Pricing, Profitability & Predictions with Karl Sakas

Pricing, Profitability & Predictions with Karl Sakas

The Handbook: The Operations Podcast · 2025-04-22

What if you could charge more, and keep your best clients happy?

Karl Sakas has spent over 20 years in agency operations and consulting, helping more than 600 agencies shift from reactive to strategic. In this episode, he joins us to break down why pricing isn’t just about numbers – it’s an ops play, and one that can define your agency’s future.

Here’s what we get into:
• Why time & materials pricing is on the way out, and what to do instead
• How to use “value anchoring” as a bridge to value-based pricing
• How to strategically churn clients that are holding you back
• Why you should consider raising your prices annually
• Why AI tools shouldn’t just make you faster, but more profitable too

Whether you’re raising rates, tightening up scope, or exploring performance-based models, this episode is full of sharp, practical insights to help you price smarter and scale with confidence.

📝 Articles & Blog Posts:
Karl’s Predictions for the Agency Space in 2030.

A Step by Step Approach to Raising Prices at your Agency.

How to Raise Prices – Case Study.

📚 Books by Karl Sakas
Calm the Chaos: 10 ways to run a better agency.
Work Less, Earn More: How to Escape the Daily Grind of Agency Ownership.

Additional Resources:
Karl’s Website – Sakas and Company.
Follow Karl on LinkedIn.
Follow Harv on LinkedIn.

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This podcast is brought to you by Scoro, where you can manage your projects, resources and finances in a single system.

The Handbook: The Operations Podcast

Running a serviced based business, an agency or consultancy isn’t just about great client work. It’s about keeping everything behind the scenes running smoothly. 

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This podcast is for operations and service-business leaders who are juggling it all – people, processes, finance, tech, and everything in between. 

Every other week, we dive deep into a specific challenge that businesses face as they grow in headcount and complexity. You'll get practical insights and real-world advice from experts who’ve been there, solved the problems, and know what works.

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