Hourly pricing caps you at the number of hours you can stay awake, and it punishes you for getting faster. The moment you have a repeatable offer, price the offer, not the time.
Three anchors, in order of strength
- Value: a share of the money the outcome makes or saves them in a year.
- Alternative: what it costs them to hire, train, or keep suffering.
- Cost-plus: your time and expenses, marked up. Weakest, and the default most people use.
You will not always have the value number, but asking for it is itself qualifying. A buyer who cannot estimate what the problem costs them is usually not ready to pay to fix it.
Practical moves
- Offer three tiers. Most people take the middle one, and the top one makes the middle look reasonable.
- Raise the price on new leads only. Existing clients keep their rate until renewal.
- When you are unsure, quote the number that makes you slightly uncomfortable. That is usually market rate.
Try it
Take your offer from the last lesson and write three prices for it: your current instinct, double that, and half. Then write one sentence justifying the doubled price in the buyer’s terms. If you can write it honestly, charge it.