01
Gather the full cost picture
You collect the scope, time, direct costs, overhead, risk, and profit inputs before discussing price.
Made for Consultants
Set a Price Floor Before the Sales Call
25 min
Intermediate
Boundaries
Earn More
Turn the real cost of an engagement into a minimum quote and a short list of scope changes for handling price pressure.
We'll use them to write your prompt.
Completed ✓
Make Your Play
Give us the situation. We’ll build the prompt.
You can protect your time, overhead, and profit before client pressure makes a weak price feel reasonable.
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What you'll do
This is the plan inside your prompt. Add your details first. Then follow these steps with ChatGPT or Claude.
02
Check the assumptions
You find missing work, double counting, and weak assumptions before they distort the calculation.
03
Calculate and pressure-test the floor
You calculate the fee, round it up, and test whether the result still works if the most uncertain part takes longer.
04
Prepare the scope tradeoffs
You turn price pressure into a scope decision instead of an unplanned discount.
Make Your Play
Set a Price Floor Before the Sales Call
Tell us what the prompt needs to know
Start with the questions below. Each answer personalizes the playbook and builds the prompt you’ll use at the end.
Your situation
Describe the client problem, deliverables, timeline, decision-makers, and anything explicitly outside the engagement.
0/10000
List estimated hours for delivery, preparation, meetings, revisions, project management, and other work.
0/10000
Enter the minimum amount you need to earn for each working hour before overhead.
Enter the total travel, software, subcontractor, material, or other direct expenses for this engagement.
Choose whether you will apply overhead as a fixed amount or as a percentage of labor cost.
Enter the fixed overhead amount or percentage that matches your selected method.
Enter the percentage you need for uncertainty such as delays, access problems, extra coordination, or unclear inputs.
Enter the percentage of the final fee you want to remain as profit after your cost base.
List work that could be removed, limited, delayed, handled asynchronously, or completed by the client.
0/10000
This playbook was updated. Review your inputs before copying.
What you'll do
Check a step when you finish it.
01
Gather the full cost picture
You collect the scope, time, direct costs, overhead, risk, and profit inputs before discussing price.
02
Check the assumptions
You find missing work, double counting, and weak assumptions before they distort the calculation.
03
Calculate and pressure-test the floor
You calculate the fee, round it up, and test whether the result still works if the most uncertain part takes longer.
04
Prepare the scope tradeoffs
You turn price pressure into a scope decision instead of an unplanned discount.
Fill in the fields above to generate your prompt preview.
Assembled prompt
Beginner instructions
Start with your best honest estimate of every hour the engagement will take, including preparation, meetings, revisions, and administration. If you are unsure, state the uncertainty instead of entering zero. Treat profit margin as a percentage of the final fee, not a simple markup on cost.
Advanced instructions
Run a second pass with higher revision, meeting, or delay assumptions if the engagement has unclear ownership or several decision-makers. Compare the floors, choose the risk case you can defend, and add the assumptions that must appear in your proposal.
Use this when
Use this before a sales call, proposal discussion, or fee negotiation when the scope is clear enough to estimate but still carries delivery risk.
You'll need
- Scope and deliverables
- Work breakdown
- Required hourly earnings
- Direct expenses
- Overhead method
- Overhead value
- Risk reserve
- Target profit margin
- Possible scope reductions
You'll get
- One documented price floor and a rounded minimum quote
- You can explain every cost included, state the assumptions behind the number, and offer at least three specific scope reductions instead of lowering your rate.
By the end of this playbook
You will have:
- One documented price floor and a rounded minimum quote
- You can explain every cost included, state the assumptions behind the number, and offer at least three specific scope reductions instead of lowering your rate.
Examples
Progress 1 of 4