Pricing: An Elephant in the Professional Services Room?

Kudos to RainToday for launching a study on pricing in professional services (even though it only covers U.S. firms).  Some of the things the study will cover include:

• firms that have been able to charge higher prices to see what they do differently than those with average and lower fees
• how brand recognition affects the ability of firms to charge higher prices

But for me, especially as I dive into writing my next book about erasing the silos between marketing and selling in PSFs, the really big questions are these:  How do firms go about coming up with their fees, and what's the role of pricing research? I wonder how much PSFs are doing, at the executive or practice level, to understand where the market is (clients' feelings about prices, competitors' pricing practices and oh, of course, THE ECONOMY).  Do business developers and marketers actually work together on this issue? 

The answer is, I'll bet: NOT ENOUGH.  Complete the questionnaire and please prove me wrong.

I think the findings will corroborate my own research that there's not nearly enough rigor being applied to this huge marketing and selling integration issue.  Talk about a functional disconnect:  Most PSFs' pricing policies aren't policies at all.  Prices are still set too tactically.  Many hard-working business developers are charged with the huge responsibility of morphing their firms' fee structures on the fly, and justifying their decisions later.  And there isn't enough focus on the marketplace ramifications of shifts in pricing.