<div class="gn-article"><div class="gn-hero gn-reveal"> <div class="gn-hero__image"><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/687a235da6861294eec73166/69089aa07aba2afae81058f7_651d7ec984b1b04858643290_61c05233b4e7123fb5f87863_Blog%252520covers%252520(32).png" alt=""></div> <div class="gn-hero__head"> <span class="gn-kicker"><span class="dot"></span>Event · Expression</span> <h1 class="gn-title">Agency Workshop: Pricing for Profit</h1> <div class="gn-meta"> <strong>The GO Network</strong> <span class="pip"></span> <span>4 August 2022</span> <span class="pip"></span> <span>1 min read</span> </div> </div> </div> <div class="gn-event-meta gn-reveal"><div class="gn-event-meta__block"> <span class="gn-event-meta__label">When</span> <span class="gn-event-meta__value gn-date">Thu, 4 Aug 2022 · 09:00</span> </div><div class="gn-event-meta__block"> <span class="gn-event-meta__label">Where</span> <span class="gn-event-meta__value">Online</span> </div><div class="gn-event-meta__block"> <span class="gn-event-meta__label">Status</span> <span class="gn-event-status gn-event-status--recording">Past · Recording</span> </div></div> <div class="gn-body"> <h2>Why Most Agencies Leave Profit on the Table Before the Work Even Starts</h2> <p>Pricing is one of the most consequential decisions an agency makes, yet it is also one of the most avoided. Many agency owners set their rates early, based on gut feel or what a competitor charges, and then never revisit them. The result is a business that wins work, stays busy, and still struggles to generate meaningful profit at the end of each month.</p> <p>The GO Network brought together agency leaders for a dedicated workshop on pricing for profit, drawing on insights from The Wow Company and their annual Benchpress survey, one of the most comprehensive data sets on UK agency performance. The session tackled the structural pricing decisions that separate high-margin agencies from those that are simply breaking even.</p> <p>Here are the core takeaways agency leaders can act on immediately.</p> <h2>Win the Right Work First, Then Price It</h2> <p>Pricing does not exist in isolation. Before you can price well, you need clarity on which types of work you actually want to win. Agencies that try to be everything to everyone tend to price defensively, undercutting to secure projects they are not even well-suited to deliver. That leads to lower margins, higher delivery costs, and teams stretched across work that does not play to their strengths.</p> <p>The most profitable agencies are deliberate about the work they pursue. They understand their ideal client profile, know which services generate the strongest margins, and use pricing as a filter rather than a closing tool. If a rate feels uncomfortably high to propose, that is often a signal worth examining. Either the work is not the right fit, or the agency has not built enough perceived value into the conversation to justify the fee.</p> <p>A practical first step is to audit your last 12 months of work by project type and client sector. Look at which engagements delivered the strongest margin and which consumed the most time relative to revenue. That pattern tells you far more about where to focus your business development than any competitor research will.</p> <h2>Hourly Rates: What Best Practice Actually Looks Like</h2> <p>Hourly rates remain a common pricing mechanism across agency disciplines, but how agencies set and apply them varies enormously. The Benchpress data provides a useful benchmark here, revealing a significant spread between agencies in the top 10 per cent for profitability and those in the middle of the pack.</p> <p>Several factors consistently undermine hourly rate effectiveness. The first is failure to account for non-billable time. When you calculate a day rate based on a full working day, but your team spends a third of their time on internal meetings, admin, and new-business activity, your effective rate is already substantially lower than the number on your proposal. Build non-billable time into your rate structure from the outset.</p> <p>The second issue is rates that have not kept pace with rising costs. Salary inflation, software subscriptions, office overheads, and the cost of senior leadership time all increase over time. Many agencies have not raised their day rates in two or three years, quietly eroding their margins without realising it. Reviewing rates annually, and being willing to have that conversation with clients, is a baseline discipline for any agency serious about profitability.</p> <p>Third, consider whether hourly billing is even the right model for the work you do. Value-based pricing, retainer structures, and project fees all have different margin profiles. The Benchpress findings suggest that agencies with higher profitability are more likely to use retainer-based arrangements, which provide revenue predictability and reduce the administrative burden of constant time-tracking and invoicing.</p> <h2>What the Top 10 Per Cent Do Differently</h2> <p>The Wow Company's Benchpress survey provides a rare window into how the most profitable agencies operate, because it draws on real financial data rather than self-reported perception. The guidance from the top 10 per cent of agencies on pricing reveals a consistent set of behaviours that less profitable agencies tend to overlook.</p> <p>The most profitable agencies:</p> <ul> <li>Price based on the value delivered to the client, not solely on the hours expected to be spent</li> <li>Revisit and increase rates on a regular cycle, rather than waiting for a client to push back</li> <li>Qualify work rigorously before investing time in a proposal, reducing the cost of pitching against poor-fit briefs</li> <li>Use clear scope definitions and change-control processes to protect the value of the original fee</li> <li>Track profitability at the project level, not just at the agency level, so they can identify and address margin leaks quickly</li> </ul> <p>None of these behaviours require a larger team or a more sophisticated finance function. They require discipline and the willingness to treat pricing as a strategic activity rather than an administrative one.</p> <h2>A Practical Next Step</h2> <p>If one thing is worth acting on this week, it is this: pull your current rate card and benchmark it against the Benchpress data for agencies of a comparable size and discipline. If your rates have not moved in the last 12 months, and your costs have, you already have a clear case for a review.</p> <p>Pricing discomfort is almost universal among agency leaders. But the agencies that grow profitably are those that treat that discomfort as a discipline to build, not a conversation to defer. The data to make the case is available. The question is whether you use it.</p> </div></div> <aside class="gn-related gn-reveal" data-auto="related-reading"> <div class="gn-related__label">Related reading</div> <ul class="gn-related__list"> <li class="gn-related__item"> <a href="/articles/agency-workshop-planning-for-profit" class="gn-related__link"> <span class="gn-related__category">Expression</span> <span class="gn-related__title">Agency Workshop: Planning for Profit</span> <span class="gn-related__excerpt">Rory Spence of The Wow Company walks agency owners through goal-setting, billing capacity, and a structured plan to increase profit margins.</span> </a> </li> <li class="gn-related__item"> <a href="/articles/agency-workshop-making-2022-your-most-profitable-year-yet" class="gn-related__link"> <span class="gn-related__category">Expression</span> <span class="gn-related__title">Agency Workshop: Making 2022 your most profitable year yet</span> <span class="gn-related__excerpt">Wow Company joins The GO Network to share Benchpress survey insights, peer discussion, and practical tips for building a more profitable, su</span> </a> </li> <li class="gn-related__item"> <a href="/articles/how-fast-growth-agencies-can-increase-their-rates-and-profits" class="gn-related__link"> <span class="gn-related__category">Expression</span> <span class="gn-related__title">How fast-growth agencies can increase their rates - and profits</span> <span class="gn-related__excerpt">Top-performing agencies raise rates without losing clients. 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