Designing Service Packages for SALT Consulting

Why Packaging Your SALT Services Makes Sense

Moving away from purely hourly billing towards bundled service packages offers significant advantages for both you and your clients in the SALT consulting space:

• Predictable Revenue & Scope: Packages define the scope upfront, reducing ‘scope creep’ and providing more predictable revenue streams.
• Value Communication: Bundling allows you to price based on the value delivered (e.g., tax savings identified, audit risk mitigated) rather than just the time spent.
• Client Decision Simplification: Instead of a confusing list of hourly rates and potential tasks, clients choose from clear options.
• Increased Average Deal Value: Tiered packages naturally encourage clients to consider higher-value options.
• Efficiency: Standardizing packages helps streamline your delivery processes.

Structuring Your SALT Consulting Service Packages

A widely effective strategy is the ‘Good-Better-Best’ (or Bronze-Silver-Gold) tiered model. This provides clients with clear choices, leveraging pricing psychology principles like anchoring.

Here’s how you might structure tiers for salt consulting service packages:

• Tier 1 (Good/Bronze): Foundational Support
  • Focus: Basic compliance needs, initial assessment, or a single, specific issue.
  • Examples: State nexus analysis for a few states, sales taxability review for a limited product/service set, basic audit support (e.g., initial response preparation).
  • Pricing: Typically the lowest price point, designed to be an easy entry point.
• Tier 2 (Better/Silver): Comprehensive Assistance
  • Focus: More in-depth analysis, ongoing support for common issues, or bundling related services.
  • Examples: Full multi-state nexus study, comprehensive sales & use tax review, handling a specific state audit end-to-end, review of common credits & incentives opportunities.
  • Pricing: The ‘most popular’ tier, offering perceived best value through bundling.
• Tier 3 (Best/Gold): Strategic Partnership
  • Focus: High-level strategic planning, ongoing proactive consulting, bundling multiple complex services or providing retainer-like access.
  • Examples: Proactive multi-state tax planning, managing complex audits, comprehensive credits & incentives analysis and application support, ongoing advisory on legislative changes, bundled nexus, taxability, and filing support.
  • Pricing: The highest price point, offering the most comprehensive service and access.

What Services to Include in SALT Packages

Consider bundling common SALT needs into your packages. Mix and match these based on client size, industry, and complexity:

• Nexus Studies (Income Tax, Sales Tax)
• Sales & Use Taxability Reviews
• Audit Defense & Controversy Support
• Credits & Incentives Identification and Application
• Voluntary Disclosure Agreements (VDAs)
• Tax Research & Advisory
• Compliance Review & Process Improvement
• Due Diligence for M&A (SALT component)

For example, a Tier 2 package might bundle a multi-state nexus study with a sales & use taxability review for core services, while a Tier 3 adds VDA support and ongoing advisory calls.

Pricing Your SALT Service Packages Effectively

Pricing packages requires careful consideration. While cost-plus (calculating your costs and adding a margin) is a starting point, layering in value-based pricing is crucial.

• Calculate Your Costs: Understand the time, resources, and expertise required for each service component within a package. This sets a floor.
• Assess Client Value: What is this package worth to the client? Is it saving them tens or hundreds of thousands in potential audit assessments? Is it identifying significant tax credits? Is it providing peace of mind and freeing up internal resources? Price reflects this outcome value, which is often far higher than your hourly rate.
• Anchor Pricing: The ‘Best’ tier serves as an anchor, making the ‘Better’ tier look more reasonable and the ‘Good’ tier look like a basic option. Don’t be afraid to price your top tier robustly to reflect its comprehensive value.
• Use Example Pricing (Illustrative):
  • Tier 1 (Foundational Nexus Review - 3 states): Example Price: $3,500 - $6,000
  • Tier 2 (Comprehensive Sales Tax Review & Process Assessment): Example Price: $8,000 - $15,000
  • Tier 3 (Annual SALT Strategy & Proactive Compliance Advisory): Example Price: $25,000+ per year (potentially retainer or value-based % of savings)

Remember to research competitor pricing and understand market rates for similar salt consulting service packages, but focus on pricing your value.

Presenting Your SALT Consulting Packages to Clients

How you present your salt consulting service packages is almost as important as the packages themselves. Static PDFs or complex spreadsheets can be overwhelming and dilute your perceived value.

Consider using a modern, interactive approach. Tools exist specifically to help service businesses present pricing options clearly and allow clients to configure their selections.

For instance, PricingLink (https://pricinglink.com) is a SaaS platform designed for creating interactive, shareable pricing links. You can use it to build pages that showcase your different SALT consulting tiers, explain what’s included in each, and even offer optional add-ons (like additional state nexus analysis or specialized research) that clients can select to see the price update live. This provides a clear, professional, and engaging client experience right at the pricing stage.

While PricingLink focuses only on the pricing presentation and lead capture – it does not handle full proposals, e-signatures, contracts, or invoicing – its laser focus means it excels at making the pricing decision simple and interactive. For comprehensive proposal software including e-signatures, you might look at tools like PandaDoc (https://www.pandadoc.com) or Proposify (https://www.proposify.com). However, if your primary goal is to modernize how clients interact with and select your pricing options, PricingLink’s dedicated focus offers a powerful and affordable solution for that specific step in the sales process.