Standards & Structure
Chris Out
You feel it every time you send a proposal. The amount is there, but mainly you hope the client doesn't say anything about it.
Yet next month, you send the same rates again. Not because you don't know they could be higher. But because you don't know how to approach it without losing clients, without an awkward conversation, without feeling like you're asking for something you need to justify.
Let me turn it around. The price you charge isn't a fixed market fact. Your price shows the standard you set for scope, results and margin.
The hourly rate is the most common way to price services. It's also the model that limits your growth the most.
An hourly rate says: my value is in my time. And time is the one thing that doesn't scale. The better you get, the faster you work and the less you earn per project. The better you get, the faster you solve certain problems. On an hourly rate, that can mean more experience actually leads to less revenue.
Pricing services based on what they cost to deliver makes sense when you're starting out. The moment you know what you deliver and what result it produces, it becomes a ceiling.
The agencies that grow make that shift: from 'how many hours will this cost me?' to 'what is this worth to the client?' This is the H principle in the SHARP framework: Hold Your Ground on the value you deliver. A client doesn't buy hours. A client buys an outcome.
And if you don't know what that outcome is worth, the client won't know either. They'll only compare the rate. And that's a comparison you can't win against someone who is cheaper than you.
The good news: you don't need to switch to a completely new pricing model straight away. Start with one client. Calculate what the problem you solve costs them if it isn't solved. Present that number before you mention the price. See how the conversation changes.
There are three questions you answer before you mention a price.
What is the outcome for the client? Not the activities you carry out, but the result they're buying. More revenue, lower costs, less time spent on something, a problem solved. If you don't have that clear, the client has no reference point for saying yes or no either. They'll only compare your rate with a competitor because that's the only thing they can measure.
What is that outcome worth? If you can't explain what the client gets in return, they only have one number to compare: your price.
What is the lowest amount you're comfortable with? Not what you think the client wants to pay. Not what the competitor charges. What you can ask without starting to hesitate halfway through the conversation. Because you feel the hesitation yourself, but the client sees it too. And if you don't believe in your own price, the client won't either.
Take the three current clients with the lowest margins. Calculate what you really earn from them when you include every hour, including the extras you don't invoice.
Then ask yourself: would you take them on today for this amount if they called you for the first time? If the answer is no, you know what needs to change.
New clients get your new rate. Existing clients have that conversation at the next renewal. No apology. No ten-sentence introduction. Just: 'I've reviewed my rates. From next month, it will be X.'
Then see what happens. Because most clients respond differently than you think.
For a deeper look: value-based pricing and the retainer model.
Want to know where your pricing stands now and what the first step is to adjust it? That's what we map out in the Standards Assessment.
How Do You Set the Price of Your Service?
Answer three questions before you mention a price: what is the outcome for the client, what is that outcome worth in euros, and what is the lowest amount you're comfortable with without hesitating during the conversation? Price based on the outcome, not the hours. A client doesn't buy hours. They buy a result. As long as that result isn't clear, they'll only compare your rate with the competition.
When Should You Raise Your Agency Rates?
Now, not when you're busy. New clients get the new rate straight away. Existing clients have the conversation at the next renewal, without explanation or apology: 'I've reviewed my rates. From next month, it will be X.' Short, direct, professional. Most clients respond differently than you think.
What If Clients Leave When You Raise Your Price?
Run the numbers before you decide it's a problem. If you go from ten to eight clients with rates that are 20 percent higher, you earn almost the same with two fewer clients. Some clients will ask questions. Some will stay. Some won't. That's why you calculate your minimum in advance.
Standards & Structure
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Standards & Structure
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