Unlocking Advisory Potential: How to Price with Assurance
In this episode of Advisory Conversations, Tim Seymour and Deb Halliday tackle one of the questions they hear more than almost any other.
How do you price advisory services with confidence?
For many accountants, bookkeepers, and financial professionals, pricing advisory can feel uncomfortable. There's often uncertainty around what to charge, whether clients will see the value, and whether you're experienced enough to justify the fee.
The reality is that confidence in pricing rarely comes first.
Confidence comes from experience, results, and seeing the impact your advice has on clients over time.
Throughout this episode, we explore why advisory pricing is not about copying what someone else charges or trying to jump straight to premium monthly fees. Instead, it's about building confidence, capability, and value gradually.
We also discuss the important difference between education and advisory.
Education gives clients knowledge, frameworks, and understanding that can be applied by many businesses.
Advisory is different.
Advisory is bespoke. It focuses on the individual challenges, opportunities, and decisions facing a specific business at a specific point in time.
When practitioners blur the lines between the two, clients can struggle to understand why one conversation is free while another carries a fee.
We explore practical ways to introduce advisory conversations, create value for clients, and begin building an advisory offering that feels both commercially viable and personally comfortable.
Because advisory isn't about charging more for the work you're already doing.
It's about creating outcomes that clients value enough to invest in.
In this episode you'll learn:
• Why so many professionals struggle with pricing advisory confidently.
• Why confidence usually follows experience rather than preceding it.
• The difference between educational support and bespoke advisory services.
• Why comparing your fees to others can hold you back.
• How strategy sessions can help introduce advisory conversations naturally.
• The role of case studies and client outcomes in building pricing confidence.
• How to increase advisory fees over time as your experience and impact grow.
Most successful advisory firms didn't start by charging premium fees from day one.
They built confidence, created results, developed case studies, and increased value over time.
If pricing advisory has ever felt uncomfortable or uncertain, this episode will give you a practical framework for getting started and growing your confidence along the way.
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcript
Welcome to Advisory Conversations with Tim Seymour and Deb Halliday.
Speaker A:This podcast is for accounting professionals and financial coaches who are ready to step beyond compliance and into advisory.
Speaker A:Because real advisory isn't about doing more yourself.
Speaker A:It's about building something that works without you being the bottleneck.
Speaker A:Hello, and welcome to another episode of Advisory Conversations.
Speaker A:And how are you today, Deb?
Speaker B:I'm really good, Tim.
Speaker B:How are you?
Speaker A:Yeah, pretty good.
Speaker A:Always good.
Speaker A:Always good when it comes to these conversations.
Speaker A:And funnily enough, today we're talking about probably one of the most topical conversations that there is around the whole subject of advisory.
Speaker A:And it's certainly one of the questions that we've probably had to answer the most in the previous membership full of accounting and bookkeeping practice owners is how you price advisory with confidence.
Speaker A:So it's going to be a discussion around delivering advisory and pricing for it accordingly and how you get to those numbers that everybody declares you can get by offering advisory.
Speaker A:But in reality, there has to be a starting point, and that starting point might not be the £2,000amonth that we're told we can get to.
Speaker A:It might actually be starting off a lot lower and gradually working your way up to those numbers, if that's achievable with the clients you've got.
Speaker A:Because, of course, you can only deliver advisory to the people you're serving.
Speaker A:So whether you're trying to attract new clients or whether you are working with a great set of clients that you really want to help, the pricing is going to be determined by who you're working with and what their outcomes are, what they're looking to achieve.
Speaker A:So what's your take on this as a starting point?
Speaker B:As a starting point?
Speaker B:Well, first of all, I'd say it's very difficult to start charging for advisory if you're answering lots of questions for free.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Because the client doesn't understand the difference.
Speaker B:So if you've been answering every question that they have, what I would consider education, and that might be what happens if I hit the gap threshold or can't read my P and L?
Speaker B:What is P and L?
Speaker B:And you're just, you're telling them, you're teaching them even things like government gateway, how do I set up a government gateway, et cetera.
Speaker B:If you're doing that for free toc as and when the questions come in, then when you offer advisory and want to charge them for that, the client doesn't understand the difference.
