Had a great Discovery Call recently with Livio Zanardo - a fractional CTO based in South Florida. He’s been freelancing for years, mostly in civic tech and with mission-driven clients, and now he’s shifting into something more structured.
He was stuck on something familiar:
Same story every time. Good work. Good skills. But the proposal didn’t quite match how clients buy.
Livio was offering open-ended, hourly support without a defined scope. The clients liked him and the work sounded useful - but they weren’t sure exactly what they were buying, or how much it would actually cost them.
Clients rarely commit to ambiguity.
We talked about structuring his offer differently: a fixed-scope diagnostic tied to a clear business outcome. One specific problem, a set price, a defined timeline, and an expiration date to keep things moving.
Clarity makes it easier to say yes.
Two weeks later, Livio closed one of those stalled deals. The client couldn’t afford the original audit scope, so he adjusted the scope to something smaller and more affordable. The structure stayed clear:
He didn’t discount - he rescoped. Big difference.
Livio didn’t need to change the work he was offering - just how he framed it. Instead of pitching part-time hours, he gave them something specific and easy to understand.
They signed.
Thinking about fractional work yourself? Or working through stuck proposals?
Schedule a Discovery Chat or email me. Let’s talk through what’s stuck or where you want to be.
If you want to stay in the loop, join my mailing list. I send out useful insights now and then.
Subscribe here: