Tried a flat monthly retainer model for 6 months and it backfired hard

I run a small agency in Nashville and switched all my clients to a flat monthly retainer for SEO and content work. Thought it would smooth out cash flow and make things simpler. But after about 4 months, I noticed I was actually losing money on the clients who needed heavy link building or technical fixes. The ones with easy sites were fine, but the complicated ones ate up way more hours than I planned. Now I'm thinking about going back to hourly or project-based billing. Has anyone else dealt with this balancing act between flat fees and actual workload?

2 comments

2 Comments

nina_lane164d ago

Yeah idk, maybe it's just me but isn't that kind of the point of a retainer to eat the bad months with the good ones?

cameron_webb4d ago

Not really, @nina_lane16. A lot of clients treat retainers like a subscription you can pause. They get upset when they pay for a slow month and don't get a refund. Kinda defeats the purpose.