Speaker B:The client thinks, why you've been answering everything I've asked and you've been helping me for free, but now you want to charge me.
Speaker B:And they don't understand that there's a difference.
Speaker B:And there's a difference between education, which is the same answer that you give everybody that answers the question, you just repeat yourself, give them the same answer to advisory, which is bespoke to their particular situation and their particular numbers in their business.
Speaker B:And there's a difference.
Speaker B:So you do have to separate that out because otherwise you do find it very difficult to charge for advisory when you've been, you're the go to help desk, if you like, for all things finance for your clients and they think that's just part of the service.
Speaker B:So that's the first thing you need to do.
Speaker B:Another thing that comes to mind is if you are charging rock bottom prices for compliance work, that's how you're seen by your clients.
Speaker B:You're seen as a data entry type person.
Speaker B:So when you start trying to charge for advisory, there's a disconnect there and the client doesn't value your expertise because you're not charging for your expertise in the reporting compliance aspect of it.
Speaker B:So you can't be charging 100 or 200 pound for bookkeeping and then go and charge 8, 900,000 pound for advisory.
Speaker B:The client doesn't see you that way.
Speaker B:They see you as a low cost necessity.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's, you have to build up and there's a few different things that you have to start implementing small steps, as you would say, Tim.
Speaker B:Yeah, for weeks to move towards offering advisory.
Speaker B:There's lots of things you can do that don't take you much time or money to position yourself as somebody that is qualified and experienced enough to give advisory.
Speaker B:But yeah, that's, that's my initial thoughts.
Speaker B:Tim.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, I totally agree.
Speaker A:It's a very so valid the difference between education and advisory.
Speaker A:Think that going back to my recollection from my past running the practice I ran, I was always answering questions for clients and I saw it as customer service, which I think we all do, because the traditional high street accountant would, would charge for everything.
Speaker A:And I used to get a lot of new clients from some of the local traditional high street, larger high street accountancy firms that weren't really set up for the smaller business owner who were the ones I attracted at the beginning.
Speaker A:Things changes as things move forward, of course.
Speaker A:And they came to me because they didn't want to be hit by a bill for ringing up and asking a question that was literally just a question and answer.
Speaker A:Now there's right and wrong to this Isn't there?
Speaker A:Because I was of the mind when I.
Speaker A:This is early days.
Speaker A:So I was thinking there's an opportunity here for me to grab some of these clients because they probably don't need to be paying these fees to the high street accountant because they don't need that service.
Speaker A:So I can come in a lower fee, but I can provide a service to them.
Speaker A:And I, you know, I'm a. I'm an amiable kind of person.
Speaker A:I'm quite kind of easy to talk to and I would answer questions.
Speaker A:So I attracted quite a lot of people initially into the business in that way, which was great because I was growing the business.
Speaker A:Then it creates a problem because then you're answering questions all the time, which I know, obviously you've found a fantastic solution too, with the business course library.
Speaker A:We've talked about that on a previous podcast.
Speaker A:So if you're wondering what that is, definitely check out that episode about the business course library.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But then it creates another problem because then suddenly your time is being sucked away because you're answering questions to the clients.
Speaker A:It's very hard, as you say, to stop and say, well, I'm gonna have to start charging you for this time, because that's one of the reasons why they came to you in the first place, certainly from my.
Speaker A:From my experience and from when I grew my business.
Speaker A:So what you have to do is start to look at all of your clients and start to analyze which clients are the ones you would like to work with from an advisory perspective.
Speaker A:But you don't tell them that you're offering advisory because they don't know what that means.
Speaker A:They think they're ringing you up and asking you for advice.
Speaker A:They don't understand what the difference is between education and advice, for a start.
Speaker A:So you don't want to tell them that you're offering advisory.
Speaker A:So what I did, I created strategy sessions.
Speaker A:So I would hold a strategy session and I would approach people and say, I'd love to have a strategy session with you.
Speaker A:And they'd say, oh, what?
Speaker A:What does that mean?
Speaker A:Well, it's where we just deep dive your business.
Speaker A:Spend an hour together.
Speaker A:We're just going to talk about your business.
Speaker A:I want to learn more about you.
Speaker A:I want to learn what you're looking to achieve, and I want to see if there's ways I can help you.
Speaker A:You don't charge for that.
