If you’re focused on how much you can make from a client right now, there’s a good chance you’re leaving thousands of dollars on the table. In this episode of The Real Truth About Business podcast, I’m breaking down one of the most overlooked pricing strategies in service-based businesses: lifetime value versus one-time revenue. This is for service-based entrepreneurs who are stuck in a revenue plateau, constantly chasing new clients, and wondering why their revenue growth feels inconsistent. After 9 years of experience, I can tell you this is one of the biggest gaps in pricing strategy. Inside this episode, I walk you through how to use lifetime value to increase profit, stabilize your pipeline, and simplify your sales process without constantly being in client acquisition mode.

What You'll Learn:

• The difference between lifetime value and one-time revenue in your business strategy
• Why focusing only on one-time sales is hurting your revenue growth
• How to use retention to increase your conversion rate and profit
• Why client acquisition is more expensive than client retention
• How to structure offers that support long-term business growth
• How to calculate and use lifetime value in your pricing strategy

Episode Highlights:

[00:00] Introduction: The pricing strategy most people overlook

[03:00] Lifetime value vs one-time revenue explained

[06:00] Why high-ticket one-time offers aren’t always more profitable

[10:00] Real examples of retention increasing revenue

[14:00] How subscriptions and retainers build lifetime value

[18:00] Why client acquisition is draining your resources

[22:00] How to structure offers for long-term profitability

[26:00] The impact of retention on your pipeline and sales process

[30:00] How to calculate your average client lifetime value

Key Takeaways:

One-Time Revenue Is Limiting Your Growth

Here’s what I see constantly. Business owners focusing on closing the biggest sale possible upfront.

After 9 years of working with service-based entrepreneurs, I can tell you that approach often limits your revenue growth.

Yes, you might make $5,000 from one client.

But then what?

If there’s no next step, no retention, no ongoing relationship, you’re back to square one. Back to lead generation. Back to selling. Back to starting over.

That cycle is what creates inconsistency in your business.

Lifetime Value Changes Everything

When you shift your business strategy to focus on lifetime value, your entire model changes.

Instead of asking:

“How much can I make right now?”

You start asking:

“How much is this client worth over time?”

That could look like:

• Retainers
• Renewals
• Upsells
• Repeat offers

Inside the Focused Visionary Framework, this strengthens your Pricing and Pipeline pillars immediately. Because you’re no longer relying on constant new leads to sustain your business.

Retention Is More Profitable Than Acquisition

This is where the numbers matter.

Every time you acquire a new client, it costs you:

• Time
• Energy
• Marketing effort
• Sales conversations

But when you retain a client?

That cost disappears.

Which means your profit increases without doing more work.

Even a small increase in retention, just 10 percent, can significantly impact your overall revenue growth and stability.

Most Businesses Are Closing the Door Too Soon

This is one of the biggest pricing mistakes.

You complete a project, deliver the service, and move on.

No follow-up.

No next step.

No retention offer.

So the client assumes the relationship is over.

Not because they don’t want to continue. But because you didn’t show them how.

That’s lost revenue.

That’s lost opportunity.

And that’s exactly why so many service-based entrepreneurs feel stuck in a revenue plateau.

Your Offers Should Lead Somewhere

Every offer in your business should have a next step.

That could be:

• A retainer
• A maintenance package
• A follow-up service
• A higher-level offer

When you build your sales process this way, your pipeline becomes more predictable and your conversion rate improves.

Because you’re not constantly starting from zero.

Pricing Should Reflect the Full Relationship

This is where most people get it wrong.

They price their offers based on:

• Time
• Market rates
• What others are charging

But they don’t factor in:

• Retention
• Referrals
• Repeat business

When you understand your average lifetime value, you can price more strategically.

You might:

• Lower your entry price to increase retention
• Create easier entry points
• Focus on long-term profitability instead of short-term gain

And that’s how you build a sustainable business model.

Profit Comes From Stability, Not Spikes

This is the real goal.

Not random high months followed by low months.

But consistent, predictable revenue growth.

When you focus on lifetime value:

• Your pipeline stabilizes
• Your sales process becomes easier
• Your profit increases

Because you’re building on existing relationships instead of constantly chasing new ones.

