Four ways to pay us, and one honest recommendation
How you buy matters as much as what you buy. This page explains each option, what it is bad at, and how we work out which one goes in your proposal.
- Ways to buy
- 4
- Smallest team
- 1 person
- Pilot
- 6–8 weeks
- First review
- Free
Four ways to pay us
Which one is right depends on how easy your work is to count, and how much of the risk you want to carry. We will tell you which fits — including when the cheaper one does.
Best for · Mixed work, steady volume
A dedicated team
Monthly, per person
People who work only on your account, in your systems, on your hours. This is what most clients start with.
- Named staff you interview if you want to
- A team lead and a trained backup
- Your tools and your working hours
- Weekly numbers and a monthly review
Three months minimum, because training costs money before month one pays anything.
Best for · A whole job, start to finish
A managed service
Fixed monthly fee against a target
You hand over the outcome, not the headcount. We work out how many people it takes to hit the target and carry the risk if we get that wrong.
- We own the result end to end
- Staffing risk sits with us
- Money back if we miss the target
- A commitment to automate work away
Needs a stable, well-understood process before we can price it honestly.
Best for · Work that is easy to count
Per item
Per ticket, order, document or record
You pay for what gets done, not for hours on a clock. Good when volume swings around — sale periods, document batches, seasonal work.
- Priced per finished item
- Volume can move without renegotiating
- Accuracy built into the rate
- Daily throughput reporting
We usually move you here after a quarter, once we know the real throughput.
Best for · Trying it before committing
A paid pilot
Fixed price, 6–8 weeks
One slice of the job, run properly, with the same playbook and reporting a full team would get. Carry on, stop, or take the documents in-house.
- A defined slice and a written pass mark
- Full playbook and checklist delivered
- Before and after measured the same way
- The documents are yours either way
We can also build a team and hand it over to you entirely, if that is the plan.
Not sure which fits? The free 30-minute review ends with a written recommendation — including the times we tell you it is not worth outsourcing yet.
Compare the optionsWhat each option is bad at
A comparison table with nothing but ticks is marketing. The gaps below are the useful part.
| Attribute | Dedicated team | Managed service | Per item | Paid pilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| You meet the people by name | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| We carry the staffing risk | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Volume can move without renegotiating | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Money back if we miss the target | No | Yes | No | No |
| You pay for output, not hours | No | No | Yes | No |
| You get the written process | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Good for varied, hard-to-count work | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Good when volume is unpredictable | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Shortest commitment | 3 months | 6 months | Monthly | 6–8 weeks |
No rate card, and here is why
The same team costs very differently depending on channels, languages, hours covered and how much of the volume can be removed altogether. A published hourly rate would be wrong for almost everyone reading it.
Built from what it costs to run
The price comes from the staff, supervision, checking and tools the target actually needs — not from a market rate card. That is why the proposal shows you the shape of the team, not just a number.
One page, no surprises
The proposal names the team, the hours, the targets, the reporting and the price. Anything that could be charged later — overtime, an extra shift, a software licence — is written down before you sign, not discovered in month three.
Cheaper per item over time
The quarterly review exists to shrink the bill. A supplier whose only way to grow is putting more people on your account is not on your side.
Nothing hidden to lock you in
The written process, the guides and the checklists are yours whenever you ask. Leaving should be a login change and a handover call, not a migration project.
From first call to first shift
Five steps. Each one ends with a document you keep, whether or not you carry on to the next.
A 30-minute call
You walk us through the job. We ask about volumes, tools and what goes wrong. Then we send you a written map of the process and what it costs you to run today.
You keep: Process map and cost
Agree the scope
What is included, what is not, what the targets are and who to call when something breaks. Sorting this out now saves an argument at 2am later.
You keep: Signed scope and targets
Write the playbook
Step-by-step instructions, escalation rules and the quality checklist — written before we hire anyone, and reviewed by you.
You keep: Playbook and checklist
Hire and train
We recruit against your requirements, train the team on your product, and have them sit alongside live work before they touch it. Nobody speaks to your customers on day one.
You keep: Team list and training record
Go live
The team starts, with a daily handover, a weekly check-in and a proper monthly review. From here the job is making it better, not keeping it going.
You keep: Monthly review pack
Start with the free review
Half an hour on a call, then a written map of one workflow and what it costs. No obligation, and the document is yours either way.
Schedule a callMoney questions
Because an hourly rate tells you nothing useful. The same support team costs very differently depending on the channels, languages, hours covered, how much checking is needed and how much of the volume can be avoided altogether. We would rather map it for free and give you a real number.
Three months for a dedicated team, six for a managed service, monthly for per-item work, and six to eight weeks for a pilot. The minimums exist because training costs real money before month one produces anything.
Yes. We write the process, hire and train the team, run it to a target, and then hand the whole thing over — documents, tool setup and, where it makes sense, the people — to your own company. It suits businesses that always intended to bring the work in-house once it was proven.
One full-time person is the smallest dedicated team we take. Below that, the setup, documentation and supervision cost more than the work returns, and you would be paying us to learn rather than to do.
The signed scope lists what is in and what is out. Anything outside it gets a written note with the extra volume and the price before it starts. Quietly absorbing extra work is how teams end up failing, so we raise it rather than swallow it.
Get a number you can take to your board
A written proposal with the team shape, the targets, the reporting and the price — after the free review, not before.