Performance-based pricing sounds fair and is often vague. Who measures the performance? Against what? What stops the provider from claiming credit for a good month that was coming anyway?
Staffhand uses a specific version of it. This article explains the structure, how the baseline is set, when it fits, and when a fixed fee alone is the better deal. Exact figures come with your scope after the audit. The structure is on the pricing page.
The structure
A Staffhand engagement has up to three pricing parts.
- A fixed build fee for the agreed scope, paid in stages across the build. The scope comes from the digital audit.
- Where it fits, an ongoing share of revenue above a baseline, with a monthly cap. The baseline is the business’s own revenue history. At or below it, the business pays no share.
- AI and software usage costs passed through at cost, itemized monthly, with no markup.
New features beyond the agreed scope are quoted in writing first. Ad spend stays in the business’s own accounts and is paid directly to the platforms.
How the baseline is set
The baseline is where most performance pricing falls apart, so it gets the most care.
It uses the business’s actual revenue, taken from accounting records, the point-of-sale or billing system, and bank statements. Not projections. Not the provider’s estimate.
It looks at three windows: the last few months, the last twelve months, and several years back, or as far as records go. The recent window shows current pace, the twelve-month window the full-year pace, and the long window the seasonal pattern. A normally slow month gets a lower baseline, a normally busy month a higher one, and existing growth is already counted. The business does not pay a share on growth it would have had anyway.
Where a business has a long, clean history, the monthly baseline takes the higher of the recent and twelve-month averages, adjusted for each calendar month’s seasonal pattern. The higher figure keeps every results claim conservative.
Both sides sign off on the written baseline before the share starts. Each month the business gets a statement showing baseline against actual, and can question any line. Where one owner runs two businesses, each gets its own baseline.
When revenue share fits
The share fits when three things are true.
The business has a revenue history clean enough to set a fair baseline. A few years of accounting or point-of-sale records is enough.
The build is aimed at revenue. Lead capture, follow-up, booking, reviews and local search all feed the top line, and revenue above the baseline is where their work shows up.
The owner wants the provider to carry some of the risk. Staffhand earns the ongoing fee only when the business grows past its own history, and the cap keeps a strong year from becoming an open-ended bill.
A gym build is a good fit: a fixed build fee in stages, then a share above the gym’s own baseline with a monthly cap, starting once the build is complete.
When a fixed fee alone is better
Revenue share is not always the right tool, and we say so in the scope.
A fixed fee alone is better when the revenue history is short or messy, because a baseline built from a few months of records is a guess dressed as a number. It is better when the build is mostly back office, such as paperwork aging, inventory exceptions and reporting, where the value is time and accuracy rather than top-line growth. It is better when revenue has many drivers the build does not touch. And it is better when the owner prefers a predictable cost.
A dealership build usually takes this route: a fixed build fee paid in monthly stages, with ongoing support priced separately afterward. The scope includes back office and reporting work alongside marketing, and a results baseline is still set from the dealership’s own records.
Either way, results are measured against the business’s own numbers and reported monthly. See how it works.
Compared with retainers
Most small-business AI agencies price by retainer. One 2026 pricing guide puts typical setup at roughly $1,500 to $5,000 one time for a single workflow, with retainers of $500 to $1,500 a month, and recommends productized, fixed-scope offers for small businesses. Source: taskip.net. Another roundup of agencies that publish project pricing finds projects commonly starting at $5,000, most falling between $5,000 and $50,000, with hourly consulting at $250 an hour also on offer. Source: highflyers.media.
A retainer is simple, and it is paid whether or not anything changed. A share above a baseline is paid only when the business’s own records show growth past its own history, and it stops at the cap.
Pass-through costs
AI usage and third-party tools such as CRM, text and email services are billed at cost, itemized monthly, and are not part of the build fee. Everything is set up in the business’s own accounts, so the business sees the same invoices Staffhand does. If the business leaves, the tools and data stay with it. See questions for what is and is not included.
Start with a digital audit
Pricing follows scope, and scope follows the audit. The audit scores your website, search presence, reviews, social and lead handling, and your scope states the build fee, whether a revenue share fits, and the baseline it would use. Start with a digital audit.