You Need Data to Make This Work

This is not guesswork.

You need to know:

• How long clients stay with you
• How much they spend over time
• How often they come back

Once you have that data, you can:

• Adjust your pricing strategy
• Improve your offers
• Increase your overall profitability

This is CEO-level decision making.

And it’s what allows you to scale sustainably.

Resources Mentioned

• Subscribe to Back Pocket Insights for FREE
• Book a CEO Strategy Call
• Learn more about The Missing Piece Intensive
• Learn more about The Focused Visionary Accelerator
• Download the FREE Lead and Conversion Tracker
• Subscribe to the Sunday Morning Brew Newsletter

About the Host:

Michelle DeNio is a business strategist based in Sarasota, Florida, specializing in helping service-based entrepreneurs break through revenue plateaus using her Focused Visionary Framework. With over 300 podcast episodes and 9 years running her consulting business, she helps coaches, consultants, and service providers scale sustainably through strategic planning, pricing optimization, and sales process development.

Connect with Michelle

1. Website
2. Threads
3. Instagram
4. LinkedIn
5. Facebook

I wanna chat with you guys today about a pricing strategy that I feel is somewhat overlooked or maybe not even talked about in the online business space.

For sure.

I think this is definitely something that more corporate spaces tend to look at and tend to analyze versus the online service based space.

But it's the lifetime value versus one time revenue and the pricing strategy that goes around that of really looking at the difference of instead of thinking how can I make all of my money right now on this one offer, it's more about like what would it look like to keep this client on retainer?

Or what would it look like to retain this client?

Like I always say, like when you're in my work, in my world, you're in it for life, right?

Like what would it look like for.

To build a lifetime value of the client, right?

And this is a number that you can often look at and it's a data point in your business.

You, you can start to analyze and start to look at and understand the trend here.

And once you understand what your average lifetime value is of a client, you can then use that in your pricing strategy.

And I think that that is, it's so powerful when you start to see this because I think the online space is just so freaking wrapped up in this.

Like I just sold this $5,000 package and it's like, okay, great, you made $5,000 off of them one time, but what's the next step up?

And once they get out of that $5,000 package, then what you got to sell another one versus I might sell a $3,000 package that then has a retainer.

And I have somebody who just renewed now for her third retainer in a row.

So even though I started her at $3,000, I've made far more than that one of $5,000.

Had I just put her, you know, had I done that.

Now again, there's two sides to every coin.

But, but the lifetime value, I understand what my lifetime value is on a client and so I use that to make my pricing decisions.

And I think this is a key piece to pricing and it could be costing people just thousands and thousands of dollars because they're closing the door too soon.

They're closing the door too soon because everything is based on that one time client.

Okay, so that's what we're chatting about today.

I'm excited to dive into this one.

I love having this conversation.

So if you are ready, let's do.

Okay, so one time value versus lifetime value.

I think the definition is pretty simple and it's pretty Self explanatory.

But basically one time value is what is the value of this client?

One time, one sale, right?

With the assumption that they are going to come into your place of business, do business with you one time and never again.

Okay?

So you look at that, you know what your one time value is.

And then lifetime value is the total revenue that a client generates over the entire relationship they have with you in your business.

Okay, so again, let's just play this out a little bit.

Is if you have a business, and again, this is project based or done for you.

This is any service based business, even product based businesses, you can look at lifetime value.

I have several products that I buy on repeat that are on subscription basis, right?

Like this is, if you think about this, like look at anything that you have that's on a subscription, that subscription.

The reason that you get a discount to go on a subscription is because they're now basing it off of the lifetime value.

Because when you're on a subscription, you buy more than once, right?

So they're making more money off of you if you stay on subscription.

Right.

When I first moved to Florida, I said I was looking for new service providers like estheticians and different things.

And there was a service that I was used to getting every 5ish weeks.

5, 5, 6 Weeks.

And I, she kind of was like asking me about pricing and I told her this is what I pay, this is what I've been paying for years on years on years in New York.

And here's the situation.

You can charge me this and I'll come every five weeks like clockwork or you can charge me whatever.

Because at the time there was places that were charging almost like triple.

Not triple, but like I was paying 50, I think like some places were charging like 75, $80, right?

