Next question from the front lines:

🗣️ “How do I pitch strategy work when the return on my work is long-term or hard to quantify?”

“Pitching” is a scary, outdated word.

Really we’re just talking about telling an ROI story — i.e. what value can the client expect in return by investing in an engagement with you.

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Typically, this story has six parts, in two chapters:

Chapter 1: Their problem → Your POV → Proposed solution

Chapter 2: Price → Process → Expected value

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Given the consultant’s question was about murkiness of long-term results, it seemed she had some doubt about the expected value.

In fact, she even followed up and asked, “Maybe I should provide a guarantee on my work?”

Guarantees on long-term work can be tricky, particularly because of all the factors outside of your control.

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What you can do instead is provide a quantification of how you would calculate expected value.

Simply put, the cost savings or revenue bump annualized over xx years:

• E.g. “Together, we’ll craft and enact a custom strategy to grow your user base by 10x over 3 years, unlocking $xx of ARR, based on $xx/user”

Then, support this with case studies of comparable results if you have them.

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If long-term projections still seem very fuzzy and hard to defend, you can provide a reframe of the expected value as a short-term payback period.

• E.g. “My strategy will help you 10x your users in 3 years (valued at $xx) but even closer to home, activities we set in motion in the first 3 months will recoup my fees 2:1.”

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All told, your client’s confidence in the expected value will likely make or break your conversion, but don’t ignore the other parts of the story.

A sturdy delivery of Chapter 1 provides a soft landing pad for your price and value conversation in Chapter 2.

For a mental model on pricing, check out this mini-series from August.

(Spoiler: it’s about value.)

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Up next:

🗣️ “What do I do with solid leads who keep kicking the can down the road?”

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💡

-Wes

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P.S. Last chance, 1-minute reader survey - feedback much appreciated!