A Pricing Lesson From Morocco
- George Boretos
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
The Hard Part of Outcome-Based Pricing Is Choosing the Right Outcome
On a recent trip to Morocco, I came across a simple pricing lesson in a ceramics store.
The owner told us they had changed how workers were paid.
Before:
People were paid by the hour. ⏱️
Later:
They moved to paying per finished item. 🍯
The difference was significant:
When people were paid by the hour, speed was not really rewarded. In fact, slowing down could even make sense.
When people were paid per finished item, incentives became more aligned. The worker was rewarded for output, and the owner got more finished goods.
Simple.
But it raised a bigger question:
Was the finished item really the outcome?
Partly, yes.
But for the owner, the real outcome is not producing ceramics. It is selling them profitably.
That is where outcome-based models become difficult.
Moving from time-based to output-based is usually an improvement. But choosing the right output — or the right outcome — is the real challenge.
The same issue is now everywhere in SaaS and AI:
Per-seat and month/year pricing charges for access and time.
Usage-based pricing charges for activity.
Per-task pricing charges for completed work.
Outcome-based pricing tries to charge for business impact.
Each step sounds more aligned.
But each step also raises harder questions:
What is the right outcome?
Can it be measured reliably?
Who controls it?
Who carries the risk?
The Morocco store solved one incentive problem by moving from hours to finished goods.
But the deeper pricing lesson is broader.
Better monetization starts when we stop charging only for activity and move closer to value, but the hard part is defining what “value” really means.
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