And I said, if you charge me $80, I'm going to stretch it out and I'm going to go every eight weeks.

So instead, so you're going to make, you know, you're going to make $160 every two months or six, you're going to make $80 every two months, every eight weeks.

Instead of me coming every four to five weeks at $50, you're going to make 100, right?

Again, this is what I mean by lifetime value.

That's what you have to look at is if you can keep somebody and have them coming over over time, right.

Where they're continuing to do business with you, you can work that into your pricing strategy.

So I'll give you another example Real life example of fva, the Focus visionary accelerator.

My signature offer.

Everybody tells me it's underpriced.

I really don't care because again, my pricing is based on lifetime value, not one time value.

I know.

And again, this is where I say, and this is what we do in fva.

So I am a product of my service, right?

I know that FBA has an average retention rate of 88%.

And my average client, like the average length of time that I work with a client is anywhere from three to five years, typically sometimes up to seven.

So again, I know that my clients have a three to five year lifespan with me.

And so FBA is priced with that in mind, with the intention that most people, 88% of people retain themselves, right?

So I make money over time.

I don't look at it through the lens of you come in, you do FBA and then you leave, right?

I tell everybody, I told you this in the beginning episode.

You're in my life, you come into my world, you're in it for life.

And I mean that.

And I have had that happen.

Even people that have left or, you know, decided to take a break from FVA or decided to take a break from being on retainer, I just had somebody book a call last two weeks ago where I haven't heard from her in over a year, right?

And she booked a call.

So again, lifetime value and they come back and that is what I look for because I don't like being in client acquisition mode, right?

Client acquisition mode cost me time, cost me energy, cost me resources as far as trying to market, sell, blah, blah, blah, all the things.

Whereas if I can just retain somebody and I can keep my pricing to a level that makes it like a no brainer for them to retain, that saves me the money, the time, the expense and all of the things from having to find a new client, right?

What?

There's always that saying, like you make, what is it like you make 80% of your money from 20% of your audience.

So this is, this is that exact thing at play, lifetime value.

But again, everything in the online space or what most people are teaching, because again, most people, whatever, I'm not going to say what I want to say, but are teaching one time, right?

It's all about this high ticket, raise your prices, do this, do that.

No, like, let's talk about what it looks like to actually just retain somebody and make money over the life of them, of them, versus like trying to make every single penny, you know, the minute they walk in the door I just don't.

That's personal.

It's personal to me.

I don't like to have this revolving door of clients.

I know some people really do love to have like that revolving door.

They get bored, they like having the turnover.

But again, I personally don't and I know most of my clients don't.

I know this for a fact, that most of them do not like having to be in constant state of client acquisition.

They like working with people long term and they price their offers that way.

But like, pricing to me is not just a pick a number and hope it sticks type of situation.

Everything pricing is like, I have that full calculator that's going to tell you exactly where you need to be pricing your offers based on what you're trying to achieve as far as your financial situation and what you're trying to get out of whatever, whatever your goals are financially.

And then we look at it through the lens of, you know, what information do we have, what trends, what patterns do we have?

Do we play into it?

There's so many pieces.

It's all very fact based.

It's not a like, oh, this sounds good or oh, somebody told me to charge this.

No, we look at it through the lens of like, what are the facts here?

Okay, so if you know your average client stays with you for 18 to 24 months and you know that they always upgrade and they buy multiple different offers and they always come back and they're referring friends to you, what is the value of that right then?

And like, what is the value in not having to acquire new clients, right?

Like, look at how much cost it is saving you and then work that into your pricing because the cost plays a role, right?

Expense is always more than investing, right?

Like you never want to have, like you don't want your expenses to outweigh that and like your time and energy to acquire new is a big time expense and it's a direct hit on your profit.

So the more expense you have to acquire new clients, the, the lower your profit margin.

That's just the way it's going to be, right?

So again, we don't want to have to worry about that.

Also too, if you have your offer set up for lifetime value and lifetime, you know, retention, you're not panicking every single time somebody says no because you know you already have a base built, right?

You've got clients and this works like again, for I'm going to give you web designers, graphic designers, brand strategists, right?

Like, are we building a website every single month?

No.

Are we getting a new brand every single month?

No.