Speaker A:Because if you then tell them that's going to be £500, they're going to say, well, no, because they don't know what you're going to do for them until you have that session.
Speaker A:When you have that session.
Speaker A:I found then that the conversation used to open up because they're there not to receive the year end accounts, not to receive the set of management accounts.
Speaker A:They don't understand not to feel a little bit embarrassed because they don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker A:They're actually there answering questions they can answer just like that.
Speaker A:Because you're asking them why they set up in business, what was it they're looking to achieve?
Speaker A:Have you got there?
Speaker A:What's holding you back?
Speaker A:Why, why do you feel like you're not moving forward?
Speaker A:What would you like to happen next with your business?
Speaker A:All these types of questions that you're gaining information from them are invaluable for you to be able to deliver them the advice they need moving forward.
Speaker A:And this is the starting point.
Speaker A:And at this point I would suggest there is no mention of cost, there's no mention of commitment to strategy session.
Speaker A:This is not a discovery call, this is a demonstration of what you can do for them.
Speaker A:And they're then starting to realize that there's a difference in how they saw you to, how they're seeing you at the end of this hour.
Speaker A:And that to me, helped me build confidence up with clients.
Speaker A:I did this with quite a few people over the years.
Speaker A:I started off with just a handful and then I repeated, you know, repeated a few times before I even thought about charging.
Speaker A:And when I did start to add those into my packages, I didn't charge enough initially at all.
Speaker A:I'm going to be totally honest and I've had this conversation in the previous membership and I, and I advise people or suggest to people they could follow the same steps if that works for them.
Speaker A:I didn't charge very much at all initially.
Speaker A:Other people in the, in the can industry will probably fall off their chair if they, you know this.
Speaker A:But actually you have to build up confidence not only with your clients, but within yourself.
Speaker A:And if you were to turn around and say, I'm going to charge someone 2,000 pounds a month for this and I'm going to meet with them once a month for an hour and I can do a little prep work a little bit better in that, great, I'll only be working 10 hours a month, I'll be making all this money.
Speaker A:Well, you don't just suddenly flick a switch and start doing that.
Speaker A:You have to start somewhere and you start at the beginning.
Speaker A:Like everything, everything new that you do, you start at the beginning and you start with Small steps.
Speaker A:So you start to meet with people, you don't charge very much money, but what you do is you build up confidence in how you're delivering advisory, how you're asking questions, how you're receiving information and how you're then using that information you're receiving within a conversation, whilst interpreting the numbers that you've already seen and delivering some insights and some foresight for them to move forward.
Speaker A:And that's the art of the advisory.
Speaker A:And it doesn't come at the click of the fingers just by starting to talk to people.
Speaker A:It comes over numerous conversations with clients, but with the intent that this is to build an advisory offering that you're going to deliver to your clients.
Speaker A:And I found that the more I talked to people and the more conversation I had, and as I grew the number of clients I was talking to, the better I became, as with anything, and the more natural the conversation flowed and the more I could get people talking.
Speaker A:Because when they come, first of all, they're a little bit guarded, they're a little bit not sure what this is about, what's Tim doing here?
Speaker A:But this isn't the sort of normal conversation.
Speaker A:What's he up to?
Speaker A:What's he trying to sell me?
Speaker A:And there's always going to be those emotions from the clients, isn't there?
Speaker A:They're going to be thinking that.
Speaker A:So it has to be a gradual process before you start to move them.
Speaker A:So you demonstrate to them what you can do.
Speaker A:You can perhaps indicate or suggest they could move up to the next package to receive this on a monthly basis.
Speaker A:And it's a natural step up.
Speaker A:But again, the packages I set up originally were way underpriced because I wasn't charging enough money for my compliance rate.
Speaker A:Deb, if I'm honest, you know, and because we all start somewhere, we never charge enough at the beginning.
Speaker A:It takes time to gradually build the pricing up.
Speaker A:And I did go through that process, by the way.
Speaker A:But when you start, and what I suggested to people in the previous membership was just get three to five clients, have these conversations, when you're ready, start to charge them.
Speaker A:And you might only charge a 99 pound a month, which seems absolutely ridiculous, but initially that's what you might charge, then you build up some confidence, then you start to build some case studies, then the next handful of clients you wrote, you'll charge a bit more, then the next handful, you'll charge a bit more, and then you'll charge a bit more.
