How should I price executive consulting work?
I’ve worked with many with C-suite clients transitioning to fractional or consulting roles, and there’s one costly mistake I’ve seen many times over.
While one of the first questions consultants want to know is whether the work will make them enough money, unfortunately, bringing up pricing too soon is a mistake many consultants make—and it has cost them the deal.
I’ll give you an example of a Chief Marketing Officer who pitched a $75,000 project that would last four months. The project was designed to open a new market for the client, who absolutely would have made many multiples of that amount as a result of the CMO’s work.
She mentioned her target price during the first meeting.
It spooked the client, and they ended up hiring someone else.
Why Leading with Price Backfires
When a consultant leads with numbers, it shifts the conversation away from value and onto budget. Clients often don’t have a clear understanding yet of the value they’ll receive from your work, so when a large number is mentioned early, it creates sticker shock. Instead of focusing on how you can solve their problems or generate returns, the prospect becomes distracted by the cost.
For consultants or fractional executives working in B2B projects over $10,000, the temptation to mention your rate early on is understandable. Maybe you’ve calculated what you need to earn in the upcoming quarter, or you’re excited about how your expertise can help the prospect, and that $15,000 monthly retainer is floating in the back of your mind.
But here’s the challenge: Until the client fully understands the value of your work, the price won’t make sense to them. And until they see that value, they are not going to feel comfortable agreeing to any price.
Understand Before You Price
One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen new consultants make is rushing to discuss numbers before they’ve fully scoped the project. Even seasoned professionals sometimes fall into this trap. But here’s the reality: until you’ve had at least three or four detailed conversations with the client, you don’t know enough about their needs to price accurately.
This means taking the time to understand their problem, their goals, and their constraints. A project might sound straightforward at first glance, but the devil is in the details:
What exactly needs to be done?
What value will it bring to the client?
On what timeline?
With what resources, and who’s responsible for providing those resources?
How will success be measured?
These are the questions that shape not only the scope of the project but also the ultimate value you’re delivering. It’s only after fully understanding the answers that you can confidently discuss pricing.
The Power of Value-First Conversations
Let’s revisit our earlier example with the CMO. While the project was definitely worth the $75,000 price tag, the prospect wasn’t ready to hear it. The mistake was in discussing the cost before establishing the immense value the project would bring.
Now, let’s consider the same CMO later on in her consulting career. She’s regularly closing deals at a $50,000 monthly run rate, because she has mastered the art of the value-first conversation. Instead of leading with numbers, she leads with understanding: understanding the client’s business, their challenges, and the outcomes they’re seeking.
By the time she brings up pricing, the client is already mentally sold on the solution. They’ve recognized that the value far outweighs the cost, and they’re excited to move forward. The client needs to fully agree with the value before they agree to the fee.
Patience Pays Off
Building up to the pricing conversation requires patience. But that patience pays off. Here’s how the process works:
Listen and ask questions.
The first few meetings should be focused on understanding the client’s needs and challenges. Ask insightful questions that help you get a clear picture of what’s happening inside their organization and what outcomes they’re looking for.Resist the urge to price too soon.
Even if the client presses you for a number, it’s okay to push back gently. You can say something like, “I want to make sure I fully understand the scope and the resources involved before I give you a price estimate. Let’s talk through a few more details.”Frame your expertise in terms of value.
When you start discussing the potential solution, make sure to tie your expertise directly to the client’s pain points and desired outcomes. Instead of focusing on the tasks you’ll be doing, focus on the results: revenue growth, cost savings, operational efficiencies, or whatever key outcomes they care about.Let the client ask for pricing.
By the time the client is asking you, “What will this cost?” they should already be convinced of the value you bring. Now, you’re not just quoting a number — you’re pricing a solution they desperately want. This flips the power dynamic. The client is now eager to hear your price because they know you can solve their problem.
Shifting to a Value-Based Mindset
For consultants making the transition from corporate roles to consulting, the shift to value-based conversations can be a game changer. In corporate settings, you’re often used to having your compensation defined by salary bands or market rates. But in the world of consulting, especially in the high-end B2B space, pricing is flexible — and it should be tied to value.
Think of it this way: Your price is a reflection of the value you bring, not just the time or effort you put in. A company might pay $100,000 for a solution that saves them $1 million, and they’ll gladly do so. But they need to see that connection between what they’re spending and what they’re gaining.
Avoid Pricing Yourself Out of the Deal
Remember that pricing too early can not only kill the deal but also leave money on the table. If you lead with a price before fully understanding the client’s needs, you might price yourself too low, underselling your expertise and leaving potential revenue on the table. On the flip side, if you throw out a number too early, it can scare off the client before they’ve even had a chance to appreciate your value.
Pricing Ranges
All that said, if you want to know how to price, the answer is… it depends!
Executive-level consulting should not be below $150 an hour, and can go up to $700-$1000/hr for highly strategic work. Generally speaking, you can start with the annual rate that this specific company might pay for a C-suite executive — let’s say it’s a startup that pays their executives $350K, then back into the hourly rate, which would be $175/hr. Since self-employed consultants have to pay a bit more in taxes, I’d then raise the rate to $200 per hour.
Ideally, however, you’d use that range to come up with a weekly or monthly retainer rate, for example $5,000/week, as long as you scope your hours and responsibilities carefully.
You would then weigh the proposed retainer against the company’s financial condition, the future financial value of the project to them, and other market conditions, to arrive at a final retainer proposal.
Occasionally you can price by the project, but I would not do that unless you’ve done that exact project at least five times already and you know exactly how long it will take you; otherwise you may end up losing money on the project.
Closing the Deal with Confidence
By the time you’ve had three or four deep conversations with the client, you should have a clear understanding of the scope, timeline, and resources needed to deliver the desired results. Now, you can confidently present a price that reflects the value you’ll deliver.
When pricing becomes a reflection of the clear value you bring to the table, it transforms from a cost to an investment in the client’s future success.
So the next time you’re tempted to talk numbers in the first meeting, remember: Value before price, always.
Your patience will be rewarded with better deals, higher retention, and clients who are fully bought into your work.