But once you do a brand for somebody, let's say you're a brand strategist, design whatever, and you get this whole big new brand set up.

Like, in reality, in six months, there's going to be some new level of clarity, some new piece that they want to add, something that they want to tweak.

Like, this is where you can easily say, like, here's what's going to happen in six months.

I know for a fact, because it goes, all my clients go through this is something's going to change because it always does.

And so here's what I've got for you.

Let's meet every six months or every three months, and we're going to just do some updates, whatever those updates are, whether that's you need new graphics, whether you need whatever.

You know what I mean?

Whatever you want to offer.

But again, now you've just increased the lifetime value because you know that they are going to stay on retainer and you're going to be able to get additional work out of them.

And if they're on retainer, and then, oh, by the way, we've got this sub brand we want to create.

And, like, things like this just naturally happen.

And I understand, like, some people think, well, that's going to happen regardless how I price my offers.

Maybe, for sure.

But again, like, there are people like me who say, like, if you charge me this, I'll do it once.

Like, I'm big on this with brands.

Brand photos, right?

Brand photography is another one.

That's huge for me.

Like, I love getting new, updated photos, but I'm not paying two grand for a brand shoe every single time, right?

Where if somebody would just put me on retainer and give me four shoots a year or three shoots a year and charge me less, but knowing that I'm gonna do it three times a year plus, and I'm gonna do it again the next year and the next year and the next year they're gonna make far more than $2,000 on me.

And I'm going to be happy and they're going to be happy.

And likely I'm going to send a million people to them, right?

This is the thing.

Like, you've got to look at that and understand that it's not always about lowering your price.

It's about making money on the long term.

I'll give you another example of this.

In the corporate space when I worked, there was.

It was highly competitive in this one area.

And there was one Client, big client.

They were a big, big player in the game and we really wanted to win them.

And so we knew that their volume was high, so we quoted them low.

But we quoted them low on a product that really didn't have a lot of cost involved with it because it wasn't custom.

It didn't have to go through engineering, it didn't have to go through sales.

Literally it was just a production washer and 3P.

So we were able to price it low.

And it looked like from our competitor standpoint, like they just undercut themselves.

They're not making any money on that.

When in reality we were pumping out 20 to 50, 50 of them a month.

We were making so much freaking money off of them because again, our costs were low, it didn't require any type of customization.

So again, the lifetime value, like if you looked at it through the lens of one time, like you, yeah, okay, that offer was way low compared to our competitor.

However, the volume was there and we made up so much money by doing that.

So this is where I'm saying this is such an incredible pricing strategy when you look at it and know the facts and have some information and data to support with that.

All right, but, but most founders that I work with are killing lifetime value because they're literally simply just closing the door.

You're closing the door.

Moving on, closing the door, moving on, closing the door, moving on.

It's like, wait a second, wait a second.

How can we have a next step for these people?

How can we keep them on retainer?

And I know a lot of my done for you service providers or like one off project based business owners, the ones that do things on a project, they're always like, I don't, I, there's no way I can peel keep people on retainer because it's all project based.

Well, I just gave you three examples of how a project based business can keep people right on a lifetime value, but also too like just checking back in, right?

Checking back in with a client, staying top of mind, don't eliminate them.

One of the sales I just made was for somebody who I haven't heard from in, I don't know, maybe two years.

But she's on my email list and I put an offer out there, hit her at the right time, she bought again.

Like the door is never closed in my world.

That's what I mean.

So even if you take a break and we're not working together right now, like I never close that door.

Never.

Because I again know and understand the value of lifetime, lifetime value.

And I know if I keep the door open, 90% of the time, people come back.

And that is what is so important to me.

So again, if you, are you like Michelle, I'd love to have lifetime value first and foremost.

What I would love for you to do is evaluate this, go back through, look at your clients and look at how much money you've made from them over the course of a lifetime.

Now if you have like, and that's pretty simple, like if all of your offers go through ThriveCart, for example, you can type their name in and Thrive Cart's going to tell you how much money you've made over the lifetime of that client, depending on how long you've been using ThriveCart.

And if all your sales go through that, but it's going to give you a good average, right?

So you can look at it and go, okay, over the, over the course of two years, I've had these 10 clients and my average lifetime value is $10,000 or $12,000, whatever it is.

