Build your business by offering a retainer to clients

Managing cashflow as a freelancer or small agency can be really hard. When a large invoice is paid all seems rosy, but when a client is delaying completing a job times can get really tight.

The team behind Perch ran a development consultancy for many years before launching Perch, so we know first hand the challenges of client work. One of our aims with Perch is to make it the best CMS for busy freelancers and agencies to use as the basis of building their business. We know from experience that a great way for agencies and freelancers to improve their cashflow is by having some form of recurring revenue, and the simplest way to do that is to offer clients a retainer.

Retainer agreements involve your client paying a monthly fee for a package of services – or simply for the opportunity of knowing you will be available for any small jobs.

What can you include in an agreement?

Small tweaks and changes to the website are an obvious place to start. Instead of needing to send tiny invoices for an hour here and there each month, the client pays for some time in advance. However there is more value that you can add once you know you are working with a client on an ongoing basis.

When outlining your agreement you need to clearly define what is and isn’t included. For example you might state that the package includes up to 4 hours per month of design and development time. Anything over that would not constitute a small job and would need to be quoted for and billed at the normal hourly rate.

Pitching retainer agreements to clients

An ideal time to set up an agreement is when a site that you have developed for your client goes live. Remind them that to maintain all their investment in the site, they will need to keep it fresh and up to date and explain how you can help by doing a range of monthly tasks for them and ensuring your availability if they need advice or a small tweak.

You can explain that you get very busy but that you will always prioritize requests from clients who have a retainer over those who are asking for a one-off job to be completed – this was the main way we sold these agreements when we were an agency.

You can also sell the value of your additional services. Explain that a retainer agreement enables you to be proactive in making suggestions in terms of how they improve their site and web presence. A client might be worried that they will “waste” hours covered by the agreement, so you can explain that if they do not bring work to you, you will also be making suggestions to them for ways to use that time.

How can Perch help?

One worry for freelancers and small agencies is that urgent requests will come in, and you don’t have the capacity to handle them. In addition obvious places to add value to a retainer – such as performing software updates to the CMS – aren’t exactly exciting work.

This is where our new Perch hands-on monthly service can be really helpful. For a small monthly subscription we can look after the less glamorous parts of offering a retainer, leaving you to bundle more interesting jobs to add value for your clients. As upgrades and troubleshooting will be done by the Perch Team, you can rest easy that a big piece of your commitment is dealt with. In addition to keeping Perch up to date and troubleshooting issues we’ll be available for small enhancements as requested by email.

This isn’t a development service, nor is it paid support – support and advice for Perch will always be free and unlimited. This is a hands-on service aimed at helping you offer more to your clients.

Take a look at our monthly hands-on package here. We also have a few one-off services for those times when you just want a site upgraded from Perch 1, or need to move a Perch site from one hosting company to another and would prefer someone else dealt with it.

Further reading on retainers

On the Bidsketch Blog – How to set up a Retainer Agreement with your Most Profitable Clients.

From Brennan Dunn, How To Start Selling Retainers For Your Freelance Consulting Business