Pay per meeting: billed for the meeting that happened, not the one that was booked
Pay per meeting means the fee attaches to an outcome you can verify, not to activity. At RevenueFlow a meeting is billed only when the prospect attended and took part, and the person and company meet a five-point definition agreed in writing before outreach starts. No-shows, bookings that never happened and out-of-scope attendees are not billed.
Key takeaways
- The billing unit is an accepted meeting, not a send, a lead, a reply or a booking.
- Attendance is part of the definition: a booking that nobody attends is not billed.
- Budget, timing, decision authority and immediate intent are not conditions, so the definition cannot be used to decline almost anything.
- You can reject a meeting that fails the written definition, with the reason, within the review window (three business days by default).
- Meetings are priced from $750 to $2,500 each. There is no minimum commitment and the agreement runs month to month.
The chain between a send and a billable meeting
Every outbound programme produces a chain of events, and a pay-for-performance deal is defined by which link in the chain the fee is attached to. The further down the chain, the less a vendor can pad it.
- Send
- A message left the building. Cheap to produce at any volume, which is why billing on it rewards volume rather than results.
- Reply
- Someone answered. That includes unsubscribes, out-of-office notes and "who is this?", so a reply count says little about demand.
- Positive reply
- Someone sounded interested. A judgement made by whoever is counting, and the point where definitions usually go loose.
- Booking
- A time went on a calendar. Better, but a booking can be moved, cancelled or never attended.
- Attended meeting
- The person showed up and took part. The first link in the chain that a vendor cannot manufacture.
- Accepted meeting
- The attended meeting meets the written definition and has cleared the review window. This is the only link we bill.
What counts as a qualified, attended meeting
A meeting is billable when all five of these hold. Attendance is on the list on purpose: it is what separates a pay-per-meeting model from a pay-per-booking one.
Budget, timing, decision authority and immediate buying intent are deliberately not conditions. A meeting is billable when the right person at a fitting company had a real conversation, not when they were ready to buy.
- 1
- The company is in a pre-approved audience and meets the agreed ICP criteria.
- 2
- The person has reasonable responsibility for, or influence over, a relevant business area.
- 3
- They agreed to a relevant business conversation.
- 4
- They attended and took part.
- 5
- They were not disclosed as an existing customer, an active opportunity, or a suppressed account before outreach.
What is never billed
The definition is easiest to judge by what falls outside it. None of these is billed:
The same standard cuts the other way. A meeting that met the definition but went badly, or did not turn into a deal, is still billable. The test is a real conversation with the right person, not a good outcome.
- No-shows
- The prospect did not attend. A no-show is chased and rebooked, and only a meeting that is actually held can be billed.
- Not yet held
- A booking that is still in the future, or that was rescheduled and has not happened yet, is not a meeting.
- Existing relationships
- Anyone you disclosed before outreach as an existing customer, an active opportunity or a suppressed account.
- Outside the audience
- A company outside the agreed ICP, or an attendee with no responsibility for or influence over the relevant business area.
- Cancelled bookings
- Every booking is flagged in the shared channel as it lands. If one looks wrong you say so and we cancel it, and a cancelled booking is not a meeting.
- Valid rejections
- A held meeting you flag within the review window with a reason that maps to the written definition: wrong audience, wrong buyer, an agreed exclusion, a duplicate or a failed qualifying question.
How it works in practice
Before anything sends, the audience and the definition are agreed in writing, and your existing customers, live opportunities and any accounts to leave alone are loaded as a suppression list. Client-specific qualifying questions can be added on top of the five points; they never replace them.
Prospects who fit the agreed criteria are booked straight onto your calendar rather than held for review. After the meeting, a held meeting counts as qualified unless you flag it within three business days by default (the signed agreement controls) with a valid reason.
Accepted meetings are what you are billed for. Nothing in the fee depends on how many messages were sent, how many replies came back or how many bookings were made along the way.
What it costs
Meetings are priced from $750 to $2,500 per qualified, attended meeting. The exact price is quoted before any work starts, so you can set it directly against your own close rate and average deal value. It does not move with the number of sends, replies or bookings that sit upstream of the meeting.
The standard agreement has no minimum commitment and runs month to month. Either side can end it on 30 days' written notice.
A refundable deposit is due on signature. It is credited in full against the first accepted meeting fee, and refunded in full if we do not get you a qualifying meeting within 90 days of launch.
On a call we will show the arithmetic for your situation, including the case where another model, or hiring in-house, is the better answer.
Frequently asked questions.
Frequently asked questions- What is a qualified attended meeting?
- A meeting the prospect attended and took part in, with a person who has responsibility for or influence over a relevant business area, at a company in the agreed audience, who agreed to a relevant business conversation and was not disclosed beforehand as an existing customer, an active opportunity or a suppressed account.
- Do you charge for no-shows?
- No. Attendance is one of the five conditions, so a no-show is not a qualified meeting. No-shows are chased and rebooked rather than counted.
- How is pay per meeting different from pay per lead?
- A lead can be counted the moment someone replies. A meeting has to survive to the calendar and then actually take place, with the right person in it, so the fee is attached to something that is much harder to inflate.
- What if we think a meeting did not qualify?
- Flag it within the review window, three business days by default, with a reason that maps to the written definition. A subjective quality complaint about a meeting that met the definition is not a valid reason, and that boundary protects both sides.
- Do you guarantee a number of meetings?
- No, and we would treat a firm volume guarantee from any vendor as a reason for more scrutiny rather than less. What can be fixed in advance is the definition of what counts and what you pay for one.
- How much does a meeting cost?
- A qualified, attended meeting is priced from $750 to $2,500. The exact fee is quoted per accepted meeting before work starts and agreed per engagement. On a call we will show the arithmetic against your close rate and deal value.
- Is there a deposit, and is it refundable?
- Yes. A refundable deposit is due on signature. It is credited in full against the first accepted meeting fee, and refunded in full if we do not get you a qualifying meeting within 90 days of launch.
- Is there a minimum commitment or a long contract?
- No. The standard agreement has no minimum commitment and runs month to month. Either side can end it on 30 days' written notice.
Worth a conversation?
Bring your ICP and we will tell you whether outbound is the right motion for it, including when the answer is no. If it is, we will agree the qualified-meeting definition in writing before anything sends.