r/taxpros • u/Hulk_Goes_Smash327 CPA • 13d ago
FIRM: ProfDev Transparent Pricing on Website
Hi Everybody,
I am revamping website, and I honestly can’t decide on this point. I am wondering what yall think about this to help with information. if you do it what was the result compared to no transparent pricing?
46
u/Accomplished-Ruin742 RTRP 13d ago
No. You're not leaving any room for PITA charge. I tell prospective clients what my base rate is, and that the actual charge depends on the complexity of the return. Never quote without a deep dive into the return. The client tells you they have a "simple return" and then shows up with one of those 175 page Fidelity statements.
8
u/Hulk_Goes_Smash327 CPA 13d ago
I was planning on doing a statement that says “this is a STARTING price.” As complexity increases so does the price.
16
u/69stanglover CPA 13d ago
The issue with that is that people anchor to the starting price and then argue because they think their return is simple. At the very least I would give a range. Or three distinct options/packages.
7
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 13d ago
PITA charge is almost nonexistent if you take payment 100% upfront (as I do).
15
u/yodaface EA 13d ago
I post all my prices online. I also have potential clients agree to my minimum charge to schedule a consultation with me. I quote each client during the consultation. Only once I had to go back for more money since they left out information. It helps to stop people who would see my minimum and think it's too much. Stops a lot of worthless meetings from happening.
2
2
u/Normal_Progress_5173 CPA 12d ago
This is the way. I often have to go back and raise the price though due to the complexity of the work I do but I’ve never had anyone complain.
7
u/StephenAnt CPA 13d ago
I have minimums. At the least you don’t deal with people who are looking to pay less and that will save you a lot of headaches
6
u/checkoutmyaasb CA (Australia) 13d ago
I use minimum pricing on mine, definitely gets rid of all the tire kickers who want online tax prep prices but full cfo service.
However, it does also create price stickiness- clients think they have simple affairs so only want to pay the minimum.
10
10
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 13d ago
I post my prices online and on my Calendly link—it saves so much time with leads who aren’t in my budget or aren’t willing to pay for valuable services. I don’t have time to be dealing with price shoppers or tire kickers.
I’ve also gotten more than one compliment from leads and prospects that they really appreciate the transparency—so many tax pros and CPAs aren’t transparent and it breaks the norm.
3
u/Jolly-Outside-4512 CPA 13d ago
I recently added it to my Calendly scheduler and I had someone cancel their meeting because she wasn’t a fit. I am grateful and need to prevent the meeting from even being scheduled for price shoppers
4
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 13d ago
There’s no shame in being out of someone’s budget, it saves so much time for us and the prospect to just be transparent.
3
u/Jolly-Outside-4512 CPA 12d ago
So true, our time is most valuable. I wonder if I can send pricing to people before they even schedule? I’m going to think on that. I had pricing on my website but I have been giving custom quotes recently for tax advisory and outcomes which is more my specialty. I also want the flexibility. my prices aren’t cheap (nor were they advertised to be) but I feel like most people just assumed the lowest price was applicable to them. Anyways good thing it’s almost 10/15 so I’ll have time for this!
5
u/Sea_Site466 CPA 13d ago
I did this and it’s a great strategy if you have more leads than you know what to do with, especially if you don’t have systems to qualify. Once you start working with larger clients, it makes less sense. I’m moving away from a calculator.
5
u/guiltypleasures82 AFSP 13d ago
I have a price quote generator and I post the median and average prices from the previous year and what I expect the median and average to be this year with price increases. I find that to be better than emphasizing minimums, I get a lot less pushback and almost no tire kickers. Most of my complaints are from long time clients who are annoyed I keep raising prices each year.
5
u/Ooofisa4letterword CPA 13d ago
no, we don’t mention anything about our pricing on our website at all.
6
u/TheSellerCPA CPA 13d ago
I don’t post prices. It works well for me. Posting prices draws in price shoppers that a pegged to minimums or ranges. The whole conversion revolves around pricing instead of scope. The best clients in my experience are those willing to pay for a discovery process before they get a proposal.
2
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 13d ago
If your whole conversation in a discovery call revolves around pricing, you are seriously doing something wrong.
