Chapter 5, Part 2: From ROI to the Close

The print book is officially available!

You were one of the early supporters, so I’m giving you 33% off as a thank you. Use code JACKIE33 at checkout. Order here: https://cpa.click/jackie

Now, let’s walk through a structured way to implement ROI-based pricing for a client, using the CURB framework:

Pre-qualify a prospect online. I won’t deep dive into the reasoning but know this template saves A LOT of PITA issues:

Sample Letter for Potential Clients (Meyer Tax's pre-qualifying questions)

Dear [Name],

Thank you so much for reaching out to [FIRM NAME]. We specialize in executives and high net wealth with unique all-inclusive monthly packages (starting at $600/month) tailored to those who want innovative paperless technology, streamlined proactive communication, and tax savings more valuable than your investment in us! We would love to hear more about you and see if we are a good fit. Can you spare a few minutes to return these questions this week?

What is your tax bracket or expected income this year?

Have you used a CPA before?

What are complex areas of your return? For example, rental property, stock incentives at work, or K-1s.

What is your current address?

Where does your estate plan stand? We can assist in updating this with your attorney, especially important when your net worth is over $5M.

Please attach your most recently filed 1040 and any business returns.

Any significant events impacting your income or deductions this year that we should be aware of?

We currently have a waiting list for potential clients, so please let us know your urgency and timeline so we can try to accommodate you as soon as possible. Returning these questions and providing a copy of your last filed return will expedite your request.

Also, please review our package offerings and let us know any initial feedback or questions for our founder. She will recommend a custom package: Jackiemeyercpa.com/packages

We are excited to hear back from you and to see if there’s an ROI in our tax strategies. In the meantime, you can read testimonials from current clients here: http://www.yourfirm/testimonials.

Assess the Client’s Situation: Collect their last filed Form 1040 up front for analysis of missed opportunities. In your initial discovery meeting or analysis, gather as much info as possible about their financial situation, goals, and challenges. Understand all the moving parts (this is your diagnostic phase). Identify areas where you can provide significant value (tax savings, revenue growth, cost reduction, etc.). This doesn’t have to be their entire life picture. I like to take a phased approach: Phase I might be three to five strategies that together provide enough estimated tax savings as to not overwhelm the client but get some quick wins.

Ask Discovery questions: Have a set list of discovery questions for every single client. This saves you numerous hours of guesswork and is key to the 7-figure firm in 4 hours a week framework:

Estimate the Potential Savings/Gains: This is on your own time (not WITH the prospect). Based on what you discover, quantify the potential value of your advice. You can tease it before the closing meeting. For example, you might say: “I see roughly $42K of tax-saving opportunities here over the next year by restructuring a few things.”

The big question: How did you estimate 42K of savings? It came from reviewing their prior-year 1040 for missed opportunities and asking a few targeted questions. Go line by line on that tax return and be a detective. Gather your questions before the discovery meeting or send them to the client beforehand (TaxPlanIQ can suggest over 50 strategies in seconds, but back in the day I did this manually before providing a complimentary ROI proposal.)

If Line 1 (Wages) shows income, are they maximizing pre-tax deductions? For instance, perhaps they aren’t contributing to a Health Savings Account (the HSA field is blank). If they could put in $5K on a family plan and have an effective tax rate of 25%, that’s $1,250/year in tax savings.

Client Discovery Question: Do you know what pre-tax benefits your employer offers and are you taking advantage of them? I see 5K a year towards a 401K. What else have you or can we optimize? Are you on a high-deductible health care plan?

If they have significant ordinary dividends (reported in Box 1a of Form 1099-DIV) but none are classified as qualified, can they adjust investments to get the lower qualified dividend tax rate? Qualified dividends, for stock held more than 60 days, can be taxed at preferential long-term capital gains rates (0%, 15%, or 20%). Say they have $100K of ordinary dividends at ordinary marginal tax rates; converting them to qualified dividends could save roughly 10% in tax (dropping from ~25% to 15%), which is $10K saved, per year.

For its first CTV campaign, Jennifer Aniston’s DTC haircare brand LolaVie had a few non-negotiables. The campaign had to be simple. It had to demonstrate measurable impact. And it had to be full-funnel.

LolaVie used Roku Ads Manager to test and optimize creatives — reaching millions of potential customers at all stages of their purchase journeys. Roku Ads Manager helped the brand convey LolaVie’s playful voice while helping drive omnichannel sales across both ecommerce and retail touchpoints.

