Most New Agency Owners Charge The Wrong Amount

Have you ever typed how much should I charge for marketing services into Google and got a completely different answer every time? Some people say 500 a month, others say 2,000, some say just charge whatever feels right. And that is exactly why most beginners either undercharge and burn out or overcharge and never manage to get even a single client. Pricing is the one thing I see beginners get wrong more than anything else. So, here's how to fix it. There's a simple three-question test and once you see it, you'll understand why most people price their services completely wrong. I built three seven-figure agencies, worked with over 1,500 businesses, run thousands of campaigns, and today I do it all as a one-person agency with zero employees. And this is the framework I use. So, in this video, I'm going to show you exactly how it works, how to pick the right number, and how to say your price so clients actually say yes instead of let me think about it. Let's start with why getting the price wrong kills most agencies before they even get going. When you don't know what to charge, one of two things happens. First, you charge too low because you're nervous. You pick 50 bucks a month or 97 bucks a month cuz it feels safe. Sure, the client says yes immediately and that feels great until you realize what you just agreed to. Because now you're doing real work for less than the client spends on coffee. So, you burn out, you resent the client, and when you try to raise the price later, they push back because they never understood the value in the first place. Or the opposite happens. You charge too high because someone on YouTube told you to. So, you walk in asking for 2,000 or 3,000 dollars a month on your very first conversation with a business owner who has never heard of you before. They say they need to think about it, but then you never hear from them again. Both of those different outcomes come from the exact same mistake. You picked a price based on what felt comfortable to you, not based on what the service is actually worth to them. So, here's how to fix it. And I call it the price anchor test. Before you name a number to any client, I want you to answer these three questions. Question one, what is this actually worth to the client? Question two, what does it cost you to deliver? And question three, what price makes it easy for them to say yes while still giving you a healthy profit? Let me break down each one of those for you now starting with question one. What is this actually worth to the client? The service I'm going to use as an example here is reputation management. Basically, what you're doing here is helping local businesses automatically get more Google reviews. And this service runs anywhere between $197 and $297 a month. And let me give you an example of why this number falls in such a sweet spot once you do the math. A dentist might make anywhere from $4,000 to $10,000 from a single new patient over their lifetime as a customer. That's just one person who came in for a cleaning. And if that patient refers just one single friend or family member, you just doubled that number. So, if your system brings that dentist just one new patient, your $197 monthly fee is already covered for the entire year. Everything after that is just pure profit for them. And this isn't just dentists. A new customer for a heating and cooling company, well, one service call is 300 to 500 bucks. But, a customer who comes back every year for maintenance, who refers their neighbors, and eventually replaces their entire system, well, that's $5,000 to $10,000 from one person. What about a new patient for a chiropractor? Well, one visit might be 60 bucks to 80 bucks. But, a patient who comes in twice a month for 6 months, it's nearly $1,000. And if they bring their partner along, now you're looking at $2,000. Even lower ticket businesses like restaurants and salons, pet groomers, bakeries, well, all of these can get a real ROI, return on investment, from something like this. When done right, one customer is never just one customer. It's repeat business. It's referrals. It's long-term value. So, before your next client conversation, write this down. What is one new customer worth to this business? Then, use this as your guide. Higher ticket businesses like dentists, HVAC, roofers, chiropractors, one new customer is worth $2,000 to $10,000 to them. So, charge $297 to $497 a month. And for every dollar they pay you, they're getting roughly $10 back, usually more. For lower ticket businesses like gyms, salons, coffee shops, well, one new customer is worth $500 to $1,000 over their lifetime. Charge $197 a month, and they're still getting back $3 to $5 for every dollar they spend with you. The goal is always the same. Make sure the client is getting significantly more back than what they're paying you. That's how you keep happy clients and keep them long-term. Okay. Question two. What does it actually cost you to deliver? This part surprises most people when they see it. See, the software that runs the whole review system, automatically sending review requests to customers and tracking responses and putting together monthly reports, is called HighLevel. It's the platform I use to run my entire agency. starts at $97 a month, which covers you and your first two clients. So, your very first client at $197 a month already puts 100 bucks in your pocket after the software is paid for. You're profitable from day one. When you're ready to grow past two clients, the next plan is $297 a month and gives you unlimited clients. At that point, two clients at 197 each covers the software entirely and everyone after that is just pure profit. And the time it takes to manage each client once everything is set up, maybe 30 minutes a month to check the report and send it over. Side note, the link in the description going to give you an extended 30-day free trial instead of the standard 14 days. So, you've got twice the amount of time to get your first client and have them all set up before you pay a single dollar. Okay, back to what to charge. If you're out there charging $97 a month while helping a business get a $5,000 customer, you're not being humble or generous. You're just grossly misunderstanding the value of what you're actually selling. The price needs to reflect the actual numbers. Not fear, not guessing, just the math. Now, here's the part that actually determines whether the client says yes or not. That's