As AI makes raw content creation and basic analysis completely free, our clients are starting to question the value of our advisory retainers. How do we apply the economic principle of becoming an indispensable complement to cheap technology on our V/TO® to justify our premium advisory fees?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When AI makes raw execution free, clients will quickly refuse to pay for manual labor. If you try to compete with machines on speed and cost, you will destroy your business. Instead, you must position your company as an indispensable complement to the technologies your clients are adopting. As economic experts like Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee have shown, when a core input becomes cheap and plentiful, the demand for its complement skyrockets. In this case, cheap AI generation increases the demand for human curation, strategic integration, and high-level accountability. Your clients do not just want automated outputs; they want business outcomes. To protect your premium retainers, update the V/TO® to focus your marketing strategy on this complement. Stop selling deliverables like reports or basic code. Start selling strategic outcomes and operational alignment. Your team should use AI internally to streamline cumbersome processes, freeing them up to spend more time on high-value advisory work. During your next strategic planning session, run an IDS® session to evaluate your current services. Identify any task that AI can execute for next to nothing, and automate it. Then, reallocate your team's capacity to deep client relationships, scenario planning, and business integration. By delivering the strategic layer that machines cannot replicate, you justify your premium pricing and build a highly differentiated, exit-ready business.