Tristan says: Hey Nick, love your content. Been setting up my agency for the last couple of months. Actually just about to install my first automation for a popular wedding band over here in Scotland. They're on a free trial for 6 weeks and if they like it, we're going to go to a monthly plan. It's a system that receives all their inquiries, generates a quote, and makes a draft email for them. I suggested it purely from watching Instagram stories where they're saying, 'We're sorry for the slow responses.' Nice. So, you did some sort of outbound Instagram approach. Fantastic work. That's killer. I'm going to save them at least 15 hours a week. My question is, when it comes to pricing, how do I justify my price? Where should I even start?
So you said you're offering a free trial for 6 weeks, then moving to a monthly plan if they like it. I'll be honest—that's not a good way to pitch automations; you've done it, so you'll have to live with it. But think about it from their perspective: this is fear‑based because you get them used to the system for six weeks and then threaten to take it away unless they pay. I don't like operating that way. I prefer people to fall in love with the value so much they want to pay me hand over fist. Here's how I'd do it: offer the system build for free, and only if they absolutely love it would I ever ask them to pay. Then I'd make them love it so much that the natural question becomes, 'Hey Nick, how can I pay you?'—and I'd have them start that conversation with me, not wait until the end of a six‑week period. In terms of pricing, it's hard to give a exact number, but consider: how much money were they making before? How much are they making with the system? What's the opportunity cost of the leads they're missing? How much more money do you think they'd make with the system versus without it? How much time would you be saving them? Add all that up into a value number, then charge maybe a third or a quarter of that. For example, saving 15 hours a week is one part of the value—but it's not just about time savings. There's actually a lot more that goes into a system's value. If you notice, I listed time as one of the last value components. Fifteen hours a week at $50/hour is only $750 a week. But because we gained three more leads this week and the average lead value is $1,000, that's $3,000—four times the time‑savings value. That kind of 4× differential between front‑end and back‑end value is typical. Thank you, Builder Tutorials and Techul—much appreciated. Okay, I think I'll leave it there; hopefully this makes sense.
Right now you're focused on the savings, and I think that's the main thing you've understood automations to provide, but savings is a small fraction of the total value of an automation. Say you build a system that saves 10 salespeople 1 hour a week each — that's 40 hours a month, and if they're paid $50/hour that looks like a $2,000/month automation. That looks sizable, but it's only a small part of the value you're capable of providing. The big thing isn't the savings, it's the revenue: if you free up an hour of a salesperson's time and they can use it to close deals worth, say, $500 in that hour (amortized across their whole workload), you're not just saving $2,000, you're making them an extra $20,000. That's the difference between a savings mindset and a revenue mindset — it's opportunity cost. When I sell a cold email system, I don't say 'this saves you $50/month on cheaper leads,' I say 'this frees up 10 hours a month of your salespeople's time, worth $500/hour, meaning it makes you $5,000.' Reorient your pitch around revenue, not savings — savings only matters if you're working with a multi-billion dollar enterprise. On your second issue: 3,000 emails to one booked meeting is a 0.03% booked-meeting rate. Two meetings would be 0.06%, three would be 0.1% — that's totally fine, not the best ever (ideally 0.5-1%, a meeting every ~200 emails), but it proves it's possible. You've run the equivalent of a 10-minute mile; now make your copy better and run a 9-minute mile.
Think about it from my perspective — I'm already making a lot of money and don't need more talent, so the only way this becomes worth my while is if you do all the work for me upfront. Identify a specific problem I'm suffering from that's costing me money, solve it, and package the solution so all I have to do is click one button — don't make me come up with the problem, the solution, or a management structure for you. Don't pitch like 'I'd like a job, I'm feeling lost' — instead, put yourself in the shoes of the person you're reaching out to, understand what they're actually struggling with, do all the work, then present it: 'I think I can make you this much money — all you need to do is respond with X, Y, Z. Say yes and I'll get started immediately, you can pay me after it's done.' That's how you pitch working for someone for free. I'm good right now and probably will be until $300-400K/month, but when I am hiring again, the people who've engaged with my content will be the first I look to — you can copy this approach for other people too.
Asset-based outreach requires more time and energy upfront; it yields higher conversion but costs more money and results in fewer leads per day due to bottlenecks. In contrast, a book-a-call CTA converts lower but costs less money because you don’t need to generate assets, and the main bottleneck is scraping Apollo, which costs about 75 cents per 1,000 leads. You can get an Appify subscription and pay per use of your $26 credit (or less with my Nick 30 code). I'm 66 years old, learning this every day, and I'm enthusiastic about it. Regarding guarantees, I offer a Vappy bot that handles calls and orders via a POS system; I guarantee it will save you X, Y, or Z in dollars or hours, or you don't pay. On Maker School: it's purpose-built for people with zero sales experience, those at the start line of their business lacking daily accountability, sales systems, or pitch experience. If you have zero sales experience, this is the system for you. The main expenses are cold email and the Upwork community (the third lead-gen approach I discuss, which is free but time-intensive). Upwork averages $2-$2.50 per application; I recommend sending 10 applications per day ($25/day) for 30 days. In practice most people send only three to five per day, which still yields ROI because you spend the money gradually and can recoup it when a client pays a few hundred dollars. Instantly costs between $40 and $100 depending on the plan. Lead costs are about 75 cents per 1,000 leads, and with my Apify coupon they're even less; you may have some upfront fees, budgeting a few hundred dollars if you're going to be consistent, otherwise it could be around $100. As for Russell's question about free value offers in cold emails: the best offer is to promise to make or save the prospect a specific amount of money, and if you don't deliver, they pay nothing; you'll keep working until you achieve at least the minimum result, then pitch them something else, and even if they don't fall in love with you, you won't charge them. This kind of offer might have a 30-50% refund rate, but it generates strong front-end interest, especially for beginners who gain conversations and skill rapidly. Finally, offering to implement a simple workflow for free can be effective as long as the workflow is personalized and directly tied to a measurable return on investment, balancing risk mitigation with the guarantee.
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I start with a kickoff call where I deliver quick wins to minimize buyer's remorse, and I always take payment upfront before any work begins - never considering a client 'onboard' until the money is in my account. After receiving payment, I create a detailed proposal that serves as both a sales document and a roadmap. Roughly 60% of the proposal outlines the client's problems, demonstrating my understanding from any prior small project; about 20% covers the proposed solution; the remaining 20% discusses logistics, principally compensation. I typically pitch a large monthly fee - recently moving from $6,900 to around $12,000-$12,300 - and often add a revenue-share component to align incentives, inspired by the idea that sharing upside makes both parties more comfortable and can lead to more money. I discuss performance-based versus flat pricing, noting that beginners should lean performance-based, intermediates may go flat, and experts often return to performance-based because they have confidence in delivering results. Once the client agrees and pays, I invite them to a kickoff call to set communication expectations: I'm highly reachable via Slack (within 15 minutes) and hold daily office hours from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. PT, plus a weekly strategy session. I ask clients to commit to the same recurring time each week for at least 50 out of 52 weeks, emphasizing consistency so they take the calls seriously and see ongoing value. During each meeting I review wins from the past week, outline what I'll do next, and address any questions or fires, ensuring I always show up with something tangible to justify the retainer. I then follow the roadmap, checking off the 45-plus tasks in order, and optionally sync with the client's project-management system (though I've moved away from using my own ClickUp board as the single source of truth). I also note that other agencies like DesignJoy use shared boards, but I prefer bringing a quick note of wins and next steps to each meeting.