Value-Based Fees: How to Charge—and Get—What You're Worth: A Guide for Consultants, Second Edition

1.7. CHAPTER ROI

• One has to develop a philosophy about fees. They are not a "necessary evil" or a "dirty part of the job" but rather a wonderful and appropriate exchange for the superb value you are delivering to the client. That exchange has a long tradition and represents the highest ethical canon of modern capitalism: agreed payment for agreed value.

• Buyers tend to believe that they get what they pay for, and higher fees actually convey higher quality for most buyers. Higher fees also guarantee a higher level of buyer commitment, and commitment, not compliance, is key to producing a return-on-investment mentality rather than a cost-reducing mentality.

• Brands tend to raise buyers' perception of quality still higher, which is why strategic marketing is an essential aspect of the consultant's repertoire.

• The consultant must anticipate and plan to overcome objections about how other, less enlightened consultants have charged, are charging, or will charge. That is, literally, neither here nor there.

• Leaving money on the table is the equivalent of burning money—you will never, ever recover it, and we are talking millions of dollars over one's career.

• Finally, shared success—understood from the outset and achieved at the conclusion—is vital to the belief in consultant worth as part of a partnership with the buyer.

The One Percent Solution®: Believe in your own value, and build your perceived value in demonstrable ways every day. That is the fuel for the acceleration of fees.^[]

^[] I've come ...