Like, use that, use that information.

Because now you not only see how long people on average stay with you on retention, but you also can then use that math and start to manipulate it and really understand, like how you can change or work your pricing to build in even more profitability through that lifetime value.

Right?

But again, you're probably, without realizing it, just killing it by simply never checking back in, treating every single offer as a dead end of like, okay, they're, it's done and when they're ready, they'll come back.

But will they?

Do they know how, do they know how to reach back out to you?

Do they know if there's even an option?

I just had a client do this where she put an offer out to somebody she worked with her, it was a four session type offer and she was all ready to kind of like be done, not be done.

But she didn't really have a next step for the client yet.

But the client did her own research and found a next step on her website.

Was like, I think I want this.

And she was like, I would have never sold that to her.

And I was like, well, why not?

She's like, I don't know.

I just didn't think it was something she'd be interested in again, that's what I'm saying.

Like, not every client's gonna do that.

Not every client's gonna go and figure out how they can take the next step with you.

They're gonna rely on you to give it to them.

And a lot of people will think like, the project's over and they don't offer any type of retention offer or anything like that.

So I guess I gotta find somebody new.

And this is why people are constantly hopping and moving on to the next provider.

Not necessarily because they wanna be, but because they feel like they have choice, right?

And so again, like, really thinking of this, every single person and just thinking of, like, okay, what would it look like for me to keep them in my world for life?

Right?

Don't close the door.

Don't make it difficult to continue working with you, all right?

And I think you've got to utilize this because it will increase your profitability.

And here's how.

Because, you know, everything for me comes down to profit.

And profit, which we have an episode on, profit that I recorded a couple weeks ago, so go back if you have not listened to that one.

But again, profit is in addition to your expenses and your pay, okay?

So this is not just about, you know, you taking the profit and paying yourself whatever is left.

No, this is saying, like, I pay myself, I pay my expenses, and I still have profit to reinvest back into my business.

Invest whatever, whatever you want to do with your profit.

So again, if.

Think about what your profit would do if you increased your customer retention just even by 10%, right?

So instead of.

So for every, you know, 10 clients, you retained just one extra of them, right?

Instead of having to find two new clients or whatever, you've, you know, if you have like a roster.

So like, if I give you an example, like, let's say you like to have 10 clients on retainer all the time, or 10 clients you're working with all the time and you have one that's coming up, but instead of just letting them go and having to find another one, which may require you to have five new conversations because you have, you know, 20% conversion rate, whatever it is, you know, maybe you just retain them now.

You're not really.

You don't have a spot open, right?

You don't have to even spend any time, money, energy to find a new client because you're just retaining them.

Like, think about your profit, that your profit is immediate increase there because you've done nothing to acquire them, right?

And like, what if you, Instead of finding 20 new clients, you just had to find five that just want to buy from you again, right?

Again, no call required, no discovery call, no conversation in the dm, just a, like, hey, I've got this new offer and I think it might be something you're interested in?

Hello.

Your marketing costs decrease, your sales process becomes easier, your pipeline becomes more predictable and your profit increases.

This is what creates sustainability in business.

All right?

It's that constant state of hustle.

And trying to replace clients is not sustainable for most people.

Okay?

So this right here, this lifetime value of a client, there's so many pieces to this, but this is what's creating the sustainability that so many of you are desperately seeking.

Okay?

So I want you again, like I said, go back and look and see, like, what is your average client actually worth over the lifetime of them, right?

So again, even if you want to go back five years, like add up how much money you've made on one client over five years, I guarantee you is probably more than that.

Your competitors $5,000 offer or your competitors $10,000 offer, right?

And then look at what percentage of your revenue is coming from Repeat clients.

Again, 80% of your revenue comes from 20 of your clients, right?

So again, it should be on average, it's about that, right?

So if it's not really look at, like, how can I increase my revenue coming from repeat clients versus new clients?

Okay, and then do you have a clear next step after every offer?

Are you just closing the door?

Are you closing the door and not leaving it open?

Because if you're closing the door and not leaving it open, that's money you're just throwing right away saying goodbye, see ya, go spend it with somebody else.

Closed up shop.

Right?

Again, don't make the assumption.

