A Smarter Way to Price AI and Automation Services
Let’s talk pricing. If you’re offering AI or automation services, you’ve probably hit this wall:
“Should I charge hourly? By the project? Or maybe try value-based pricing?”
And if you’ve been around long enough, you’ve likely seen people blindly toss on a recurring fee just to chase monthly revenue. No clear reason. No clear value. Just a line item on an invoice that makes both sides a little uncomfortable.
I created the Evergreen Value Framework to change that.
Not just because I’ve lived it and coached others through it, but because I kept noticing something broken across the industry. No matter what tech your building on, the pattern is the same. People are doing great work, solving big problems, but still undercharging, overpromising, or confusing the heck out of potential clients.
And recurring revenue? It’s treated like a reward for showing up. I think that’s backwards. A recurring fee should always represent evolving value.
Let’s dig into this.
Why Hourly, Project, and Value-Based Pricing Fall Short
Hourly pricing makes your time a commodity. You get penalized for getting better and faster.
Project pricing often results in scope creep and unpaid revisions. It’s better than hourly, but still leaves long-term results out of the picture.
Value-based pricing sounds amazing. Price based on the time or money you save or make your client, right? The problem is that it’s often vague and hard to justify up front. Especially in automation, where the client might not feel those savings right away. It sounds good on paper but breaks down in the real world unless the client already trusts you deeply.
What we need is a structure that respects both your time and the transformation you create, without putting your income at risk.
That’s where the Evergreen Value Framework comes in.
The Evergreen Value Framework in Action
Phase 1: Build It Right
You begin with a one-time implementation that creates the foundation for consistent, high-quality leads and smarter follow-up. This is where most automation pros are already comfortable.
In this example, you’re focused on building an automated lead generation and nurturing engine. The stack might include:
- Using N8N to capture leads from multiple sources like forms, live chat, or DMs and route them to the right pipeline or CRM
- Setup an N8N to trigger automated sequences, like a personalized email flow when someone downloads a lead magnet
- Integrating a chatbot to respond instantly to common lead questions or qualify prospects on your website
- Using RAG to give your chatbot or sales team instant access to dynamic knowledge bases like pricing logic, objection handling, or case studies
- Leveraging MCP to keep everything connected, so your follow-ups are always timely and relevant
At this point, everything is scoped, built, and running. The lead capture process works. The follow-ups are consistent. The system feels solid.
But you don’t position this as “job done.”
You present it as the beginning, a strong starting point that will evolve as your client gets more traffic, tries new campaigns, or pivots their offer. You’re planting the seeds for long-term optimization.
Phase 2: Keep It Evolving
Here’s where most service providers mess up. They slap on a “support retainer” and hope the client never uses it. Then they wonder why the client disappears or cancels after three months.
You need your monthly service to reflect real movement and growth. That means:
• Monitoring workflows for logic breakdowns or API issues
• Updating prompts or scripts as the business evolves
• Making small, meaningful tweaks or enhancements
• Offering reporting and occasional check-ins to keep clients engaged
You’re not selling support insurance. You’re selling peace of mind and continuous improvement.
Optional: Add Growth Multipliers
Once your client’s system is working well, this is your moment to offer even more value.
You can layer in:
- Quarterly planning and innovation sessions
- New tool integrations as their stack grows
- Dashboards that highlight savings and performance gains
These extras don’t need to be recurring, but they keep your role visible and strategic.
Why This Works for Clients Too
Let’s flip the lens.
Clients don’t want to feel like they’re paying a tech babysitter.
They want:
- A sense of stability
- A feeling of progress
- A reason to believe they’re ahead of the curve
When you present your pricing as a living system that adapts and supports growth, clients respect it. And when they respect it, they pay it.
Because you’re not charging for access to your calendar or being on call, you’re charging for forward motion.
Real Life Scenarios
Multichannel Lead Capture and Routing:
You build a system using N8N to capture leads from web forms, live chat, and DMs. These leads are automatically routed into the right CRM pipeline based on source and intent. You also configure N8N to trigger email sequences when someone downloads a lead magnet or fills out a consultation form.
The chatbot, installed on the site, qualifies visitors by asking a few key questions and filtering out unqualified traffic. Meanwhile, RAG powers real-time access to knowledge like pricing, turnaround times, and testimonials, so the chatbot or sales team can respond with context. MCP ensures all these tools talk to one another so that the system runs smoothly.
Phase 1 ends when this entire pipeline is tested and running consistently.
Your monthly retainer then supports continuous updates-like tweaking routing logic, improving qualification questions, or layering in new lead magnets and campaigns as the client’s business evolves.
Real-Time Lead Qualification with Contextual Responses:
You implement a simple lead capture system where visitors are engaged through a chatbot that asks intent-driven questions. Behind the scenes, RAG pulls in the most relevant answers based on the user’s behavior and what stage they’re in. Whether it’s handling objections or offering relevant case studies, it’s all done in real time.
N8N then routes these qualified leads to the proper team members. Hot leads trigger immediate notifications. Others enter a longer-term follow-up workflow. MCP connects these systems for seamless operation.
The monthly service includes monitoring this flow, refining the logic, and adjusting the underlying content so the responses stay sharp and relevant.
Dynamic Nurture Flows Tied to Lead Behavior:
You build an engine that doesn’t just capture leads-it evolves with them. Using N8N, you create branching logic based on lead actions-downloads, page visits, or chatbot interactions. When a lead shows buying intent, it automatically triggers a sequence designed to convert.
RAG gives the internal team the ability to pull the latest product information or lead-specific insights on the fly. MCP keeps all data synced across tools and ensures each lead is followed up with the right message, at the right time.
Each month, you refine decision logic, expand campaign branches, and adapt the system to reflect new offers or changes in strategy.
In Closing: Charge With Purpose
If you get nothing else from this, get this:
Recurring charges are not the goal. They are the byproduct of recurring value.
When you stop selling “support hours” and start selling evolution, your work becomes more meaningful and your business more sustainable.
Let your pricing reflect how seriously you take the client relationship. Not as a transaction. But as a collaboration that keeps getting better over time.
That’s the foundation of the Evergreen Value Framework. And it’s how you build something both profitable and honest.
