Value-based Fees

Alan Weiss- consultant, speaker, and author of the best-selling The Ultimate Consultant- is the founder and CEO of Summit Consulting Group, Inc. His clients have included Merck, Hewlett-Packard, Coldwell Banker, Merrill Lynch, Mercedes-Benz, and General Electric. He is an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Rhode Island, where he teaches a course on advanced consulting skills and is a highly sought-after keynote speaker.

Introduction; Acknowledgments; CHAPTER 1. The Concept of Fees: Will People Actually Give Me Their Money for My Advice?; The Ethical Nature of Capitalism; The Power of MBS: The Mercedes-Benz; Syndrome; The Importance of Buyer Commitment,; Not Compliance; Critical Steps for Buyer Commitment; The Buoyancy of Brands: How Brands; Help Fees; Creating Shared Success; Chapter 1 ROI (the Summary); CHAPTER 2. The Lunacy of Time and; Materials Models: Who Wants to Be as Dumb as a Lawyer?; Supply and Demand Illogic; Ethical Conflicts of Interest and Other; Small Matters; Limiting Profits, or Why Not Just Forget; Domani; Why Lawyers and CPAs Do So Poorly; Educating the Buyer Incorrectly; Chapter 2 ROI; CHAPTER 3. The Basics of Value-Based Fees: It's Better to Be an Artist than to Be an Engineer; Focusing on Outcomes Not on Inputs; The Fallacy and Subversive Nature; of "Deliverables"; Quantitative and Qualitative Measures; and Criteria; Measuring the Unmeasurable; Serving the Client's Self-Interest; The Subtle Transformation: Consultant Past to Client Future; Perpetual Motion = Perpetual Progress; Chapter 3 ROI; CHAPTER 4. How to Establish Value-Based Fees: If You Read Only One Chapter ..; Conceptual Agreement: The Foundation; of Value; Establishing Your Unique Value; Creating the "Good Deal" Dynamic; The Incredibly Powerful "Choice of Yeses"; Some Formulas for the Faint of Heart; Chapter 4 ROI.CHAPTER 5. How to Convert Existing Clients: Correcting Your Own Mistakes; Setting Priorities Among Existing Clients; Offering New Value; Finding New Buyers Within Existing Clients; Finding New Circumstances; What if Clients Resist a Conversion?; Abandoning Business; Chapter 5 ROI; CHAPTER 6. The Fine and High Art of Using; Retainers: It's Just the Smarts, Stupid; Optimal Conditions for Retainer; Arrangements; Choosing Time Frames and Creating; Realistic Expectations; Organizing the Scope and Managing; Projects Within the Retainer; Capitalizing on Retainer Relationships; Aggressively Marketing Retainer; Relationships; Chapter 6 ROI; CHAPTER 7. Sixty Ways to Raise Fees and/or; Increase Profits Immediately: Act Today and Also Receive the Bass-o-Matic; Free of Charge; The First Fifteen; The Second Fifteen.The Third Fifteen; The Final Fifteen; Chapter 7 ROI; CHAPTER 8. How to Prevent and Rebut; Fee Objections: Since You've Heard Them All Before,; How Can You Not Know the Answers?; The Four Fundamental Areas of Resistance; Maintaining the Focus on Value; Boring in on the Subject; Offering Rebates; Utilizing "Smack to the Head" Comparisons; Ignoring the Competition; Chapter 8 ROI; CHAPTER 9. Setting Fees for Non-Consulting; Opportunities: How to Make Money While You Sleep, Eat,; Play, and, Well, Make Money Elsewhere; Keynote Speaking: Don't Charge for; Your Spoken Words; Highly Leveraged Practices for Working; with Bureaus; Products; Other Stuff; Remote Consulting and Its Lucrative Nature; And Now for Some Perspective; Chapter 9 ROI; CHAPTER 10. Fee Progression Strategies: Why You Fall Behind when You Stand Still; Entry-Level Fees; Transition to "Going Concern"; Transition to Word of Mouth; Transition to Brand Phase; Transition to Ultimate Consultant; The Book's ROI: Alan's Axioms; for the "Good Deal"; APPENDIX A: Questions to Qualify the; Economic Buyer; APPENDIX B: Questions to Establish Business; Objectives; APPENDIX C: Questions to Establish Measures; of Success; APPENDIX D: Questions to Establish Value; APPENDIX E: Questions to Assess Personal Value; Contribution; APPENDIX F: The Difference Between Inputs; and Business Outputs; Index