/gtm-pricing — Pricing & Monetization

Design pricing models, tier structures, deal desk guidance, expansion revenue strategy, and pricing communication plans.

When to Use

User says "pricing", "monetization", "packaging", "tiers", "how should we price"
Designing pricing from scratch or restructuring existing pricing
Need deal desk guidance for enterprise sales
Planning a price increase or expansion revenue strategy

Before Starting

Check for existing context:

Read projects/<project>/gtm-context.md — master context
Read projects/<project>/positioning.md — positioning drives pricing
Read projects/<project>/icp-personas.md — willingness to pay varies by persona
Read projects/<project>/competitive-intel.md — competitive pricing data
Read projects/<project>/gtm-strategy.md — sales model affects pricing

If gtm-context.md does not exist, ask for basics. Positioning is critical — flag if missing.

Process

Step 1: Intake — Pricing Context

AskUserQuestion:
  question: "What's driving this pricing work?"
  header: "Situation"
  options:
    - label: "New product"
      description: "Setting pricing for the first time"
    - label: "Restructure"
      description: "Current pricing isn't working — too complex, wrong model, or wrong price"
    - label: "Price increase"
      description: "Need to raise prices — planning the how"
    - label: "AI product"
      description: "Pricing an AI product with variable cost structure"

Then gather:

Product/service, business model, current pricing (if any)
Cost structure (fixed costs, variable costs, margins)
Typical deal size and buyer (SMB, mid-market, enterprise)
Value delivered (time savings, cost savings, revenue impact — be specific)
Competitors' pricing (reference competitive intel if available)
Current challenges with pricing

Step 2: Research — Parallel Pricing Intelligence

Launch 2 agents IN PARALLEL:

Agent 1 — Competitor Pricing Analysis

Task(subagent_type: "general-purpose", model: "sonnet", description: "Research competitor pricing")
prompt: Research pricing for competitors in [SPACE]. Competitors: [LIST].
  For each: pricing model, price points, tier structure, free tier/trial, enterprise pricing approach.
  Also research pricing page design patterns. Return structured comparison.

Agent 2 — Pricing Model Patterns

Task(subagent_type: "general-purpose", model: "sonnet", description: "Research pricing models")
prompt: Research pricing models for [PRODUCT TYPE] selling to [AUDIENCE].
  Which models work best (per-seat, usage, outcome-based, tiered, freemium)?
  Examples of successful pricing in this category. Common mistakes.
  Return analysis with recommendations.

Step 3: Synthesize — Pricing Strategy

1. Pricing Model Recommendation

Apply the Ramanujam 2x2:

Attribution (can you measure value per unit?) × Autonomy (does AI/product work independently?)
Low/Low → Per-seat or flat fee
Low/High → Subscription tiers
High/Low → Usage-based
High/High → Outcome-based (ideal for AI)

Recommend model with rationale.

2. Tier Structure (3-4 tiers max) For each tier:

Name — Named after the customer persona, not features
Target persona — Who this tier is for
Price — With annual/monthly breakdown
Value metric — What scales with usage
Key features — What's included (and what's not)
Limits — Usage caps or seat limits
Upgrade trigger — What naturally pushes them to the next tier

3. Value Story Contextualize the price against value:

Time savings: "X hours saved per week = $Y in productivity"
Cost savings: "Replaces $Z in tools/headcount"
Revenue impact: "Customers see X% increase in [metric]"
Ratio test: Price should be < 10% of value delivered

4. Pricing Page Strategy

Page structure and anchoring strategy
Which tier to highlight as recommended
Annual vs. monthly presentation
Enterprise "Contact Us" approach
Social proof placement
FAQ for common pricing objections

5. Deal Desk Guidance

Discounting guardrails (max discount, who can approve)
Negotiation playbook (gives and gets per Ramanujam)
Packaging for procurement (multi-year, prepayment, volume)
When to hold firm vs. flex on price
Custom enterprise pricing framework

6. Expansion Revenue Design

Upgrade triggers by tier (what signals readiness for next tier)
Upsell paths (additional seats, features, usage)
Cross-sell strategy (complementary products/services)
NRR target and how to achieve it

7. Pricing Communication Strategy

How to announce new pricing or changes
How to handle objections to price
Price increase playbook (timing, messaging, grandfathering)
Sales talk track for pricing conversations

Step 4: Validate

AskUserQuestion:
  question: "Does this pricing approach feel right?"
  header: "Pricing Review"
  options:
    - label: "Looks right"
      description: "Model and structure make sense — finalize"
    - label: "Too expensive"
      description: "Worried about pricing ourselves out of the market"
    - label: "Too cheap"
      description: "Think we're leaving money on the table"
    - label: "Wrong model"
      description: "The pricing model doesn't fit our product/market"

Step 5: Save

Save to: projects/<project>/pricing.md

Methodology

See references/pricing-frameworks.md for Ramanujam, Campbell, and Ionita frameworks.

Output

Saves to: projects/<project>/pricing.md

Next Steps

Need outreach with pricing? → /gtm-outreach
Need a pitch? → Build pricing into sales narrative
Need a landing page? → Use pricing page strategy for landing page design