Financial Planning Suite

A management consultant, solo practice, seven years in business. She sets an annual revenue goal every January and then prices each client engagement by feel and competitive comparison. She has never built a model that shows whether her pricing, at her typical engagement volume, can actually reach her goal. Some years she hits it; most years she doesn't.

Frame the suite as building the connection she's missing. 'You have a destination number and you have prices. This tool builds the bridge between them so you can see whether the math works before you spend a year finding out it doesn't.' The resistance here is often emotional: pricing feels personal, and modeling it formally can surface uncomfortable truths. Name that: 'If the numbers don't add up at current rates, better to know in January than December.'

Watch the pricing model worksheet first. Clients who have never formally modeled their pricing often stall at the cost structure section because they haven't categorized their expenses against their revenue streams. Stalling here is diagnostic: she's been running the business without a cost model, which means pricing has been decoupled from profitability. Also watch the goals worksheet: if the revenue goal is a round number with no connection to the worksheets, she's set a wish rather than a target.

Start with the gap between the goals worksheet and what the pricing model suggests is achievable. 'At your current pricing, how many engagements would you need to hit your goal? Is that number realistic?' Then move to costs: 'What are you not accounting for in your pricing?' The question that creates movement: 'If you raised your rates 20%, how many clients would you need to lose before you're worse off than you are now?' That question usually reframes the pricing conversation from risk to math.

A founder of a small training company with four distinct product lines. He tracks total revenue monthly and is growing, but has a vague sense that one or two products are subsidizing the others. He has never run a product-level profitability analysis and doesn't know which of his four lines he should invest in versus wind down.

Frame the matrix worksheet as a product-level diagnostic. 'Revenue is a summary number. We're going to look underneath it.' Founders who are growing often resist detailed financial analysis - the overall trend feels like sufficient signal. Name the limitation: 'If one product is carrying the others, and you don't know which one, your growth investment could be going into the wrong line.' That specific risk usually creates engagement.

Watch whether he can complete the margin column for each product. If he can't, he doesn't have the cost data to run the analysis - and the tool will surface that gap rather than provide an answer. Watch also whether he resists separating cost allocation across products: founders often resist this because clean cost allocation sometimes reveals unfavorable margins on products they're emotionally attached to.

Start with whatever product has the clearest margin data. 'If you ran your business with only this product, what would your picture look like?' That forces a contrast case. Then ask about the product he's most uncertain about: 'What would you need to know to feel confident about this line?' The question that creates movement: 'If you could only grow one of these four products next year, which one does the data suggest should get the investment?'

A boutique agency owner who discounts her rates by 15-25% on almost every proposal because 'the market is competitive.' She has never tracked the cumulative revenue impact of discounting across her client base and believes discounting is necessary to win work. Her close rate is high; her margins are thin.

Don't open with a case against discounting - she's had some version of that conversation with herself and resolved it. 'Before we talk about pricing strategy, let's model what you're currently working with.' The financial suite, particularly the pricing model and cost summary worksheets, will make the discounting pattern visible in aggregate. Frame it: 'We're going to calculate what your effective rate is across your client base - not your list rate, but what you're actually charging.'

Watch the moment she calculates her effective hourly or project rate after discounting. Clients who discount by feel rarely know what they're actually charging on average. The gap between the listed rate and the effective rate is often the coaching moment. Also watch whether she attributes her close rate to the discount or whether she considers that the discounts may have trained her clients to expect them.

Start with the effective rate number. 'That's what you're charging on average. How does that sit with you?' Let her respond before asking anything else. Then: 'What would you need to believe about your work to charge the listed rate consistently?' That question moves from pricing mechanics to the underlying belief about value. The question that creates movement: 'If you held rate and lost 30% of bids, would your business be better or worse off than it is now?' Walking through that calculation usually reorients the conversation.