Larry Phipps

Larry Phipps, PLS

Larry Phipps is a North Carolina licensed land surveyor with more than 20 years experience owning and operating a surveying business. Additionally, as president of Land Surveyor’s Workshops (www.landsurveys.com), he has spent the last decade traveling and teaching at conferences around the U.S. His goal is to help surveyors be better at the business of surveying. Recently, Larry Phipps and Carol Hiatt Huff formed T. P. Consultants, a company that works with surveying firms on reducing liability and implementing value based pricing. T. P. Consultants and Land Surveyors Workshops can be reached at 800-533-4387.

Value Pricing

Step 8: After Action Review

Ask questions to determine the level of satisfaction the client has for your services.

Larry Phipps, PLS

September 1, 2013

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The project is complete. Your (hopefully satisfied) client has moved on to other things. It’s time to turn your attention to the next project safe in the knowledge that all is right with the world. But is it? Is the client truly satisfied? There is only one way to know for certain: You have to ask.

Value Pricing

Step 7: Change Orders

Inform your clients every time a change in price may be required; frequent communication wins their trust and helps you keep your promise.

Larry Phipps, PLS

July 1, 2013

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Last time we discussed the importance of managing your project. But no matter how well you plan, unexpected things happen. Clients change their minds or their specifications change. Sometimes, our work reveals details that necessitate a new course of action.

Step 6: Manage the Project

What do pricing and project management have to do with one another? Nothing and everything

Larry Phipps, PLS

April 29, 2013

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In one way, pricing and project management are totally separate. How many times have we seen bad things happen when surveyors confuse business decisions with professional decisions?

Step 5: Create the Client Agreement

Larry Phipps, PLS

March 1, 2013

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In the last article (POB February 2013), we discussed presenting the proposal to your prospective client. The notes you took during that presentation (you did take notes, right?) will form the foundation for the fixed-price agreement (FPA).

Value Pricing: Step 4: Present the Proposal

Larry Phipps, PLS

February 5, 2013

3 Comments

When we implement value pricing, we promise to put our clients in charge.

Larry Phipps, PLS

October 4, 2012

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Last month, we discussed pricing the client rather than pricing the work. Once you have identified your price, should you then present your one price to the client and wait for a yes or no answer?

Larry Phipps, PLS

September 6, 2012

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Last month, we addressed the first step in value pricing: effectively listening to what the client wants and needs.

Larry Phipps, PLS

August 1, 2012

One Comment

Listening is somewhat of a lost art. Many of us are so busy thinking about what we are going to say next that we forget to really listen to what our clients need and, more importantly, want.

Larry Phipps, PLS

July 3, 2012

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Let’s play the “what if” game. What if you walked into a grocery store on a mission to buy a loaf of bread, and, when you went to pay for the bread, they told you they couldn’t tell you the price?

Larry Phipps, PLS

June 1, 2012

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Last month, I wrote about moving away from pricing schemes based on time. Many readers were undoubtedly skeptical of the idea, and with some clients, the skeptics are exactly right.