Funnel Series #13

Throughout this Funnel Series, we’ve been digging into the strategies, skills, and systems that make up successful funnels. In today's episode, we're taking it a step further and answering the big question I hear all the time, the thing that gets us all sweaty and a little bit scared: What should I charge for funnel services?

From understanding the scope of work to presenting your pricing like a pro, I’m giving you the tools you need to confidently quote your next project.

Listen to learn more about:

• Why knowing your Minimum Acceptable Rate (MAR) is the foundation of your pricing strategy
• The different types of funnel services (from simple lead magnets to full-blown evergreen systems) and how to price them
• How to scope a project effectively so you don’t undercharge—or overcommit
• Why is value-based pricing your secret weapon for aligning your rates with the ROI you deliver
• Tips for presenting your pricing with confidence and setting clear expectations with clients

Don’t let pricing your funnel services feel like guesswork! By the end of this episode, you’ll have the tools to charge based on value, own your expertise, and create a win-win for you and your clients.

I need your feedback! Please take the Annual Unicorns Unite Podcast Listener Survey here.

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Links Mentioned in the Show:

Listen to more episodes about pricing

• 3 Tactics to Raise Your Rates as a Digital Marketing Assistant #131
• How Virtual Assistants Can Go from Hourly to Project Rates #193
• Virtual Assistant Services & Pricing Guides with Emily Reagan #223 
• 4 Freelance Pricing Models #46
• Common Mistakes Service Providers Make on Packages #201
• How to Become a Digital Marketing Strategist #185

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Connect with Emily:

• Facebook Community: Emily’s Unicorn Digital Marketing Assistant Lab
• Instagram: @emilyreaganpr 
• Facebook: @emilyreaganpr

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1. Get on the waitlist for the Live Unicorn Digital Marketing Assistant School. My signature course on digital marketing implementation will give you the confidence and teach you HOW to do the work that’s in demand and highly marketable. This is the secret weapon to getting booked out. Or get started now with the Self-Study version of UDMA School here.
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3. Looking for a fast way to get your foot in the door with up-to-date skills? Take my 2-hour Quickstart to Facebook Community Management workshop and learn how to help online business owners like course creators and membership site owners manage and engage their community

  >>> Download my Top Ten Most Requested Digital Marketing Tasks & Services 

What do I charge for funnel services? What are clients willing to pay?

00:08

Hey, everyone, I'm Emily Reagan, and you've discovered unicorns unite. This is a podcast for

freelancers, service providers, virtual assistants, and curious listeners who would like to

experience the freedom and flexibility of working virtually. We're the magic makers, movers

and shakers and the real people doing the work behind the scenes of online businesses. Welcome to unicorns. Unite.

00:32

Hey there unicorns. Welcome back to the podcast and to the funnel series. I'm your host, Emily

Reagan here to guide you through the behind the scenes, magic of working as a freelance

Digital Marketer and marketing assistant. If you've been listening along, you know that we're

digging deep into funnels with the very, very long funnel series, what they are, why they

matter, and how to create them for your clients. I've invited tons of guests and still more

coming up to help us perfect certain parts of the funnel, ultimately, so we can say yes to the

job and build these funnels for our clients. In today's episode, we're taking it a step further and

answering the big question I hear all the time, the thing that gets us all sweaty little bit scared,

what should I charge for funnel services? If you've wondered how to price your work, especially

when funnels can range from a simple lead magnet to a full blown, Evergreen sales system.

This episode is for you. I'll break down the key factors to consider when setting your rates, how

to scope projects so you don't under charge, and how to confidently present your pricing to

clients who are ready to invest Whether you're brand new to funnel work or you're already

managing these complex selling systems for your clients, I'm here to help you really own your

value. Could that not sound more cliche? I'm not saying charge what you're worth. I'm saying

charge what the funnels are worth, but really make sure you're earning what you deserve. It is

a lot of work. It takes years of experience. You can see with all the different guests are having

all the moving parts, the tech, the messaging, the copywriting, the business strategy, the offers

that go into the process. So let's talk about numbers, the mindset and the strategy behind

pricing, your funnel, building services. Get ready to walk away with clarity, confidence. This is

what I charge, and here's why. But before we jump into all things pricing and just know that our

digital marketers or work group is accepting applications if you've been looking for community

to link arms, get referrals, get support, get more client leads and level up in your marketing

services and how you do marketing for yourself. Join us in the digital marketers work group. We're accepting applications. The link is always in the show notes. Or you can go to marketers

workgroup.com

02:52

I hope I see your name come through, and then I can refer work to you too. Let's dive in.

