Anticipating the arrival of his new book “Implementing Value Pricing: A Radical Business Model for Professional Firms” I had the opportunity to speak to the man himself, Ron Baker. Ron connected with me on Twitter and we set up a phone call to catch up. I must say the conversation brought up new energy to what I had done approximately one year ago, “trashed the timesheet.” Since the transition, I have kinda forgotten what it was like to track my time. During our conversation, Ron was mentioning to me some of excuses he hears all over the world, promoting the timesheet, and it was bringing back chilling memories of tracking my time.
Ron pointed me the verasage website when we began to discuss the topic of “first class” customers vs “coach” customers. The title of the blog is “forget being effective, be efficacious” which I ignorantly pronounced “efacious” is where he pointed me. EFF-a-cacious is superior to effective. So, if Spam is effective, Filet Mignon would be efficacious. You get my point, but let me warn you that my metaphor really does not do the word justice. What the guys at verasage are challenging the profession to do is step past being effective and deliver the client a celestial experience. While I have not had a ton of time to think about the process, what jumps out to me is a child’s first trip to Disney World. Having the ability to deliver a desired result, I think Walt and the gang have that down pat. Just when I thought I had the whole client service aspect down, the folks at verasage push the bar one notch higher. I LOVE IT. Keep up the inspiration coming guys.
Would you recommend this book first to someone interested in the value pricing model? I’m just getting my feet wet. I’ve mentioned the concept to the partners at my firm – but have been shot down since I don’t have the ammo yet. They are old guard, so it might not ever happen. I want to learn about it for my own benefit and maybe open my own firm down the road.
Kevin, I started with “Firm of the Future” by Ron Baker. That was my jumping off point for gathering support to convince the “old guard” I will email you some more info and will always being willing to set up a phone call.
Thanks so much Chris, it was an honor to finally meet you, even if only on the phone. I look forward to more inspiring conversations, as we get more out of them knowing there’s progressive CPAs out there like you willing to challenge the status quo.
To Kevin M. I’d like to say please contact me and I will help you in any way I can to get the “ammo” you need to push for Value Pricing. As a starter, you may want to read this summary blog post from VeraSage.com on what firms need to do to replace the billable hour and timesheet. There’s also a links to many additional resources and readings:
http://www.verasage.com/index.php/community/comments/ask_verassage_all_about_t_a/
Chris, feel free to pass along my email to Kevin.
Thanks Chris, you’ve given me and Ed an HSD–High Satisfaction Day.
Ron
Thanks for the info Ron, good reading material there. I actually had a new client come in today and plan on testing a FPA with him.
Excellent Kevin, good luck and let us know how it goes. Customers love FPAs!