Fractional Resources

A few days ago, someone in my network posted a pricing calculator they built for their fractional service. It looked slick. Logic-based. Built in Replit. They were thinking of turning it into a SaaS product.

I had questions. A lot of them.

Why do you need a price calculator? Is this for your fractional service? Does it actually make things easier for your buyer?

The answer?

“Self-service is the future. Buyers don’t want to talk to sales. They want frictionless buying. Touchless. Transparent pricing.”

They pointed me to an article comparing fractional services to e-commerce: pavers, coffee makers, anything with a dropdown and a price. The lesson? Buyers want frictionless. Give them sliders. Calculators. Self-serve everything.

And I agree. For SaaS? Sure. For product businesses? Absolutely.

But for fractional services? For soloists? For trust-based work?

No.

The Thing You’re Selling Is Trust

If I’m hiring a fractional - CTO, CMO, whatever - I’m not looking for a bargain on a five-pack of strategic hours. I’m deciding whether I trust this person with something fragile and expensive - something I don’t know how to fix.

A calculator doesn’t help me decide that.

The buyer doesn’t want a tool. They want a price. And they want to know you understand their problem.

You Don’t Need a Calculator for That

I’m all for price transparency. If you’ve got a fixed-scope offer? Absolutely, put a price on it.

But you don’t need a calculator for that. Just answer:

• “5-day/month retainer: £2,500”
• “Advisory package: $4,000/month”
• “One-time audit: $7,500 flat”

That’s clarity. A calculator makes it feel like you’re selling line items and feature toggles.

You Lose Control of Your Offer

When a buyer uses a tool to build their own engagement, they’re basing it on what they think they need - and what they don’t know is exactly why they came to you.

You’re letting them re-scope your offer before you’ve even qualified them. And most buyers aren’t in a position to define the solution - that’s your job.

Good fractional work doesn’t confirm assumptions. It reframes them.

You lose control of both scope and price. You can never tune your price to suit the situation.

Your price should flex with the work, the moment, and the market. Are you busy? It costs more. Are you hungry for something interesting? Maybe it costs less. Are you bored but intrigued? That’s negotiable.

See Hungry Pricing Is a Trap

A calculator ignores all of that - it turns pricing into a spreadsheet in your buyer’s browser.

Letting the client configure their own solution bypasses the one thing that makes your work valuable: your judgment.

My Business Isn’t Built for Frictionless

This is where our business models probably diverge.

I want 3 to 5 new clients a year. I want to charge enough that the decision matters. I want the work to feel shaped - like it fits their situation, not like it dropped from a dropdown.

And I want the first step to be a conversation.

If you’re optimizing for volume? Go nuts. If you’re building lower-ticket products? Maybe automation helps.

But I’m not trying to eliminate friction. I’m trying to use it - to test for alignment before we even start.

There’s only one of me. I can’t scale like a patio paver or a coffee machine.

You’re Not a Stack of Features

Don’t misunderstand me: any time I hit a product website that doesn’t show pricing, and instead says “setup a demo” or “call us,” they’ve lost my business.

But “selling a person” doesn’t fall into the same category.

Packaging is good. Scope is good. Clarity is great.

But don’t confuse simplicity with automation. Don’t confuse pricing with productization.

Friction doesn’t kill sales. It qualifies them.

If the work is meaningful, the decision deserves effort.

You’re not software. You’re not a widget. You’re not a menu of options. You’re a business decision.

And that decision doesn’t start with a calculator. It starts with trust.

Wrestling with how to price and package your fractional work? That’s what I coach. Let’s fix it.