03:02

Okay, if you're not new to me, I am very much tactical technical and sometimes just cut to the

chase, not always good with the fluff, although I'm totally here cheering you on, sometimes I

like to get to it. So let's just do that in this episode. Let's get to the meat of it. First of all,

there's something I have to say. I talk about this in the pricing webinar I did last year. But you

have to know your minimal acceptable rate, your Mar This is the hourly rate that you will not

work underneath. Why? Because you know that your cost of living, the expenses in your

business, and you know what you need to make to make it worth it, and to actually have profit,

you need to have that number, and that number is different for everyone. Somebody starting,

yeah, it might be lower, but if you are, especially in a situation where freelancing is your full

time job and you are the breadwinner, it becomes a different ballgame. You're covering more

expenses. You're covering your own health care, your health insurance, and so that number is

different, but that's also why we're having this conversation about funnels. Because I want

freelancing to work for you. Maybe you're in a situation like me, where you find yourself, you

know, newly divorced, having to provide for your family, and you're like, I cannot work for $20

an hour anymore. I actually had a friend just text me. This also a single mom with a husband

who doesn't contribute with any kind of alimony, I should say, ex husband. And she's like, I

cannot work. She's she's in a regular nine to five. She's like, I can't do this anymore. This is not

worth it. I'm struggling. I have to make more money to make ends meet and live my life and

give the life to my daughters and the extracurricular activities. So you're gonna have to sit

down and do your air quote, back of napkin math. What is that for you? For years, I had the

support, and I do have element, and let me just say that really quick, but I had the support of a

military career and a lot of.

05:00

Charity and a lot of privilege that came with that. But things can change. And not having to

have all those extra expenses or having the weight of my family on that, I just have to preface

with this, everybody's situation is different. Okay, so the first thing, when we go into pricing,

you understand your hourly rate. This doesn't mean we charge hourly, but it just gives us the

basis for kind of estimating our time because our time matters. You have worked so hard and

put in all of the time investment, the learning, the mistakes, some of the crappy client work,

and working with crappy clients to get to this place where you're smarter, you're exceptional,

you deliver excellence, and you know what you're doing. And the fact of the matter is, it is

really hard to find freelancers who have the work ethic that you do, the love of learning, and

treat their clients businesses like their own. So you have a lot of the power right now when it

comes to it, and just because you are experienced and quick and efficient doesn't mean you

want to go hourly and get punished for being fast and good and high quality, but hourly is just

going to be a building block, like a quick estimation of time. This is going to be the basis of

estimating a lot of our projects. And I have other episodes on pricing and Freelancer models

and raising your rates and all of that. Like, go check those out. Hopefully my marketing

assistant will put it in the show notes. Like, there's more on this conversation. It's always a hot

topic, moving into strategy, all of that. We have episodes on that. But today I really want to talk

about specifically, like, the funnel work here. So funnels are the same thing, because you get

really good and, like, next thing you know, you're knocking on a thank you page and installing

the pixel and fixing the favicon and going ahead and including SEO, and your client doesn't

even know. They don't even know. And if you're just a marketing assistant like, whoa, Nelly, we

need to upgrade you. All right. So the first step before pricing is to really clarify what the client

needs and understand the scope of work. Email marketing and sales funnels vary widely. In the

last episode we talked about the difference. So a lot for email marketing, I love it because it

gives you this bread and butter paycheck coming into your business. It gives you consistent

client work. You know your client needs a monthly email. Some might email more than that.

Some might email us. Some go into launches. So email marketing, writing, scheduling the

newsletters, managing the email list, the segmenting, the cleaning the RE engagement,

analyzing the campaign performance strategy for ongoing engagement, like all of that can be

included in your monthly retainer. When it comes to email marketing services and sales funnels

are a little bit different. You are helping create the strategy. You're mapping it out. You're

developing a lead magnet. You're doing a landing page setup and optimization, all those little

things we talked about with the favicon and the social sharing images, the meta descriptions

you're writing and sequencing emails for nurture, upsell and sales you're analyzing and

optimizing funnel performance. There's a lot of options in there. What you don't want to do is

sell a sales funnel and be the person who gets stuck with this ongoing maintenance of it, you

didn't include it in the price or the sales funnel. Only had a part of the segmentation or a part of

the offer, and so really looking at the scope to determine the time, the expertise that's required

that all affects pricing you don't want to get in a situation, I can think of one of our unicorns

who did this, who thought the funnel was going to be one thing and it ended up being another.

So developing an intake form, getting on that call, asking those questions, and being very clear

about the client expectations, I don't like to offer a productized funnel unless I have a solid way

that only I build them. But here's the truth of the matter, every client's business is different.