The campaign included an Action Ad overlay that let viewers shop directly from their TVs by clicking OK on their Roku remote. This guided them to the website to buy LolaVie products.

Discover how Roku Ads Manager helped LolaVie drive big sales and customer growth with self-serve TV ads.

The DTC beauty category is crowded. To break through, Jennifer Aniston’s brand LolaVie, worked with Roku Ads Manager to easily set up, test, and optimize CTV ad creatives. The campaign helped drive a big lift in sales and customer growth, helping LolaVie break through in the crowded beauty category.

Learn more.

Client Discovery Question: What types of investments are generating your dividends - stocks, funds, REITs? And do you usually hold them long-term or trade more frequently? Do you have a financial planner you work with to optimize these?

They have several K-1s marked passive (Schedule E, Page 2) and are paying a lot in Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT on Form 8960). Are those truly passive, or could reclassifying them as non-passive eliminate the NIIT? If NIIT is $20K per year, potentially $20K saved (to be conservative, maybe we estimate $12K).

Client Discovery Question: I see you have income from partnerships or S corporations. How involved are you in running those businesses - do you work in them regularly, or are you not involved whatsoever (i.e. a passive investor)?

One K-1 is from a business the taxpayer started. Proper entity selection is key: typically, about half of self-employment tax can be saved with the right entity structure. If their SE tax was $20K, that’s roughly $10K in savings potential.

Client Discovery Question: I noticed your partnership income is currently treated as subject to self-employment tax, which adds about 15% on top of regular income tax. Would you like me to explore restructuring options that could reduce or even eliminate that extra tax?

They have four kids, ages 7 to 25. One is in college and could claim themselves (since they’re part-time and provide over half their own support). The tuition credit plus strategic income shifting (like hiring the younger kids in the family business) could save another $5K per year.

For example, paying under-age kids through a family partnership (owned by the parents) can exempt that pay from FICA and give the business a deduction. Keeping each kid’s earnings under the standard deduction means they owe no tax. That’s about $5K saved.

Client Discovery Question: Do your kids help (or could they help) with tasks in your business, like social media, filing, cleaning, or even organizing meals, so we could legitimately pay them through the business and shift some of your income to their lower tax bracket?

Be realistic and a bit conservative in estimates; you want to deliver or exceed, not over-promise. If they are in the 32% marginal rate, but their effective rate is 25% you can use that (Deduction plan amount x effective rate = estimated tax savings). And document how you got the number, because you may need to explain it to the client in a proposal.

Apply the CURB Assessment. Rate each factor for this client:

Complexity: (1 to 4) Low might be a single-owner business; very high might be a multi-entity, multinational scenario.

Urgency: (1 to 4) Low if no pressing deadline; high if something must be done ASAP (or say current tax year nearly over, etc.).

Risk: (1 to 4) Low if stakes are minor or everything is straightforward; high if you’re pushing aggressive strategies, or the amounts are large, or there’s a chance of contentious audit, etc.

Benefit: (1 to 4) Low if you found maybe $10K benefit; very high if $500K + permanent tax benefit.

Let’s say we get scores and then average them. For illustration, Client X:

Complexity = 3 (fairly complex)

Urgency = 4 (some things are extremely urgent, like a deal happening next month)

Risk = 4 (big dollars involved, some aggressive positions)

Benefit = 3 (good savings but not the most I’ve ever seen)

Average = (3+4+4+3)/4 = 3.5 out of 4. We might translate that 3.5 to, say, a 35% ROI multiplier (as I did in the earlier example). The key is to be consistent and have a rationale.

Determine Your Fee: Now take the estimated savings/gain from Step 2 and multiply by that percentage (from Step 3). I recommend setting, and raising annually, your minimum annual client price point. For example, if your firm’s minimum per year is set to $5,000, then if your fee estimate comes out to $2,300 during this process, let them know it’s not the right fit and refer out to a more traditional practice.

If estimated savings = $100,000 and we decide on 35%, fee = $35K.

If you are nervous to move away from hourly, you can sanity-check this against your desired minimums or effort. If $35K means maybe 50 hours of work total, that’s $700/hour effective, nice. If it required 200 hours, that’s $175/hour, not as nice (but still not bad, and remember those hours include a lot of high-level thinking, not routine work).

