Write the ATS Term Before You Sign the Seat Price

Boutique desks lose money on recruiting software when three different questions collapse into one sticky note labeled "about $X a month." Term length, seat price, and usage meters are separate lines. This playbook is the checklist we run before a demo turns into a signature. The examples come from public vendor pages opened in October 2026: Clockwork's FAQ on monthly billing inside a 12-month agreement, and Sales Navigator's published Core versus Advanced prices with a shared InMail cap.

Sources: Clockwork FAQ, accessed October 2026. LinkedIn Sales Navigator compare plans, updated September 27, 2026.

Line one: what is the commitment length

Ask whether monthly payment means a monthly cancel. Clockwork's FAQ says billed monthly still means a 12-month agreement. If a vendor cannot answer in writing, treat the deal as annual until proven otherwise. Write the term in months next to the product name before you write a dollar figure.

Line two: what is the published seat or license price

Copy the public number with currency and billing cadence. Clockwork publishes $149 per seat per month billed annually and $179 billed monthly. Sales Navigator publishes Core from US$119.99 monthly or US$1,079.88 yearly, and Advanced from US$159.99 monthly or US$1,799.88 yearly. If the page is quote-only, write "quote required" instead of inventing a blog number.

Line three: what usage is metered separately

Enrichment credits, AI credits, InMail, SMS, and job-board slots often sit outside the seat. Clockwork prices enrichment at one cent per credit with bulk packs. Sales Navigator Core and Advanced both list 50 InMail credits per user per month on LinkedIn's help table, so an Advanced upgrade is not an InMail upgrade. Ask which actions debit the meter and what happens when the pool is empty.

Line four: can seats shrink mid-term

Clockwork's FAQ says you can add seats mid-term prorated, and you cannot reduce seats until renewal. That rule changes whether a second researcher is a reversible experiment. Write "seats flexible down: yes/no" as its own answer.

Line five: which features are team-only

Sales Navigator Advanced adds collaboration and Buyer Intent style features that Core lacks. If you are alone, paying for team features is optional waste. If you have a researcher, shared lists may be the real reason to step up. Map features to a named workflow, not to a fear of missing out.

Line six: what exit and renewal look like

Ask for non-renewal notice windows, auto-renew defaults, and price-increase caps. Clockwork states up to a 5% renewal increase with required written notice. Put the renewal date on your calendar the day you sign, not the week the card declines.

A monthly invoice is a payment schedule. It is not proof you can leave in thirty days.

How we run the checklist in a live demo

In our vendor calls, we paste the six lines into the meeting notes and refuse to discuss implementation until term length is answered in a sentence we can quote. If sales talks only about features, we repeat line one. If they quote a monthly number, we ask whether twelve payments are obligated. If they say enrichment is included, we ask whether credits are unlimited or pooled. End the call with a written summary email that restates term length, seat price, metered items, and mid-term seat rules. If the rep's reply contradicts the public FAQ, keep both versions and ask which one governs the order form.

Who this playbook is not for

Enterprise buyers with procurement counsel already owning the paper can skip the sticky-note version. Desks that only use free tiers do not need it. Desks comparing candidate databases rather than seats still need a meter line, but the product category differs.

Run the same six lines when a vendor offers "founder pricing" or "startup discount." Discounts change line two. They rarely change line one. A discounted annual term is still an annual term. Write the discounted total and the term length side by side so the discount does not erase the commitment in your notes.

If two tools are in a bake-off, complete the checklist for both before the feature matrix. A cheaper monthly sticker with a harder exit can beat a clearer rolling contract only if you intend to keep the tool. Most one-person firms overestimate how fast they will migrate again. Be honest about switching costs before you celebrate a low headline price.

We are not endorsing Clockwork or Sales Navigator as the right stack. We are forcing the contract questions into the open before the feature tour hypnotizes a one-person firm into an annual obligation it misheard as monthly freedom. Keep the checklist in your proposal folder. Reuse it every time a new AI recruiting wrapper asks for a card.

Print the six lines on a one-page checklist and keep it next to your vendor folder. The goal is not bureaucracy. The goal is refusing to confuse a payment schedule with a cancel right when the card is already in your hand.