Accountants, like other professionals, are not always skilled at charging their worth. Vanessa Ugatti explains that if you charge your true worth, you’ll generate more revenue without having to get more clients and be able to serve your clients even better.

So, it’s a win, win!

Do you underestimate, discount your fees for no reason, or even do work for free?

You may be doing all three, which means that you’re losing money hand over fist.

You’re probably also spending far too much time working to make up for the shortfall, so you’re overworked, stressed, tired, and even resentful.

Sound familiar?

I know from working with experienced, talented, conscientious professionals, just like you, that this is a commonplace problem and has nothing to do with your intellectual ability or professional competence.

You may think that logic drives you and your practice. In fact, self-worth, not logic, is at the heart of everything you do and drives your behaviour.

If you do not feel 100% worthy (and lots of intelligent, capable professionals don’t), then you will find it impossible to charge effectively.

A few years ago, because of my own inability at the time to charge properly, I came up with a methodology I now call True Worth. It helps professionals charge appropriately for their work.

Three of the nine key principles are:

Taking charge of your business is not just about producing the right level of service for your clients, it’s about having conversations with clients about your fees at the appropriate time. It’s also about making sure that you get paid on time and manage clients’ expectations.

You have a significant amount of expertise in your field, and yet it’s not easy for you to understand your value.

The longer you’ve been practising, the easier it has become, so the more you take your expertise for granted. That’s just human nature.

I remember working with a Chartered Accountant who was a director of a firm. His clients were all small businesses paying a fixed fee for the compliance work.

Then they would phone him up asking him to cast his eye over their cash flow forecast or fill in a mortgage application form or do some other piece of advisory work.

He would always say yes and do it without charging, even though it was not part of the fixed fee.

The reason was because he was scared of losing clients and didn’t know what to say.

I worked with him and in just a matter of weeks, he brought in additional sales of £9,000 by converting those calls into business.

Within a 12-month period, he increased sales by £46,000. Importantly, he did not lose clients, nor did he turn into a nasty person.

You can get paid your true worth and still be a nice person.

Part of the shift was being able to understand his value.

Spend some quality time, preferably with someone who can help you, to really reflect and understand the true value you provide for your clients.

Make this a priority – if you don’t, you may well be losing out on revenue which is rightfully yours. You’ll need to review this on a regular basis.

Don’t only focus on what you do for your clients – that’s the features of your service.

The benefits are what the features of your service mean to the client.

So, to turn a feature into a benefit, you can add the words “which means that…”.

Think of a piece of work you have done for a client and describe its features.

Then take the features and add which means that and you’ll get to the benefits.

Then you can ask yourself, “so what would that be worth to the client”.

If you don’t first demonstrate the value of what you do, the client will always regard the quote you give as high.

You have to get them to shift from looking at the price to seeing the value.

When they see the value, then your quote will seem more acceptable.

Are the clients you’re working with in general the sort who will pay on value, or are they looking for cheap and cheerful?

If it’s the latter, then clearly, you’re working with the wrong clients.

Decide to only work with those who really appreciate your offering and are willing to pay accordingly.

This means that you must be willing to turn down potential clients who do not fit into this category.

You’ll need focus, patience and determination to change your habits. And you’ll need to work on more than just marketing and what you do practically; you’ll need to work on yourself.

If you fail to do this, you’ll potentially limit your revenue and feel frustrated too.

What limiting beliefs are getting in the way of your success?

Limiting beliefs are what you say to yourself about yourself or about the prospect/client which stop you from taking the action most beneficial for you.

You can identify these by paying attention to your thoughts and how they make you feel.

If they don’t feel good, you can be quite sure that you have a limiting belief.

Examples of limiting beliefs:

Write your own limiting beliefs down.

This is key. If you hesitate or feel nervous when discussing fees, unfortunately that will come across to the client and they are then likely to push back.

Get help!

You can’t do this alone. Be willing to invest in yourself and your firm. Find the right people to support you on your journey.

And remember, asking for help is a strength and not a weakness.