Use this only to make sure you’re not underpricing; you should not present anything to client in hourly terms. Once you consistently see this value priced effort take way less time and way more profitable, you’ll forget all about hours.

Create then Present the Proposal: Have the proposal ready to show the client. Clearly outline the value first, then the fee. Then have a lower priced, less complex strategies, proposal ready as a backup. For example, your proposal might say:

“We’ve identified approximately $100,000 in tax savings for this period, and then another $48,900 per year after that. We will implement these strategies and provide ongoing guidance to ensure you realize these savings over the next year of our tax planning engagement.

“Our price is $35,100. This is an estimated 180% Return on Investment. We cannot guarantee these tax savings, but we can guarantee your satisfaction. Our first step would be an onboarding meeting to walk through each strategy in detail and determine your timeline of implementation.

Many clients will ask right away “What are the strategies”? It’s important that you redirect them by saying “That’s what the onboarding meeting is for. Once you pay the one-time fee, we will go over these in depth.

I’ve done a preliminary analysis based on our discovery meeting, but you are not yet my client. Therefore I cannot yet finalize my recommendations.” They will pressure you here. Keep your boundary, especially if this is a complimentary proposal! You don’t do free work.

Then, the most important part of this presentation: Ask for the close! “Are you ready to move forward”? I like to tell practitioners “When in doubt, shut your mouth”. Many of us have a tendency to overtalk or fill space. Don’t do this. Just ask whatever direct closing question you are comfortable with, sit back, and wait for the taxpayer to answer.

If they ask for more time, set a date you can honor the quote through. Agree with them on something reasonable within the next few days, send the e-engagement letter and ACH payment request, then have them expire on that date. You do not want to be chasing them for a sale.

Notice we lead with value and explicitly mention ROI. This frames the fee properly. Also, you might offer an ongoing package offer (like Ron Baker style bronze/silver/gold packages), maybe $35K covers the comprehensive service, but you could have a $15K option that implements only part of the plan, or a $12K plan that only does half of the strategies and support.

Tiered packages can further anchor the value (we’ll discuss packaging more in Chapter 6). We suggest a one-time implementation fee and offering an ongoing compliance package.

The goal is that the proposal document itself oozes value. Even if they showed it to a friend for a second opinion, the friend would say, “Wow, if these numbers are true, this seems worth it.”

When you present a high-value proposal, expect objections. They are not deal-breakers, they are opportunities to build trust. Here are the most common pushbacks you will hear, along with responses that reframe the conversation and keep you in control.

Response: “As we have shown, the plan is estimated to save you $X and provide an ROI. We will track those results with you. My goal is always to deliver at least a 2x return on fees, often much higher. And while I cannot ethically guarantee tax savings, I stand by my work with a satisfaction guarantee.”

Response: “If cash flow is a concern, we can structure the fee in two payments, half now and half in 30 days. If you were planning on making your quarter IRS payment, know that it’s pretty close to this amount and you’ll owe an additional X when filing your return if you do nothing.”

Response: “Yes, I’ve prepared a secondary proposal on a lower package I can show you. It offers less strategies but also costs substantially less. We could then revisit more phases of advanced planning after we accomplish these items. “

Response: if you’ve been severely underpricing or not charging for tax advice: “To be honest, yes I’ve thrown some planning ideas to you for free in the past. Unfortunately they don’t tend to get implemented because you don’t have anyone managing it. That’s because you were paying for tax preparation. Now, when you invest in advisory, you’re paying for me to look ahead, map scenarios, and optimize outcomes - not just fill in forms. You get what you pay for, and when you pay for strategy, you get results that compliance alone will never deliver. “

Response if you had never done tax planning with the client before: “Here’s the truth: you’ve been paying me for the “general practitioner” version of accounting. Think of your GP who’s excellent at checkups. They can tell you if your blood pressure looks high or if your eyesight seems off. They might even suggest a vitamin that could help. But they aren’t going to fit you for glasses, walk you through the latest eye surgery options, or take full responsibility for helping you see clearly every day.

That’s what a specialist does. Advisory work is the specialist version of accounting. It’s where we go beyond identifying problems to creating customized solutions. Instead of just telling you that your tax liability looks high, we design strategies to reduce it. Instead of noting that your retirement contributions are low, we help structure a plan that builds real wealth.

Compliance is necessary - you still need those annual tax returns done. But advisory is where real transformation happens. And just like with doctors, you get what you pay for. The GP visit might cost a copay, while the specialist requires more of an investment, but the payoff is life-changing. In your case, it could mean tens or hundreds of thousands in savings and a plan that lets you keep more of what you earn.”