Every tech stack is different. One time there are websites on show it, the next time it's on

Kajabi or WordPress, they have different graphic design needs. They have different

segmentation needs. I like to custom quote the funnels, but I know in general, like when I do

quiz funnels, I need about two weeks. It's gonna roughly be about this much time. I can then

calculate my MAR and add 20% in time buffer and 20% in cost. Because Hello, as women, we

tend to underbid ourselves, and so advice I give across the board all the time is, take a pause,

give yourself 24 hours before you actually send that proposal in, but take the time to look at

the scope and make sure you are getting it right and figure out which parts of the project are

your responsibility. Where is a team involved? Where is the client involved? For instance, I have

a client.

10:00

Right now, where I am the CMO, but I needed to get involved in the curriculum, and that was

beyond the scope. And so what did that cost me? Like, how did I have to communicate? Like,

this is kind of outside the normal marketing responsibilities. My point is, you want to know what

you're getting into, and you need to be as clear as possible. I think the phrase is clear as kind

with all forms of communication. Okay, so a lot of us need to just start with pricing model. If

you're new. I do love hourly for beginning, because it makes sure you don't get hosed. As

contractors, we do have to accept the risk, risk of loss or risk of a profit and hourly helps you

when you're new and you don't know how long projects are taking, you typically rates between

25 and $75 an hour. They really vary on your experience and your expertise. I coach the

marketing assistants who are straight out of udmay school with no experience to start at 25

they're already a leg up. They have other experience they can tap into, but just because they

haven't exchanged money yet, sometimes 25 is a better starting rate. I charge $100 an hour,

just because it's a flat, easy rate for me to do. As time gets more limited and unless available,

that rate goes up. For sure, if you're writing and scheduling a newsletter, you know that's going

to take five hours. So you could charge anywhere between 125, to 375, just some simple math.

There hourly rates work at the beginning. It also works when you're feeling lazy. But the thing

is, with funnels, we want to start getting out of that. I suggest starting by building lead magnet

funnels, and seeing how long does this take me, and knowing the variety of emails, the variety

of conditions and offers that you're putting in front of any kind of email subscriber is going to

increase the rates from there. And so project based pricing is really the goal here, and it's ideal

for well defined tasks like setting up a lead magnet funnel. And then you just have to put

clarification there. This is only five emails this, you know, could send to a welcome sequence,

but that will be additional. We could split it and have three different goals within this

automation, but that will be additional. So you kind of need to know where to start, and you can

build from that. You can consider breaking down the project into components, a strategy

session, an email sequence like the strategy session could be a couple $100 the email

sequence could be, you know, 500 to $1,000 a landing page creation depending on long form,

short form could be a couple $100 depending on how many graphics and whatnot. So you can

break it down, so your clients know what they're getting into and also know where their teams

could assist them. Sometimes, when I do a quiz funnel, people will say, Hey, listen, I actually

have a tech VA, you can do it. Will you just come in and double check them? Like, cool, yeah.

Okay, so it's gonna be like that. The proposal is gonna look different. But then you can think

about the retainers, because there are clients who need ongoing funnel optimization. They

need someone to look at the funnel, to report it, to make tweaks, to watch it, especially if

on the client's needs and your expertise. You do want to really factor in experience and the

results that you've gotten. So if you're newer, your rates will be lower, and that's okay, you just

don't want them to too low because of the price perception. It could be $500 for a simple

funnel. Anything lower than that is going to raise my spidey sense and make me think you

don't know what you're doing. You might not have confidence, and therefore I might end up

having to redo the funnel in the first place. So it's finding that sweet spot of, how do I convey

confidence and expertise without coming across desperate? And of course, as you gain

experience, you start getting the results, you start getting the amazing testimonials. You start

really seeing what works and honing in little things that make you different and how your

process is, what your your method is, um, really surprising and delighting the clients, because

you know this process inside and out, you increase your rates to reflect your expertise. Okay,

isn't out right now, but you can go download that. I'm going to put it in the show notes. This

thing gives me such confidence when I am bidding anything. When it comes to social media

sales, copy, opt in forms, Facebook, ad copy, this pricing guide is gold, and we'll give you a

really good idea of what you can charge and what the range is. And I'm just gonna say it know

that there are some industries, ie like the government, who are used to paying more, and there

are some industries and some types of clients who don't. And I'm just gonna say it like that,

realtors, i.

