Pricing identity work: the three-option proposal I send every client

A single number invites haggling. Three clearly different scopes invite a decision. Here is how I build them.

For my first four years I sent one price, and nearly every client in Karachi asked for a discount. Not because they were cheap, but because a single number gives a buyer only one move: push it down. When I switched to three options, the conversation changed from "can you do it for less" to "which one fits us".

The three options

Option one, the Foundation: wordmark, colour palette, two typefaces and a one-page rules sheet. Option two, the System: everything in Foundation plus a full brand book, a pattern or illustration set, and templates for social, menus or price tags. Option three, the Rollout: everything in System plus design of their first ten real touchpoints, from the shop sign to the WhatsApp catalogue.

For a typical Karachi cafe right now those land at roughly USD 900, 2,400 and 4,200. For a Dubai or UK client the same scopes come in higher, because the rollout involves more print vendors and more meetings across time zones.

What makes it work

The options must differ in outcome, not hours. Nobody wants to buy "fifteen extra hours". They will happily buy "your team can make their own Instagram posts without breaking the brand".

Price the middle option to be the one you want, and make the top option genuinely better, not padded. About seventy percent of my clients choose the System. Around one in five choose the Rollout, which pays for the quieter months.

Finally, put payment terms in the proposal itself: fifty percent to start, thirty at the design presentation, twenty at hand-off. Clear terms up front have saved me more money than any rate increase.