How to quote a client when you don't have a delivery price yet

To quote a client when you don't have a delivery price yet, you could give a qualified range on the call, name the date the firm number will arrive, and hold the signature until your delivery partner has scoped the work. That is how to quote a client without a delivery price, whether you are selling SEO, AEO, or a website build that someone else will execute.

Two terms are used throughout this post. Your delivery partner is the white-label agency or contractor that does the work under your brand. The white-label price is what that partner charges you. The client price is what you charge on top.

Scaling agencies experience this constantly. When a client asks for a service you don't deliver in-house, the opportunity is real, and the partner who will do the work needs a brief before they can price it. The gap between the client's question and the partner's answer is where you lose margin.

Why is quoting harder when you sell services you don't deliver in-house?

When delivery sits in-house, you know your cost per hour and how long the work takes. When it sits with a white-label partner or a contractor, your cost is someone else's quote, and that quote depends on a brief you haven't written yet.

From our own sales calls at Mavlers Agency

We sit on the delivery-partner side of this problem, so we see both halves of it; the agency owner who needs a number today, and the delivery team that can't give an accurate one without a brief. Two recent calls (details anonymized) show the two ways it goes wrong.

Call one: the owner with no number to give. An 8-person creative agency had just brought paid media in-house and had no web design or development capability. His clients were already asking him for landing pages and a new website, so he asked for a ballpark three separate times on the first call. The two jobs on the table were 5 landing pages and a healthcare website of roughly 50 treatment pages built on six to eight templates. Without a reference range, he couldn't quote his own client or compare partners.

Call two: the owner whose price was committed before the scope was right. A fractional CMO firm had a signed contract for a website rebuild and paused it midstream. A subcontractor had recommended the rebuild and then stopped delivering, so the owner no longer knew whether the site needed a rebuild or a content and structure refresh. The price was already committed to the client. The right scope was not.

What the two calls share. In the first, no number existed when the client needed one. In the second, a number existed before anyone had confirmed the scope. Both come from the same gap: the price sits with the delivery partner, and a partner can't price work that hasn't been briefed. The method below is built to close that gap.

What should you say when a client asks for a price you don't have?

Try saying the following 3 things: the range, the assumption behind it, and when the firm number will arrive. A script like this works: “Projects of this size usually land between X and Y. That assumes finished designs and copy supplied by your team. You'll have a fixed quote from me by Thursday, once the brief has been scoped.”

The date matters as much as the range. Clients tolerate a wait when they know how long it is. A “let me get back to you” with no deadline is where deals stall.

Resist quoting a single number to keep momentum. If your partner's price comes in higher, you either absorb the difference or reopen the conversation, and both cost you.

How do you build a quote range before the delivery price arrives?

Start by identifying which of three situations you are in. Each one gives you a different anchor for the range.

Packaged services are the easy case. Our AEO/GEO audit ranges from $500 to $1,200, so a partner agency can price those on a first call.

Hourly work needs one extra step. Our web rate runs $32 to $35 an hour, and a landing page built from supplied design and copy can be briefed on a Monday and delivered by Friday. Ask your partner for typical hours on that unit of work, and you have your range.

Custom builds can't be priced without a brief. Ask your partner for 3 or 4 comparable projects with scope and price attached. That gives you a defensible range while the scoped quote is prepared.

If you sell the same thing repeatedly, ask for a fixed price. A partner can turn hourly work such as analytics and tracking setup into one flat fee that you resell across clients without requesting a new quote each time.

How much margin should you add to a white-label delivery price?

Agency partners in the US and UK typically add 40% to 60% on top of our wholesale price. In Australia, where end clients may be more price-sensitive, markups run lower, and partners make it up on volume.

Markup and margin are different numbers, and confusing them is the most common quoting error we see. Here is the math on a $1,200 white label retainer.

A 50% markup leaves a 33% gross margin before you count your own hours. Someone on your team still briefs the partner, reviews the work, and presents it to the client, so cost that time into the quote.

Productized work supports more. Agencies resell our $500 audit charge to clients for $1,500 to $3,500. 

We now recommend reading ~ Agency staffing strategy: How to staff for higher profit margins, Why do some agencies get less profitable as they grow. 

What if the scope itself is still undecided?

We recommend selling the diagnosis before the build. A paid audit gives you a fixed, low-risk number to quote today, and it produces the scope that the larger quote depends on.

That was our recommendation to the agency with the paused rebuild. Sign an NDA, share the site and the previous contractor's reports, and let an audit decide between resuming the rebuild and improving the current site, with pros, cons, and an estimate for each path.

To get a fast, accurate price from any delivery partner, send:

• A signed NDA so that client details can be shared freely
• The sitemap or page count, and how many unique templates sit behind it
• Design status: finished files, wireframes, or nothing yet
• Platform and integrations, including the CRM
• Past reports and a list of work already done
• The deadline the client expects

FAQs

Should you tell the client a partner is delivering the work?

That is your call. Many agencies resell under their own brand. Others are open about it, and one owner told us he had already told clients he was evaluating delivery partners. Either way, your team stays the client's point of contact.

How long should a client wait for a firm quote?

3 to 5 business days is a reasonable ceiling for custom work. Packaged services should be quotable the same day.

Can you quote before signing with a delivery partner?

Yes, as a range. Get the partner's rate card or package pricing first, and hold the fixed quote until they have reviewed the brief.

If you need a wholesale number to quote against, send Mavlers Agency the brief, and we will scope it.

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