Speaker A:And over time, you'll gradually be getting to Those higher levels your £500amonth, you're your thousand pound a month.
Speaker A:And yes, with the right clients that have the right level of turnover coming in, you might get to the £2,000amonth clients.
Speaker A:Of course it's been done, but it also sits at where you're comfortable and where your clients are comfortable and what you're trying to achieve.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That's my personal experience of how I dealt with pricing.
Speaker A:I don't know what, what does that sound like to you?
Speaker A:You've obviously heard me talking about this before, but I'm just.
Speaker A:What does that sound like to you?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Speaker B:But I also think that you can, you can start with certain strategies because then you can build up case studies for particular outcomes for particular, particular strategies.
Speaker B:Because when you're going to be charging the higher amount for advisory at some point in your journey, you're going to want to have evidence of why the client should pay that higher amount.
Speaker B:So you've built up case studies on various different strategies, lower level strategies, and you can say you present these case studies to the client with a start, a middle and an end result of where these other clients are.
Speaker B:And that's why that's what we can expect for you for your business.
Speaker B:There's also the confidence that comes with repeatedly doing one particular strategy with a client.
Speaker B:It becomes natural to talk about it.
Speaker B:You become more confident in the outcomes, you have experience in going off track and maybe the pitfalls of that particular strategy, what, what can happen and it builds up your own experience and confidence to then deliver.
Speaker B:Also, you'll have a catalog of outcomes and you'll soon realize that you're, you don't price like the compliance, you price based on value and outcomes for the clients.
Speaker B:But if you're going to try and jump in straight away and charge a lot for advisory internally, you still don't know if that outcome that you're going to get for that client is worth the amount that you're charging.
Speaker B:So you tend to try and over deliver.
Speaker B:You try and pack things in to the meeting and cover more than the client's actually paying for.
Speaker B:So it, you end up.
Speaker B:That's why a lot of people that go into advisory don't take on very many clients because they realize that they're trying to over deliver because they're not used to charging that kind of amount for brain, you know, brain work rather than compliance work, strategy stuff and suggestions and experience, relaying experience, they're not used to charging that.
Speaker B:So they will just add everything else in or they'll start to feel underconfident because they had no experience of the how long these outcomes take and they haven't experienced the when the resistance of clients or all the different reasons that the clients don't take action and then they tend to self doubt.
Speaker B:It only comes with working with clients at the lower level to go through those that you get better at steering the clients towards the outcomes quicker.
Speaker B: wants to be charging spending: Speaker B:You've always got to have a roadmap for them so they can see the value that they're getting and in their own head justify the outcome.
Speaker B:Now I'm going to reach here in six months if I do these steps, you know, so it's going to cost me £12,000.
Speaker B:Okay, I can weigh that up in my head, you know.
Speaker B:Yes, we want to keep them longer but there's generally another obstacle that comes along on something else that needs addressing and it continues.
Speaker B:But they always need to have, they just, they don't want to just pay £2,000amonth in perpetuity without having clear examples and reviews.
Speaker B:If you like testimonials of yes, you will reach this within this certain amount of time or this was the outcome.
Speaker B:This, you know, you've got to have case studies therefore you can get reviews and testimonies.
Speaker B:So yeah, you start small, you know, you start and that goes down to choosing your clients.
Speaker B:You know, you can actually up your, up your fee every single client that you take off and you can, if you start, if you take on a client at 200 or 300 pound, you know, you can agree that if we get you to this stage by this particular marker, this date, then the fee will be this because we've reached this level so that it lowers the risk for the client.
Speaker B:And I think okay, so we only have to pay 300 pound a month for this.
Speaker B:But she's guaranteeing, you know, if I don't, my price doesn't go up.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's, you know, it's psychology of how the business owners, your clients brains work as well when it comes to spending money.
Speaker B:You've got to take that into consideration.
Speaker B:If you don't have the evidence and the backup and the credibility, the testimonials, they're very unlikely to pay you a high amount straight away.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's really interesting but I'm definitely an advocate for starting off slow and moving forward that way to build up confidence and then your confidence grows and you can Bring more clients on board and increase prices as you go.
