Vent: last Tuesday wrecked my whole retainer model

I had one week a few months ago where three big retainers hit pause on their monthly payments all at once. First one said they were tightening their budget, then another just stopped answering emails, and the third straight up told me the ROI wasn't matching their expectations. I lost about $4,200 in recurring revenue that week, and it made me realize how fragile my cash flow was. Has anyone else had a month like that where everything just collapsed at the same time?

2 comments

2 Comments

river_wright25d ago

Started offering them a cheaper monthly option instead of a full retainer.

henderson.hugo24d ago

Wait, did you see that survey from a few months back that said most clients actually prefer smaller, flexible plans over the big packages? I remember reading that businesses were losing out on like 40% of potential clients by only offering the full retainer, which is wild. How’d you structure the cheaper option though, like is it fewer hours or just a stripped down version of the same stuff? I’ve been thinking about trying that myself because the monthly commitment scares people off before they even ask about the price.