•ego needs are powerful... «Value-Based Fees : How to ChargeA?and GetA?What You're Worth (The Ultimate Consultant Series)»

•ego needs are powerful buying catalysts

•intangible” value is ego fulfillment, aesthetics, comfort, security, intimacy 

•even wealthy people may have a poverty mentality, because it helped them to survive

•high fees are most difficult when no one has ever heard of you and you desperately need the income and easiest when you're well known and business is rolling in

•Leaving money on the table is the equivalent of burning money—you will never, ever recover it, and we are talking millions of dollars over one's career.

•there seems to be a widespread belief, that the only consulting items of value are either time or materials and that clients wouldn't pay for anything as ephemeral as pure advice. The point, however, is that clients will pay a great deal for the long-term value of that advice. And that value has nothing whatsoever to do with time

•it's absolutely nuts to use your current lifestyle as the basis for income needs

•“How much does your husband travel?” I asked

“He presents 120 time a year, so he travels about 240 days.”

I was stunned at this. “May I ask how much he charges?”

“One thousand dollars a day, plus expenses.”

“May I offer you a suggestion?” I asked, but simply continued before she could answer, “If he doubled his fee he could travel only half as much and you'd have an even better lifestyle.”

•The last thing a good consultant wants to happen is for a client to make comparisons based not on the value of the contribution but rather on the charge per hour. Our value is simply not conveyed by merely showing up (thank goodness)

•the consultant only makes money when physically present, this tends to compel the consultant to maximize, not minimize, the number of physical activities (interviews, meetings); Encourage and not discourage scope creep; Recommend nonessential tasks that don't contribute to results but do contribute to billable hours

•Money is not a resource, it’s a priority. The idea is to be such a high priority with such a great ROI that the client reallocates funds to you and away from something else

•other firms with junior staff will always be able to undercut you with lower rates

•Explain to the client, if pressed, that single, value-based fees are in the client's best interests

•Resist comparison to other consultants by pointing out that your potential client probably also operates differently in many respects from his or her own competitors

•Never accept a prospect's conclusion—stated or implied—that you will constantly be onsite or that you're available “on call.”

•Don't accept contingency fees or “pay for performance”; you're not a seal. Variables are often outside your control, and besides, you're being paid for your best advice. It's up to the client to implement it effectively

•questions to ask the client: What if this goal failed? Do you want to hire the cheapest craftsman or the most experienced one?

•it's the outcome, not the tasks, that matter

•There's a reason why a schoolteacher makes less than a speaker. Teachers are not evaluated on results

•When your value is based on showing up, you tend to show up whether you're needed or not. When the client expects to see you, the client looks for you whether it makes sense for you to be there or not

•When I tell people to provide the client with options, which you'll find discussed in other parts of this book, they often simply increase numbers of deliverables

•survey old clients on what the client feels has been the true impact of our partnership. Record the findings

•“Deliverables” are a consultant-invented shibboleth that is easy to describe and produce but of very little ultimate value

•There is no law, nor any ethical imperative, that says that you must charge two clients the exact same amount for the same services. First, the services are rarely identical. Second, the value to those respective clients will always be different

•if you possess limited expertise or history of work, or if you have personal brand, you’re of a more value. You can be more valuable accidentally, if you can start when others can’t, if you have skills which others don’t have

•you can establish your own unique value if you understand who the client hired in the past, and what had failed 

•your value can be in your own assets, nondisclosure, accountability, ability to travel

•Every buyer wants to lower fees, but not one wants to lower value

•When you provide the options, cite two that are within the budget and one—with even greater and perhaps irresistible value—above the budget.

•If a buyer asks for a slightly lower fee associated with a particular option, reply, “Fine, but what value would you like me to remove?” Never decrease a fee without decreasing perceived value

•If you can't articulate your own value, you can't very well suggest value-based fees. The first sale should be to yourself. 

•you should ignore clients who cannot afford you, because they won’t have commitment to the mutual goal anyway. Their only goal is to find the cheapest deal

•The most important and most effective method for converting existing clients to a value-based fee system is to offer new value. There is no reason in the world for a client to move from your hourly or daily rate to a fixed fee for the exact same value

•For some clients, you may be able to cite their own methods as a justification for how you should be treated. Does the client charge for value (everyone from automakers to restaurants actually do)

•When a buyer asks you to work with someone else, you must establish whether the buyer wants feedback from you, wants feedback from the coaching subject, or does not require feedback.

•if you're in a close race with a competitor, your relationship with the buyer carry the day

•You can lower your fees if the client pays 100 percent up-front or allows you to remove some value from the project or provides you with a reference

•When you’re a trusted advisor, the mere access to your advice and counsel is of significant value to the client. The more turbulence is in the clients life, the higher must be the payment for the access to your relationship 

•You must get comfortable with the idea that access to you is of inherent value. Yet, you cannot be instantly available. (Try getting your doctors or attorneys to be there the moment you need them.). The key aspect of “access” is “responsiveness,” not omnipresence.

•Arrange for retainer renewals well before the period is over. Either party can unilaterally end it, but both are required to extend it

•So many people have asked to “pick my brain” over coffee or lunch that I have a “pick my brain” fee, which is $5,000 for an hour

•Never base a fee on your busyness. Always base it on the client's achieving something. Tasks are commodities. Value is a unique client improvement.

•Never reduce your fees because you're doing something virtually. Value is value. Remote can be a better option than live

•If You Do Something Pro Bono, Send an Invoice. Show the pro bono client what your actual fee would have been, and then waive it

•Do Not Accept Referral Business on the Same Basis as the Referring Source. If a colleague refers business to you from a client paying by the hour or the day, don't accept the same terms. Immediately educate the buyer that you work differently and so your arrangements will be somewhat different. This will protect your fee ranges

•Tell the buyer that the fees can be honored for 30 days, after which a new proposal will be required

•to retain the client, suggest him future objectives that could be drawn from the project success

•Money doesn’t have to be generated, created, or “found.” It merely needs to be reallocated to an area of greater return.

•There is always time and always moneybecause these are priorities, not resources. The question is not whether they exist, the question is how they are allocated

•If there is no time, how did the buyer find the time to talk to you?

•If you're in a discussion about fees and not value, you've lost control of the discussion

•if a client hesitates to pay you a sum, ask what the cost of a very bad hire is, lost time, poor service, talent search

•The only person deciding what your profit level is should be you. It's a mistake to allow the buyer to do that, and it's insane to allow the competition to influence it in any way at all

•Value-based pricing can apply to books

•If you were to apply just two techniques a month intended to raise your fees or margins, you would probably double your profits without growing your business over the next year

•being someplace in person is not your value

•Questions for Assessing Personal Value Contribution: Why me? Can any speaker or trainer do this, or do I have special attributes? Why now? Is the timing particularly urgent or sensitive?

•it’s important to discover the why behind the need