Speaker A:You don't have to charge all your clients the same price.
Speaker A:They don't know, they don't need to know.
Speaker A:It's an agreement between you and that client.
Speaker A:So it's entirely up to you what you charge for any particular situation, any job, isn't it, that you're going to take on.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A: month, this: Speaker A: The next month it's: Speaker A:Then the next month they couldn't pay their tax bill because they've taken too much out.
Speaker A:You know, how many clients have we come across like that?
Speaker A:If you could take them from the guaranteed 12 and a half to a guaranteed 50,000 for a new business every year, spread out equally every month, so you've got something to look after your personal finances for moving forward and then we can build on that.
Speaker A:That's like the first target to achieve.
Speaker A:Say, yeah, what's that worth to that client?
Speaker A:You know, how about, think about that, the peace of mind.
Speaker A:You've said before about how people's shoulders just relax.
Speaker A:That kind of, you're creating that kind of transformation for your client and you're not stopping there.
Speaker A:So once you've achieved that, what's the next goal that they want to achieve and then you start to help them and direct them or guide them is probably the better phrase towards achieving that target.
Speaker A:What's that worth?
Speaker A:Yeah, you know, what's that worth?
Speaker A:I know for a fact that you, you've had clients that wanted to send their children to private school or university, etc.
Speaker A:And you've helped that happen.
Speaker A:What's that worth to that client?
Speaker A:You know, it's an amazing transformation that they weren't going to achieve before they started working with you.
Speaker A:You know, similar with me with people I've worked with.
Speaker A:But there is one, there is one thing that this is going to sound like I'm arguing with myself here, but, but I wouldn't be honest if I didn't point this out as well.
Speaker A:When I, at the time I was selling the accountancy business and I was delivering, we'll call it advisory coaching, advisory guy, probably mentoring is more what I do.
Speaker A:I would say that's more sits with how I am with people.
Speaker A:I created a program and it was a three month program and because I wanted to get it up and running and get some, get some feedback, I allowed two clients that I had from the accountancy business to do it for free.
Speaker A:I allowed another client to do it half price.
Speaker A:And as someone I didn't know came up and they wanted to work with me so I charged them full price.
Speaker A: full price was something like: Speaker A: he other one was paying about: Speaker A:The other ones were for nothing.
Speaker A:The ones that took the most action were the two that paid.
Speaker B:Mm.
Speaker A:The one that paid half price did really good, was early days for the business but it really helped him and he was forever grateful.
Speaker A:The one that paid full price were really engaged.
Speaker A:We're really focused.
Speaker A:I have meetings with them, with them and their team.
Speaker A:So it was a team situation and when it ended they hired me to be the external FD or CF or whatever you want to call it for a period of time so I could help them move forward with their business with all the things I taught them.
Speaker A:So they didn't just want.
Speaker A:And what they paid me a month was what they paid for the whole program.
Speaker A:So I gained massively out of that.
Speaker A:So there's a massive step up in the earning potential by starting off.
Speaker A:So some people had it for nothing, but I ended up earning a good amount of money for a monthly service that I didn't continue it after six to nine months because if I'm honest, it became too time consuming and it wasn't really what I was personally looking to do.
Speaker A:They were great people and I've got a lot of time for them and I regret.
Speaker A:It'd be great to catch up with them now, you know, but.
Speaker A:But it wasn't really the right time for me to be doing that kind of role, especially when I took on the license for the previous membership.
Speaker A:So everything got a bit.
Speaker A:I put everything into that as you know.
Speaker A:But yeah, I thought I'd mention that because there is an element of when people feel the pain of making a higher payment, they will take action.
Speaker A:But for them to pay £3,000 with a high turnover, it wasn't as painful.
Speaker A:So I think the point is as well it depends on the size of the business, the amount of revenue they're bringing into the business on a monthly basis.
Speaker A:And so affordability becomes different.
Speaker A:And recognizing that when you're pricing is quite important too because if you have a big business come along then their turnover's Higher, you've got more flexibility.
Speaker A:And there was an argument that I've heard from people before about charging a percentage of people's turnover coming into the business as a price point, so that it's in your mind, it's a fair process.
