Value-Based Fees

The latest edition of the leading guide to consulting engagement pricing, from the Rock Star of Consulting Alan Weiss

In the newly revised Third Edition ofValue-Based Fees: How to Charge and Get What Youre Worth, best-selling author, speaker and renowned consultant Dr. Alan Weiss delivers a thoroughly updated guide to proposing, and receiving, consistently high fees that are based on the value you deliver to each client you serve.

The author walks you through the many reasons that time-and-materials pricing models are outdated and inadequate and how to convert existing clients to your new value-based fee model. He also discusses fundamental new developments in consulting, including the remote delivery of services, the waning market power of the consulting giants, economic globalization, and the shift from project work to advisory work.

Among the step-by-step techniques and strategies provided in the book, youll find:

• How to establish value-based fees, including determining your unique value and creating a good deal dynamic
• How to create, capitalize on, and market to trusted advisor relationships
• How to implement fee increases immediately, prevent and rebut fee objections, create consulting products, and explore lucrative new fields

Perfect for newcomers to the consulting field as well as time-tested veterans,Value-Based Feesis an indispensable guide for every solo consultant, entrepreneur, and small consulting firm.

ALAN WEISS, PHD, the Rock Star of Consulting, is one of the worlds most successful solo consultants. A bestselling author and speaker, he runs Summit Consulting Group, Inc., which serves some of the most recognizable brands in the world, including Merck, Hewlett-Packard, GE, and Mercedes-Benz.

Introduction

Acknowledgments

About the Author

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CHAPTER  1         The Origins of Value

What People Want Is Not as Important as What They Need

Abundance Agriculture and the Arts

The Abundance Mind-Set

Why Your Presence Isnt Required

The Importance of Buyer Commitment, Not Compliance

Critical Steps for Buyer Commitment

The Buoyancy of Brands: How Brands Help Fees

Creating Shared Success

Chapter ROI

CHAPTER  2         The Lunacy of Time-and-Materials Models

Who Wants to Be as Dumb as a Lawyer?

Supply-and-Demand Illogic

Ethical Conflicts of Interest and Other Minor Matters

Limiting Profits, or Why Not Just Forget Domani?

Why Lawyers and CPAs Do So Poorly

Educating the Buyer Incorrectly

The Mercedes-Benz Syndrome

Chapter ROI

CHAPTER  3         The Basics of Value-Based Fees

Its Better to Be an Artist Than to Be an Engineer

Focusing on Outcomes, Not Inputs

The Fallacy and Subversive Nature of Deliverables

Quantitative and Qualitative Measures and Criteria

Measuring the Unmeasurable

Serving the Clients Self-Interest

The Subtle Transformation: Consultant Past to Client Future

Perpetual Motion, Perpetual Progress

Chapter ROI

CHAPTER  4         How to Establish Value-Based Fees

If You Read Only One Chapter . . .

Conceptual Agreement: The Foundation of Value

Establishing Your Unique Value

Creating the Good Deal Dynamic

The Incredibly Powerful Choice of Yeses

Some Formulas for the Faint of Heart

Chapter ROI

CHAPTER  5         How to Convert Existing Clients

Be Passionate, Not Zealous

The Litmus TestSetting Priorities

Offering New Value

Finding New Buyers Within Existing Clients

Finding New Circumstances

The Resistance

Abandoning Business

Chapter ROI

Interlude: The Case of the Loaded Loading Dock

CHAPTER  6         The Sublime Nature of Trusted Advisor Relationships

Its Just the Smarts, Stupid

Optimal Conditions for Trusted Advisor Relationships

Choosing Time Frames and Creating Realistic Expectations

Organizing the Scope and Managing Projects Concurrent with the Retainer

Capitalizing on Trusted Advisor Relationships

Aggressively Marketing trusted advisor Relationships

Chapter ROI

Ethics and Fees, Fees and Ethics: A Mid-Book Practicum

CHAPTER  7         Seventy Ways to Raise Fees and/or Increase Profits Immediately

Act Today and Receive a Second Bass-o-Matic Free of Charge!

Chapter ROI

CHAPTER  8         How to Prevent and Rebut Fee Objections

Since Youve Heard Them All Before, How Can You Not Know All the Answers?

The Four Fundamental Areas of Resistance

Maintaining the Focus on Value

Boring In on the Subject

Offering Discounts

Full Payment in Advance

Using Smack to the Head Comparisons

Chapter ROI

CHAPTER  9         Setting Fees for Everything Else

How to Make Money While You  Sleep, Eat, Play, and Make Money Elsewhere

Keynote Speaking: Dont Charge for Your Spoken Words

Products

Exploring New, Lucrative Fields

And Now for Some Perspective

Chapter ROI

CHAPTER  10      Fee Progression Strategies

Why You Fall Behind When You Stand Still

Entry-Level Fees

Transition to a Going Concern

Transition to Peer-Level Referral

Transition to the Brand Phase

Transition to Thought Leader and Icon

Alans Axioms for the Good Deal

CHAPTER  11      Volatility Opportunity

Value-Based Fees in Times of Turmoil and Crisis

Value Doesnt Dissipate Due to Distance

We Dont Have Time, We Dont Have Money

How Can I Help You?

I Need Your Guidance

APPENDIX A:      Questions for Qualifying the Economic Buyer

APPENDIX B:      Questions for Establishing Business Objectives

APPENDIX C:      Questions for Establishing Measures of Success

APPENDIX D:      Questions for Establishing Value

APPENDIX E:       Questions for Assessing Personal Value Contribution

APPENDIX F:       The Difference Between Inputs and Business Outputs

Index