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

5.5. WHAT IF CLIENTS RESIST CONVERSION?

Don't push so hard that you cause ill will if your clients resist converting. Position your intent as serving their best interests, and point out that other clients—and all new clients—have chosen to take advantage of the new arrangement. But by offering them this as an option, you're not taking bread off the table, since the client may still choose to continue along the current path.

If your top-priority clients resist, here is the course of action that might still win the day later on:

1. Don't persist, but do remind. Once a quarter, remind your buyer that the option is still on the table. Every time one of the conversion opportunities discussed in this chapter arises, raise the issue again as the basis for a decision about the new project. There is too much potential profit at stake not to remain persistent, and the more money you make from a client who is resisting a value-based approach, the more money you are actually losing over the long term.

2. Appeal to the buyer's sense of fair play. If you can demonstrate a multimillion-dollar savings or improvement (see Chapter Four for objectives, metrics, and value), and you can show that your total hourly fees added up to 0.001 percent of that improvement (which they well may have), you do have a case to point out that future projects should be more of a win-win endeavor. Many buyers will be reluctant to allow a disproportionate situation to persist if they envision needing your help on an even ...