Become a seven-figure consultant February 23, 2018

Below is an email exchange I had with an executive who thought my fee of $10,000 for a half day was “too high” and how we still WON her business! (just one of my consultant pricing strategies)

C-suite Executive: “Hi James, I am going to have my department leadership meeting in Feb. (wk of 23 Feb).I would like to explore having you involved, if you are available and feel you could provide a segment for us. Our theme for the meeting is strategic leadership. Our team is pretty high functioning but we still get down in the weeds. I would like to have a segment of the meeting give them insight, guidance, training on being strategic leaders and advisors to our business.”

James Bird Guess: Hi XXXX, Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. I am actually working on my latest book and the topic is “strategic leadership.” I have a special report that I will forward to you that outlines how I perceive strategy. I will follow up with Angie to arrange a brief call with you so I can make sure I understand your goals for this meeting.  Thanks again, James

C-suite Executive: Hi James, I am interested in you presenting at our leadership meeting, but based on your preparation time and presentation time your fees still seem a little high. If I assume 5 hrs prep and 4 hrs time to present at $1,000 per hr (which I think is high). If you add the books the fees would be under your quoted fee of $10,000.  Are you open to negotiating your rate?

James Bird Guess: Hi XXXX, absolutely! I am always willing to negotiate since I value our continued partnership. Also, we base our fees on value/results and return on investment rather than time. We have found that its never in our client’s best interest to base fees on time, but instead obtaining results as quickly as possible. I also think I probably could have better explained the value/results that will be obtained for your team in the following example:

The situation: senior leadership team gets “stuck in the weeds.” (e.g. low value tasks etc…)

Desired outcomes/goals: Need senior level leaders to be strategic, spend time on activities that create long-term positive impact on the business, and understand that strategy is everyone’s job!

Costs of current situation: Estimated salaries of 10 senior leaders @ $150,000 annual salary = approximately $52 per hour (assuming 12 hour work week).

Estimated hours spent monthly “stuck in weeds” = 96 hours (avg. 40% of work time) (24 hours/week x 4 weeks) x $52 per hour = $4,992 (per leader) x 10 senior leaders = $49,992

Return on investment: 3 months following training, 10 senior leaders improve strategic leadership skills and reduce time being “stuck in weeds” by 60% (average estimate)

Benefits of only 10 senior leaders improving by 60% = $29,995 / Costs of strategic leadership training with books ($29,995 / $10,000) = 299% ROI (we strive for 3 to 1 return or higher)

Your time savings: this does not include your time spent addressing the strategic work your direct reports should be doing and having to make decisions for them. Also, although it is only a half-day, we are still going to provide the results/solutions desired. I hope this helps to clarify how we base our fees on value obtained rather than time spent. Looking forward to hearing from you! James

There are a lot of assumptions and unanswered questions you will get by attending the Cash Cow Consultant Conference May 4^th-5^th

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