An employer with fifteen staff is comparing three HR consultancies. The monthly fees differ by a factor of three. One includes an advice line with a four-hour response, one includes contracts and a handbook, one includes neither but sends someone on site when needed.
Nothing on any of the three websites makes those differences visible.
What employers ask
Employers usually ask what the monthly fee includes, how quickly they get a response when something happens, whether they can speak to the same adviser, whether contracts and a handbook are included, whether documents are updated when the law changes, whether tribunal support is covered, what happens outside the retainer and whether they can just pay for one piece of work.
Package by headcount, and by what you actually get
Publishing packages by employee numbers is standard. What differentiates a good website is stating the response time, what documentation is included, whether advice is capped and who handles a case if it escalates. That is what employers are really comparing.
Example conversations
These scripts use information a consultancy might publish. Your answers should come from your own pages.
Employer: What does the monthly retainer cover? Assistant: The packages page lists what each level includes, with the advice line response time, the documents provided and how cases are handled. Could you tell me how many employees you have, so I can point you to the right band?
Employer: Can I just pay for a one-off piece of work? Assistant: Yes. The page lists project rates for contracts, handbooks, policy reviews and support with a specific situation, along with typical turnaround times.
Employer: What if something goes to tribunal? Assistant: The page explains what is included at each level regarding tribunal support and what falls outside it, including any insurance arrangements available.
Response time is the product
When an employer has a problem today, the only thing that matters is how quickly an adviser responds. Publishing that, and meeting it, is worth more than any list of features. Urgent enquiries are covered in HR help enquiries from small employers with a problem today.
Project work as an entry point
Many employers resist a retainer until they have worked with you once. Offering clearly priced projects, such as a contract review or a handbook, converts them and often leads to a retainer afterwards, in the way described in consulting enquiries that need scoping before a call.
Never advise on the website
Whether someone can be dismissed, whether a process was fair or what a settlement should be are advice questions requiring facts and documents. The website explains services and captures the situation.
Onboarding a new client
Employers want to know what happens in the first month: whether contracts are reviewed, whether a handbook is produced, how long it takes and what they need to provide. Publishing an onboarding outline turns an abstract monthly fee into something with visible early value, which is usually what makes an employer commit.
Retainer pricing across services
Retainer models face the same explanation problem in marketing, as described in marketing retainer enquiries that stall at pricing, and the cost of handling enquiries manually is covered in the opportunity cost of manual customer support.
Getting started
Publish packages by headcount with response times, list project rates and capture situations at any hour. SpideyChat for consultancies answers from your published pages, and plans are on the pricing page alongside the chatbot ROI calculator.