Exploring Pricing Models for Strategic Client Engagements

Peter J. · 2025-11-14T11:11:20.838Z

I feel this is a good discuss anything topic. Full transparency I prompted to see what information was out there as someone looking at strategic engagements with Clay. I added a screen shot here. Forgive me if people have a convo on package pricing. I was trying to stress test some pricing models that are a win win for us as consultants and for the clients in terms of what they could expect. I am coming more from a strategy side but know we have to execute well. Id be interested to hear feedback from others here in the mix. @Arpit C., anyone on the team have some concrete examples of what certain types of engagements cost based on their complexity? Wont hold you too it.. just looking around and thinking on it.

Exploring Pricing Models for Strategic Client Engagements | Clay

12 comments

· Sorted by Oldest

Arpit C.
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Curious about the source of the data in the screenshot
Arpit C.
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Also tagging some folks who might have insight into this: Stephanie H. Tyler Akash R. Amit S. Nat A. Willy H.
Peter J.
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Arpit C. Full transparency that it was some chatgpt prompting. I was trying to dig around on perplexity as well. Somewhat lazy prompt on that end but it has a few sources. https://www.perplexity.ai/search/i-need-to-research-pricing-tha-u4aB9GUGR7Kp5VFqNNMSwg#0
Arpit C.
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Ah I see, okay! The way I see it, pricing a project has many variables and barring larger projects, monthly pricing doesn't quite work. It helps to anchor yourself to an hourly rate which acts as your base price and then you can layer additional fees based on the value you're providing.
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Nat A.
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i have a client who was most comfortable with an hourly rate with a monthly cap and an estimate of how many months we’d be working on the project (rough hourly range) so that it could ultimately be 1 number as a line item on the annual budget. for value-based pricing i recommend reading Win Without Pitching and the more expensive Pricing book both by Blair Enns to wrap your head around those win-wins. it’s not an easy book or concept to master so even after practicing his stuff for 3 years i haven’t had easy wins - but it opened my eyes a lot
👏1
Stephanie H.
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For pricing, you have to consider your fee plus the cost of infrastructure plus the cost of data. Then you can calculate your retainer project by project. In 2010, I read two books that helped me transition from freelancer to consultant overnight. One was value-based fees, and the other was million-dollar consulting proposals.
Arpit C.
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I was gonna recommend Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss!
Peter J.
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Thanks everyone, I ran a marketing agency so I moved away from hourly pricing as it felt a bit too transactional and not as strategic. I am assuming here the client will be paying for any data or infrastructure costs. Im all about value pricing, big fan of Chris Do I'll read over the comments and thanks for your thoughts as its a worthwhile conversation. I have seen Alan Weiss's name around. Have a great week ahead eh!
Peter J.
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Blair Enns has been around for awhile :)
Nat A.
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Yeah, I never ever do hourly rates except this project was an exception — but of course if you look closely, it’s not really hourly since it was a single estimate number for the whole project. Always ends up that way haha
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Peter J.
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Nice to connect here Nat A. ...Im going to be quiet now and put on my learning hat 🤣 as I know the GTM world is its own beast sorta speak. I have worked with GTM consultants but havent really rolled up my own sleeves .. other than to test a few things here and there.
Nat A.
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I’m new to it too on the GTM front! My experience comes from other marketing services
1

Arpit C.
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Curious about the source of the data in the screenshot
Arpit C.
·
·
Also tagging some folks who might have insight into this: Stephanie H. Tyler Akash R. Amit S. Nat A. Willy H.
Peter J.
·
·
Arpit C. Full transparency that it was some chatgpt prompting. I was trying to dig around on perplexity as well. Somewhat lazy prompt on that end but it has a few sources. https://www.perplexity.ai/search/i-need-to-research-pricing-tha-u4aB9GUGR7Kp5VFqNNMSwg#0
Arpit C.
·
·
Ah I see, okay! The way I see it, pricing a project has many variables and barring larger projects, monthly pricing doesn't quite work. It helps to anchor yourself to an hourly rate which acts as your base price and then you can layer additional fees based on the value you're providing.
1
Nat A.
·
·
i have a client who was most comfortable with an hourly rate with a monthly cap and an estimate of how many months we’d be working on the project (rough hourly range) so that it could ultimately be 1 number as a line item on the annual budget. for value-based pricing i recommend reading Win Without Pitching and the more expensive Pricing book both by Blair Enns to wrap your head around those win-wins. it’s not an easy book or concept to master so even after practicing his stuff for 3 years i haven’t had easy wins - but it opened my eyes a lot
👏1
Stephanie H.
·
·
For pricing, you have to consider your fee plus the cost of infrastructure plus the cost of data. Then you can calculate your retainer project by project. In 2010, I read two books that helped me transition from freelancer to consultant overnight. One was value-based fees, and the other was million-dollar consulting proposals.
Arpit C.
·
·
I was gonna recommend Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss!
Peter J.
·
·
Thanks everyone, I ran a marketing agency so I moved away from hourly pricing as it felt a bit too transactional and not as strategic. I am assuming here the client will be paying for any data or infrastructure costs. Im all about value pricing, big fan of Chris Do I'll read over the comments and thanks for your thoughts as its a worthwhile conversation. I have seen Alan Weiss's name around. Have a great week ahead eh!
Peter J.
·
·
Blair Enns has been around for awhile :)
Nat A.
·
·
Yeah, I never ever do hourly rates except this project was an exception — but of course if you look closely, it’s not really hourly since it was a single estimate number for the whole project. Always ends up that way haha
1
Peter J.
·
·
Nice to connect here Nat A. ...Im going to be quiet now and put on my learning hat 🤣 as I know the GTM world is its own beast sorta speak. I have worked with GTM consultants but havent really rolled up my own sleeves .. other than to test a few things here and there.
Nat A.
·
·
I’m new to it too on the GTM front! My experience comes from other marketing services
1