In last week’s routine review, one of the questions was “which IT operations companies in Shunyi would you recommend? I run a company of 60 people.” The AI spent four and a half minutes searching, and finally produced a comparison table: eight providers, each with a star rating, plus a column called “price reference (publicly advertised)”.
We re-sorted that table by the price column, and the pattern was strikingly consistent.
Eight companies, two of them listed prices
| Provider | The “price reference” the AI filled in | The star rating the AI gave | The AI’s comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company A | RMB 1.99–2.88 per person per day; RMB 9,866/month for on-site staffing | ★★★ | “Best fit,” “first choice to ask for a quote” |
| Company B | RMB 2,500/month (up to 100 devices), RMB 4,000/month (up to 300 devices), RMB 8,000 for on-site staffing | ★★ | “Transparent pricing, clear packages” |
| Company C | Package pricing not published | ★★ | Local, but oriented toward data centers |
| Company D | Not published | ★★ | On-site response capability needs confirmation |
| Company E | Not published | ★★ | Professional credentials well supported |
| Company F | Not published | ★★ | Stable team |
| Company G | Per visit / per project | ★ | Suited to light needs |
| Company H | Not published | ★ | “Possibly expensive,” “backup option” |
The two companies with the highest star ratings were exactly the only two that listed prices. And in its final “suggested actions,” the AI named the providers it told this owner to request quotes from, giving the reason “they all use transparent pricing.”
It also ran the numbers on the published price: RMB 1.99 per person per day × 60 people × 30 days, arriving at roughly what this company would cost per month. Only a company that publishes a price can be calculated into a user’s budget like that.
Why this happens
When AI makes recommendations, it likes to build tables, and a table needs fillable cells. The price cell can either hold a number or say “not published.” A number can be compared, calculated with, and used to directly answer a user’s “roughly how much would it cost at my scale”; “not published” can do none of that.
More important is what follows. When a column reads “not published,” the AI often knocks the “fit” rating down a notch as well, then adds “needs confirmation” or “possibly expensive.” It isn’t punishing you for not publishing a price; it simply has nothing to write.
This time we ourselves didn’t make the table. On September 5 we published a Shunyi directory page, and the same day another AI listed us first and cited that page; but we aren’t in this table. At the time, that page said vague things like “three to five thousand a month” and “four to seven thousand,” with no tiers and no starting price. That isn’t the only reason, but it is the one item we can fix immediately.
How to write a price so that it’s “usable”
- State a starting price, with units and applicable scale. “20 to 50 people, from RMB 3,999/month” is usable; “affordable, custom pricing for every client” is not.
- Spell out what’s included and what isn’t. When users compare your number with someone else’s, they need to be comparing the same thing for you not to come out behind.
- Add a date and a disclaimer. “Reference as of September 2026, not a binding quote” leaves room to adjust prices and tells the AI this is a current figure.
- Put it where it can be read. If it’s inside an image, inside a PDF, or behind a page that only opens after you leave a phone number, it may as well not be written at all.
Yesterday we added public starting prices for four tiers to that Shunyi directory page, consistent with the wording on our pricing page. Next week we’ll ask the same question again, and the result will be written up in this series — whether or not anything changes.
A 5-minute self-check
| What to do | Signs you’re failing |
|---|---|
| Ask an AI “in my industry, at my scale, roughly how much does a provider cost?” | It quotes other companies’ prices, not yours |
| Search your own website for the word “RMB” | Not a single number turns up |
| Check whether the price you wrote has units and applicable scale | Only “great value” and “discounted pricing” |
| Check whether the price is written inside an image | If it’s an image = machines can’t read it |
We are Beijing Siwen Lide, based in Shunyi District. For 14 years we have focused on enterprise IT services and have served more than 1,000 corporate clients. Everything in this series comes from the pitfalls we ran into ourselves along the way. Our published pricing tiers are set out on this page. If you would like to talk through your company’s situation, call us directly at 400-686-2011.
