Another key point with an advisory retainer is making yourself available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
To be clear, “being available” doesn’t mean “being responsive”. It simply means the client can contact you anytime. You can make a best effort to respond ASAP, and even answer after 5pm.
It’s also helpful to provide multiple channels for communication. For me, usually it’s my Slack workspace for informal conversations, and email for formal or commercial topics.
By offering this type of customer service, you’ll realize
- The client is busy with their things. They won’t contact you as much as you think they would
- Clients are usually very happy to know there are multiple ways to reach you
- You don’t need to offer support by phone
Inevitably, projects often go sideways. By offering a service that caters top reducing risk, and packages it with great customer service, you’ll have clients lining up.
The takeaway
An advisory retainer is like the “call a friend”, from Who Wants to be a Millionaire. And you don’t even need to offer the option of calling.