adValorem

The Future of Professional Services Pricing Is Being Written Now

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We are living through a profound transformation in professional services. The ancient link between time and value—a relationship so fundamental that we barely questioned it—is dissolving before our eyes. This isn't just another wave of innovation or efficiency. It's a fundamental restructuring of how value is created, delivered, and captured.

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adValorem was founded on a belief that we're at a point of disruptive innovation -- one where the ability to change cannot keep up with the pace required. Content presented is a blending of decades of experience in professional services, pricing successes and failures among across major firms, and countless conversations with professionals wrestling with these challenges at all levels. While the stories and insights you'll find here draw from these real experiences and interactions, they represent collective patterns and shared challenges rather than any single organization's journey. They're told with identities anonymized to protect confidentiality while preserving the crucial lessons learned.

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Why adValorem, Why Now?

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The name adValorem—"according to value" in Latin—reflects both our focus and our philosophy. We believe the future belongs to firms that can:

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• Decouple price from effort

• Build new ways to measure and capture value

• Transform their infrastructure before market forces demand it

• Reimagine client relationships around outcomes rather than inputs

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Most importantly, we believe this transformation isn't something happening to us—it's something we can actively shape, together.

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What You'll Find Here

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This isn't a typical industry blog. You won't find generic advice about efficiency or surface-level discussions of AI tools. Instead, you'll discover:

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• Deep insights of emerging pricing and value capture models

• Real case studies of firms navigating this transformation

• Practical frameworks for rebuilding firm infrastructure

• A community of forward-thinking professionals committed to action

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Who This Is For

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adValorem serves a community united by a common goal: transforming how professional services create and capture value. Whether you're:

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• A consulting firm wrestling with new pricing models

• A private equity investor seeking transformation opportunities

• A client organization seeking to reshape commercial relationships with service providers

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You'll find insights, analysis, and most importantly, a community of peers who share your sense of urgency and opportunity.

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The Journey Ahead

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The articles you'll find here won't just describe the transformation—they'll help you lead it. Drawing from real experiences across the industry (while respecting confidentiality and anonymizing specifics), we'll explore how organizations can:

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• Build new financial capabilities for value-based models

• Develop client trust through transparent value measurement

• Create financing structures for longer-term value capture

• Align internal incentives with client outcomes

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Join Us

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The window for voluntary transformation in professional services is still open—but it's closing fast. Some organizations will shape this future; others will be shaped by it.

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adValorem exists to support those choosing to lead this change. If you're ready to move beyond the billable hour, beyond traditional leverage models, beyond the comfortable assumptions of the past—welcome. You're in the right place.

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The future of professional services pricing is being written now. Let's write it together.

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John Norkus is the facilitator for adValorem. After decades of leading pricing and profitability practices at firms like Deloitte, KPMG, and North Highland, and driving over $1 billion in profit improvement, John now focuses on helping organizations navigate the AI-driven transformation of professional services.

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John personally curates all content and leads the ongoing dialogue, drawing from his experience in transforming some of the industry's largest firms and his latest work in AI-enabled pricing innovation.

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The insights shared on adValorem reflect personal observations and anonymized experiences from across the professional services industry. They do not represent the views or proprietary information of any specific organization.