15:01

I hate to stereotype, but there just are some clients who are more aware of the value of a

funnel, of a marketing funnel, and will pay more for it. A more experienced client, an online

client, whether they're a coach or a service provider or course creator, or whatever, they

understand the value of a funnel more than maybe somebody starting new, especially if

they've already had a couple ones built, and then they're ready to really offload it. Get it off

their plate. So research the market, look at industry standards to your pricing. Freelancers will

know a lot of people disappointed with those agencies. So I always come in guns a blazing,

knowing I provide immense value to my clients, because I will get it done. I'm not going to be

the agency that overcharges and then just sends all the work to the Philippines. They are going

to get it done. It's going to be customized, and we're not going to have a million different

people slowing down the process. And so there's such a benefit in there. So to put it to you

plus, especially for complex, really high converting funnels. Like I said, the people who are in

this is this will get it and will want that, because we know that just a couple sales, we can get

that money back. It is a no brainer price, so don't go in feeling shy about quoting that. Okay, I

really want you to lean into value based pricing. I know you've heard me talk about this. This is

when you're charging for your time, your price based on the value of your work, the value that

it brings to the client. This isn't that bullshit. Like, charge What's your worth? Yeah, we're all

humans. We're all worthy. Blah, blah, blah, no. Funnels are worth it, period, end of story, clients

are willing to pay for it. Like, look, if the funnel you build a client generates your client 10,000

about that, especially if you're giving them the ability to make money. What sucks is if the

client doesn't have a vetted offer, and they don't have any products to sell, and they haven't

done the messaging and their research and the product fit research to make sure this is a good

offer. So I highly suggest being more aware of where your clients are and what they need. And

of course, we all have integrity here. We're not going to sell something to someone who is not

going to get them results like that's just going to be bad for our reputation. So if you need to

manage your clients expectations and say, Listen, I think we need to start this and test it.

Never, ever, ever guarantee results, that's okay. So always lean into value based pricing. That's

the trick to selling. What would it be worth to have a funnel that sells you 10 new clients every

month? Get your client to say that on the Discovery call, what would it be worth to them? Me,

okay, my self starter is $2,000 you sold me 10. That's $20,000 every month.

17:59

Emily, it's time to go on your evergreen funnel already, it's time to go. Girl,

18:05

it is time to go. Trust me, I'm working on it, and this funnel series is really lighting me up. The

timing is perfect. It's self serving, okay? You can also offer like, tiered packages if you offer

funnels. So I'm thinking of some of my unicorns, who are there. You can give clients like options

based on their budget and their needs. So a simple lead magnet funnel, you could productize

this one landing page, one thank you. Page, plus three emails, 500 to $1,000

18:32

what's cool is you do it over and over, like I have, and you can do it in your sleep, and you feel

so confident. And I actually love getting in and experiencing other tech. It just sometimes

things go wrong. Having someone in your back pocket who has worked in the tech who can

things go wrong. Having someone in your back pocket who has worked in the tech who can

help guide you in case something is going wonky is pretty much key, and that's pretty much

the reason I started our digital marketers work group. I've even had members, I'm thinking of a

sigh here, who have helped me when I've run into little blips with tech, and I'm like, Oh crap, I

don't have time to waste. Why is Aweber doing this? Someone? Please help me. And that's the

thing that will stop you from saying yes to tech. And then pretty soon, you'll get to this point

where you're like, Okay, I only do this. I only work in this tech stack. So think about like a basic

package, a standard package, like a full funnel series, a full sales funnel, which could be a lead

could get on upward, a premium package could be comprehensive. Funnel strategy, design

implementation, a checkout page, a nurture sequence and a pitch sequence, putting people

back into the sales cycle again, that could be three to $5,000

19:48

the best thing you can do is communicate the ROI of the funnel, because we're all going to

have sticker shock. We all feel like we're just bleeding money on our tech stacks, on our team,

and we're like not getting.

20:00

We need to done. But when the grand scheme of business, we need to get these big boulders

out of the way in our businesses and not sweat the small stuff. And this is the big boulder,

selling your signature program, your signature services, or whatever your clients are doing,

their membership, their coaching packages. That's always the goal, get more clients and sell

more. So you need to communicate, show your clients how these services will pay off. This

email sequence is designed to increase your conversions by 20%

20:33

running ads right now for a client. A second year in a row, I've run them, and we've put 4000 in

and made 14,000 it is a no brainer to keep putting money into ads when there is a payoff. And

guess what? Clicks for her, it clicked last year when she looked at her return on investment, it

totally clicked like, if I could just put more in, I'll make more. That's really what a sales funnel is

communicating that value you put this in now you have the opportunity actually to bust the

ceiling and make even more. It's a little different than ads, but, you know, I'm trying to use my

