There’s a particular blog that only discusses the idea that accounting firms, and indeed all professional services firms, should “trash the timesheet” and implement “value pricing.”
The basic concept is sound: Timesheets treat the chargeable hour as the measure of the firm’s services’ value, which distorts its true value to the client and further commoditizes the work we do. Value pricing looks at our services from the client’s point of view and tries to determine what the work is worth to them, and pricing to that.
But it just occurred to me that this blog has such a small niche. It’s a firm’s blog, and they’re definitely leading the charge for value pricing for professional services, but I can’t help but wonder if they’re eventually going to run out of stuff to blog about!
- Link: VeraSage
1 response so far ↓
1 Justin // Oct 5, 2006 at 10:10 am
Here’s my two cents worth:
1. It’s not “a firm’s blog” we are a group of professionals dedicated to breaking the perverse concept that spending time equates to delivering value. We are accountants, lawyers, & marketing professionals. We welcome any service provider with the vision and guts to move away from the self created “job” to true entrepreneurship delivering solutions worth paying a price for.
2. My former Ron Baker and I co-founded the VeraSage Institute as a think tank based on a professional service firm model we adopted ten years ago. I and in particular Ron have been “blogging” ever since by offering courses, keynote speeches and professional interaction with anyone who we meet who is wrapped in the nonsensical concept that spending time for a price equates to the value (if any!) delivered to the customer. At this rate we’ll be blogging for a hundred years. The fear and lack of imagination of those who have spent many years insulated from the true question of value and price by the shield of the billable hour never ceases to astound and confound us in our effort to bring them into the clear light of consumer and value focused pricing.
We pray for the day we have nothing more to blog about!
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