question three. What price makes it easy for them to say yes while still giving you a healthy profit? This is exactly where the $197 or $297 price range comes from, and this isn't just some random number. Over the past 13 years, I have sold every marketing service at every price point imaginable, from free all the way up to six-figure contracts with companies like Google, Amazon, and Meta. And I can tell you that if I was starting over from scratch today, this $197 to $297 range is exactly where I would start. It's low enough that a business owner doesn't need to shop around or get approval from anyone. A dentist, a plumber, a gym owner, any of them can say yes on the spot. No budget meetings, no let me run this by my accountant. But, it's also high enough that you're making real money from your very first client. You're not doing this for exposure, you're not doing it for experience, you're not hoping that volume eventually saves you. Every single client who signs up puts real money in your pocket. And, if you do this right, it can stack up fast. Now, how do you actually say the number out loud without flinching? This is important because most people do not lose clients because the price is wrong. They lose clients because of how they present the price by hedging, softening, or apologizing for the number before the client even reacts. Saying things like, "It's usually $297, but I could do $197 for you just to get started." Or, "$97." Or, "Lower." Suddenly, you're negotiating against yourself before they even said anything. So, don't do that. Because the moment you do, the client knows you don't believe in your own price. So, here's exactly what to do instead. Write this down. The service is $197 a month. That covers everything. Setup, the automated system, and a monthly report showing exactly what improved. Most clients see new reviews coming in within the first 2 weeks. Say it, then stop talking. The silence after you say the number isn't awkward. It's them doing the math in their head. You got to let them do it. If the silence goes on for too long, they'll say something like, "Are you still there?" To which, the only correct answer from you is, "Yep, I'm still here." Now, let's talk about how that grows. Because $197 a month is just where you start. Here's what the full picture looks like when you start adding services for a single client over time. First, reputation management, like we've already discussed, for $197 to $297 a month. Next, AI receptionist and AI agent inside HighLevel that automatically answers missed phone calls for 300 to 500 a month. From there, websites and follow-up automations for an additional 300 to 500 a month. One client, all three services, that's anywhere from $800 to $1,300 a month from a single relationship. And here's why this matters beyond just the bigger numbers. In a standard, typical, traditional agency, if you've got 25 clients and a normal monthly drop-off, you're losing one or two clients every single month, which means you need to sign one or two clients every single month just to stay even. I mean, still enough to quit your job and run your own business and live life on your own terms, but you're not growing. You're just replacing the clients you lost. What you actually want though is growth. And adding more services to each existing client is how you get it. Now, let me show you what all of this actually looks like inside the software. When you log into a client's account inside HighLevel, there's a reporting section that shows you exactly what the review system has been doing. You'll see how many reviews came in, how their rating changed, how they now compare to competitors in their area. This is the reports you send at the end of every month. Literally one screenshot and two sentences. Something like, "Your reviews went from 34 to 52 this month. Your rating moved from 4.2 to 4.6. Here's how that compares to your two biggest competitors." That monthly report is why clients stay, and it's why the price conversation never really comes up again after the first month. Because once a client can see exactly what they're getting, they stop thinking about the cost and they start thinking that they can never afford to cancel, which honestly is kind of the whole point. Now, one thing I want to be straight up with you about before you go do this. Choosing a price and saying it out loud is not the hard part. The hard part is believing that you're actually worth it before anyone has paid you. Every single person who has ever built an agency went through this. The first time you say a number out loud to a real business owner, your voice might waver just a little bit. That's completely normal. You got to say it anyway. Because here's what I know from working with over 1,500 businesses. The clients who push back hardest on price are almost always the hardest clients to keep. The ones who say yes quickly and get started are usually the ones who stick around the longest. Your price is a filter. And at $197 a month, this filters out exactly the right kind of client for someone who's first getting started. Someone who values the result enough to pay for it without being so tight on budget that they second-guess every invoice. So, let me make this simple. There's two types of people watching this video right now. One is going to keep guessing, picking numbers based on whatever feels safe that day, and keep either burning out or losing clients before they even get started. The other is going to run the price anchor test, pick a number with confidence, and say it without flinching. So, the only question is, do you want to be someone who's still trying to figure out the perfect price a year from now? Because most people stay stuck here way longer than they need to. Or, do you want to have this figured out starting today? The full system, the review automation, the AI receptionist, the pricing templates, the monthly reporting, the client getting scripts that tell you exactly what to say, all of that is pre-built inside of my Agency OS, which I've installed inside HighLevel, and is ready to go the moment you start your free trial. Link's in the description below this video. And, if you want to see the complete step-by-step breakdown from picking your niche to landing your first client to scaling past 10K a month, I put together a free masterclass that covers the entire thing in the video that I've got linked up right here. So, feel free to tap or click that now, and I'll see you in there in just a second.