Our corporate clients are demanding deep price cuts because they know we are using AI to produce our deliverables in a fraction of the time. How do we defend our margins and pivot our business strategy when customer expectations around pricing have shifted so radically?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

If you bill for deliverables that clients know can be generated in seconds by a machine, you are in a race to the bottom. To defend your profit margins, you must change what you are selling and how you price it. Shift your positioning on the V/TO® away from transactional deliverables and toward outcomes and strategic partnerships.

Start by auditing your core services during your next quarterly meeting. Identify the low-value components of your work that have been automated. Instead of discounting those automated tasks, bundle them into a comprehensive partnership model where you charge for the business results you guarantee, not the hours you work or the deliverables you generate.

You must also gradually evolve roles within your organization so your employees invest more time in high-impact priorities that are augmented by AI. When your clients realize that your team is using technology to run deeper analyses, spot risks earlier, and provide proactive advice, their focus will shift from the cost of the tools to the value of the results. As Andrew McAfee notes, the companies that thrive in this era are those that use technology to amplify human capability, not just cut costs. Your strategy must reflect that philosophy.