Our clients know we use generative AI to write our initial drafts, and they are starting to push back on our fixed-fee retainers, demanding we bill only for the hours spent reviewing. How do we run a Thinking Time session to restructure our pricing model so we do not pass all our efficiency gains back to the customer?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a classic pricing predicament, and you cannot solve it with a quick email or a defensive discount. You need to schedule a dedicated Thinking Time session using Keith Cunningham's framework to restructure your entire billing philosophy.

Sit down with a blank sheet of paper for forty-five minutes and address this specific question: How might we price our services based on the value of the outcomes we deliver so that our clients do not care how many hours or tools we used to get there?

The core mistake is billing for activities rather than outcomes. When you bill by the hour or justify your retainer based on effort, you punish your own efficiency. AI allows you to deliver the same strategic results in a fraction of the time. If you pass that efficiency directly back to the customer in the form of lower fees, you are giving away your margin for free.

During your Thinking Time, design a value-based pricing model. This means charging a flat rate for a completed deliverable or a monthly flat fee tied to specific business performance targets on your V/TO. You must reposition your agency as the expert partner who buys back the client's time, not a low-level vendor selling raw labor hours. If they want to pay for hours, they can hire a cheap internal team to struggle with the AI prompts themselves.