How Pricing with Options Increased My Fee by $10K

Assessing the Engagement Prospect

In this article, the author shares how he crafted an engagement letter that enabled him to earn far more than a fee he was prepared to accept. Understanding a prospect’s motivation and the underlying facts enabled him to craft an engagement letter that worked for both and earned him $10,000 more.

By listening to my prospect and understanding the pain he was in, I crafted an engagement letter with three pricing options that provided the solution he needed. It resulted in me getting a $10,000 higher fee based solely on my report delivery date.

Quick Background

• I received a phone call from a long-time referral source—a CPA firm.
• An individual and business client of theirs had passed.
• The decedent owned interests in several real estate entities.
• The prospect/executor was the decedent’s brother.

What I Learned

• Prior to his death, the decedent was suffering from worsening dementia.
• My prospect had to scale back on his successful law practice to manage his brother’s substantial affairs.
• Because of the time he had already spent away from his law firm, the brother badly wanted to wrap up the estate’s affairs as quickly as possible.
• He wanted my valuation report as soon as possible, and sooner would be way

What I Did

• Notwithstanding the brother’s frame of mind or frame of time, I vetted the prospect just like I do for any other engagement.
• The time spent on phone calls and e-mails with the brother allowed me to get all of the information and documents I needed to price the work; without considering alternative due dates for the report. Or I should say with the typical due date of “four to six weeks after receiving all the requested information.”

The Linchpin

• Knowing my client was deeply motivated, I presented three pricing options in my engagement letter:

Estimated Fee Not to Exceed	Draft Report Completed In
$30,000	3 weeks
$25,000	4 weeks
$20,000	5 weeks

• I would have been happy with the $20,000 fee. It accurately reflected the work required to value fractional interests in several real estate entities for estate tax purposes.
• I was hoping for the $25,000 fee because I knew I had some slack in my schedule that would allow me to finish the report by that deadline.
• For the $30,000 fee, I was willing to move things around in my scheduled to make it happen.

My prospect accepted the first option.

So What?

I hope you can see the lesson here: do not react too quickly when you get an initial inquiry for a project. If I had done that:

• I would not have learned why or how much my client was motivated to get the work done ASAP.
• I would have quoted my usual fee without communicating that I could do better, timing-wise.
• I would not have delivered what the client really wanted and was willing to pay for—a solution to his pain.
• I would not have made my long-time referral source as happy as they are now because of the service their client is getting.
• I would have left $10,000 on the table

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Everyone has a different idea of what a successful practice is. The practice you want is personal because it is based on what “successful” means to you. I help practitioners focus on the strategies and tactics to build/grow their versions of successful practices. If you want some help with that, e-mail me at rod@rodburkert.com.