Client Communication for Retainer Services

Way more agencies would retain way more clients if they implemented this simple tactic on their next onboarding call: Most agencies treat onboarding like a checklist. → Set up the kickoff call. → Share the project timeline. → Assign the team. But if you don’t anchor everything to the client’s actual goals, things can go sideways fast. I’ve learned this the hard way, across multiple businesses. So here’s how I think about onboarding today: 1/ Start by understanding the real reason they hired you. Not the surface-level stuff, but the actual pain point they’re trying to solve. Specifically, what they verbally mention when you talk to them. Each client will have their own concern / main goal. You need to write it down. Repeat it back to them. Make sure they feel heard. And then bring that goal back up again and again. 2/ Bake their goals into every communication layer. Saying their goals once on a kickoff call isn’t enough. Too often, the senior decision-maker is half-listening on calls, or not even there. And then a few weeks later, your client sends you a message saying: "Hey, I feel like we’ve wandered off course…" And it’s because you haven’t been reinforcing their definition of success in a way that they absorb it. The decision makers on the account need to understand how the client thinks and how they view success. So we built a layered communication system: → Say it on the call → Send it in weekly recaps (Slack or email—wherever they actually pay attention) → Revisit it in monthly account reviews → Anchor it again in quarterly business reviews Different clients have different business “love languages”, and you need to speak all of them. 3/ Keep yourself accountable. If you forget the goal, your team will too. So as the owner or strategic lead, it’s on you to keep that north star visible, for both the client and your internal team. Onboarding shouldn’t be about impressing clients. It should be about aligning with what actually matters to them. When you get that right, retention takes care of itself.

A loyal, multi‑year client ends a retainer with barely a goodbye email. Projects hit deadlines, budgets held, and yet the relationship still slipped away... In agency land, client churn rarely arrives as a dramatic flare‑up. More often it is a quiet drift: Slack threads go cold, the next‑quarter brief never shows, and the renewal line stays blank. The danger is that it feels painless until you add up the lost lifetime value, the scramble to backfill revenue, and the referrals that were never even requested. Silent churn hides in the gap between delivery and relationship management. Whenever “no news” is mistaken for “all good,” the countdown has already started. Let's apply a systems approach as we would across our Barrel Holdings agencies: The silent‑churn autopsy: - No quarterly business reviews (QBRs) or formal check‑ins - Value delivered wasn’t documented or celebrated - Leadership lacked a dashboard for account health - Post‑project follow‑ups never happened - Referral and expansion opportunities quietly died on the vine 1. Map the breakdown: - Missing QBR rhythm, feedback loops, health scorecards - No early‑warning indicators or escalation paths - No structured post‑delivery cadence to drive referrals 2. Re‑ground the team in core fundamentals: - Communicate exceptionally: relationships need rituals - Surface value: delivered work must be made visible - Define “healthy” clearly: simple, shared success metrics - Learn fast: lost clients become internal case studies, not mysteries 3. Fix the operational gaps: - Launch quarterly client feedback surveys (explore NPS + open prompts) - Add project debriefs/AARs as a mandatory close‑out step - Assign strategic sponsors to top‑tier accounts and track health scores in a live dashboard - Standardize a QBR template: goals, wins, upcoming risks, growth ideas 4. Reinforce with structure, rhythm, visibility, incentives, feedback: - Every key account has an owner responsible for retention insights - QBRs and health‑score reviews run every quarter, no skips - Account dashboards shared in weekly leadership meetings - Retention metrics baked into performance reviews and shout‑outs - Client survey results drive immediate tweaks to delivery SOPs 5. Watch the ripple effects: - AMs may need coaching to lead strategic conversations - PMs tie delivery metrics to client value, not just deadlines - Strong retention fuels referrals and upsells, compounding growth Success looks like: - 100% of top‑tier clients receive a QBR every quarter - Live health scores flag at‑risk accounts before contracts lapse - Churn rate drops, referral revenue climbs - Relationship health becomes a line item in every leadership review - Silent churn ends when relationship stewardship is systemized, not left to chance. == 🟢 Find this useful? Subscribe to AgencyHabits for weekly systems‑thinking insights. The full Agency Systems Playbook drops in May—subscribers get first access.

