Hot Topics to Improve Partners’ Pricing Skills
An award-winning speaker, Patrick is known for his high-energy, highly entertaining presentation style, which often includes audience interactions and small-group games/competitions.
In his presentations, Patrick blends both theory and practice to provide a power-packed presentation on any topic. As the legal industry’s first Certified Pricing Professional, Patrick has a wealth of advanced knowledge of Pricing principles. As head of two AmLaw 200 Pricing & Project Management teams, Patrick has a diverse understanding of Pricing functions.
Businesses have four levers to improve profitability: two positive (Price, Volume), two negative (Fixed Costs, Variable Costs). Studies prove Price is the single greatest profit lever. If your firm is not proactive in its Pricing Strategy, your firm is not maximizing its profits. This presentation offers a number of practical tips to increase your firm’s bottom line.
All law firms—whether they know it or not—have a Pricing Strategy. Most firms tend to be an unconscious gamble between Cost-Plus Pricing and Competition-Based Pricing, with the client deciding on the final discount. Successful firm leaders know they must be proactive in establishing Pricing Strategy in order to improve profitability. This presentation walks you through the cross-functional collaboration necessary to define your Pricing Strategy and the key processes to ensure successful execution.
Whether a firm has a Pricing Function or relies on its Finance staff, the firm has put its emphasis on the numbers (i.e., determining the Price Tags) to the exclusion of the communication aspects of Pricing: presenting the Price to the buyer and negotiating for a successful outcome. This presentation goes beyond the numbers to help lawyers understand that winning a new matter without sacrificing firm profit requires an acquired set of negotiation skills.
All law firms—whether they know it or not—have a Pricing function. For most, it is the Accounting team applying the old-school formula for hourly rates to attorneys’ timesheets. For the very few, it is a dedicated team committed to collaboration. In this presentation, you will learn the five models of a Pricing function and, more importantly, the steps your firm can follow to build a successful Pricing function.
Combining both the art and science of Pricing, this presentation introduces the importance and power of Pricing as a discipline, as well as a financial tool for law firms. Audiences–whether law firm leaders, lawyers, staff–are introduces to the principles of Pricing, the cross-functional nature of Pricing, the significant role Pricing plays in profitability, and the ways in which Pricing drives buyer behavior.
As law firms were losing their Pricing power in 2008, the Association of Corporate Counsel was launching its Value Challenge. Ten years on, the concept of value is commonplace within firms. However, the language of value seems elusive. Has your firm embraced value propositions (VPs)? This presentation outlines the six interrelated elements of successful VPs that will help you regain Pricing power.
If any single topic best reflects the seismic shift in the legal industry over the last decade, this is it. Up until 2008, the legal industry was enjoying its “Golden Decade.” The Great Recession ended generally accepted billing practices–including unbudgeted matters, unchecked associate time, annual rate increases–and ushered in a new, cost-conscious era. Enter the AFA (Alternative Fee Arrangement, or Appropriate Fee Arrangement). Although they have been around since the mid-1980s, AFAs are at the peak of popularity with buyers of legal services. Using the Continuum of Fee Arrangements™, this presentation illustrates the four basic fee types and outlines the 16 fee arrangements found on the Continuum™.
Since at least 2008, when the Association of Corporate Counsel published its “51 Practical Ways for Law Firms to Add Value,” firms have been challenged by clients to suggest ‘value-added’ services. In recent years, Pricing and Project Management have emerged as key value drivers for clients. This presentation outlines eight ways your firm can integrate Pricing and Project Management techniques into your existing firm processes to improve the client relationship.