Hey {{first_name | there}},
The main thing preventing you from raising prices is the fear of losing clients as a result.
So instead of putting the price-raise off, let’s fortify the walls so clients are happy and willing to pay increased rates.
Most accounting firm owners think their clients are paying for tax filing, bookkeeping, advisory, or whatever specific service is on the engagement letter.
That's wrong.
Clients are paying you for one thing: peace of mind. Specifically, the peace of mind that comes from not having to think about their accounting.
Accounting is the boogeyman for most business owners. They didn't start their company because they love spreadsheets. They started it because they wanted to build something. A service, a product, a brand. Then they got handed all this other stuff (taxes, books, payroll, compliance) and resented every minute of it.
What they want from you is for that whole layer to disappear from their consciousness.
When a client thinks about their accounting more than once or twice a quarter, you've already failed. If they wonder “did my payroll go through?” “what do I owe in taxes this quarter?” then you’ve failed to give them the #1 thing they want from you.
This reframe changes everything once it lands:
→ Pricing: you're not pricing hours. You're pricing the absence of accounting from their mental load. That's worth a lot more than the hours math suggests.
→ Communication: every touchpoint should reduce mental load, not add to it. Be intentional about how often you reach out and why.
→ Service design: design every workflow around "what does the client NOT have to do, ask, or remember."
To be clear, this doesn’t mean clients don’t want to hear from you. In fact it’s quite the opposite. They want to hear you saying “we just took care of this.”
So tactically speaking, this means you should be highly efficient with what you ask for from the client, and you should be loud & proud about exactly what you’ve accomplished for them.
We’re running a 3-day workshop next week helping you build your Summer Scaling Strategy. As part of this, my business partner Ryan Bakke is going to break down his systems and automations for running a $5.5M CPA firm with less than 2000 clients.
We’d love to see you there and help you build your plan to scale this summer!
- Peter
P.S. If you're sending your clients more than 5 questions a year, you're delivering work, not peace of mind. The firms that scale to 7 figures pull every single touchpoint they can off the client's plate.