Speaker A:So if you come along a bigger customer and you take a percentage of their turnover as your fee, but you're delivering a specific outcome that's worth a lot more than that to them, it kind of works as well.
Speaker A:It's kind of a different angle to look at pricing from.
Speaker A:But I never did that myself, so I'm not saying it's the way to do it, but I've heard people talking about that from the previous community I was in and people were doing that, so throwing it out.
Speaker A:There is another consideration for higher value customers, but it wouldn't necessarily work with the smaller businesses because the percentage wise wouldn't quite stack up.
Speaker B:Yeah, we didn't do it with percentages, but we did have a pricing structure which was plainly visible to the clients.
Speaker B:Depending on their turnover are the increasing their turnover.
Speaker B:Our fees went up by a minimum of a certain amount and that was presented, as you can see, is in our interests to make sure that you're successful.
Speaker B:But we didn't just base it on turnover, it was based on profit as well, obviously.
Speaker B:But yeah.
Speaker B:So the more they grew, the more our fees grew.
Speaker B:Yeah, and that was, that was more exciting for them because they could see where they were now and where we wanted them to be and what the, what the looked like.
Speaker B:Because who doesn't want to double their turnover or, you know, reach.
Speaker B:Reach higher up the.
Speaker B:Up the ladder?
Speaker B:But they could see that there was an expectation that we expected them to get there because our fees were going to go up when they got there.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Do you, do you think as well, Deb?
Speaker A:I think we're both on the same page with starting off low, gradually building and building the building, increasing your prices as you go.
Speaker A:When you do get to that point where you're charging higher amounts of money, do you think that gives you authority as well?
Speaker A:So when you're, when you're talking to a prospect because you're charging a higher amount of money, it gives you that authority and you, you're more confident delivering the price because you've learned the outcomes and you've demonstrated the value before you get to that point, obviously.
Speaker A:Do you think it helps with authority when you get to that point?
Speaker B:Yeah, without a doubt.
Speaker B:And as I say, I used to explain it in a way that along with the business owner journey and the accountant, their accountant journey.
Speaker B:So startup go for the cheapest accountant.
Speaker B:Then the frustration sets in.
Speaker B:Then a turning point happens where they change their account because they want more support.
Speaker B:And then you've got advisory teams or you say we're the advisory teams because we're the, we're from the frustration to your point where you'll bring it in house, you'll be big enough to bring it in house if you want to get there.
Speaker B:So no, we're not going to be the cheapest because we give you the support and we need to factor in to our pricing the look at the patterns, gain the insights, make the suggestions, collaborate as a team, have those discussions so that we can actually support your business.
Speaker B:So yeah, it definitely gives you authority but there's as I say, there's multitude of ways to present it and to establish yourself as an advisory practice.
Speaker B:Not just one person delivering advisory but an actual the team.
Speaker B:And that elevates all of your team members so they don't just think of somebody as just being a bookkeeper.
Speaker B:Yeah, because I mean it reminds me actually there was very famous entrepreneur that used to say that bookkeeping was a 10 pound an hour task in his presentation.
Speaker B:He used to say a VA and bookkeeping 10 pound an hour tasks.
Speaker B:And that, that infuriated me because he was influencing thousands and thousands of other entrepreneurs in his seminars and devaluing what we do.
Speaker B:So you have to.
Speaker B:There is a perception that bookkeepers should be a cheap, hourly based service.
Speaker B:So there's other ways that you need to be able to elevate yourself and bring in to build authority.
Speaker B:So yeah, definitely start smaller, build up your case studies, get your confidence, get practiced in talking about patterns, insights, suggestions, outcomes and what that means for the clients, where you can lead the clients and how you've done that before within your discovery calls because that's the first point of contact with the client.
Speaker B:Usually you position yourself from the very beginning with new clients.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:While building, building your other client base up.
Speaker B:But if they're in it for the, if they've come to you for rock bottom prices and compliance, then you need to be sieving them out at the bottom, filtering them out at the bottom so you can make room for the people that you want to support in a better way.
Speaker A:But automation and AI is going to create time for us and we already should be creating time.
Speaker A:Um, if we're honest.
Speaker A:I can't let that comment go without commenting on it by the way, about this entrepreneur.