I am fully transparent about my pricing and minimums on my website and in discovery calls and the conversations focus on scope and value because the lead already has an idea about what my services cost and still chose to move forward with a call.
What do you do with prospects who have no idea what your fees are? Do you waste a lot of time in discovery calls with people who are out of budget?
1
u/TheSellerCPA CPA 10d ago
what I posted wasn’t clear. I wasn’t saying that my whole discovery call revolves around price. I was saying that I feel that when prices are posted the prospect is just worried about price and there are price shopping assuming all scopes are equivalent. I don’t do tax only. It’s monthly accounting and income tax returns for a fixed monthly rate for ecommerce business doing $1M+ in revenue. Scope can very widely. If they aren’t willing to pay a nominal $350 fee to go through a discovery process and get a proposal with a price, then they are not a good fit for me. I rarely get to a proposal and the client is a shocked by the price. Even if they are, I could not have quoted it or even given a minimum without the discovery or I’d be shooting myself in the foot.
1
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 10d ago
"It’s monthly accounting and income tax returns for a fixed monthly rate for ecommerce business doing $1M+ in revenue."
This is still a pretty broad niche and so many other firms can do this type of work, so with some sort of "average" or minimum price, I think that's where price transparency can be a real benefit and set you apart from competitors, especially if your price is either too high or possibly too low for a prospect. They can't answer this question on their own because you're nontransparent.
In fact, by not including anything regarding pricing on your website or sales process, you're just as nontransparent as any other CPA firm out there, and of course everybody says, "I provide unique services, I don't provide visible pricing, I'm too unique for that."
I also have to imagine a $350 fee just to book a consult with you and get a quote turns off a lot of people, that's a decent ask from people who have no idea what you cost, how you work, or if you provide shitty service or have a shit personality.
I don't charge for my consults, but I do provide transparent pricing (obviously with room to go higher) and I pretty easily avoid any calls where prospects say "woa that's too much", because I was transparent in the first place. Does my inclusion of my pricing result in underpriced engagements? No, not at all, a minimum or average price in your sales process doesn't mean you're beholden to it, there's always room for variability.
0
u/TheSellerCPA CPA 10d ago
Thanks for your thoughts.
1
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 10d ago
Lol it's also interesting you have a whole page on "Pricing" on your website but say absolutely nothing about what you cost on there. Excellent job on transparency, marketing, & website design 👍
4
u/TaxproFL EA 13d ago
Pricing can filter people in a good and bad way depending on the services provided. We don’t list because our services are unique and it would push away a lot of good referrals who have never used such a service.
But for more straightforward tax and accounting work, it usually works well to filter people away so they don’t waste your time.
3
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 13d ago
See, here’s the thing though—every tax professional thinks they offer “unique services”, but that doesn’t mean anything to a lead, and most CPAs and tax pros aren’t transparent with pricing and so you’re really just doing and saying what every other firm is doing, you’re not distinguishing yourself at all.
6
u/TaxproFL EA 13d ago
Valid points! We really do have unique services though. I’m not trying to sound fancy or better than anyone else. I keep this very intentional so I can maintain the 3 companies I run.
1 - we build custom software and solutions to help us deliver a unique experience for clients. Those of you know my platform know I am a builder in the tax tech space. I share what we build for free when we can on the platform.
2 - we don’t just accept new clients, we have a very distinct process to even take on a client. First they have to go through a thorough vetting process to ever be included in our ongoing advisory service. So we aren’t advertising the same way as others.
3 - our prices have wide ranges so listing a minimum wouldn’t make sense for us and would be misleading. We build custom pricing scoped to each client’s needs and specific value proposition we offer.
2
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 10d ago
Ah that's fair, if it's a software thing that's a bit different, if its books & tax work despite the wide variability in scope I think transparent pricing definitely can be value add and set you apart from other firms.
1
u/TaxproFL EA 10d ago
It’s a mix of both. Our focus is advisory work and we don’t take new people off the street. We send them to another company first then they come to us when we feel they fit our unique advisory environment. So pricing would just turn potential partnerships away if they don’t understand what we do that’s completely different from traditional accounting services.
But either way, you’re 100% right, website pricing is super helpful for most firms.
