Why the Fee Conversation is All in Your Head

Most advisors who think they have a pricing problem actually have a perception problem, and it lives entirely in the two inches between their ears.

The stories you're telling yourself

Before you've even opened the conversation, you've already talked yourself out of it.

Sound familiar?

• "My clients will leave." Spoiler: they won't. Advisors who raise their fees have a 97% retention rate. …so do advisors who don't. Sit with that for a moment.

• "I haven't done enough to deserve more." The advisors who care most about delivering value are usually the ones providing it every day.

• "What if they ask me to justify it?" Good. Have that conversation. Because you can justify it.

• "Now isn't the right time." It never will. That's the trap.

The what ifs are doing a lot of heavy lifting in your business right now. And none of them are real.

Your capacity wall is your opportunity

should you choose to accept it…

When advisors hit capacity, the default move is to take on more. More staff, more tech, and more relationships.

Many advisors will say that they have no problem that can’t be solved by new assets.

• They pile on more clients to maintain profits

• Which puts more strain on capacity

• Which leads to a worse experience for everyone, including the clients they were trying to serve in the first place

Raising your fees is a capacity solution. Think focus, scale, and being able to serve your existing clients exceptionally well.

When you raise your fees, less clients can work with you (and that’s ok!). Call it your ‘experience tax’. It’s simply a way to reclaim your time and energy for the clients you can reasonably manage with the limited time you have.

You deserve to charge what that time is actually worth.

It's all about aligning your value to your worth

The advisors who successfully raise their fees take the time to connect what they deliver to what it's worth to their clients, their practice, and to everything they've built.

If you're sitting with more questions and not quite sure where to start, you're not alone.

I’ve found the best way to do this is to have clear, objective measurements for what your fees should be.

Consider this: 

What is your market rate? Said another way, what is the highest price someone is currently paying you for an hour of your time? Find a piece of paper and scribble it down. Now write down the lowest hourly rate you collect.

How does that make you feel, now?

It can be easier to understand how much you are undercharging when we see the differences we’ve allowed to exist.

Sound easier said than done? Having someone in your corner makes all the difference.

Think first, then feel, then do

The fee conversation isn't the hard part. Believing you deserve to have it is.

You've built something real. Your clients know it. The only thing standing between you and a more profitable, sustainable practice is the story running in the background.

Let’s rewrite it.