We do not make assumptions here in business.

We take ownership.

This is radical responsibility at its finest.

This is not, this is not putting all the responsibility on the client.

This is you as the CEO taking responsibility and making sure that you leave the door open and you have a clear next step for that client to come back through.

Okay.

And really thinking about, like, what is the experience that's making referrals a no brainer?

Right?

Like, because again, if you can get referrals, that's lifetime value too, right?

That's the lifetime value of a client.

If, you know, like, I have a client right now who is forever tagging me on threads.

So of course, when she comes to me and says, what does it look like to continue working together?

I'm going to work something for her different and we're going to have a conversation that's going to be a little bit customized because the amount of marketing she's doing for me just by simply sharing her own process, like that saves me so much time and effort in marketing.

Okay.

And so it's again, it's not always about lowering your price, although I do think that there's a time and a place sometimes for that.

But this is about looking at your pricing through the lens of.

I'm not looking at pricing my offers based on what I'm going to make in this moment right now.

I'm looking at pricing my offers based on what I'm going to make from this client over the lifetime of our relationship.

And when you look through that lens is, you know, again it's going to give you a different perspective and honestly it's so much more profitable.

This is why I say like everything comes down to profit for me and I am not a huge fan of like just pricing something higher.

This is why I literally just again reduced the cost and tiered out the Focus Visionary accelerator was because it was like I wanted to have options that allowed people to get in.

And again, knowing that I have an 88% retention rate, if I went back, when I redid this, I went right back to what has always worked.

Where am I always at?

What does it really look like?

And when I look at it, the path that always works is 4 or 6 months start date with a longer term retention and my retention rates are significantly less than the initial investment, usually about 50%.

When I say significantly like if my retention like I usually offer like some type of.

Most offers on my retention are about 50% depending on the scope of work, but are approximately 50% less to stay with me because again I don't have any retention, I don't have any acquisition costs into that.

I've already acquired you, so why wouldn't I make it worth your while to stay?

Right?

That's what's important to me and that's how my offers are priced and that's how I have made money over time and that's how I've made consistent money.

Where all of these other, a lot of other business owners are riding this crazy wild roller coaster.

I have had a consistent like I have not gone below a certain number in many, many, many years and a lot of that is simply through lifetime retention value pricing.

So there's power in this and it's so important.

And I think more of more service based business owners especially need to take this into consideration when they're looking at pricing their offers because it's not just about that one time.

It's not about how much am I going to make on this person one time.

It's what am I going to make on this person over the course of Time and again, making sure your time is covered.

There's so many pieces to pricing and we're going to talk a lot more about pricing, profitability, paying yourself next month.

But yeah, that is what is important.

And you have to have data.

You have to have data in order to support all of these decisions.

This is why I say it's so freaking important to what I call know the facts.

Know the facts.

That is step one in the Focus Visionary Accelerator.

And now, like I said, if you want access to the Focus Visionary, you can get it on the light plan for $250 a month.

And you also get access to calls.

So you get access to the framework, you get access to the calls.

And then if you want even more access, jump up into the Mastermind.

And then if want one to one, you can jump into the private tier.

But it literally is designed so that you can get the framework in whatever way you need to and in a way that makes the most sense for you.

But I'm telling you right now, the Focus Visionary framework is what is going to help you grow and scale and build sustainably and profitably.

Because if you're building a business that is not profitable, it is not sustainable, okay?

And all of these little key pieces are part of that.

And you, you've got to have a way to collect the data and most people don't.

So I created that for you, created the system.

All you gotta do is plug and play and it literally is going to tell you exactly.

And it's not a plug and play, like cookie cutter out of the box.

It's a plug and play, like adapt this, answer this question in your business and get the data for yourself.

I, I cannot speak enough about it because I just think it's so freaking important to have and make decisions from facts and you can't do that if you don't know how to gather them.

So anyways, jump into the show notes.

There's three tiers of offers in there now on the Focus Visionary Accelerator.

Seriously, what are you waiting for?

What, what is holding you back in getting this framework in your hands?

All right, I will talk to you soon.

If you have any questions.

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me as I am always available.

I'm always available.

Please hit me in the dms.

I love, I love, love, love chatting with you.

All right, I'll talk to you soon.