When Cheryl Alexander, one of our Upsize Growth Challenge winners, sat down with Dean Willer, the Winthrop & Weinstine attorney who advises our winners, he was blunt: Her leadership development consulting firm should be charging two to five times its current rates.

“You’re an expert and a leader in your field,” he said, Alexander recalls. “Why are you charging like a beginner?” Alexander, who founded Cheryl Alexander & Associates 40 years ago, gulped hard, then took the leap.

“I couldn’t see five times more, but we’ve now doubled our rates,” she says proudly, and she’s thinking about working toward the quintuple figure.

In the past, she said, she wasn’t accounting for the overhead, administration, development and other functions that go into her firm’s work, and so was under-pricing services.

Further, she’s begun taking a more strategic approach to getting new business. She does frequent “lunch and learn” sessions to introduce potential clients to her services, but she’s not giving everything away in those sessions anymore.

Rather, she’s giving a “taste” of what her firm has to offer, including valuable takeaways that her audience can use. But she’s not sharing every single bit of information she has. Instead, her eye is toward bringing in new business.

Sounds like some expert moves for this veteran business owner.