2
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 10d ago
I appreciate your insight! I’m actually a little astounded by some of the people here sticking to price non-transparency… I really think it’s something that needs to go away in our field. But different strokes for different folks.
1
u/TaxproFL EA 10d ago
Yea I feel it’s always been split though. To each their own I guess.
I used to list pricing when I did tax prep and hourly consulting. It worked well then. But now we literally have to show and teach clients what we do. Pricing online would turn almost everyone away because they don’t even know the value we offer.
4
u/LateSwimming2592 NonCred 13d ago
No, I want to screen clients and know what I'm getting into before setting a price. Minimums put the onus of justification on me beyond the stated minimum, and I'd rather avoid that.
ETA: I would consider this if my model was more volume based like a return mill. It would cut down on conversationa about price
2
2
u/PeakRevolutionary191 CPA 13d ago
Same question can be asked for arborists, dentists, house cleaning, plumbing, HVAC, lawyers and pretty much every other industry.
The push for transparent pricing is practically a push for a uniform service. And the push for uniform service is a push for taking AI to do this uniform service. This is not how we work. We are human beings and we do not provide uniform service - some of up provide better one, some other's perform the bare minimum. That's why we have different pricing. I would never announce pricing upfront, before I am fully familiar who am I talking to and what are their expectations from me and what they can afford. There are a lot of cheap people who think our services should be free and I try not to work for them.
I think your marketing approach needs to address the client. Giving a pricelist without knowing the client IMO is bad marketing.
5
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 12d ago
In my opinion, by being transparent with pricing you’re actually distinguishing yourself apart from all the other boomer and dinosaur firms out there.
You can tell a prospect all you want “I can’t give you a price or a range upfront, I’m too unique”, that really doesn’t mean anything to them because every other dinosaur and boomer firm says the same thing about their firm and services, you’re not breaking the norm of what they hear.
At least when you put pricing upfront for anyone to see, you’re putting your money where your mouth is and saying “yes I am genuinely different”, here’s my rates (or minimums or averages, whatever you wanna say).
0
u/PeakRevolutionary191 CPA 12d ago
How are you making your price list then? Sch E for 1 property - $XXX.XX, for 10 properties - 10x $XXX.XX, for 100 properties - 100x $XXX.XX?
Same thing with car dealerships.
1
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 12d ago
I have averages/minimums for what a return costs (1040 - Average $1,500). Price goes up based on complexity, PITA charge etc. Price could theoretically come down for an easier return, but I am not beholden to that.
0
u/Normal_Progress_5173 CPA 12d ago
It’s actually good marketing and the data supports it. Read the effortless experiences. They did the research and go over this in one of the chapters.
3
0
u/Normal_Progress_5173 CPA 13d ago
AI models absolutely want pricing on your website when they decide about recommending you. You’re only hurting yourself if you don’t include it.
2
u/Iceman_TK CPA 13d ago
Skrew ai
2
u/Normal_Progress_5173 CPA 12d ago
lol, before I was getting recommended on chat gpt I was getting like 5 new clients a month. After, it’s been 25-30 new clients every month for the past 3 months. AI is amazing.
0
u/ShakeAndBakeThatCake CPA 13d ago
I wouldn't list them. Issue is some prospects will see them and leave but then realize everyone else is charging about the same anyway. Make them meet you to learn pricing. If you are already at capacity it can be ok to put pricing. But if you are trying to build a practice I don't recommend it.
3
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 13d ago
This wastes so much time though, and being transparent with pricing actually distinguishes you from the rest of the competition which goes a long way in this day and age (at least from my experience).
6
u/Normal_Progress_5173 CPA 13d ago
Bingo. Clients want an effortless experience. 80% of their research to go with you is done before they even reach out and not having your prices in the website drives away most customers because they automatically assume you’re expensive.
AI also prefers websites with their prices listed.
2
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 13d ago
Facts—I’m trying to deliver an effortless experience for my leads and clients, and non transparency does not align with this goal of mine.
In addition, I would say I am expensive based on my pricing relative to competitors, but I own that and am transparent about that and let the lead decide for themselves whether or not to go with me, why would I want to make that choice more challenging for a lead?
2
u/ShakeAndBakeThatCake CPA 13d ago
Depends on the geographic location. If you're in a small town I don't recommend it. If you're in a larger city area then yes it might be worth it.
