57. Is Variable Pricing Right for YOUR CFO Firm?
8 Dec 2025 · 3 min
Michael King argues fractional CFO firms should stick with fixed package prices instead of varying by client size. He outlines three tiers (core, advanced, executive) at $5,500, $6,500, and $7,500 monthly, and shows how to pitch just one or two fitting packages per prospect, like offering the core package to a $5M construction company.
Questions this episode answers
March 21, 2023.
Core $5,500/month; Advanced $6,500/month; Executive $7,500/month.
A $5 million construction company was given the Core package.
Foreign.
Welcome back to the CFO Report. My name is Michael King and if you're new here, we talk about starting, scaling and optimizing fractional CFO services. I've got a short but a mighty episode for you today. I'm having a conversation with one of my inner circle clients. Was asking if I think it's a best practice to vary my pricing based on the size of the client. So in other words, you have a fixed scope of work, you have a fixed package. So should you change the price if it's a half a million dollar a year company, 1 million or $15 million a year company, or is it a best practice to just keep the same price? In today's episode, I'm going to walk through the answer and explain why I think it's a best practice to keep the same price regardless of the size of the client. Let's check it out.
My question, I guess is around the pricing gauge your price based on what they can afford. So let's say it's a million dollar company versus a $15 million company. Do you have a package that. This is the scope of work, this is what it cost.
I' la lower Alabama, I like things simple, right? I keep everything super simple because I get confused all the time. We've got three packages. They're the same price regardless of who we work with. We've got our CFO core package that. Did we just bump it up? I can't remember. I think it's 5,500amonth. Now we've got our advanced package, that 6,500, and our executive package, that's 7,500. Now what I'll do is, is on that sales call, as I'm asking them questions and kind of hearing what they're trying to do, I'll figure out which one of those packages or maybe two packages is a good fit for them. I won't show them all three or present all three. A lot of times we'll just show.
Them one or two.
I did a sales call on Tuesday. Upwork. Hello, Upwork. $5 million construction company. I didn't even pitch the advanced or the executive package. I gave them the core package. So like our advanced package as an example, has tax strategies. They're not profitable. They don't have any taxes, right? So why confuse them, you know? And I'm definitely not going to pitch them to 7,005amonth package because they're not profitable. Now another example is sometimes I'll talk to them about the Cadillac package, right? Like this is this is the one. You know, this is kind of. I don't offer this to everybody, but I don't know, do you think you're a good fit for this? You know, and I'll kind of play to their ego, and a lot of times that works really well, too.
Keep it at 1.
I love having one. You do what you want to do. I was talking with Forrest. He had sent me his packages. I gave him some feedback on it. He's in the CFO Academy. His range, right. So his were like 3,500 to 6,500, depending on revenue. You could do that, too.
For me, it's easy.
I'm on the call. I know there's three packages, there's three prices. It's easier for me to predict profitability for my firm and revenues and those kinds of things.
It just.
Margins are always fixed for me.
Right.
Lower Alabama.
It's just easier. All right, friends, I hope this episode was helpful for you. I'm curious. Do you keep the same price based on the size of your clients, or do you vary the price? There's no right or wrong answer. I just try to share with you guys what I've learned to be true in my. My firm. It's not the right answer. It's certainly not the only answer. So I'd love to hear for you. What do you think is the best way that you found for pricing your services, fixed or variable? Drop it in the comments below. In the meantime, I can't wait to see you back here next week, my friends. See you then.