You never see this one on a consulting or professional services firm website:
"We offer excellent services and deliver superior value, but our prices are negotiable. What you'll pay really depends on whether we're hurtin' for business this month, whether you're a marquee client we want to have on our roster, and whether or not you pressure us."
Yet, that's what's happening. Just a day out of the gate, the first several hundred survey responses are in for the Wellesley Hills Group and RainToday.com Pricing and Fees in Professional Service Businesses benchmark research study. With an initial but already significant percent of precincts reporting (love that presidential primary season):
- 61.4% of professional services firms report that they discount their fees from their internally standard or externally published rate or fee structure.
- 38.6% report they do not ever discount
What drives companies to discount? Which firms tend to discount and which don't? What are the greatest factors that affect a firm's ability to raise (and get!) the highest fees? More to come as we continue to collect and analyze the data...
Take the survey - open through the end of January: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=uJMDeOD9q69m3HT6VG3RIQ_3d_3d and you can get a complimentary copy of one of the following:
- The Professional Services E-Guide To Online PR
- How To Write And Market A White Paper E-Guide
- How To Become A Thought Leader E-Guide
- How To Set Appointments Through Cold Calling E-Guide
- Marketing Strategy, Planning, and Budgeting for Professional Services (Webinar Recording)
In professional services, flexibility is key, especially when services are competed on pricing. In many closings, at the end it comes down to pricing, discounting, long term relationship, future business opportunities. Delivery of services and capabilities are filtered right at the gate. If the services offered are ver specialized, it is a different ball game.