You may choose to charge your services by the hour when you first start out in business. This method is common for business start ups for the simple reason that you don’t really know how long tasks will take you until you get started. However this method isn’t necessarily the most profitable way of billing for your business.

It’s important to have a pricing strategy in place. You’ll need to do lots of research to find out what your competition is charging and how you view your expertise to theirs. Comparison should be for research only and you should never compare your business journey to someone else’s. Every business is individual and should be treated as such. 

Moving away from hourly pricing and transitioning to alternative pricing models can be a strategic decision for your business. Choosing to offer set packages could result in scope creep. These means that the expectations of the client may change and they may wish for you to do tasks which you previously haven’t discussed. This could result in you doing more work for the same money. This should be avoided at all costs as this could have a serious impact on your cash flow. Time is money after all.

If you’re a bookkeeping looking to implement a new pricing strategy into your business, I highly recommend using GoProposal or similar software. You can create a proposal based on services required and the quantity of transactions involved. You can also introduce value based pricing as part of your pricing method. This means that you’re pricing your services based on the value you bring rather than the time it takes.

By doing it this way your pricing is more accurate so you can be much more productive with your time. Make it clear from the outset that if your clients business starts to grow, which let’s face it, it’s bound to now that you’re involved, that you will review their proposal at least every 3 months to ensure the price reflects the level of working you are delivering.  This way you avoid scope creep and your client doesn’t get any nasty surprises.

When creating your new pricing strategy consider the following –



• Your services – what services do you enjoy delivering and what takes up less of your time? And jobs which you don’t enjoy can be removed from your offering or even better, outsource them!
• Understand your clients needs – ensure you get to know their business and work with them closely, this will give you a better understanding of how their business works, allowing you to make suggestions for improvement. This may mean you can upsell to them.

Transitioning away from hourly pricing may take time and effort, you may even think it’s a scary idea, but it can lead to increased client satisfaction, higher profits, and a more sustainable business model. If you are using software which makes you more efficient, then you actually end up earning less due to this if you’re charging by the hour, when in fact you have better skills and knowledge through using the software to its full potential.

If you’re a bookkeeper and would like to find out more about how you can adapt your pricing structure to become more sustainable then please book in a power hour with me.

If you’re a different type of business owner, looking for assistance with your pricing structure and business finances then book a discovery call.