Are agency retainers actually a good thing? Historically, I've seen them lead to resentment. (on both sides) In theory, they sound like a good idea. The agency gets a consistent load of work that keeps the business going, the client gets a consistent resource for creative. But, in reality, I've seen BOTH parties feel like they're getting taken advantage of. The agency typically gives the client a preferred rate or is willing to provide additional hours when a project requires it, which makes them feel like they're giving more value and not being appreciated for it. The client typically doesn't have transparency into the effort being put into the work, so if they see fewer deliverables (even if there was more effort required), they start to question if they're still getting the same amount of value for the price tag. Here are a few ways we've tried to make a retainer actually work for both sides: 1. Flexible agreements If our clients have a month that requires a lot of effort, we bring in more resources to accommodate those needs. If they don't require much that month, they pay less. Rather than boxing into a one-size-fits-all agreement, we recognize that businesses change from month to month. Sometimes they have trade shows or other big initiatives that need a lot of creative, so we structure the agreement with different pricing tiers. 2. Prioritization around business value We break our efforts into monthly sprints, outlining what we plan to accomplish and providing a breakdown of our priority order. That way, we're demonstrating which initiatives we're prioritizing and why it's the most important for the business. We align with the team to make sure that we're focused on the most critical initiatives and that we're spending our efforts on the work they truly need. 3. Transparency and reporting At the end of each sprint, we provide a sprint review document. This shows the initiatives we completed that month in priority order, the value we created for the business, and the effort that was required. The document is designed for our immediate stakeholders to understand the value, but it's something that's shareable to the wider organization to demonstrate what their team is doing. Yes, we've had the "finance wants to understand why we're spending this much with a vendor" questions, and showing a year's worth of documentation definitely helps in those conversations. Ultimately, I think the breakdown with retainers is that both sides tend to question the value. By focusing on how we're delivering value and communicating it clearly, I think we've reduced the friction in these relationships.

Here’s the mistake that I made as a beginner that cost me more than $10,000 Getting clients, closing them, and getting them results. These are all essential pillars that freelancers & businesses know. But a key factor that is often missed: Communication. I lost a client worth $10k because of miscommunication. And here are 3 things, you should learn from it: 1- Connect your client at least 4 times a month Keeping that communication flow intact, helps you understand and relate to their pain points. 2- Reiterate your scope of work This is important because both of you need to be aligned on it. This sets the client’s expectations in a correct manner. 3- Communicate both your wins & mistakes to your client Wins are of course something that is shared, but your mistakes should also be discussed. So that you can show how you’re going to improve the next time. After we fixed these, we increased our retainership by 80%. Do you have similar learnings? Let’s talk👇🏻

Churn will destroy your business And losing a client hurts much more than the joy of onboarding someone new I have clients who have been with me since my freelancing days Here are 3 unconventional tips I use to retain clients for years (not months): 1. Honest communication I try to understand client needs deeply Not just what they say they want but what they truly need to succeed as a business I know my clients want all of the nitty gritty details of audits and research. I provide them the raw data, but make sure they understand that the end result is what they're after. 2. Regular check-ins I do two types of check-ins: Business check-ins to cover campaign details, wins and losses. Personal check-ins to understand and support stakeholders as a person. The root of marketing is genuine human interaction. 3. Listen more than I speak I've worked with agencies that like to drown out fires with rapid-fire speak. And I've always distrusted them in the long run. By listening to the problems clients are having, I can pinpoint areas of concern and provide real solutions. The result? - Clients who feel heard, supported, and valued - A partnership that grows stronger with every interaction - Long-term relationships that are about more than just transactions I stopped chasing new clients and now, I'm doubling down on building stronger relationships with the ones I already have. Your clients are the best asset you have in your business. How do you keep your clients coming back for more?

