7 Ways To Increase Your Consulting Fees

The greatest leveller in life is the fact that we all have equal amounts of time. Therefore, make sure that you use your time very wisely to deliver maximum value to the client and also that you get paid top dollar for your services.

The growth of your consulting fees is probably the safest way to grow your practice in the early stages. Don’t start hiring lots of people before you have established top consulting fees and premium rates. But how do you start developing your fees?

Read on to find out…

How to Raise Consulting Fees – Book A Client Meeting Today without Cold Calling

7 Ways To Increase Your Consulting Fees

1. Focus on client value not your time or processes. Client value is the benefit that you bring, they don’t give “a stuff” about your processes or time – they’re really just features. I also try and agree the fees collaboratively with the client, that way I get instant feedback on their priorities. Often they may drop a particular benefit because the cost doesn’t stack up with their perceived value. That’s fine, better to find out sooner than later when you send the proposal out and you can’t amend your proposition.
2. Gravitate to more senior decision makers in the client organisation for your engagement. Generally, they have larger problems, bigger budgets and more to gain from your service.
3. Introduce risk sharing. Seek a smaller amount up front to cover your costs and basic time and then go for a bonus at the end based upon a successful outcome. Only practice this approach if the outcome is readily measurable and relatively short term. Typically, I use this approach with start-ups who are seeking investment. I cover my costs upfront and then get a percentage of funds raised downstream. In fact my biggest pay days have been as a result of this approach.
4. Develop Intellectual Property such as consulting tools and techniques. As usual, I charge the client for my time and costs but then add on a premium for licensing the techniques to the client. For some techniques this can even mean recurring revenue because they continue to use the tools after you have completed the assignment. However, make sure that the tools and techniques really do bring massive productivity improvement to the assignment.
5. Don’t get too greedy. Remember, if you become a trusted advisor to the client then you will have business for life. Therefore, with new clients, get in “under the radar” with more modest fees and shorter assignments. Then when you really understand their problems and priorities increase your fees for subsequent assignments. One important consideration is not to establish a fee rate based on your time, that way it is easier to increase your fees later for solving the bigger problems.
6. Outsource all the low value tasks that take lots of time to contractors or even to the client organisation. Remember, you get high consulting fees for doing the clever stuff that other people cannot do.
7. Build demand for your service first before going for high fees. You’re negotiating position is much stronger when you are in demand, than when you are scratching around to make ends meet. I know of one coach who started off by only offering his services on a Wednesday. This established scarcity and increased the perception of value from his clients. Only when Wednesday was fully sold at the fees that he wanted, did he then move on to selling Thursdays. Just watch how your consulting fees soar when you’re booked wall to wall!

I hope this helps, good luck with your consulting career. If you want to find out how to boost your consulting fees by increasing your client demand then access the course below – “How To Book A Client Meeting Now, Without The Gut Wrenching Pain Of Cold Calling”:

 How to Raise Consulting Fees – Book A Client Meeting Today without Cold Calling

Tags: consulting fees, consulting rates, Fees, getting clients, increase consulting fees