By tying everything back to value, you justify your price. Not every client will say yes, but the right ones will. In fact, the best ones will practically say, “Why wouldn’t I do this? Heck yes!” With ROI pricing, your close rate should hover around 70 percent. If it’s lower, you probably need more practice and coaching. If it’s higher, you’re actually underpricing and leaving money on the table.

Remember, ROI pricing isn’t about locking a client into a fee forever. It’s about maintaining a relationship that stays win-win. That’s why I recommend holding an annual strategy meeting to review the actual ROI delivered. Maybe you charged $15K this year but laws change and next year’s savings drop. Adjust the renewal to $700 per month and show them how the value is still compelling. This transparency keeps trust high, complaints low, and clients loyal.

The bottom line: charge for value, not hours. ROI pricing isn’t just a clever math trick. It’s a lifestyle shift toward the Balanced Millionaire model, where you fulfill your purpose, scale your impact, and finally get paid like the advisor you are, not the overworked employee you once were.

My friend Rory Henry reminds us all about “ROR,” or return on relationships, in his book The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management. When I contributed a chapter to it, I actually emailed him thinking I’d found a typo on his site: “AdvisROR” instead of Advisor. He laughed and said that was the point. The trust and relationships you build are just as valuable as the strategies you deliver.

So don’t just think of ROI pricing as dollars saved. Think of it as ROR - the value of being the advisor your clients can trust, rely on, and build a future with. That’s the real magic.

Mastering the art of pitching ROI is the cornerstone of transitioning to value-based pricing. Do it right and you change everything: your revenue, your work hours, your stress levels, and your client relationships. You’re not selling time. You’re not even selling reports. You are selling transformation. And when you own that, clients will gladly pay for the measurable, lasting results you deliver.

Action Items: Go to Jackie.CPA to complete this step online plus bonuses.

Download/Use the ROI Method Toolkit: If you have access to TaxPlanIQ, this calculator is part of the tax plan generator.

Identify a Potential Client for ROI Pricing: Choose one current client or a hot prospect. Please don’t pick a PITA (Pain in the assets). Do a ROI analysis for them and draft a value-based proposal. Even if you don’t present it immediately, practice the process.

Set Your Minimum ROI Threshold: Decide on a policy like “I will aim for at least a 200% ROI for clients and only accept clients that pay $1K or more per year.” Sometimes it might be 10:1 (great, client is super happy). But not below say 2:1 for major projects.

Update Engagement Letters: Ensure your new pricing approach is reflected in your contracts. Remove references to hourly billing. Clearly state the pricing and what’s included. It should also mention if scope changes or additional work is needed beyond, how that’s handled (priced separately).

Communicate with Team (if any): If you have staff, educate them about this pricing method so they understand why you might spend two hours on a client and bill $10K (they need to see the big picture). Also ensure that they track results to help you show ROI later.

Role-play a Pricing Conversation: Have a colleague or friend pretend to be a client and practice verbalizing the fee and answering objections. This helps you get comfortable with quoting a fee and dramatically boosts your confidence in real meetings.

By implementing value pricing, you’re well on your way to a seven-figure practice without seven-figure stress. Next, we’ll tackle how to package your services into compelling offerings (possibly tiered packages), so clients know exactly what they’re getting, and you leave no money on the table. Onward to Chapter 6!

Ron Baker, Implementing Value Pricing: A Radical Business Model for Professional Firms (Wiley, 2010).

Ed Kless, “The Soul of Enterprise” Podcast.

Rory Henry, The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management (CPA Trendlines, 2024).

Meyer, Jackie, “The ethical case for value pricing in accounting”, Woodard Report

American Institute of CPAs, Code of Professional Conduct, ET 1.510.001 Fees (AICPA, 2014).

United States Department of the Treasury, “Circular 230: Regulations Governing Practice before the Internal Revenue Service,” 31 C.F.R. Part 10 (2023).

Walker, April, Value Pricing for Tax Planning,” The Tax Adviser, September 2022, https://www.thetaxadviser.com/issues/2022/sep/value-pricing-tax-planning/

AICPA, “Tax Planning: Transitioning from Compliance to Advisory,” AICPA ENGAGE Session TD2510, 2022, https://agenda.aicpastore.com/sessions/td2510.