Richard Burcher is the most in demand legal speaker in the world at the moment...

For any organisation like ours working with some of the most sophisticated, well resourced and critical law firms in the world, we usually find that scepticism and expectations are both understandably very high.

This is one of the reasons why we have outlined in some detail the process by which firms initiate dialogue and ultimately engage with us.

Once firms do begin to work with us however, we still have to deliver. We have never been shy in backing ourselves to deliver up to and preferably beyond the firm's expectations.

It is also important to us that as far as practicable, we de-risk a firm's decision to engage us to assist with their pricing function. One of the ways in which we typically do this is to provide a satisfaction guarantee.

However, there is no shortage of businesses that provide such assurances that are often meaningless. Therefore, we have taken the decision to put our money where our mouth is and wherever possible, put some of our fee at risk.

Whether we are working with you on a specific pitch, bid or tender proposal, working alongside you to negotiate a reconfiguration of the pricing aspect of the relationship with an existing client, or running your partners through our Validatum® Pricing Masterclasses, we are often prepared to let you decide whether we have earned our full fee or not.

Nor is this simply an exercise in tokenism with 5% or 10% of our fee at risk. Depending on the circumstances, we will on occasion put 100% of our fee at risk and it is rarely less than 50%.

Sometimes the results are linked to key performance indicators or other metrics. In other instances, the only criterion is whether the firm was delighted with our input.

We believe that if we aspire to work with the best, we need to be the best and we need to be prepared to back that up with meaningful peace of mind assurances.