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Is charging by the hour actually killing our agency growth in 2025?
Tbh, I keep seeing agency owners in this group swear by retainer pricing while others are still billing hourly and making it work. I ran a 3 month split test with clients in Phoenix, hourly brought in more upfront but the retainer folks stuck around twice as long. Which model are you using and has anyone else noticed the churn difference?
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ross.jessica28d ago
I heard a guy on a podcast last week say that hourly billing basically teaches clients to watch the clock instead of the results, and that stuck with me. His point was that when you bill by the hour, every extra call or email feels like a cost to them, so they pull back and the relationship gets thin. That lines up with what you saw in Phoenix, the retainer folks staying twice as long makes total sense because they stop nickel and dime-ing every interaction. Hourly might look better on paper those first few months but you end up always hunting for the next client to replace the ones who leave. Retainers also let you plan your month, which means you can actually say no to bad fits instead of taking every job just to fill hours. Curious what your split test showed on total revenue per client, not just the upfront part.
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