Most businesses will need to raise their prices at some stage during their operations, and it’s no different for tax outsourcing services. But doing so can leave a lot of unanswered questions and raise plenty of concerns. Will your existing customers go elsewhere to find what they need? Or will potential new customers find your prices too high?
While you may never know the answer until you actually go ahead and raise your prices, it can be helpful to at least try and do it in a way that mitigates the risk of losing clients, or not being able to attract new ones.
To help you raise your prices without saying sayonara to your valuable clients, here are a few handy hints:
Be upfront and honest about your price changes
The sooner you break the news to your existing customers that your prices are going to be increased, the better. They will appreciate your honesty – even though they may not like what you’ve told them – and be able to take early steps to manage the change; ensuring that they can pay you in full for the services you provide for them. Informing them early on also gives them a chance to ask you any questions that they might have, and gives you ample time to respond before the new price plan kicks in.
Not telling customers about price increases until the last minute could leave them feeling dissatisfied or even angry, and you may find them more likely to take their custom elsewhere, should you choose to do so.
When increasing prices, add value to what you’re selling
From new products and innovative features, to you becoming more skilled as a professional, it’s important that each time you raise your prices, you add value to the service you’re providing, or the products you’re offering.
By giving your clients a reason behind the price increase that directly benefits them, they’ll be more inclined to view it in a positive light, and not go running straight to your competitors.
Tell employees about price increases
It’s really important that any employees you have, are kept up-to-date with price increases, and that they understand why those increases were necessary. You must also ensure that they’re comfortable explaining those increases to clients, and can answer their questions about it should they have any; they must also be able to do so in a way that aligns with the companies policies and mission overall.
Try charging per project, instead of per hour
If you’ve been running your accounting firm for some time, you’ll likely be far more proficient at it than you were when you first started out, and can complete tasks for clients at a far quicker pace. This means that when you charge an hourly rate, you’re probably going to lose out, since you can do far more in an hour than you could previously. With this in mind, try charging clients per project, instead of per hour, and be clear about what value you are offering your clients when you do so.
As a price increase, this way of doing it is subtler, and ideally, you’ll make more money than by charging per hour.
While few companies outsourcing CPA work relish the prospect of informing their clients about price increases, if the business is to remain profitable and competitive, it’s inevitable that it must do so at some point (or at more than one point) during its operations. But, by keeping the points above in mind when doing so, you can keep hold of existing clients, and not deter new ones.