks like your scored gooood!

Thanks Jerry. We really should do lunch sometime as we DO live in the same city. LOL

About the pricing ""group."" I think it will more educational, and less risky, if take an approach like the 2 examples in class. While real prices were there, it was more of a ""how can I think about this"" exercise. I suggest that membership be limited to those people (not just firms) who have been through either the DC session or this past one. I also think that the person presenting must submit a summary of the situation by end of Wednesday, for a Friday session.

I have been using value pricing for all projects since attending the DC class a few years ago. I still bill by the hour for general firefighting / tech support., and I would like to take the next step of getting rid of the timesheet completely. The last two year my income has gone up substantially, and there aren't any more hours in a day than there were two years ago. Attending the DC value pricing session was probably the best $1000 I have ever spent on my business. I would love to have a value pricing group. It would be nice to be able to post proposals so others could make comments. It seems my customers rarely choose the most expensive option so maybe I am not presenting the options correctly.

We cannot have a group which vets pricing. That might appear to be price fixing and may (will) cause legal issues. Before you say ""nah, that would never happen"" -- let's say such a group were to exist which discussed proposals with prices. Let's say it grew to 25 active people. By virtue of group dynamics, a certain percent will be lurkers. So one day you have a proposal for material dollars and suddenly two 90 Minders (knowingly or unknowingly) are bidding for the same customer. Losing bidder decides ""foul play"" and prints out all the messages from SC and files lawsuit. Good luck with that.... I don't think there's any problem discussing ways to approach proposal options -- especially on the increasingly common upgrades. But pricing should be strictly off-limits for discussion or you are only inviting trouble.

@LloydSmith great job ! @DougHiggs you missed a really Awesome class in SD. Well I have been doing value pricing for upgrades since DC but just signed my first Education Agreement yesterday because of the Ed and Ron class in SD MOTM 2016. Great class and this client too signed for the highest option. I was putting general fires out with them since they kept changing staff for the past 4 months. I decided based on the class to stop - listen - not give solutions until I wrote a Education Agreement and now we are both happy and in the right direction. Check is on the way!!! I also have prepared them for a ALA to follow once we have everyone up to speed on Sage 100. You just don't get this kind of information from Summit. Love MOTM - Great Value!!!!

I agree, what I got out of the class is to think of how to group my options,payment terms and time frame. That is what we could get from the group. Since the price has to do with the customer, I'm not sure how we can help someone decide on what to charge. I think the value is between you and the customer.

I'm not looking at what to charge either. I want to know how to frame my a, b, and c options. Sorry I missed MOTM again. I will be there next year if I have to walk to San Diego. I have lots of excuses, but no good ones. I hope to see everyone here (in Chicago) this summer.

I am quite sensitive to the risks Wayne brought up. And yet in my experience with this, Doug's last lament is exactly the thing that people starting out with VP stumble on: how to construct options which create the most customer value? Perhaps a few of us could join a conf call to see if we can concoct a set of rules/guidelines to meet an education/coaching goal without accidentally enabling Wayne's scary scenario? FWIW, I strongly believe that rule #1 must be ""Only people who attended either DC or SD FOTF/VP sessions can participate.

The discussion on VP interests me a great deal. Definitely, in discussion, you don't want to create a scene where price fixing can be construed. Yet, the group is small enough and the market fragmented enough that it would be hard to successfully argue that anyone could control pricing in our market. Nevertheless, people will sue for anything even if they're going to lose. Not worth the effort and the distraction from business. I didn't attend the sessions but if a group is started, I'd be very interested in participating. With all due humility, of course. :-)

Would anyone have an issue sharing these comments with Ed? I bet he might want to use them to advertise some of the upcoming academies. I think it would be nice to allow them to use our comments as testimonials. If you are in agreement I can copy/paste a draft of what I'd propose that we share and only send it with the specific permission of anyone who is quoted.

Good idea, Wayne.

Ok with me.

OK with me

If there are no objections here is what I'll send. I did some minor editing for clarity and removed one portion about Sage Summit lacking value.