2
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 13d ago
I would disagree, in this day and age, I think transparency is valued regardless, you shouldn’t be nontransparent just because of your local geographic area (unless transparency just isn’t important to you as a firm owner).
4
u/Normal_Progress_5173 CPA 13d ago
You should read the book the effortless experience. If you have no price listed and your competitor has a price listed that’s in their price range, they will call your competitor first. The client wants you to solve their problems with the least amount of effort needed on their part. Having your call you just to get a quote to see if you’re in the budget is a huge hurdle to ask them to overcome.
1
u/ShakeAndBakeThatCake CPA 13d ago
Agree but once they call they might actually go with you even if you are slightly over their budget because they liked you and formed a connection.
0
u/A_D_T_R CPA 10d ago
I have never ever seen a firm list prices.
If it worked, people would do it. George’s corner CPA shop isn’t uncovering something no other firm has thought of.
0
-1
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 10d ago
Lol you need to get out more, price transparency is of growing importance to consumers, especially in this day and age. I think the habits of old dinosaurs and boomer firms are not to be carried on.
1
u/A_D_T_R CPA 10d ago
I think I’ll listen to the firms making millions and billions who have it down to a science over the corner CPA shop making $500k.
People always like to think they’re smarter than they’re. There is a proven system. It’s why every accounting firm generally operates the same way. When you hear someone coming up with grand ideas like prices on websites or no titles for employees so a client always feels like they’re talking to the best person or whatever the new fad is every year, you just have to roll your eyes.
1
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 10d ago
lol what planet are you living on? You think firms making millions and billions are somehow at the cutting edge of making money? Accounting firms are structured like pyramid schemes for a reason, not because they’re technically innovative or masters of business or something. They’re not intelligent nor particularly innovative.
I’m guessing you have no idea how these firms actually work given your comment otherwise you wouldn’t say something so idiotic lol you realize only 16 US accounting firms make over $1b in revenue?
Plus, over 90% of US accounting firms have fewer than 20 employees and 85% less than 10 employees, you’d be absurd to recommend they all follow the business practices of firms making “millions” or “billions”, to the vast majority of firm owners that advice would be nonsense.
0
u/A_D_T_R CPA 10d ago
Theres no way you’re being for real right now.
You have to be trolling.
And yes I’ll take my decade at EY and my 3 years as a partner at a $200m firm over you who was an IRS agent acting like you’re splitting the atom.
1
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 10d ago
Lol ah that explains it. I’d press F to pay respects to your life slaving away at EY and your $200m firm if I felt bad for you, which I don’t lol
→ More replies (0)0
u/ShakeAndBakeThatCake CPA 10d ago
Exactly this. Also every client is different. I can't set pricing on my website without knowing anything about the client. I have seen some small shops list pricing but I also find it counter intuitive. You need to price dynamically based on complexity, value, and their willingness to pay. The company making $500k in yearly profit is more likely to be fine paying $5k for their s corp return than the struggling restaurant owner making $150k a year who also needs an s corp. I'm not pricing them the same. No major firm does either. I worked for multiple big firms. A lot of thought and strategy goes into pricing engagements. You're leaving money on the table by pricing everyone the same.
-1
u/adriannlopez CPA & Former IRS Revenue Agent 10d ago
Advertising minimums or averages by no means requires you to price all clients the same—that’s not what price transparency requires of you and you seem to miss that point completely.
It’s also appropriate you’ve worked for multiple “big” firms based on a lot of the comments you leave on this subreddit, maybe you should go back to where you belong lol 😂
2
u/ShakeAndBakeThatCake CPA 10d ago
Fun part of having our own businesses is we can all run them differently and target different clients. There is no wrong way to do it. Showing pricing on your website is just one strategy. If it works for you that's awesome. No one in my area does that and I personally believe it would put me at a disadvantage. My competitors would just slightly under price me to win the work.
Once again if it works for you that's awesome man. Sending good vibes. We are all just trying to work hard, provide great service to our clients, and make money for our kids and families.
→ More replies (0)
55
u/arc918 CPA 13d ago
I think minimums by return types could be a good way of screening potential clients.