Ignition Consulting Group

• How to accentuate the things that already differentiate your firm
• How to give prospects a reason to travel a thousand miles or more to do business with you
• How to align your firm’s brand positioning throughout all functions and disciplines of your organization

Get paid for it

To improve your firm’s bottom line, there is no single action you can take that is as powerful as improving your pricing Most agencies operate under the assumption that the key to increased profit is increased revenue – or decreased expenses – but better pricing is a vastly more effective way to reach your financial goals

Most leaders of professional firms accept the idea that clients don’t really buy their “time,” but struggle with how to charge in any other way When you set the hourly billing model aside and apply creative thinking to the question of agency compensation, a whole host of innovative pricing solutions come to light

Ignition can help your firm understand:

• How to charge for the value of outputs vs
• the cost of inputs
• The importance of separating the value of ideation and implementation
• How to provide more creative, effective pricing proposals in new business
• How to create new revenue streams and diversify your remuneration portfolio
• The Power of Purpose: Creating an Agency of Believers Online Workshop May 25, 2023 / 10:30am Eastern Learn More

The Power of Purpose: Creating an Agency of Believers

Online Workshop May 25, 2023 / 10:30am Eastern

• Winning the Talent Wars: How to Build a Revenue Model that Scales Live Online Workshop hosted by ICCO May 23, 2023 / 10:00am Eastern Learn More

Winning the Talent Wars: How to Build a Revenue Model that Scales

Live Online Workshop hosted by ICCO May 23, 2023 / 10:00am Eastern

• Presenting Pricing Options: Multiple Ways for Your Clients to Say Yes Live Online Workshop June 22, 2023 / 11:30am Eastern* Learn More

Presenting Pricing Options: Multiple Ways for Your Clients to Say Yes

Persistent predictions of the imminent death of the advertising agency business have caused many industry executives to stop taking these prophecies seriously We attend conferences devoted to “reinventing the agency business” which highlight the need for faster adoption of new digital technologies But the real culprit is a decades-long trend of agencies doing more and more work for less and less money To say that the current iteration of advertising agency business is on its deathbed is no exaggeration … (READ MORE) When it comes to pricing, knowing how to count is not nearly as important as knowing what counts in the mind of the buyer Pricing is a judgment, not a calculation, and it must be done by people who can assess the value created, not compute the costs incurred … In the agency business, your clients don’t buy ingredients, they buy increased market share, improved brand reputation, or a seamless customer service experience Professional proficiency in core areas is the foundation of what you sell, but your clients are paying for a finished product, not an assemblage of qualifications … Hourly billing produces a soul-crushing culture But it’s in your power to change it If you lead or manage a professional services firm, you can redirect the internal narrative away from “be efficient” to “be effective ” The result among your fellow professionals is nothing short of transformational … Next time your client tells you the objective of a campaign is “sales,” politely insist that you engage the agency client-team in a more thorough exploration of what constitutes success This will help transform a transaction-based relationship into one guided by a shared commitment to achieve clear marketplace results … Have you finally buried the billable hour? If you’ve joined the pricing revolution, your firm is enjoying the benefits of a modern revenue model that generates profits in ways that have nothing to do with hours logged on timesheets But your operations and finance teams may still be insisting that time tracking is required to effectively manage internal resources … There will come a time (sooner than we think) that the billable hour will completely disappear from the world of professional services If you’re currently employed by a firm in the marketing services business, this is likely to happen within your lifetime Here’s how to proclaim the change to your associates, your prospects, and your clients … It's true that the hourly rate still dominates the compensation structures of the most professional services firms around the globe But the seeds of its dismantling are being sown, in some unexpected ways from unexpected sources Many of us who study the topic believe it's now just a matter of time until the hourly rate is properly laid to rest in the graveyard of bad business ideas … If discussions about agency compensation seem like a circular conversation, it’s because most firms are debating the wrong thing Clients will always try to steer the discourse to focus on cost Your job is to present and defend the value you’re creating for your client’s business