Pricing Your Expertise

What this is for

You've been asked "what do you charge" and either guessed too low, hedged with a range so wide it meant nothing, or went quiet and let them name a number first. This is for setting a price before that conversation happens, and for saying it without talking yourself back down.

Before you start

• Know the outcome the client actually wants, not the task you'll perform to get there.
• Decide in advance: day, project, retainer, or outcome pricing? Each needs a different prompt below.

Day rate vs. project vs. retainer vs. outcome

• Day rate is easiest to quote and worst for you. It caps income at your calendar and invites the client to measure your worth in hours.
• Project pricing (fixed fee, defined scope) rewards speed and experience — the faster you do it, the higher your effective rate. Default for most consulting work.
• Retainer (fixed monthly fee for ongoing access) is right when the client needs availability, not one deliverable. Price it on value of access, not hours spent.
• Outcome pricing (fee tied to a result) has the highest ceiling but only works when you can measure and roughly control the outcome. Don't offer it if the client controls variables you don't.

Hourly caps you because it ceilings your income at calendar times rate, and punishes you for getting faster. Every hour experience saves you is an hour of revenue you just gave away.

Prompt 1 — Value framing

Use in: Either. This is reasoning over information you provide, not research — no live data needed.

ROLE: You are a pricing strategist who prices consulting engagements based on client value, not consultant effort.

CONTEXT: I am pricing an engagement.
- What the client is trying to fix: [EXAMPLE: 11-day average support ticket resolution time; their biggest client threatened to leave over it]
- Cost if they don't fix it: [EXAMPLE: That client is worth $180,000/year, and support complaints caused two other client losses this year]
- Value if they fix it: [EXAMPLE: Retaining that one client alone is worth $180,000/year, plus churn reduction across 40 other accounts]
- What I'd do and how long: [EXAMPLE: Audit ticketing workflow, redesign escalation rules, train two team leads, 4 weeks]

CONSTRAINTS:
- Anchor on the client's cost of inaction and value of the fix, not my time or effort.
- Give a value range (low/high), not a single number, and show your math.
- Flag which numbers are solid versus your assumptions.
- If the value math is weak or speculative, say so instead of inflating it.

OUTPUT FORMAT:
1. A one-paragraph value statement in plain language.
2. A value range in dollars with math shown.
3. A suggested price as a percentage of the low end (typical: 10-20% of first-year value).
4. One sentence flagging any weak assumption.

Prompt 2 — Comparable-rate research

Use in: ChatGPT with browsing enabled — needs current market data, not just reasoning. Without browsing, search manually first and paste findings into either tool.

ROLE: You are a research assistant compiling current market rates for independent consultants.

CONTEXT: My work: [EXAMPLE: Fractional VP of Operations, manufacturing companies $20M-$80M revenue, 6-12 week engagements]
Location: [EXAMPLE: Midwest US, clients often national]
Comparable rates I want: [EXAMPLE: fractional operations executives and manufacturing consultants]

CONSTRAINTS:
- Search actual published data: industry surveys, marketplace rate cards (Toptal, Catalant, MBO Partners), recent articles with real numbers. Don't estimate from general knowledge alone.
- Report a range, not a single number, with source and date for each data point.
- Separate day-rate, project-fee, and retainer data — don't average across models.
- If you can't find data for my exact niche, use the closest adjacent category and say so explicitly.

OUTPUT FORMAT: A table: Pricing model | Rate range | Source | Date. Then two sentences on where my planned price falls in range. My planned price: [YOUR NUMBER OR "none yet"]

Prompt 3 — The script for saying the number and holding the pause

Use in: Either. Rehearsing language, not researching.

ROLE: You are a negotiation coach who helps senior professionals quote prices without hedging, apologizing, or over-explaining.

CONTEXT: My price is [YOUR NUMBER, e.g. $6,000] for [ENGAGEMENT, e.g. a 6-week operations audit and 90-day plan]. I undercut myself by [YOUR HABIT, e.g. offering a discount before they respond].

CONSTRAINTS:
- Write the exact sentence for "what do you charge," not a paragraph of options.
- After the price, instruct me to stop talking — one-line stage direction, not more sales copy.
- Address my specific undercutting habit directly with an alternative.
- No filler like "just to give you an idea" — state the price flatly, as fact.

OUTPUT FORMAT:
1. The exact line to say the price.
2. A one-line stage direction for after (e.g. "Stop talking. Let them respond first.").
3. Three follow-ups: they go quiet / "let me think about it" / "can you do less."

How to raise a rate on an existing client

Tell them before the invoice, not on it. Give the true reason (scope grew, market moved, you've been underpriced since year one), give 30-60 days' notice, and state the new number as fact: "Starting [DATE], my rate for this work is [NEW NUMBER]." Save the pushback scripts below for their response — don't pre-negotiate against yourself in the notice.

The three most common pushbacks — exact language

"That's more than we expected." "I understand. Here's what's in scope for that number — tell me what you'd want cut, and I'll tell you what that does to the outcome."

"Can you do it for less?" "I can, if we reduce the scope. Here's a version at [LOWER NUMBER] that includes [SMALLER SCOPE] instead."

"We usually pay hourly." "I don't work hourly — it charges you for how long something takes me, not for what you get. This price is for the outcome."

Where this goes wrong

• You quote a range instead of a number. A spoken range invites the client to anchor low. Do the value math, then quote one number with tiers around it.
• You explain the price before anyone objects. Justifying your rate first signals you don't believe it. State it, then stop.
• You use rate research to lower your number instead of raise it. Most people search hoping for permission to charge less. Use it to check you're not underpriced.

The 2-minute version

Run Prompt 1 with real numbers from your last conversation. Take the suggested price. Say the exact line from Prompt 3 out loud once, alone. Send the number today.

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