I had an interesting coaching call this morning. With a client who's building his first retainer. In 30 minutes, we walked through the pieces 🧩🧩 Anytime you're building out a retainer offer for a new - or existing client - it's important you include these elements in a proposal: 1. Payment terms - I would always push for 'Net 0' - payment is due at the first of the month for the upcoming month (upon invoice receipt) - and not go anything past Net 30 at the most. Net 60 and Net 90(!) are absolute insanity. You run the risk of never being paid at all in those scenarios. 2. Preferred communication methods - Outline how you'd prefer to communicate - email, Slack, etc. - so that it's crystal clear. Be willing to negotiate here so you get aligned with your client. If you don't set this expectation, you'll have to conform to what your client wants, which can lead to frustration from both parties. 3. Review cycles - To ensure there aren't 'too many cooks in the kitchen,' it's essential to establish the number of review cycles you'd prefer and who the reviewers will be for each content piece you develop. 3. 'Out of Scope' rate- You should clearly outline the scope of the retainer—whether that's a set number of hours per month or a specific package of deliverables—and also what's out of scope, not only in terms of the work but also what you charge per hour to do work outside of scope. 4. A 'wind down' clause - This one has bit me in the past, so I recommend that everyone include it. The wind-down clause outlines what you expect should the client choose to end your working relationship. Typically, that would be something like 30 days written notice and a final month's payment, so you have plenty of time to replace the lost income, turn over any remaining items due, etc. Most importantly, provide three pricing options in your proposal: 1. Entry - an entry package at a low price point 2. Standard - the one your client is most likely to pick - your typical service level for the money you'd like to earn on the retainer 3. Premium - a high-end option that secures more of your time and offers more deliverables, more available hours, etc. Ok, there you go. Now go write some retainer proposals and get your long-time transactional clients OFF THE TREADMILL. What else do y'all add to your retainer proposals? Tell me about it in the comments below. --- 👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris. 🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio. 🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you. 🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.

We onboarded 7 Amazon accounts in June & July. 6 are now long term clients.. Here are some top lessons that I've learned over the last 5 years about nailing client retention: 1. Get going with THE work ASAP ⏲️ - First two months is when the client trust is 0 - Slow/shaky performance in this period can hurt - DON'T delay real work for only 'digging out insights' - Start with the most immediate biggest opportunities of improvement - The client needs to see a lot of little positive hints in first two months ↳ Remember, you're buying yourself time & trust to do the bigger time-taking improvement. 2. Draw CLEAR projections early on 📄 - When clients don't know what to expect, they expect too much - They can't know which week/month will be slow if you don't tell them - Underpromise only enough so that the client is still satisfied with it - Set up tougher projections internally and try to overdeliver all the time - Monthly or 10-day breakdowns work the best (add notes) ↳ For example, if the client is told TACOS will go up in July and reset in August, he won't panic when it goes up in July. 3. Be proactive NOT reactive with communication ☢️ - When clients see a decline, they don't investigate external factors - They assume it's because of you - Or they panic that they were not informed - Clients can't be patient with challenges they're kept unaware of - Proactively informing clients > Reactively responding to panic texts ↳ Nothing builds trust stronger than knowing this team is on top of my account. 4. Know the small details better than the client 🔢 - Clients expect you to give their account the attention they can't give - I have seen our clients fire agencies over this EXACTLY - 1 person in the team has to know the account's stats really really well - If the client sees repeatedly he knows more, you're getting replaced 💩 ↳ Question, why would at least 1 person in the team not know the macro & micro details really, really well anyway? 5. Meet the client once every week or two weeks 💻 - You want to know how the client is feeling about recent progress - Address any objections or confusions built out of overthinking - Get them on the same page about any challenging strategies to execute ↳ Clients are much quicker to notice declines vs improvements. Weekly meetings allow you to show what you've been doing for them. A lot of the other stuff is a waste of time. Just aim to make them more money and nail these 5 lessons. That will get you 90% of the results.