How pricing is a pivotal piece of your marketing mix when selling bookkeeping services

Marketing mix is a combination of factors that can be controlled by a practice to influence customer

to purchase your services. These factors include price, promotion, product/service,

place/distribution and are important contributors to your growth.

When running a business we often focus our efforts thinking about customer, employees and ATO

deadlines. Time is consumed within these 3 areas making it difficult to find time to think pricing

strategy or selling. As a business owner we must look at all influencing factors that impact our

business. Pricing of our services being a key contributor. Challenging at times but worth it in the

long run.

The world of professional services has changed. What once was a simple charge by the hour fee

structure has been disrupted by technology. Customer are moving to cloud accounting software

and connected apps. They are operating differently and now require you to do the same. With this

disruption comes great opportunity. It’s time to take a look at how you price your services.

here are 3 key areas to consider as you price your services:

Value pricing - how to embrace it and win? Traditionally charging by the hour has worked

effectively for bookkeepers when attending the customer office, entering all information manually

and doing lots of extras along the way. It’s how things were done. Unfortunately not any more.

Cloud accounting has allowed bookkeepers to change the way they deliver their service. Manual

processes are now automated. Bookkeepers are rapidly changing their pricing to match their new

service offering. Customer are now enjoying automation of their bookkeeping. They are looking for

a more consistent approach to their monthly billing. Removal of the peaks and troughs in their

bookkeeping costs is a winning formula for almost all customer. Moving to value pricing means

providing the right value for the bookkeeping service covering all your agreed deliverables. So you

need to be clear on these up front. It is about ensuring that the value price you charge is of value to

that customer. If not then best to know this upfront before commencing the work. It is also heavily

dependent on taking advantage of cloud accounting, apps and automation. Without these it will be

challenging to deliver on your bookkeeping promises.

1. Bookkeeping packages - are they really worth it? The concept of packaging up your bookkeeping service is a relatively new concept. Although if you look around at your competitors you may find it more common that you think. Every customer is different so how can I package up my services? While this is true, there are many factors that remain the same in the bookkeeping services you provide. Taking the basics and creating packages that clearly state the tasks you will perform for the packaged price makes it easier for customer to buy from you. Pricing can be publish on your website. It makes it easier to commence a conversation with a potential new customer on the cost of your services. It takes away the mystery for the customer as they now know what they will be charged. It removes the monthly angst of “invoice debate” as the customer and you disagree on how the invoice amount. Bookkeeping packages pave the way for your practice to better manage the expectations of your customer.
   

2. Scope Creep - how to avoid this killer? Once you have established your value pricing strategy and implemented your bookkeeping packages you are well on the way to a more professional approach to your pricing strategy. But what about scope creep? Everyone’s fear and difficult to avoid? Or is it? We all fear giving away too much as we service each customer. If we focus on “additional tasks” and look at this as an opportunity then we can knock scope creep head on. Don’t put off your customer from asking you to do additional tasks. Just ensure you are clear if the request is in or out of scope. Easy when you have a clear pricing for your packages and have been very clear about what is included and what is not. Customers like clarify. Being clear upfront will remove their uncertainly and keep them happy.

Taking a positive approach to pricing will deliver key wins for your business. providing clarity to

customers at the start ensure less debate later. It’s time to review your pricing and look at it a s

vital part of your marketing mix.

Need further assistance or explanation? Use my contact page to connect, tell me about your

challenges and set up a time to chat.