I recently worked with a client who dominates a highly specialized area of regulatory consulting. I noticed that several recently awarded projects were incredibly small in value, often $5,000 or less.
The following conversation ensued:
Me: "I'm curious, why is [new project] only $3,200?"
Client: "It won't take much effort, and should lead to larger work."
"How many of these could you handle at once?"
"Not more than a dozen."
"Could you find a way to do handle more than a dozen if they were priced at $20,000?"
"We'd definitely find a way, but our clients won't pay $20,000 for small pieces of work"
"Have you tried?"
My client has since instituted a minimum job value that ensures every new project properly rewards their expertise and provides the means to scale up- profitably- to tackle as many challenges as their clients can throw at them. The higher pricing also allows them to build common areas of scope change into their contracts upfront and find clever ways to exceed expectations.
Pro tip- this only works with fixed price contracts.
Sure, the change has created some awkward conversations- especially with existing customers who expected the next project to be as underpriced as the last- but serious prospects have had no issue paying for the fair value of the expertise and experience this company offers.
Review your contract portfolio from the past 12 months. What did you sign at abysmally low values that tied up your resources? What services are you pricing on labor effort, where your experts are likely super efficient, instead of the value your customers receive? Are you factoring in that small contracts often absorb just as much administrative burden as larger contracts? How far, and how profitably, can you ever actually scale on $5,000 projects? Will you really miss the $5,000 projects you don't perform?
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Contact me or book a meeting to discuss how these principles can be applied to improve the performance of your organization.
