Finance analytics for agencies.

Under hourly billing or hours-based retainers, revenue falls by about the same share as the hours AI removes, unless the freed time is resold. Under fixed or output-based fees, the same efficiency becomes margin. We map which of your services AI is actually speeding up, model revenue and margin under your current pricing, and identify which offers to reprice first, before clients raise it at renewal.

Be direct about where you use AI, and move the conversation from hours to outcomes. Under hourly billing, every hour AI saves comes straight out of revenue, so a blanket discount is the wrong answer. We help you identify which work AI is actually speeding up, reprice it on deliverables rather than time, and decide whether clients see the savings as more scope or a lower fee, so faster delivery shows up as margin.

Most firms should run a mix rather than switch wholesale, matched to how predictable each service’s scope is. Repeatable work suits fixed fees or output-based retainers, open-ended work often stays time and materials, and value-based pricing fits only where outcomes can be measured and you have real pricing power. We reprice your last 12 to 24 months of projects under each model, so you can see the margin effect by service before you change anything.

A service is becoming a commodity when clients compare it line by line, competitors quote similar prices, or AI can now do much of the work. We look at your win rates, discounting and hours per deliverable over time to find the ones losing pricing power. Those usually move to fixed or packaged fees priced on the output, while senior, judgment-heavy work such as strategy and senior client counsel keeps premium pricing.

Judge your rates by what you realize, not by your rate card, because write-offs and overservicing often hide the real gap. That gap is usually uneven: some services are underpriced while others sit at the ceiling. We benchmark your realized rates by role and service against firms of similar size and mix, so you know where you have room to raise prices and where you don’t.

Tie the increase to the work, not the calendar: show the client how scope, hours and seniority have grown against the current fee, and pair the increase with a clearer definition of what the retainer covers. We compare each retainer’s fee with the hours actually delivered, find where the gap is largest, and help you build an annual increase clause into renewals so the conversation doesn’t start from zero each year.

Only if the price steps back up by contract; otherwise it becomes your new rate. Retainers tend to renew from the discounted base, so a 15% cut in year one can carry through every renewal while scope keeps growing. We model the client over three years at the discounted and full rate, using your actual delivery hours and renewal history, so you can see the margin you are giving up, set a floor and a step-up date before you negotiate.

Often, usually on retainers, and standard reports rarely show it. Senior people fill gaps on retainers that were priced for junior teams, and margin erodes quietly. We match timesheet hours by role against what each engagement was priced to carry, to show where your staffing mix and your fees are out of line, and whether to fix the price, the team or the scope.