Everyone likes games. I have a fun one for you. There’s a simple financial metric that you might want to use throughout the year. Once you start measuring it, you will become addicted to improving it. The metric is a cumulative measure of your pricing and closing success. If you want to play along for the year, I’ll come back to you at the end of December to ask you how you did, and I’ll give out some Win Without Pitching merch to the highest performers. (Just make sure you are subscribed to these posts via email here.)
The metric is called your RAB score and the cumulative amount is called your RAB fund.
WTF is RAB?
RAB stands for Revenue Above Budget. It’s the amount of fees you close on above the client’s stated budget or the lowest priced option in your multi-option proposal. If you read these posts but you’re not using multi-option proposals, then get with the program and come back to this once you’ve quit leaving piles of money on the table.
How It Works
Let’s say you have a client with a stated budget of $20,000 and you present a proposal with options priced at $20k, $35k and $90k. (Don’t read too much into those numbers or their relationships with each other.) If the client chooses the middle option of $35k, then your RAB score on this proposal is $15k, and you have $15k in your RAB fund for the year.
If on your next proposal your RAB score is $40k, then you add that to your previous total ($15k) and you now have $55k in your RAB account. Repeat until the end of the year, watching your RAB fund grow. I promise you will become obsessed with this number, celebrating each time you add to it. With just a basic application of the rules and principles in Pricing Creativity: A Guide to Profit Beyond The Billable Hour, you might be astounded at how big this fund can get.
Begin Now
Start tracking this metric now and watch your RAB fund grow. In 12 months time the number you will be staring at represents the real economic value returned in one year for a tiny investment in time and money to learn some simple pricing practices. Your return on that investment will blow your mind.
