Swapped my monthly retainer model for project-based billing 6 months ago

I used to bill clients a flat $2,500 monthly retainer for my B2B lead gen services. Problem was, some months I'd do 5 hours of work and other months 25 hours. Clients started complaining about value. I switched to project-based billing where each campaign is a fixed $1,200 with clear deliverables. Now I send them a scope of work before every project and they approve it upfront. Has anyone else made this switch and seen less pushback on pricing?

3 comments

3 Comments

fionam1115d ago

Did they jump at the higher cost projects or balk at first?

the_claire15d ago

But did they actually jump at the higher ones or was there some hesitation first? I was reading something the other day about how people are more likely to say yes to a bigger price if it comes with a super clear breakdown of what they're getting. @fionam11 you reminded me of this guy I know who does logo design and he told me his clients stopped second-guessing him once he started bundling in extras like revisions and file formats with the higher price. It's like they feel safer spending more if it looks like a full package. I bet that $1,200 project had a similar effect where people saw the value right away.

paige16615d ago

Jumped right in, honestly. My first few projects I priced them a little lower than I wanted just to test the waters, but clients actually preferred the clear scope. They knew exactly what they were getting for $1,200. I had one guy who used to complain every month about the retainer, now he approves my proposals in under an hour. He told me it feels more fair to pay for specific work.