How To Justify Your Consulting Fees

ROI vs. Hourly Rates. Why outcomes beat billable hours every time. Ever wonder why some consultants charge $10,000 for a single project while others get stuck at $50/hour? It’s all about how you package your value. I used to think pricing by the hour was logical – straightforward, easy to explain. But soon, I realized hourly rates punish efficiency. If you solve someone’s problem in 2 hours, you get paid less than if you dragged it out over 10 hours. That’s backward. Shifting the focus to ROI: The real question clients ask: “Is your solution worth more than I’m paying?” If you can show that you’ll generate or save them significantly more than your fee, the price is justified—regardless of how many hours it takes you. Here’s how to get started: Identify a pain point. Maybe you help entrepreneurs double their email list or reduce operating costs by 30%. Assign a dollar value. If your client currently earns $5,000 a month from their list, doubling it to $10,000 is a $5,000 monthly upside. Over a year, that’s $60,000 – you can charge a fraction of that and still deliver huge ROI. Next: Share evidence. Results are your best sales pitch. Show transformations, data, or client testimonials proving your value. If you’re still telling prospects “My rate is $X/hour,” pause. Frame it differently: “Here’s the result, and here’s the investment.” Focus on how their bottom line or life improves, not on how many hours you’ll put in. No one cares about your hours if your solution delivers real impact. Outcomes win, every single time. — I’m Danielle Canty, serial entrepreneur and business mentor who is helping (aspiring) entrepreneurs monetise their minds instead of their time. Follow along if you’re ready to completely transform your life and career. 

"We don't have Cost of Goods Sold! How can we justify our price increases?" A frustrated compliance consultant asked me this question as she was trying to plan for more revenue in the coming months. Professional and B2B services firms (law, accounting, consulting of all kinds, web design and development, training, fractional CXOs, etc) don't have what are typically segregated on P&Ls into Cost of Goods Sold. The emphasis is on "goods" or the components of goods that allow you generate revenue. Customers generally understand that if the cost of the components increase, the cost to them will increase. Companies explain price increases this way. (Whether true or not.) Professional and B2B services firms generate revenue from applying their knowledge and expertise to problems and needs of their clients. So they think it's hard to increase prices. I think it's just the opposite! No one wants to pay for someone else's higher utility bill or shipping costs. That feels like paying more without getting more. (It is.) Your knowledge and expertise are always increasing, and assuming you use this increase for the benefit of your clients, you're more than justified in increasing your prices. I hear one big objection: <<We just do our thing. We don't change people's lives.>> To which I respond: "Sit down and make a list of how your work, whatever it is, helped your clients go from one state to another (better) one." They start slowly with their lists and pretty soon they can't write everything down fast enough. I love the moment when they say "Wow, we do some pretty cool stuff!" When your fees/prices are proportional to the life changing differences you deliver to your clients, you earn higher fees as those differences grow in impact and significance. Remember this: if you charge for time or if you 'productize' your knowledge and expertsie, you lose the ability to increase fees due to delivering more significant impacts. Take a few minutes right now to list the ways in which your knowledge and expertise has changed people's lives. Let me know what you put on your list!

Let’s talk about the moment so many financial advisors dread: “So… how much is this going to cost?” If your gut clenches or your voice drops a half-octave, you’re not alone. But here’s the truth I share with advisors: If you’re “justifying” your fees, you’re already on defense. Instead, shift the focus from cost to value… and bring the conversation back to what matters to your prospect. In one recent coaching session, an advisor shared how a couple hesitated when she outlined her flat fee. Instead of launching into why she’s worth it, she paused and said: "I understand this is a meaningful investment. Let's revisit what you said matters most: feeling confident you can retire at 60 and still help your daughter with college. That’s what this process supports." The couple nodded. Then said yes. What changed? She didn’t dodge the fee. She tied it directly to what mattered most to her prospects. She connected the dots for them. And that’s the key: The more you connect your fee to the outcomes your clients care about, the less it feels like a cost and the more it feels like an investment in their future. Stop justifying. Start connecting.