SAMPLE — yoursaas.diy

Pricing that doesn't leave money on the table.

A working framework that turns your costs, your value, and the competitive market into a 3-tier price ladder you can publish on your site this week.

Sterling & Co. Pricing v2.1 · May 2026

1 Your Cost Floor

Below this number, you lose money on every sale. This is your gut-check, not your price.

Average across your last 5 jobs
What you actually want to make per hour
Stock photos, software, sub costs
Slice of monthly fixed costs per job
Cost floor: $5,800 · This is the absolute minimum you'd accept on the worst-case version of this engagement.

2 Their Value Ceiling

What this delivery is worth to the client over 12 months. Pricing scales with this number, not your hours.

New rev your work generates
$ they don't have to spend
Auto-calculated from inputs above

3 Your 3-Tier Ladder

The middle tier ("Anchor") is what most buyers will pick. The other two exist to make the Anchor feel like the smart, safe choice.

Tier 1 · Decoy
Foundation
$5,800
at cost floor · 0% margin
DIY-with-our-playbook tier. Designed to make the Anchor look obvious — never expect more than 10–15% of buyers to pick this.
Margin0%
Tier 2 · Anchor
Engine
$12,500
value-priced sweet spot
The default. ~70% of buyers land here. Priced at 60–65% of the value ceiling — strong margin for you, obvious value for them.
Margin54%
Tier 3 · Aspiration
Operator
$22,000
priced at value ceiling
"We run it for you" tier. 15–20% of buyers pick this. High margin, slow churn — sets the perceived value of the Anchor.
Margin74%
Why this works: The Decoy makes the Anchor feel safe. The Aspiration makes the Anchor feel sensible. Most buyers don't want to feel cheap OR extravagant — they want the smart, safe middle. You designed that middle.

4 Objection Handling

"That's more than I expected."
Reframe: "Let's separate the question. Is the price the issue, or is it the scope? The price reflects $X of value over 12 months. If your timeline or scope is different, we have a smaller version that still works."
"Can you do it for half?"
Never reduce price without reducing scope. Move them DOWN a tier instead — protect the price, downgrade the deliverable.
"I can find someone cheaper."
Agree, then differentiate. "You absolutely can. The question is whether the cheaper option gets you to the outcome — or whether it costs you more in lost time. We've seen $3k engagements turn into $30k of cleanup."

5 Renewal & Upsell Rules

1

Annual renewals: +8% baseline

Built-in inflation adjustment. Don't apologize for it — it's standard SaaS practice.

2

Move-up inside 90 days: 50% credit

Bridge from Anchor to Aspiration tier — credit existing payment, charge the difference. Removes friction at the upsell moment.

3

Custom scope: hourly billing only

Anything outside the package is billed hourly at $250/hr. Protects margins; trains clients to stay in scope.

4

Multi-year deals: 12% off year 2+

For Anchor & Aspiration tiers only — protects cash, locks in retention.

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