Hey Reader,

I want to tell you about one of my biggest F-ups.

In 2023, mere months after launching this newsletter, I decided it was time to add a one-hour strategy session to my offer deck. How should I price it, though?

Back then, every toddler who had discovered LinkedIn two months before charged $250. Me? I had 15+ years in marketing, so I had to charge more, right?

Right!

Even though I knew better, I decided on value-based pricing. And my value? Oh, dear, it was astronomical! Mom agrees!

I priced it at $350.

Here’s the thing, though, people perceived the toddlers as more successful and better consultants because they had a bigger following.

Me? I barely had 2,000 followers.

So I sold the first five or so sessions fairly easily because they went to people who had already been waiting to work with me. After that, deafening crickets.

These days, the price of a session is $400, and they sell much, much more easily. What changed? The value of the offer? Nope. My credibility? YES.

My pricing is more aligned with what feels normal and appropriate to buyers — also known as contextual pricing.

If I could do it all again, I'd swallow my ego and price it below what the toddlers demanded.

We’ll unpack this and I’ll tell you why contextual pricing is infinitely better than value-based pricing in a second, after a quick word from today’s partner.

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You’ve built something real, and you’re ready for messaging that scales revenue without busywork or burnout. Not to spoil what’s coming below but trust, not value, is the cornerstone of charging more.

The Profit-Driven Messaging Ecosystem shows you the 6 messaging types that deepen trust, expand income, and simplify your entire marketing strategy.

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Why value-based pricing is utter BS

"Charge for value, not time!" It's the gospel of pricing experts and the consultant-o-sphere. At face value (pun intended), it sounds revolutionary:

Absolutely — on paper. But we don't operate in some rational economic wonderland. We’re humans, deeply irrational, emotional, and biased creatures, especially when it comes to price perception.

You know that story about the engineer who charged $10,000 for 5 mins of work? Alex Hormozi (and every similar consultant) loves to tell it.

It goes like this: an important piece of machinery breaks down in a factory. The manager calls for an expert engineer to fix it because, without it, the entire production had ground to a halt.

The engineer shows up, looks at the machine, draws an X in chalk, then adds a screw in its place. As if by magic, the machine starts machining again.

Then, the engineer sends his invoice for $10,000. Angry as hell (what do you mean $10k for 5 mins of work?!), the factory manager asks for an itemized bill, which he receives as follows:

1. Adding a screw: $5
2. Knowing where to add the screw: $9,995

What a glorious story to tell in a room full of consultants, right? So empowering, so dizzingly reinforcing!

Yet, very few consultants and coaches have such rare and unique expertise that they can afford to charge as much.

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely has shown that price decisions rarely align with pure logical assessments of value. Instead, they’re shaped by subtle, irrational, and emotional forces that make us anything but spreadsheet-perfect decision-makers.

Pricing psychology: the emotional buyer’s reality

Think about the last course you bought. Did you whip out an Excel sheet, diligently calculate the expected lifetime value, and then calmly input your credit card number? Or was it more like:

• "Can I trust this person?"
• "Is this expensive compared to similar stuff I’ve bought?"
• "How do I feel about this?"

I’m going to guess it was probably the latter.

People use mental shortcuts called heuristics to make pricing decisions. One key heuristic is anchoring: people expect to pay within certain contextual price ranges based on previous experience.

If you price outside of this contextual window — even if logically justified — you trigger disbelief or skepticism rather than trust.

Context sets price, not “value dollars”

Consider the art world. In 2018, a Banksy painting spontaneously half-shredded itself immediately after selling for $1.4 million. What happened next? The buyer still agreed to pay the original price. And then its price increased.

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The value wasn't in paint or canvas — it was entirely contextual. People accept that art commands huge, irrational sums because that’s what art does.

Haute couture is similar. If a dress costs $50 to make but sells for $10,000, that’s not rational pricing — it’s context. We’ve been socialized to accept these norms in luxury markets. Miss that context in your pricing, and you’ll either undercharge or scare people off.

Even if your course could unlock $1,000,000 in client revenue, if the “expected price” for a course is $100–$700, charging $10,000 is suicide. That’s not because your offer is bad — it’s because your price is out of context.

