More About Your Prices

I find I spend a lot of time telling my coaching clients to increase their prices. I’ve blogged about it on several occasions, too. One of my clients told me he thinks all practice management coaches tell their clients to raise their rates. He may be right! But there’s a reason why we coaches for lawyers talk to our clients about what they charge for their services — very often, we find that our clients are not charging nearly enough.

So, I felt vindicated when I ran across an article, “Lawyers, Beware Low Billing Rates,” on the Lawyerist.com website. According to the article, lawyers keep their rates low because (1) they think they’ll generate more clients that way, and/or (2) the lawyer feels sorry for the client and charges what the lawyer thinks the client can pay. As far as I’m concerned, this is a terrible way to run your business!

First, very often, the client who hires you because your prices are low is the “D” client you don’t want, because the client’s judgment is based solely on price, and not on the work you do for him or her. With that kind of relationship, the client will always complain, and you won’t be happy, either.

Second, you should charge based upon the value of your services to the client, not because you feel sorry for someone. Additionally, if your charges are low, people may wonder about the quality of work you are providing; as the article observes, people expect legal services to be costly.

So, take a look at your prices and how you set them. Consider raising them. You may lose a few clients, but, as my friend Mark Merenda observes, if you double your prices and lose half your clients, you’ll still be making the same amount of money, and you’ll have time to market for quality clients (or get home in time for dinner). If you keep your prices low, I fear that you’ll always be on the treadmill of working for unappreciative clients and not making enough money.

Please let me know how this helps you!