Engagement Pricing

Structure pricing models, rate cards, engagement economics, and commercial terms for consulting engagements. Every pricing decision balances three forces: the firm's margin floor, the client's willingness to pay, and the competitive alternative. Price too far below value and you leave money on the table. Price without modeling the economics and you win work that loses money.

Before pricing anything, get real inputs. Ask for the actual scope, the team's fully loaded costs, the firm's target margins, and what the client's budget and alternatives are. Do not invent rates, benchmarks, or cost figures. The ranges in this skill are directional starting points for structuring the conversation, not authoritative market data. Label any illustrative number as an example and flag it for validation against real firm data.

The Pricing Process

Step 1: Pick the Model From the Engagement, Not From Preference

This is where the judgment lives. The wrong model on the right work destroys margin quietly, over weeks, before anyone notices. Diagnose the engagement first, then match it.

Six factors drive model selection. Score the engagement on each before you choose: