Streamlining Client Pricing Processes

If you’re like me, you’re probably the bottleneck in pricing engagements. Here’s how I fixed that in our firm: 1. Made a list of all of our services… every possible deliverable. This is a good exercise by itself because it helped me realize we were doing too much for too many. 2. Broke down individual steps for each service, including specific roles for each step (which doubled as an SOP for our workflow tool Karbon). 3. Set an hourly cost rate for each person involved and estimated time required for each step. 4. Researched market pricing for every service identified in step one. Set that as the target fee for each individual service. 5. Made sure we could hit our target profit margin based on the market value of the service, and the aggregate cost rate to provide the service. NOTE: under no circumstances should the fee from step four depend on the cost rate calculated in step three. I wanted the data just to make sure that the service was profitable. If it wasn’t, then we stopped providing it and opted instead to find a referral partner like Gusto. 6. Created a dynamic pricing tool that considered every relevant factor that I would normally consider when I was doing my “gut check” when pricing an engagement. 7. Once the pricing tool was substantially complete, put every service and standard fee into Ignition so the team could just point and click to create engagements. 8. Took it a step further and created proposal templates in Ignition to group a set of standardized services based on client profiles. It’s not perfect, and it needs to be updated from time to time, but the result is that for a standard service, anyone on my team can price it without me getting in the way.

🧠 “We’re losing control of our pricing.” That was the first sentence from the Sales Director of an FMCG company I worked with. They sold great products — but their pricing? ❌ No clear differentiation between retailers, wholesalers, and modern trade ❌ Sales reps were manually adjusting discounts ❌ Freight and taxes applied inconsistently ❌ Finance flagged posting issues weekly Margins were leaking. Customers were frustrated. Something had to change. 🔍 Step One: Understand, Don’t Configure Instead of jumping into SPRO, I started with business discovery: ✅ What defines each customer type? ✅ How are discounts supposed to work? ✅ Who pays freight, and when? ✅ What pricing logic is already failing? This shaped the SAP solution we built. 🛠️ What We Did in SAP SD (In Simple Terms) 🔹 Designed a new pricing procedure tailored for each customer group 🔹 Used Customer Pricing Groups to separate logic for Retail, Wholesale, and Modern Trade 🔹 Automated: Trade discounts for retailers Volume-based pricing for wholesalers Contract-based deals for modern trade 🔹 Applied tax and freight automatically based on location 🔹 Aligned FI postings using VKOA — so no more reversals 🔹 Enabled rebate tracking, but only for eligible long-term partners Everything was built to reflect real business strategy, not just technical best practices. ✅ The Result? ✔️ Manual price adjustments dropped by 85% ✔️ Finance got clean GL flows ✔️ Sales team stopped firefighting pricing ✔️ Customers finally got consistent, channel-specific pricing 💡 My Takeaway? > Pricing procedure isn’t about condition types. It’s about translating business goals into system logic that works across operations, finance, and customer experience. 💬 If you’re building or restructuring SAP SD pricing in your organization — I’d be happy to exchange insights and share what worked on ground. #SAPSD #PricingProcedure #SAPCaseStudy #FMCG #SAPConsultant #OrderToCash #SAPS4HANA #DigitalTransformation #ERPStrategy #BusinessValue

The pricing strategy I stole from my dentist… My dentist charges for time, not procedures. I applied this to consulting and it transformed my agency. Here's what I noticed during my last appointment: Whether I needed a simple cleaning or a complex procedure, the appointment was blocked for the same amount of time. The dentist wasn't charging per cavity filled or per tooth cleaned, they were charging for their expertise and time. I was pricing my consulting like a menu. Different services, different prices, complex proposals with multiple line items. But here's the problem: A "simple" strategy session often uncovered complex issues that required deeper analysis. A "basic" audit sometimes revealed fundamental problems that needed immediate attention. I was undercharging for complexity and overcharging for simplicity. What changed: 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: Clients focus on outcomes. They're not asking "What exactly do I get?" They're asking "How do we solve this problem?” 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: No more scope creep. We accomplish what we can in the time allocated. 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲: When clients understand they're paying for your time and expertise, they respect it more. They come prepared and stay focused. 𝗦𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵: No more complex proposals with endless line items. Clean, simple, transparent. 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘁: Clients who don't value your time aren't the right clients anyway. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁: Clients started understanding that complex problems need adequate time to solve properly. My dentist taught me that your expertise has value independent of the specific task you're performing. Whether you're answering a quick question or solving a complex problem, you're bringing the same level of knowledge and experience to the table. Price accordingly.

I made one change to our pricing model that: → reduced the need for 2-4 sales calls → increased our customer LTV → increased our MRR And drastically reduced my stress levels. That change? From packages to retainers. 🤯 Most of our clients want help implementing our strategies. → feedback on their offer changes → creating a template for their deliverable → setting up a system to make content easier → advice and feedback on their content creation → building out a marketing team org chart → designing and managing ads → writing new website copy Our old pricing model sucked. - one price for the strategy - another for ongoing help It meant I had to sell prospects on the strategy. Then upsell clients on the ongoing help. 2 months ago, I switched models. And prospects LOVE this model more. 1 fixed monthly price. All the help they need. Discounts for longer-term contracts. Less selling for me. More value for them. It's a win-win. ↑ That's why documenting new insights about your ideal customers is important. When you know how they want to buy... You can design an offer they want. And reduce your stress in the process. Don't be afraid to test new pricing models. You may just make more money in the process. And get to spend more time gardening. ✌🏼 #shftyourbrand

Ever since we introduced volume packages, 80% of our clients pay our fee in advance, happily. A year ago, 100% of the payment was paid after delivery. Do the work. Send the invoice. Wait. Chase. Repeat. Cash flow was unpredictable and we were constantly following up on payments. Then we introduced volume packages with upfront payment. Here's how it works: Clients can still pay per video after delivery. But volume commitments come with 5-20% better pricing. So here’s what the typical client journey looks like now: → Start with 2 pilot videos (pay per video) → They see the quality → We show them the package options → They do the math and buy the package Both options are always on the table. We never push. But 80% naturally choose prepaid packages because the value is obvious. This shift gave us better cash flow, bigger ticket sizes, and zero time chasing invoices. So if you're an agency owner or freelancer, don't just ask clients to pay upfront. Give them a financial reason to want to. Which payment model do you use to charge your clients? #clients #payments #packages