Being ‘on retainer’ as a service provider

[presentationgenius]

Hi all… anyone here got experience of ‘retainer contracts’ as a service provider?

I normally do “hit and run” training sessions for companies, ‘cos if they have to have me back it means I’ve not done my job properly. However, one of my bigger clients is suggesting a retrainer would be preferable, given their particular circumstances - and I’m all for regular income. ?

But I’ve no experience of “being on retainer” - does anyone have any thoughts about “gotchas” and anything else to look out for, before I jump on Teams with them?

I‘m sure I’m not the only one …

 

[Financial-Modeller]

As with any other agreement, be ready to negotiate, knowing what you are happy to concede and what you're not, and then ensure that agreed terms are clearly understood by both sides. Follow up after your Teams chat, in writing.

 

[IanSuth]

Be careful on notice periods and how they interact with your other work.

You don't want something saying you have to always be available to retained client to give a session on 24hrs notice if your other work can't be rescheduled with less than 48hrs notice as you can guarantee there will be a conflict one day

 

[fisicx]

I’m on a retainer for a local company. Works really well. I get an email when they need something, I do the work and send an invoice. Nothing complicated at all.

 

[presentationgenius]

Be careful on notice periods and how they interact with your other work.

You don't want something saying you have to always be available to retained client to give a session on 24hrs notice if your other work can't be rescheduled with less than 48hrs notice as you can guarantee there will be a conflict one day

Good point! I really need to be clear about how fast they’ll need me to respond and how flexible they can be. I can (usually) give them a session within a few days, if they’re flexible about which days and timings etc, but I’m so buys I’d struggle to say “within X hours”. (I guess that’s a good thing, right? )

 

[presentationgenius]

I’m on a retainer for a local company. Works really well. I get an email when they need something, I do the work and send an invoice. Nothing complicated at all.

Cool! I need to be interactive with clients (as in in the room with them - physical or virtual) so I think I’ll need to be more careful than you…. Though I admit to not knowing much about how your work is structured

 

[presentationgenius]

Follow up after your Teams chat, in writing.

Standard paranoia is a good thing!

 

[fisicx]

Cool! I need to be interactive with clients (as in in the room with them - physical or virtual) so I think I’ll need to be more careful than you…. Though I admit to not knowing much about how your work is structured

Same here. I write their technical manuals. We meet, discuss changes, confirm with engineers, draft, approve, publish.

 

[ctrlbrk]

if they have to have me back it means I’ve not done my job properly.

Why do you say that? If I hired you to improve my presentation skills but then I didn't practice what you taught it wouldn't be your fault, surely?

 

[studioJK]

Hi @presentationgenius

There are quite a few good points highlighted above - ultimately, it is all about what obligations you could meet in practice.

If your client is a bigger organisation, you might need to contract on their template. In which case, you may have to amend the contract to ensure that both you and your client are happy with it. You could engage a commercial contract expert to help you.

 

[presentationgenius]

Why do you say that? If I hired you to improve my presentation skills but then I didn't practice what you taught it wouldn't be your fault, surely?

Not in some ways no, but in others yes - part of my job is to explore with people why they should practice what I preach and to provide stuff in such as way that they've got the time/space to do so.

 

[Ryan Paul]

Not in some ways no, but in others yes - part of my job is to explore with people why they should practice what I preach and to provide stuff in such as way that they've got the time/space to do so.

Surely the, you can lead the horse to water, applies here?

 

[presentationgenius]

"

Surely the, you can lead the horse to water, applies here?

I'd love it to, but part of my job is to get the horses to drink. It's why "big bosses" employ me rather than other presentation trainers.

 

[Blackford Biz]

I used to run a marketing agency and retainers were the backbone of our cash flow. We'd work with the client's annual budget and marketing plan and estimate hours from each service eg design, creative, account management etc then divide by 12. We'd then provide rates for additional time over and above which we'd bill as and when on a 30 day credit period. As for the retainer itself, we'd agree hours worked every month and if we were more than 20% over, we'd bill the difference, We also billed extras like taxis, flights, relevant costs which was part of the retainer contract. More work and hassle? Yes. At year end we'd assess the overs and unders and credit or bill depending on the outcome. We'd also have a service agreement on response times and delivery times which protected us from being the clients "bitch" ! lol We'd bill in the retainer in advance and insist as much as possible for payment on or before salary day. We always used our highest rates then showed a discount to make the client feel he was getting a deal.
I think your business will be simpler but you need to ensure that if you compromise on service eg being their "bitch", you jack up your prices accordingly and charge for those extras.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

It is not unusual for a S/E HGV mechanic to be on a service retainer for a small fleet

 

[presentationgenius]

I used to run a marketing agency and retainers were the backbone of our cash flow. We'd work with the client's annual budget and marketing plan and estimate hours from each service eg design, creative, account management etc then divide by 12. We'd then provide rates for additional time over and above which we'd bill as and when on a 30 day credit period. As for the retainer itself, we'd agree hours worked every month and if we were more than 20% over, we'd bill the difference, We also billed extras like taxis, flights, relevant costs which was part of the retainer contract. More work and hassle? Yes. At year end we'd assess the overs and unders and credit or bill depending on the outcome. We'd also have a service agreement on response times and delivery times which protected us from being the clients "bitch" ! lol We'd bill in the retainer in advance and insist as much as possible for payment on or before salary day. We always used our highest rates then showed a discount to make the client feel he was getting a deal.
I think your business will be simpler but you need to ensure that if you compromise on service eg being their "bitch", you jack up your prices accordingly and charge for those extras.

Brill - thanks!

 

[PatrickStephen]

Brill - thanks!

Make sure you establish a Service Level Agreement (SLA) as part of the contract. This will protect you and give you some breathing time on any assignments which they will give. It may also assist you with pricing options for the retainer as the quicker the response, the higher the retainer fee.

 

[Abe2019]

but does anyone have any retainer agreements/contracts [redact as necessary] that they'd be willing to share as a starting point- particularly those including non-circumvention in favour of the service provider (I'm a sole trader and the fees involved wouldn't cover lawyer costs if I went that way)