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The Pricing Psychology
How to Price for Value
If you’re still pricing by the hour → you’re not running a business.
You’re renting yourself out.
And yes, it feels fair.
It’s also the fastest way to cap your income and secretly resent your clients.
________
Here’s the math broken down
Hourly pricing assumes:
More time = more value
Reality check:
The better you get, the faster you solve problems
The fewer mistakes you make
The less hand-holding you need
↳ You get paid less for being good.
That’s not humility. That’s bad math.
Clients don’t buy hours
They buy:
Results
Time saved
Stress removed
Confidence restored
No one is rooting for your task to take 12 hours.
They want the outcome. Period.
If your pricing convo is about time → you already lost control.
Value-based pricing changes things
Ask this instead:
What is the outcome worth to them?
Examples:
A pinned post that converts lurkers into followers
A system that saves 10 hours a week
One call that kills months of guessing
A brand shift that finally makes selling feel natural
Thinking in terms of outcomes allows you to scale. Hours don’t.
Why hourly pricing attracts headaches
Hourly pricing signals:
You’re replaceable
Your thinking isn’t the asset
Your worth fits in 15-minute blocks
That’s why hourly clients:
Micromanage
Question invoices
Ask for “quick tweaks”
Value-based clients care about the direction you’re leading them into, not receipts.
Your experience is the product
How to price for value:
Anchor your price to:
• ▪ the size of the problem
• ▪ the risk you remove
• ▪ the time you save
• ▪ the confidence you create
Instead of:
“$150/hour”
Think:
“This is $1,500 because it replaces weeks of trial and error and gives them a reusable system.”
One sells labor.
The other “sells” leverage.
Packages > hours
Always.
Packages:
✓ Remove time from the convo
✓ Set boundaries
✓ Make pricing intentional
People argue with hours. But rarely argue with pre-existing packages.
If your work changes someone’s direction, not just their to-do list;
you’re already operating in value territory.
You just haven’t charged like it yet.
That alone should tell you something.
AI in CX that grows loyalty and profitability
Efficiency in CX has often come at the cost of experience. Gladly AI breaks that trade-off. With $510M in verified savings and measurable loyalty gains, explore our Media Kit to see the awards, research, and data behind Gladly’s customer-centric approach.
ABOUT ME
Hi, I’m Auny.
I am a personal brand consultant, community builder, working with people looking to grow their brands and presence on social media.
Started teaching people how to do what I do through X and my newsletter.
Check out what I offer here:
See you next time.
- AUNY 🧡
Smarter CX insights for investors and founders
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