real life examples here. Feel free to test and adjust your pricing. You know, I always do the stair

stepping model, like, if I book someone at this price, I can book someone at the next price I get

in there, I'm like, wow, that actually took me a really long time. Next time I do show it, I am

going to make sure I add $500 because show it has a insane way to optimize for mobile, which

creates so much extra work. From now on, every time I touch a show up website, it will be more

money, and I now will show up confidently, pricing that to every client, and I won't bat an eye. I

won't sound like a little girl quoting, is that okay if I do that? No, like period. Dot you want me

to touch your show at site. It's going to be more. It's going to be beautiful. Good for you. You

pick this tech stack. It is the best one. Same with Active Campaign. It's just we can do more

with it, and therefore it's gonna take me more time, and you want me to do it right? So it's

gonna be more Okay, so you can regularly evaluate your pricing. The good news is it's not

forever. It's not forever. It reflects your expertise and your experience and your value, and it

will change because you are growing and you are getting better, and you're getting results for

your clients. So start with a price you're comfortable at. Reach out to people in the work group,

ask what they're charging, and adjust as you learn, as you put effort into each project, as you

see what it really takes, you'll really blossom from there. Remember, a high converting funnel

blood, sweat and tears and stay up late for a client and they turn around and make $50,000

and barely did anything? Okay? I'm painting a bleak picture, but just like think how that will feel

if you're going to feel resentful, especially if all the ideas were you, the execution was you, the

self management, the project, everything was you, you are going to be full of resentment. So

what is a price that feels fair? You might even just have to put yourself in that visualization. What would be fair and not feel guilty? The reverse is not feel guilty if it doesn't work, and not

question you, because most of the time it's the it's the client's offers, it's their messaging they

have to refine here. Okay, so listen with with funnels, you're not just putting words together on

a page or setting up an email sequence. You're really building strategies that drive results, that

create impact, that grow businesses. Every email, every landing page, any ads that you create,

they all have the power to change someone's business, and most of these online businesses,

that's where they're working to this is what they have problems executing on. They don't know

all the tech. They don't have all the time. They don't understand the automations. They can't

see their own messaging because they're inside their bottle looking at their business only with

like the rose colored filter, right? So when it comes to pricing your services, remember that

you're not just getting paid for the hours you're putting in. You're getting paid for the results

you deliver, the experience that you have, the skills that you've mastered, the confidence that

you bring to the table. And a lot of that confidence is saying, Hey, listen, we're going to build it,

we're going to take messy action, we're going to test it, and then we're going to tweak it. And

this is what it'll look like after we build it. I've got you. I'm going to stick around for another

month, or at this price, you'll get me in your business, looking at the funnel every month, making tweaks. I'm setting you up with this funnel tracker so you can make sure that you're

getting the data and you can look at it for yourself. I'm not just going to build it and abandon go

out there and own your brilliance. Put a price tag on it that reflects the value you bring to the

table. You are not just a freelancer. You are not just a freelancer. You're a business builder.

25:00

No, just kidding. I don't know what you are. You're like the magician behind the freaking

scenes, right? Okay, go get after it. Thank you for joining me on this series. We're gonna keep

going. I've got some really good names coming in. Abby Prendergast, Nikki cross, Ali Bucha,

Chrissy chin, Heather Sager, there's still more to come, and this is a really long funnel series,

because I want to dive deep into the work that will get you earning more. One more thing, make sure you apply for the digital marketers work group ASAP if you're doing this funnel work,

if you're doing any portion of the funnel work, if you're doing the social media marketing and

the organic SEO Marketing, the Pinterest marketing, the YouTube marketing, the podcast

management, that leads to successful funnels, we want you to if you're doing the tech, if you

are behind the scenes of online businesses involved in the marketing, you should be in the

work group. It's our place to keep leveling up, to share job referrals to get support, and I need

good people to refer work to every single day. So apply now. We'll let you know the next time

we have openings for new members, I would love to welcome you in, and I would love to refer

you. Don't forget to leave a podcast review that'll help me out of 10, I'll see you in the next

episode. Bye.

26:29

If you want to start earning income as a digital marketing service provider or digital marketing

assistant, you only need your laptop. You can tap into what online business owners really need

help with by downloading my top 10 most requested tasks. These are the services I did for

years for my clients behind the scenes. You can take this download and apply it to your own

business and start by offering these very same services if you want to niche down in digital

marketing, this is your guide. Just use the link in the show notes, or go to Emily Reagan,

pr.com/services,

27:15

trying to say

27:18

that with a straight face,

27:20

let's awkwardly end that talk. I lost my notes. Hang on. I lost them.