Method #4: Retainer
Once you become well known in a specific vertical or horizontal domain in Salesforce, you can offer a retainer service.
When I say “vertical”, I’m talking about an industry, such as nonprofit, financial, or healthcare. For “horizontal”, it could mean a cloud specialization, like CPQ or Field Service.
Once your authority is established, a retainer-based service is very profitable. It’s also offered as a monthly subscription-style, but this in case, you’re mostly reactive. You help the client only when the client reaches out to you. Whether they reach out three times a week or once a month, your income is constant.
In return, the client has direct access to a known expert. For the right client, access is quite valuable. It provides assurance a project is significantly less likely to fail because they can always use this lifeline.
The takeaway
Retainers are some of the most interesting and lucrative services available. It’s also possible for you to have 3-4 of them running in parallel.