07.06 · Sales / Pricing and packaging

One path forward, never a menu.

The complete pricing operating system: the four-tier engagement ladder, the outcome-led doors the website opens, the fixed project scopes, the estimate logic, the fee components, and the guardrails. No dollar figures live on this page by design; pricing is a discovery-driven conversation, and this is the system that runs it.

The engagement ladder

Every account starts at the bottom rung and earns its way up. The seller's job is not to present four options; it is to place the buyer on the right rung and name the trigger that moves them to the next one.

Rung 01 · Enter

Pilot

30-day audit at fixed scope. Refundable if no defensible move surfaces. Sets the floor and forces the conversation into concrete numbers.

Moves up whenThe audit surfaces moves the client cannot run alone.

Working default Rung 02 · Operate

Foundation

Quarterly operating partnership. The most-chosen tier and the working default for new accounts.

Moves up whenThe client's in-house team wants the rhythm inside their own walls.

Rung 03 · Embed

Platform

Embedded operating layer for in-house media teams. Diray runs the decision rhythm; the client keeps the desk.

Moves up whenMultiple brands or markets need the same rhythm at once.

Rung 04 · Scale

Enterprise

Multi-brand, multi-market scope with a named lead operator per brand and a quarterly executive readout.

Held byThe quarterly executive readout. Renewal is earned in that room.

At any rung, workshops and advisory attach on top: senior-time revenue that deepens the relationship and moves the account up the ladder.

The doors the website opens

The public site never shows the ladder; it opens four outcome-led doors, each built around the question already in the buyer's head. The seller hears which question they walked in with and knows the rung.

Entry · Outcome Velocity Audit

Which channels, schedules, audiences, and retail signals are actually moving the outcome?

Run an Outcome Velocity Audit

Core · Impact Engine Pilot

Can Diray prove the daily scoring model changes decisions and improves performance?

Pilot the Impact Engine

Expansion · Total Video Partnership

Can one partner make the whole video investment more accountable?

Build a Total Video plan

Enterprise · Performance Operating System

Can Diray become the external intelligence layer for our video and retail-media growth engine?

Design the operating model

Project pricing: three fixed scopes

For fixed-deliverable builds, scope around decision value, speed, and future scalability. Never sell "a homepage and one subpage." Each scope names its tradeoff out loud, so the buyer chooses with eyes open.

Direction Sprint

Best for fast executive alignment

Strategy and design direction only. Outputs are decision-ready, not production-ready.

Brief audit and stakeholder intake
Current-site and competitor review
Positioning recommendation
Homepage wire narrative
Initial visual direction and token sheet
Implementation roadmap

TradeoffStrong strategy and direction, but not a full production-ready site.

Foundation Build

Best fit for a stated initial scope

Direction plus implementation of the core experience. Handoff includes a 30-day operating window.

Everything in Direction Sprint
Core page design, mobile and desktop
Lightweight design system
SEO and content structure recommendations
Implementation-ready component plan
Analytics and event plan

TradeoffBest fit for the brief, but proof assets may still need client collaboration.

Production Site

Best for a premium, scalable market narrative

Full build with operational handoff, documented standards, and a named maintainer.

Everything in Foundation Build
Full sitemap and content architecture
Core page templates and case-study framework
Sales enablement language
Design library and governance
Launch QA and analytics instrumentation

TradeoffHighest business value, but requires deeper client access and faster stakeholder decisions.

How an estimate gets built

Three anchors set every number. If a quote cannot name all three, it is not ready to leave the building.

Strategy value

The work affects the sales narrative, not only the visuals. Price the decision impact, never the pixel count.

Production complexity

Platform and implementation path change the build economics. Name the stack before naming the number.

Proof readiness

Dashboards, screenshots, data claims, and case studies either accelerate production or slow it. Audit them at discovery.

Price this way

Fixed scopes anchored to decision value. Lead with the Pilot price to set the floor. Multi-year terms earn discounts at Foundation and above.

Never this way

Hourly-only framing. A design-only quote that excludes messaging. A low entry quote that forces unpaid strategy. A discounted Pilot, ever.

The five fee components

Every engagement is assembled from the same five components, so a proposal reads as architecture, not as a lump sum.

Strategy	Diagnostic, planning, and measurement design.
Media management	Buying and optimization work.
Platform / data	Impact Engine access, reporting, scoring, and integrations.
Creative / production	Only when Diray owns or coordinates creative.
Performance incentive	Optional, and only when attribution and baseline rules are clear.

Conversation rules and guardrails

No prices on the marketing site. Pricing is a discovery-driven conversation, never a download.
Lead with the Pilot price. It sets the floor and forces the conversation into concrete numbers.
Never discount the Pilot. Multi-year discounts apply only to Foundation and above.
Pilot before custom. If the buyer asks for a custom scope before the Pilot, run the Pilot first. Custom scopes priced from cold data underperform.
No dollar ranges circulate until they are explicitly approved, and no exact fees publish until margin structure and sales strategy are confirmed.
Never imply self-service software unless the product actually supports it, and never bury premium human expertise under AI language.
No guaranteed outcomes without a measurement and legal review.

Source architecture: /Documents/diray/docs/pricing-architecture.md (May 2026). This page is the operating version; the file is the record.