Speaker A:Um, because for me I actually think the bookkeeper or bookkeepers are in the best position to deliver the most high value advice because they're in the numbers.
Speaker A:It's the most powerful position to be in.
Speaker A:And obviously whoever that entrepreneur was, they didn't understand that aspect of the value they could receive from such talented people that have the financial acumen to pick out patterns and pick out insights and be able to deliver a very high value, high performing advisory offer.
Speaker A:So I just want to clarify that we do not subscribe to that.
Speaker A:You already said that.
Speaker A:That used to wire you up and understandably so.
Speaker B:It's crazy really if you think about it.
Speaker B:They're putting the bookkeepers are putting the building blocks of data into a system that the accountants then report to HMRC and give the reports to the entrepreneur, the business owner to make the decisions.
Speaker B:And if you only think that the person that's gathering all that data and building that the account is only worth £10 an hour, carry on paying £10 an hour.
Speaker B:Because your data's not correct.
Speaker B:No, it's as simple as that, isn't it?
Speaker A:No, it doesn't deserve the level of service and attention to detail that they would be getting, you know, from certainly the bookkeepers I know in our, in our world that are fantastic people and are there to help push businesses forward.
Speaker A:And yeah, it's, you know, if you're, if you're someone who's already offering advisory, if you haven't done this already, write up some case studies because you probably know the successes you've achieved.
Speaker A:But if you actually go through the process of writing up as a case study, it will underpin everything you've done for some of your clients.
Speaker A:And actually you'll probably uncover more stuff than what you remember having done when you write it up.
Speaker A:And that is really important because when you then have a call with a prospect and you're uncovering what the problems they are suffering from, why they can't move forward to work towards their outcomes that they want to achieve.
Speaker A:You can then easily reel off examples of what you've done in the past with other, with other clients to help these people get there.
Speaker A:I know that doesn't help people, that might be the beginning of their journey, but for people that are already doing it, it's a really hot tip to be able to uncover extra things you've done for people that you might have forgotten.
Speaker A:And you'll be surprised, you'll surprise yourself when you write up a case study for a client and think of the ones that you've worked with and you'll uncover some nuggets that you can share with other people and that will definitely help when it comes to pricing confidently on some of your next prospect course.
Speaker A:So good luck with that and I think that's a good place to end.
Speaker A:Deb, is there anything else you want to add?
Speaker B:No, I'm all pricing conversations out now.
Speaker A:I think you are.
Speaker A:Okay, well, should we invite people along to our crosshots and coffee sessions that we have every Tuesday at 9 o'?
Speaker A:Clock?
Speaker A:We have these four practice owners of accounting and bookkeeping practices so that we can talk about these types of topics around the room with you, so that you can add your input, so that you can ask questions, so that you can provide support, you can seek support off your peers.
Speaker A:And there's so many other practice owners that come to these calls that you can, you can build up a relationship with.
Speaker A:We're all for collaboration over competition, APX training.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:So yeah, if you want to come along to some of our online sessions on Tuesdays at 9 o', clock, you just need to join our Facebook group, which is called Advisory Teams.
Speaker A:So go on to Facebook, type in the search bar Advisory Teams.
Speaker A:You'll see a picture, a graphic saying advisory Teams with a picture of me and Deb on there, answer a couple of questions, we'll let you in and then you'll get access to all of these free sessions that we run and we look forward to seeing you join us within our free community.
Speaker A:There's over 160 in there at the moment.
Speaker A:At the time of recording this, what do they know that you don't know?
Speaker A:If you're not in there, I suggest you come and join and come and continue the journey of delivering advisory with us and in the future, perhaps creating your own advisory team to deliver so you don't have to.
Speaker A:Deb, another great conversation.
Speaker A:I've really enjoyed that one today.
Speaker A:Brought back a lot of memories, actually for me and a lot of things that I record without that I didn't think I was going to recall before we started talking.
Speaker A:So thanks for that.
Speaker A:I enjoyed that.
Speaker B:Yeah, me too.
Speaker A:And we'll see you all next time.
Speaker A:Thanks for listening to Advisory conversations with Tim Seymour and Deb Halliday.
Speaker A:If you found this useful, make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss the next episode.
Speaker A:We'll see you next time.
Speaker A:Sam.
