Pricing Menu
First, welcome to all the new faces on this list - we’ve officially tipped 500 people here from those who joined after yesterday’s WorkflowCon. I’m so glad you’re here…grab a seat! :)
This came in a couple weeks back and thought the answer was worth a share to the broader group…
The one part that I am having a tough(er) time on is the "menu" so to speak for the pricing tiers. Like, what is included in Tier 1 vs Tier 2 vs Tier 3. I know what your book says and I am trying to base mine off of that, but when I send the "menu" or proposal over to a prospect, I want it to be as detailed as possible to really show the value in what I am providing.
I AM WILLING TO PURCHASE: Do you have some sort of "menu" or proposal that you use with prospects?
You’re sweet. This is my side-gig-hobby. I don’t have a way for you to purchase that (and it feels like a lot of setup on my day off), so I’ll just tell you…
I’ve mention that I just sign a new Tier 1 client in the past few weeks. Here’s the proposal I sent them (literally copy/pasted from the email I sent them):
Client context: $3M company, S-corp, service-based business, 15 employees, good personality vibes, no tax prep work included
$5,800/mo - Fractional CFO
Daily / Weekly QuickBooks Online bookkeeping
Month-end close
Custom month-end reporting
12+ month forecasting (monthly updates)
Monthly financial meeting
Leadership oversight of: AR, AP, Payroll
Direct collaboration with tax CPA (specifically over owner quarterly tax estimates & annual filings)
As needed analysis on: project profitability, efficiency data, employee compensation, etc
$5,000/mo - Fractional CFO Lite
Daily / Weekly QuickBooks Online accounting
Month-end close
Custom month-end reporting
12+ month forecasting (quarterly updates)
Quarterly financial meeting
Leadership oversight of: AR, AP, Payroll
Direct collaboration with tax CPA (specifically over owner quarterly tax estimates & annual filings)
$3,300/mo - Concierge Bookkeeping
Daily / Weekly QuickBooks Online accounting
Month-end close
Custom month-end reporting
I experimented with Jonathan Stark’s “might as well pricing” where your values are 1x, 1.5x, and 1.7x to push the client to choose the lowest or highest tier (in this case, the client ultimately choose the highest tier).
1.7x = $5,800
1.5x = $5,000
1x = $3,300
For the record, this is the highest proposal I’ve ever sent out, so this is not the norm for me. Six years in, pricing still feels like an experiment every time I send a proposal.
If it were a $300K business with no employees or additional complexities, I would have priced it like this:
1.7x = $1,425
1.5x = $1,275
1x = $850
And if it were a different niche/industry (construction, restaurants, potato farmers, etc), that would be totally different as well. This is just the niche and line of work that I’ve grown to know.
I don’t know if that properly answers the “menu” question. For me, it still feels like an experiment and I always seem to be adjusting something in my proposals.
I try to remember that there is a constant learning this stuff and it’s not something we set in stone once and carry on forever.
Cheers!
Erica
Additional Resources on Pricing Tiers…
This Jason Staats episode:
305 How to Price The Tiers of Your Accounting Proposals
This recent email from Geraldine Carter:
https://geraldinecarter.com/newsletter/tiers
Behind-the-scenes in my business this week:
I’m past all of my client meetings for the month, so I’ve been working on a couple annual tasks that I do every Sept/Oct/Nov:
Check that my clients have all their vendor W-9s ready for January
Review pricing for my current clients (which is equal parts art, science, and emotional anguish)
No Work Wednesday includes finding some Halloween plates and napkins for next week’s 4th grade class party. This is harder than you imagine in rural America, but I will prevail. The children WILL eat on something that looks like a pumpkin.
Money back guarantee, if you get in there and don’t see the value. No questions asked.
More details in the link above.