pricing-your-services

Pricing Your Services Skill

Freelancers treat pricing as one number when it's actually a structure: which model for which work, how it's packaged, and how it's said. Hourly punishes you for being fast; fixed-price punishes you for scoping badly; the right answer differs by engagement type within the same practice. This skill designs the structure — models matched to work, tiered packages that anchor, a script for the money moment — for someone who already knows their base rate (see [freelance-rate](../freelance-rate/SKILL.md) to derive it).

What This Skill Produces

• The model map — hourly / day-rate / fixed-project / retainer / value-based, matched to each engagement type they actually sell
• The package structure — three tiers with the anchor built in, and what's deliberately excluded from each
• The rate-conversation script — saying the number, then the silence; deflections for "what's your best price" pre-answered
• The discount policy — what earns a discount (scope cut, longer commitment, prepayment), the floor, and the no-discount discount alternatives

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• Base day/hourly rate — derived, not guessed (route to freelance-rate if missing)
• The engagement types they actually sell — quick consults, defined projects, ongoing work — each may price differently
• Scoping confidence per type — fixed-price is only safe where they can scope within ±20%; be honest
• Client landscape — enterprise vs small business vs startups changes packaging and payment terms more than the rate

Framework: The Structure Rules

1. Match model to uncertainty: well-scoped repeatable work → fixed price (you keep efficiency gains); discovery-heavy or ambiguous work → time-based (client keeps the scoping risk); ongoing availability → retainer with defined capacity, never "unlimited access."
2. Three tiers, priced to anchor: the top tier makes the middle look reasonable (most buyers take the middle); the bottom tier is genuinely minimal — its job is to make skipping it feel like a real trade-off, not to be cheap.
3. Exclusions do the work: each tier lists what's not included (revisions beyond N, rush turnaround, extra meetings) — that's where scope creep dies and upsells live.
4. Say the number, then stop: state price plainly, no trailing justification, no "...but I'm flexible." The silence after is the client's turn. Discounting against silence is negotiating with yourself.
5. Discounts buy something or don't exist: smaller scope, longer commitment, prepayment, a referenceable case study — a discount with no exchange just reprices every future engagement. Know the floor (from the rate math) below which work loses money, and decline below it.

Output Format

Pricing Structure: [practice]

Model Map

| Engagement type | Model | Why | Risk it assigns |

|---|---|---|---|

Packages

[Tier 1 name] — $X: [included] · Not included: […]

[Tier 2 name] — $Y (most clients): …

[Tier 3 name] — $Z (the anchor): …

The Money Moment

Saying it: "[script]" [then silence]

"What's your best price?" → "[deflection that trades, not caves]"

"That's more than we budgeted" → "[scope-cut offer, same rate]"

Discount Policy

Earns a discount: [list with exchange rates] · Floor: $[N] ([why]) · Below floor: decline script

Quality Checks

• [ ] Every engagement type has a model AND the reasoning for it
• [ ] Fixed-price only where scoping confidence is stated ±20%
• [ ] Each tier lists exclusions, not just inclusions
• [ ] The script ends at the number — no trailing hedge
• [ ] Every discount names what it buys; the floor is computed, not felt

Anti-Patterns

• [ ] Do not use one model for everything — the model is per-engagement-type
• [ ] Do not fixed-price ambiguity — that's donating the scoping risk for free
• [ ] Do not build a cheap bottom tier to "win volume" — it attracts the clients who cost the most per dollar
• [ ] Do not justify the rate after saying it — justification signals negotiability
• [ ] Do not discount without an exchange — reprice scope, terms, or timeline instead