Archibald: Pitching the $500K Proposal Option First Weaponizes Anchoring Psychology
Jeff Archibald · He Sold His Agency Then Moved to a Mountain Town to Figure Out Who He Was · Nov 4, 2025 · at 21:43
Jeff Archibald, former agency founder, details the psychology behind proposal delivery order and price bracketing for consulting engagements.
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“First the way that I was taught was you come in with a high option, and you say, option one, it has a name, whatever it is, like, valued partnership is 500,000 dollars, and you just go right to the number, and it's like a bomb goes off, and you let it sit there for a minute, and then you say, here's what you get, here's what you don't get, here's the reason you picked this one. And then you go to the next one. And what that does is anchor the client super high. That way, the middle option seems a lot more reasonable. Also, when you go to the next option, the middle option, you're removing stuff. And that's now you're playing into loss aversion, right?”
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