One of the coolest things about blogging for me is that I have gotten to know some really amazing people.  One of those folks is Ron Baker.  When I first started blogging, I called him an absolutely amazing visionary and called two of his books, The Firm of the Future (with Paul Dunn) and The Professional's Guide to Value Pricing “absolute must reads.”  Ron left a comment to that post, and since then he and I have grown to be friends.

Ron and I were talking about his new book, Pricing on Purpose, and I asked him if he’d like to promote it on this blog.  Instead of a quick Q&A, he’s written several provocative posts for my readers.  The first will follow today.

I can’t tell you how excited I am to have him here on the [non]billable hour this week.  I hope you enjoy what he has to share.

For those of you who don’t know Ron, here’s his bio:

Ronald J. Baker started his accounting career in 1984 with KPMG Peat Marwick's Private Business Advisory Services in San Francisco.  Today, he is the founder of VeraSage Institute, a think tank dedicated to teaching Value Pricing to professionals around the world.

As a frequent speaker at events and conferences, and a consultant to professional service firms on implementing Total Quality Service and Value Pricing, his work takes him around the world.  He has been an instructor with the California CPA Education Foundation since 1995 and has authored eleven courses for them.

He is the author of the best-selling marketing book ever written specifically for the professions, Professional's Guide to Value Pricing, Sixth Edition, published by CCH, Incorporated.  Also, Burying the Billable Hour; Trashing the Timesheet; and You Are Your Customer List, published by The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the United Kingdom.  His book, The Firm of the Future: A Guide for Accountants, Lawyers, and Other Professional Services, co-authored with Paul Dunn, was published in April 2003 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and is in its fourth printing.  His latest book, Pricing on Purpose:  Creating and Capturing Value, was published in February 2006 (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).  His next book, The Canary in the Coal Mine:  Why Your Company Needs Key Predictive Indicators, is due out in the latter part of 2006 (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).

Ron has toured the world, spreading his Value Pricing message to over 70,000 professionals, including leading a seminar series of Value Pricing seminars for the American Association of Advertising Agencies in 2005.  He has been appointed to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant's Group of One Hundred, a think tank of leaders to address the future of the profession, named on Accounting Today's 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 Top 100 Most Influential People in the profession, and received the 2003 Award for Instructor Excellence from the California CPA Education Foundation.
   
He graduated in 1984 from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor of Science in accounting and a minor in economics. He is a graduate of Disney University, Cato University, and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business course:  Pricing:  Strategy and Tactics.  He is a member of the Professional Pricing Society and presently resides in Petaluma, California.

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