Tell me if this sounds familiar to you (my service provider clients).....
You meet with a new client and determine what you are doing for her (I am going to continue to use "her" since I think that "him/her" takes too long to type, and let's face it, no one ever uses "her"). On its face, it appears to be pretty simple. One thing. Bingo-bango.
Then, while you're completing the project, she needs you to fax something to her mortgage company. She also needs for you to please deliver the project in hard copy to her office since she's just down the street and conveniently located to your business. She also, very respectfully, asks you to please put postage on the envelope which holds the information she has to mail out, because she leaves work late and never gets to go inside the post office. And you want to keep this client happy, so you agree to do it. Does any of this sound familiar to you?
It certainly rings true with me. You've heard me refer to my coaching course, so here it goes again....In my coaching course, we have talked about Undiscovered Value....another term for this is "Un-billed Value!" I looked at my internal processes and quickly discovered that there are so many things I do for clients that go unrecognized from a billing perspective. In the past, I would bill engagements for the sole purpose of obtaining them and/or keeping them. I don't do that anymore. I bill engagements to.....MAKE A PROFIT ON THEM!! What a concept!
As service providers, I think it is safe to assume that we give away so much profit each year because we do things for clients that escape our calculations when we price engagements. For example, as part of our tax return preparation engagements with individual tax clients, we prepare estimated tax vouchers and tax estimates throughout the year. That is EXTREMELY valuable to the client, but I very rarely invoice for it. That is going to change. What are you doing for your client that is valuable, but isn't being billed and turned into profit for you?
The thing is....if a client finds a service valuable, the "keepers" don't mind paying for it. Yes, there are some clients that want something for nothing. You know what? Feel free to get rid of those clients and replace them with "keepers"! For the ones that truly recognize what an asset you are to them, no matter what service you provide, they don't expect you to give them away. So, why are you doing that?
As a service to our business clients, I am going to begin offering a consultation which allows for a conversation about my client's service process with their customers.....what are you doing for the client from start to finish? Are there services performed in that engagement, which you feel are just "part of the project" that truly bring value to the customer over and above the engagement you agreed upon? If so, then unlock that value and bill them for it.
Profit from the value you bring to your clients....after all, isn't that why we're in business? If you don't do this, you will most assuredly become frustrated and wonder why you've put yourself in a position to make less money than you're worth. It's time to admit that it's not a bad thing to know you're valuable to your client, and then expect them to pay for that value.
Otherwise, the profit just walks out the door....
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