Pricing will be the key to your business success in the coming decade.
While there will be other changes within the financial advice industry, nothing else
will affect your business success like pricing. The time to change to a fee-based pricing system is now.

No two financial planning businesses are the same, which is why you need your own pricing structure. The Pricing Advice Program will help you create the unique billing model to suit your clients and your business.

As authors of the Elixir Consulting Pricing Models Research Report and specialised business coaches to the financial planning profession, we have helped hundreds of advisers around the country create and move to new pricing models.

We have now packaged that knowledge and experience in the Pricing Advice Program, giving practical support to financial advisers seeking to construct and implement a sustainable and profitable pricing model.

Whether you don’t know where to start or your fee model is a work in progress, this 10-step program will help you to:

• Define your service offering
• Determine which structure is right for your business — fixed fees, hourly rates or asset-based fees
• Calculate your cost to serve your clients, accounting for the actual overheads and resources in your business
• Create your defined pricing model — how much to charge and when
• Benchmark your outputs against pricing models used by other advisers around the country
• Create an action plan to implement the new pricing model in your business, including the tools and processes you will need to administer and ‘sell’ the model to your clients

It’s not just about transitioning to fees. It’s about doing it well and achieving the goals you want for your business.

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Pricing Advice Book

The book Pricing Advice describes the processes you will need to undertake and highlights issues to think about when creating your model. Order Now The Pricing Advice Program can be accessed in two ways — online in your own time, or with the assistance and support of Elixir’s experienced consultants.

Option One — Online DIY Program

This option is designed for advisers who wish to undertake the program in their own time, without external advice and support, in the most cost-effective manner possible. We recommend this option for businesses that have already formalised much of their value proposition and service offering.

This option gives you a 12-month subscription to the Online Program, a step-by-step guide to undertake the process to create your pricing model. Your subscription includes:

• Pricing calculators, with the ability to change variables and ‘stress-test’ your fee model against factors such as changes in staffing, increasing overheads, alternate profit margins, etc;
• MP3 sound files with further explanations by author Sue Viskovic;
• The ability to benchmark your pricing against other advisers in the program;
• Online community to share ideas with other advisers going through the same process in a protected environment (only other subscribers have access to the blog,',',',');
• One copy of the book Pricing Advice by Sue Viskovic.

You have the option to renew your subscription on an annual basis (at a fraction of the initial cost), so you can re-enter your overheads each year to ensure your pricing model remains appropriate, and to continue to benchmark your pricing.

Your investment for the online DIY version of the Pricing Advice program is $995 (inc GST) for the first year, $495 for the second year, or $1,295 if you subscribe for two years (save $195).

Completing the Pricing Advice Program will provide you with:

• Your service offering documented, and your pricing model defined,
• All of the templates needed to successfully implement your new fee model,  including:
  • Engagement fee schedule — with your numbers
  • Ongoing fee schedules — with your numbers
  • Client engagement letter template for you to personalise to your firm
  • Client service agreement template, to define your ongoing Services (for you to personalise to your firm)
  • A clear plan to implement your new pricing model within your business.

When you purchase the online DIY Pricing Advice Program, you will be sent your login details and a link to the Pricing Advice website. As you work through the ten modules, the program will build your pricing model, and you will then be able to download all of the outputs listed above. The program will take you 6 to 8 hours to complete and we recommend you do this in a number of sittings. You will be able to re-enter the program as often as you wish throughout your subscription period.

Option Two: Pricing Advice — Supported Program

For advisers seeking one-to-one guidance to create and implement their new fee model, the Supported Program suits the advice business that does not yet have a clearly defined value proposition, target market or segmented ongoing service offering. Especially recommended for advisers looking for assistance with how to communicate their fees to new and existing clients, in order to achieve maximum acceptance and profitability.

This option includes the online DIY Program PLUS:

• Initial coaching with your consultant to prepare you for the process;
• Attendance at a two-day group  workshop to work through the program with your team, including access to expert advice and the opportunity to share thoughts and experiences with other advisers;
• Workbook to collate the documents used in your pricing journey;
• Three follow-up coaching sessions with your Elixir consultant in your office, to assist with the implementation of your new pricing model;
• One copy of the Elixir Consulting Adviser Pricing Models Research Report 2009;
• One copy per attendee of the book Pricing Advice by Sue Viskovic.

Your investment for this four-month supported program is $8,500 (inc GST) per business, for up to two attendees.

If you would like other members of your team to join you in the workshop, further participants past the first two pay only $175 per head to cover the cost of catering and extra copies of the book Pricing Advice.

For details on the next intake in your area, register your interest in the Supported Program now.

Discounted pricing is available for groups of ten or more practices who wish to co-ordinate the logistics of venue, bookings etc. Please click here to make an enquiry.

Testimonials

  Sue has shown impeccable insight into the future of financial planning, and the ability of financial planners to derive revenue from their efforts and clients. Sue helped us to focus our pricing on the value that we provide to our clients. Even through the GFC we achieved revenue growth, in no small part due to implementing a pricing model that is fair to our clients and commercially rewarding for our business.   

Greg Meyers, CFP, Royal Cornell Financial Services

 

  Sue has a clear and methodical method for determining the appropriate level of fees to charge our clients. Breaking down the time involved in setting up and servicing each new client is imperative in order to get a grasp on the appropriate fee to charge initially and ongoing. Coupled with the client service document it ensures each client understands what they are paying and what Services they expect to receive which we consider to be best practice.   

Neil Hancy, B.Bus, CFP, Financial Planner, Abbott Financial Planning

 

  Sue Viskovic has assisted us over a number of years with the shaping and direction of our practice.

We work to a business plan that requires us to keep abreast of current trends within the financial planning profession and to be aware of any developments that may affect the way that we do business. Sue is one of our major lifelines to the profession with her extensive knowledge of practices, procedures and current developments taking place within the planning profession. Sue also creates in us an awareness of what steps we need to consider taking, in order to maintain our professional integrity.

As a fee-for-service practice, we rely heavily on Sue to keep us on track with respect to the quantum and the nature of the fees that we charge. It is important for us to know how practices like ours are being paid for their Services. Each year we also need to review how much it is costing us to deliver our Services. Sue greatly assists in this area, giving us the comfort of knowing that we are making a profit from servicing each of our clients.

Sue has been of tremendous help to us over the years, making sure that not only are we optimising our business returns but also that we are staying ahead of the game.   

Ian Davies, CFP, CA Financial Planning Specialist, Wealthcorp Financial Advisers

 

  I have been in the financial planning and life insurance Industries for 25 years. I have attended many conferences, been to many educational and training courses, participated in formal education and none to date has been as thorough and personalised to my particular situation as what Sue offers with her Elixir Consulting group. I recommend this business coaching group to you if you are considering this for your business.   

Peter Stewart, Managing Director, Benchmark Consultants

 

  I have great admiration for Sue Viskovic, Elixir Consulting founder, and principal author of several studies on pricing financial advice. Her work in practice development has been of great benefit to many planners around Australia and as Elixir Consulting expands, that looks set to continue. Elixir's recent work on pricing financial advice is outstanding and has captured the attention of many advisers. I would encourage all advisers to read these reports to understand more fully how they can secure their revenue and add value to their business in the longer term. I am a firm believer that to add value to any practice you need to work more on your business and less in your business. Elixir Consulting delivers the know-how to do this. They understand the business end of the advice industry better than anyone and would be my number-one choice to outsource this important role to.   

Warren Gibson, Director, Sales and Marketing, Praemium Australia Pty. Ltd.