Is a retainer agreement part of your pricing strategy?
Back in episode 11 of Resourceful Designer I talked about pricing strategies for your graphic design business. In it I talked about how value based pricing is the Holy Grail of all the pricing methods. In that episode I didn't cover the retainer agreement because I don't really view it as a pricing strategy. It's more of a payment method. But if I was to include it in all the ways you can be paid I think it comes in a close second.
What is a retainer agreement?
Simply put, a retainer agreement is a way to be paid in advance for work you'll do in the future. It's an agreement between you and your client stating that for a fixed amount of money paid up front on a regular basis, you agree to provide a predetermined amount of work for that client.
Why should you use a retainer agreement?
There are several reasons why a retainer agreement will benefit your home based graphic design business. First and foremost it creates a steady stream of income. Anyone running a graphic design business knows that it's not a profession of absolutes. There are no steady paycheques to be collected every other week. Instead we live off the whim of our clients and their schedule for paying their bills. Having a client on retainer creates a small piece of dependability where you know for a fact that money is coming in. It's like receiving a paycheque on a regular basis.
Another benefit of using a retainer agreement is it allows you to plan your work in advance. Knowing that you have to work on a certain job every week, or that you have to devote a certain amount of time to a client each week allows you to set a schedule and be more productive with the remainder of your time.
Don't forget, when you have a client sign a retainer agreement with you, it's a guarantee that they will come to you for their work and not look elsewhere for a graphic designer.
What are the Pros and Cons of a retainer agreement?
Pros
Steady Pay: As long as your client pays according to the agreement, you know when and how much income you can expect.
Better Clients: Entering into a retainer agreement is a big commitment. It takes a client with whom you have a good relationship with to agree to it. Since the relationship is already there, entering into a retainer agreement with them solidifies their loyalty to you.
Retainer Agreements Benefit the Client: There are many benefits to the client to sign with you. The client solidifies their relationship with a graphic designer and wont have to shop around each time they have a project to do. And the client knows in advance how much they are spending, allowing them to create more focused budgets.
Cons
Scheduling Conflicts: Although it's nice to know how much work you will be doing for the client each week. It may be hard to schedule other clients around this, especially if they have tight deadlines for their projects as well.
Dependence Issues: Relying solely on clients with retainer agreements may seem great as far as your income goes, but it can be dangerous if you don't diversify your work with non retainer clients. If a client with a retainer agreement decides to end the contract and leave you, there goes a good chunk of your income.
Potentially Less Pay: One of the things clients like about retainer agreements is the chance to acquire your services at a discounted rate. This, along with the scheduling conflicts I just mentioned could mean putting aside higher paid work in order to complete the work for the client under contract. You could potentially loose out on better paying jobs because your time is tied up due to the retainer agreement.
What type of work do you do under a retainer agreement?
The best type of work for a retainer agreement is anything that is done on a regular basis. Reoccurring work is perfectly suited for this scenario. Work such as website maintenance, newsletters, advertising, consulting, strategic planning.
Don't forget emergency issues. Some clients may want to pay you a small amount on a monthly basis just in case they need you for something.
Type of retainer agreements.
There are may ways you can set up your retainer agreement. This is something you and your client will need to work out. But here are some of the more popular options.
- Paid to work a fixed amount of hours in a given time frame
- Paid to work a fixed number of jobs in a given time frame
- Paid a fixed amount of money you need to "work off". Usually within a given time frame.
- Paid to be on call or to give the client preferential treatment.
Discussing a retainer agreement with your client.
When approaching a client about a potential retainer agreement you should keep the following in mind:
- Remind the client how dependable you are.
- Remind the client how much money they are regularly spending on you.
- Discuss the benefits to BOTH of you if you enter a retainer agreement.
- Discuss possible bonuses to the client.
What to include in a retainer agreement.
- The amount of money you'll receive and the amount of work expected of you.
- The date you are to be paid and how often
- What type of work is expected of you.
- How much notice will you be given for the work.
- How much time will you have to complete the work.
- What happens if you go beyond the agreed upon terms (do not offer discounts for additional work)
- Who pays for expenses incurred while doing the work.
- Specify that there is no carryover of unused time money at the end of the specified period.
- What is required and how much time is required to end the retainer agreement.
- Include an end date or a renegotiation date so you have a scheduled point when you can raise your rates if need be.
I want to include a special note about working beyond the specified time/amount of you retainer agreement. You may be inclined to offer a discount to your client should you go over the time/amount specified. I strongly advise against this. Consistently exceeding the agreement shows that the specifications were not realistic and gives you the opportunity to renegotiate the agreement. If you offer a discount for time spent beyond what is in the agreement the client will be less inclined to negotiate a new agreement.
Don't get complacent
It's nice to have a steady income you can rely on and that's exactly what a retainer agreement can offer you. But don't get complacent while working on retainer. You need to continue to grow your business and look for more work because you never know when or why a client will decide to end the agreement and leave you with a smaller income stream.
What do you think?
What do you do when you take some time off from your graphic design business? Let me know by leaving a comment for this episode.
Questions of the Week
If you would like me to answer your question in a future episode please visit my feedback page.
This week’s question comes from Caitlin,
I've been lucky enough to gain my first handful of web design clients, which is extremely exciting. But as each contract comes to a close, I'm always flooded with a variety of other services I know I could offer the client, such as content marketing designs or eBook designs. How would you recommend turning web design clients into retainer clients? Even if the retainer is simply website maintenance. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject, how you've handled this issue in the past and what services you tend to offer your clients on a long standing basis after the website design is complete.
To find out what I told Caitlin you’ll have to listen to the podcast.
Resource of the week is WhatTheFont
Whatthefont.com is a website I've been using for many years to help me identify fonts used on designed pieces by simply uploading an image of the font. The site uses OCR to identify the characters, allowing you the option to fix the selected character if it chose wrong. Then the site uses it's vast library of fonts to try to identify or provide you with fonts that closely match the one you provided.
This site has saved me countless hours over the years I would have spent scrolling through my font library looking for that elusive font.
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I want to help you.
Running a graphic design or web design business all by yourself isn't easy. If there are any struggles you face running your design business please reach out to me. I'll do my best to help you by addressing your issues in a future blog post or podcast episode here at Resourceful Designer. You can reach me at feedback@resourcefuldesigner.com