Anna’s result sets up a lesson about presentation, not price alone
Peter Vander Wall introduces Anna as the owner of a seven-figure real estate tax strategy firm. He says that over a couple of months, she roughly doubled the average price of a tax strategy plan from about $3,000 to about $6,000, with some plans reaching $10,000. The video promises to explain the original mistake, the package structure the firm installed, and the way those packages were presented to prospective clients.
Before beginning the lesson, Peter briefly cites other client examples as proof of his work: Tony adding $42,000 per month during the first 90 days, Brock adding $130,000 in annual recurring revenue one month into the engagement, and Ryan growing a firm from zero to $3 million per year over three years. Those examples establish Peter’s positioning, but the teaching that follows stays centered on Anna and the tax-strategy offer.
The original mistake was familiar: when the firm had multiple engagement levels, it displayed them like a menu. One package might include a single CPA planning call, a 48-hour email response, and implementation left to the client. Another might include three CPA calls and direct implementation help. The services were different, but prospects were still being asked to diagnose their own needs and compare the choices.
A third package changes the way buyers compare value
Peter calls the three-option structure the Starbucks strategy. A buyer looking at a small, medium, and large drink often treats the middle as a comfortable default. The relationship between size and price can also make one option look more attractive: if a small increase in price produces a much larger increase in quantity, the larger option may feel like the better value. If the price jump is larger, the middle can become the easier choice.
He applies that comparison to accounting services with three levels of support. The objective is not necessarily to put every client into the largest package. For many firms, the highest level demands considerably more one-to-one time. Peter instead wants the package design to reflect the service the firm can deliver most effectively and repeatedly. In Anna’s situation, that was the middle tier.
The prices in his model begin at $3,000 for some support, rise to $6,000 for more support, and reach $10,000 for the most support. Peter says he might even move the top package to $12,000 so that each step doubles. These are the numbers used to illustrate Anna’s structure and the desired comparison; he does not claim that every tax firm should copy them.
The three tiers separate delivery effort as well as price
Peter’s small tax-strategy package includes one call with a CPA, two weeks of email access, and videos or tutorials that show the client how to implement recommendations. The client may need to arrange an entity, order a cost-segregation study, or complete another step without the firm personally managing the work. Peter wants this option to stay light enough that serving it does not create a large operational burden.
The middle package includes three CPA calls, weekly office hours, a 48-hour email-response commitment across the year, and done-with-you implementation. This is the bread-and-butter offer: it contains the support most clients need, while back-end systems make the work easier for the firm to deliver. Peter’s aim is for the majority of clients to enter here rather than splitting demand evenly across all three tiers.
At the top, monthly CPA calls create much more individualized access, while office hours, email support, and implementation remain largely similar to the middle service. The extra attention makes the package more labor-intensive, so the price has to make that work worthwhile. Only the buyer who strongly values frequent one-to-one support should choose it. Package design therefore balances client value with the firm’s capacity, not just a desire to display ascending prices.
Present the offer as if the prospect still needs a reason to trust
After explaining the tiers, Peter turns to the sales conversation. He asks firms to assume that every prospect is cold: the person may know little about the firm, its credibility, its results, or the way the service works. Referrals and long-time followers arrive warmer, but a process built to earn trust from a stranger can also make the decision clearer for them.
The first sales task is to create what Peter calls the gap between the prospect’s current situation and desired future. In tax planning, a large prior-year tax bill is only the surface. The adviser should ask what keeping more money would make possible. The person may want another property, faster business growth, more profit, more control of time, or another form of financial freedom. The details turn a transactional tax discussion into a conversation about an outcome the buyer actually values.
Peter also wants the firm to demonstrate that it understands the situation. He listens for language that makes a prospect recognize the problem in a sharper way, then tests better explanations when an analogy does not connect. This is not a cue to invent pain. It is a reason to learn how the ideal client already thinks and to explain the firm’s relevance in familiar terms.
Anna’s sales language moved from doctors to real estate
Anna had compared choosing a real estate CPA with choosing a heart specialist instead of a generalist doctor for surgery. Peter says the analogy was reasonable, but it did not produce the recognition they wanted from her prospects. Because those prospects were real estate investors, they tested a comparison drawn from the buyers’ own experience instead.
The revised explanation observed that an experienced investor probably does not use the same realtor who helped with a first home. The investor now relies on someone who understands investment property and can act as a trusted adviser. Anna could then explain that the prospect’s CPA relationship may have followed the same path: a starter CPA handled the early stage, but the investor had grown beyond what that generalist was equipped to advise on.
Peter says the language of outgrowing a CPA worked well for Anna’s ideal client and the value she offered. The important move was not merely swapping one metaphor for another. The real-estate version reflected a transition the audience already understood, making the distinction between compliance work and specialized tax-strategy advice easier to recognize.
The recommendation connects every service element to the gap
Once discovery is complete, Peter chooses the package he believes the prospect needs. In a structure built around a core middle tier, he expects that recommendation to be the middle service most of the time. He then presents that service alone and relates its components to the gap discussed earlier. A buyer who feels ignored by the current CPA can see how three scheduled calls and weekly office hours create more access. A buyer frustrated by slow communication can understand the value of a 48-hour email commitment.
Implementation support receives the same treatment. If the current CPA identifies little beyond filing the return, Anna’s offer can distinguish between naming a tax strategy and helping the client complete it. Calls, office hours, email access, and done-with-you work become a way to keep the client moving toward implementation rather than an unexplained list of features.
Peter introduces the lower package only when the prospect cannot accept the recommended price or does not see enough value to move forward. In his example, someone who cannot pay $6,000 can consider the $3,000 review with short-term email access and self-service tutorials. That client might later seek implementation help or longer access, but an upgrade is only a possibility. The fallback has a smaller scope because it carries a smaller price.
This sequence keeps the first decision simple: does the prospect want the service the firm recommends, yes or no? If the answer is no at that engagement level, the smaller offer becomes a new yes-or-no decision. Peter calls the preferred service the core offer and says the goal is to place about 90% of clients there. Concentrating delivery around one package makes the company easier to operate and scale while preserving other levels for the specific clients who need them.
