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Using a Retainer for Steady Income
Dry Spells hurt. This is how I avoided them
“I’m doing fantastic, thanks to you”
My eyebrows furled downward in puzzlement. “Thanks to me?”, I asked. “The last lead I gave you turned into a nightmare where I bet you worked a hundred or more hours for almost nothing”.
My breakfast companion smiled wryly. “True, but actually that turned out fine. I’ll be getting enough other business from them to make up for that mess. But that’s not what I’m thanking you for.”
I took another mouthful of eggs and raised my eyebrows quizzically.
“It’s the retainers. You told me to do that first thing, but I just didn’t get it. Now I understand, and I’m doing it, and I have to thank you. You were so right.”
Retainers
Ahh, yes. When he had first started his business, we had shared another breakfast, and I had given him a whole brain dump of advice, including the suggestion to bill clients a small yearly retainer. The purpose of the retainer is to establish a business relationship, to cover all minor phone calls and emails that are otherwise annoying for both you and your customer to account for, and to provide a justification for a discounted billing rate.