My Profitable Content Engine system could (theoretically!) help you get to 7 figures and beyond because content is the nexus of any business these days. If you could make 7 figures from it, it’s only logical that I charge you at least $10,000 for it, right?

Right!

But no one would ever buy it at this price because it’s not about the value, it’s about the context — about what you expect to pay for a masterclass.

Nuance: edge cases where value-based pricing does work

Value-based pricing can work — rarely, but notably — in two scenarios:

1. Purely commission-based contracts

Sales consultants who take a percentage of actual sales made have direct alignment of price and value. High stakes, but it’s clear and measurable.

2. Hyper-specialized niche experts

Think crisis communications consultants handling brand-threatening emergencies, or niche medical specialists handling rare cases. Their specific expertise and the context justify almost any fee.

Just like the engineer in our story above.

But these situations are exceptions, not rules. Most consultants, solopreneurs, and course creators can’t replicate them easily or frequently.
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Do NOT fully deplete your offers of “value”

There are two other important psychological heuristics that work in favor of value-based pricing but within limits. You won’t be able to get from $100 to $10,000 because of “value”, but you can add another 10-30% IF you use these triggers ethically:

​The effort heuristic​

Simply put, people irrationally associate higher effort with higher value. A classic study by Kruger et al. (2004) demonstrated this: participants valued a poem far more highly when told it took 18 hours to create versus 4 hours.

How to apply it: if you spent a lot of time on something, mention it! “I spent 6 months putting this course together” is a great way to tell people that you put in a lot of effort into something; that it’s not just a thingie you put together in 2 hours.

​The IKEA effect​

Consumers place more value on products they personally assemble, even paying significantly more than for fully pre-assembled alternatives.

How to apply it: my favorite way to use the IKEA effect is to have my audience help me build my products. I did it in my most recent launch and I’ll do it again whenever needed.

Most sellers cram “value” into their offers — $15,000 worth of bonuses for a course priced at $200. This does NOT work anymore. I explained why here.

Do this instead:

Create your own realistic, context-based pricing model

Let’s ground this in action. Here’s a framework you can apply immediately:

Step 1: Identify the contextual window

What’s the accepted range for your market? Do your homework. Look at competitors, peers, and substitutes to gauge realistic pricing brackets.

Step 2: Aim for the upper contextual threshold

Once you know your contextual limits, aim higher within reason. Don't undercut yourself, but stay believably premium. Check out the Profit-Driven Messaging Ecosystem for more ideas on how to do it.

Caveat: IF your reputation allows you to. Don’t make the mistake I made with pricing my strategy session.

Step 3: Visibly signal effort

Detail your preparation, research, and the meticulous development of your offer. Effort visibility elevates perceived value without breaking context.

Step 4: Test quickly, adjust gracefully

Don’t marry your initial price. Launch quickly and adjust based on real-world feedback, rather than theoretical values.

Step 5: Be cautious of value pricing evangelists

Anyone advising you to triple your prices purely on theoretical value calculations probably doesn’t understand psychological buyer behaviors. Smile politely, ignore completely.

Stop obsessing over theoretical "value." The market doesn't care how many hours you've poured into your product, or even how genuinely life-changing your service might be.

Context always wins.

(And no, you're not leaving money on the table—you're actually picking it up.)

Could use my help with pricing and more?

Pricing isn’t a standalone game — it integrates deeply with strategy, positioning, messaging, and credibility. My Growth Intensive program is designed exactly for this:

• Learn to position yourself at the premium end of your contextual price window.
• Master the messaging that effortlessly communicates your true effort and deep expertise.
• Apply psychologically-informed, realistic pricing strategies that buyers easily accept.

The Growth Intensive isn’t another airy-fairy value-based pricing scheme. Instead, it’s a rigorous strategic framework grounded in human psychology and real-world contexts. Oh, and it’s 100% personalized to you!

There’s no set curriculum. We work together on what YOU need. Here's what smart people who have worked with me have to say:

​Explore The Growth Intensive​
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That's it from me today! See you next week in your inbox. Here to make you think, Adriana ​

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