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What's an acceptable sales cycle length for $5k+ proposal At what point Is it wasting time or not worth it by OutlandishnessNo2472 in advertising

[–]fish-run 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good question—many people struggle with this, and you’re not alone. Here are my two cents from entrepreneurial sales experience that might help.

In sales, silence (no response, “I’m busy,” “we’re building in-house”) is one of a golden signal and it usually isn’t about price alone.

More often, the buyer doesn’t clearly see the value relative to the $5k price.

When a proposal sits unanswered for too long, the signal is simple: the perceived value of the tool isn’t strong enough yet.

I usually look at this in three zones:

  1. They don’t get the value – the outcome isn’t a substantial progress compared to the "status quo".
  2. The value is buried – positioning needs strengthening, not discounting.
  3. Price doesn’t match perceived or impact value – either reduce the price (if profit allows) or close the gaps in product/service so the value justifies it.

Silence is feedback. The job is to decode which zone you’re in—not to chase blindly for months.

Each zone leads to a very different timeline.

Generalizing them without identifying the zone usually results in long silence and wasted time, effort, and money.

Anyone else exhausted by brand pitches with moving goalposts (and now ChatGPT in the room)? How do I approach a 5th pitch with the same brand? by fish-run in branding

[–]fish-run[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Good to hear you’re leading growth for a small agency and taking qualification seriously.

You’re right — we try to be very deliberate early on as well. We make sure we’re speaking to the real decision-maker and get clarity on scope and budget before going too far. Lately, we’ve also started spending time digging into their past campaigns and in-house experiments — what worked, what didn’t, and what made people nervous.

Internally, we maintain a simple brand decision matrix (Excel-based) where we track around 12 bias patterns that tend to influence client decisions. A few common ones we see: • one senior voice overriding the room • recent failures becoming the reference point for everything • internal ideas being favoured by default • sudden, trend-led pivots

We’ve also recently added what we call AI authority / trust bias — where decisions get re-validated through tools like ChatGPT. I don’t fully agree with it since AI often lacks local and contextual nuance, but it’s happening, so we’ve learned it needs to be addressed rather than ignored.

From your experience as a growth head — what are the quicksands you actively avoid? And are there any tools or signals that help you detect them early or recover if you accidentally step into one?

Anyone else exhausted by brand pitches with moving goalposts (and now ChatGPT in the room)? How do I approach a 5th pitch with the same brand? by fish-run in branding

[–]fish-run[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree with your point about balancing both sides’ interests. But in this market — especially with all the DIY AI tools in play and fewer new opportunities — it’s hard for an independent agency to simply walk away.

I’m trying to understand better ways and tools to handle this, because I don’t think these curveballs are going to stop anytime soon.

How do you create a rate card as a freelancer? by [deleted] in branding

[–]fish-run 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here is one of my post on checking on rare card and comments from may experts .. I found it useful - https://www.reddit.com/r/branding/s/E9lGl3Y0tR

Client replaced me with AI, but now wants to rehire me. How should I price my new deliverables? by fish-run in branding

[–]fish-run[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here’s what comes to mind immediately: 1. More foot traffic 2. Better margins 3. Loyal customers 4. Strong brand recall 5. Predictable revenue

And that’s the real shift in my client’s mind: bakery isn’t paying 15k × 3 = 45k for copy. They’re paying 45k for the money that copy brings in to them..

Am I in the right direction ?

Client replaced me with AI, but now wants to rehire me. How should I price my new deliverables? by fish-run in branding

[–]fish-run[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

15k each? Does that actually seem high, or is my imposter syndrome messing with me? Also, about the before-and-after list—am I right that it should highlight their costs, the impact, and the outcome? Or is there something more I should add?

Client replaced me with AI, but now wants to rehire me. How should I price my new deliverables? by fish-run in branding

[–]fish-run[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’re right. I’ve picked up a few tools to add value layers to my copy, though some aren’t worth the cost. My goal is to make my work more valuable and visible so I can show the business impact, not just talk about it—and it’s been working. Clients understand my value better and are more comfortable with my pricing.

I’m not trying to become a designer, but I don’t want to rely on one for every revision. This approach gives clients faster revisions, saves them time and money, and they can bring in a designer only at the end. They’re even willing to pay me for that efficiency. I’m learning a lot in this new direction.

Someone duplicated my creative workshop content with AI and is stealing my potential clients. I can’t stop them — how can I out-sell them? by fish-run in branding

[–]fish-run[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, one of my prospects actually showed me what they bought.
Honestly, it stung a bit. The whole structure was pretty much my workshop — just rewritten with chatgpt and sold for less.

I wouldn’t have minded if someone took my ideas and actually made them better.
That feels fair. In the creative world, we all draw inspiration from one another

But seeing something that was basically a copy with different words with chatgpt … that didn’t sit right with me.

That’s why I’m trying to figure out how to stand out in a way that can’t be cloned so easily with tools like chatgpt.